Ward 10 candidates wrestle with issue of derelict properties

Empty, rundown homes and aging, neglected strip malls can eat away like termites at a community’s foundations.
Urban decay cuts real estate values, attracts vandals and troublemakers, who move in legally or illegally, and creates a nuisance that drives away neighbours.
Edmonton is new and prosperous enough to avoid the blight that reduced blocks in such centres as Detroit and New York to rubble, but the city still has problem properties.
“I think it’s a very big issue in Ward 1