SPITZER TARGETS DEALERS' LANDLORDS

ALBANY - Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Albany officials today are
scheduled to announce a joint initiative that would hold landlords
accountable when they knowingly rent properties to drug dealers.

The program is also aimed at drug-infested Albany neighborhoods by
allowing immediate eviction of known drug dealers.

Details of the crime effort were not available Sunday, but Spitzer
spokesman Darren Dopp confirmed that Spitzer, Albany Mayor Gerald
Jennings and Albany County Sheriff James L. Campbell would meet this
morning to discuss specifics of the initiative.

A 2 p.m. press conference is scheduled at Albany City Hall's Rotunda
room.

Campbell said he'd been asked by Spitzer's office to participate in
Monday's announcement.

"I know it involves absentee landlords and drugs. But beyond that, I
really don't know the pertinent details," he said.

Jennings could not be reached for comment.

The attorney general's office was planning to meet with officials
prior to this afternoon's announcement, Dopp said.

"We are going to be working with the mayor and the sheriff to try to
find ways of identifying locations where drug activity could be taking
place," Dopp said. "Talks with [Jennings and Campbell] need to be
completed in the morning, so [the press conference] is scheduled for
the afternoon."

Dopp did not provide specifics of the incentive. But The Daily Gazette
learned that the measure would target landlords who ignore drug
dealings in their buildings by imposing fees and jail time for those
landlords who are aware of ongoing drug activities in their buildings.

The initiative would also provide for immediate eviction of known drug
dealers.

The Attorney General's Office would like to expand the initiative
statewide, but would begin at the local level, Dopp said.

Sandra Hulbritter, president of the West Hill Neighborhood
Association, said she was not aware of the specifics of the program,
but had heard "scuttlebutt" about a meeting involving the officials at
a weekend church gathering in Arbor Hill.

She said she welcomed any efforts to make her neighborhood - which had
seen three murders in recent weeks - safer for its residents and
families. But right now, landlords were bound by certain fair housing
and discrimination laws which may prevent them from being as selective
as they'd like, the association president said.

"Landlords in West Hill would like more control over who they rent to.
I think it would be wonderful," Hulbritter said.

She said there are times when a landlord can't control certain
activities in a rental property, but many absentee landlords are aware
of the goings-on and ignore them.

"In West Hill, we favor the ability to be able to decide. I don't want
addicts in my neighborhood," she said.

During the most recent neighborhood meeting designed to address the
concerns of Arbor Hill residents, Jennings acknowledged that "85
percent of the criminal activity we have here is related to drugs."

The mayor said the city was taking specific steps to list all vacant
properties in Arbor Hill, and order some of those structures to be
demolished.

He also announced plans to increase the number of police officers in
the department's special investigations unit, which handles drug
investigations.