CRACKDOWN ON DRUGS TARGETS LANDLORDS

Albany -- Attorney general's plan would fine those who turn a blind eye to
drug-dealing tenants

Albany landlords who refuse to evict their drug-dealing tenants could
themselves be thrown out of their own property under a proposal expected to
be announced today Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Spitzer wants to crack down on landlords who consistently look away from
drug-dealing tenants. Under the plan, upstate cities like Albany, which has
seen a significant increase of narcotics traffic from New York City in the
last decade, can team up with the attorney general's office to take action
against problem buildings. Landlords would be given a court order to evict
drug dealers, and would be fined or ultimately stripped of their property if
they refused to act.

There are absentee landlords who "benefit by renting to drug dealers, taking
payment from drug dealers knowing that this is going on,'' Spitzer said in
an interview Friday.

"And we know they know this because we repeatedly find these hot spots being
used -- apartments in particular buildings, buildings that have been totally
taken over by drug dealing where you have absentee landlords who benefit
from the drug trade,'' Spitzer said.

Working with neighbors, community groups and local police, the attorney
general's office will seek civil court orders against landlords who would
continue to rent to drug dealers. If that order is violated, Spitzer said,
the state will impose fines on the owner up to the value of the building. A
final penalty would be property seizure.

Spitzer's proposal, modeled after a similar program in Philadelphia, is also
being enacted in Binghamton and Utica. It will be unveiled in Albany at 2
p.m. today by Mayor Jerry Jennings at City Hall.

Local authorities believe drug dealing was a factor in four of the five
murders this year in Albany, and city residents have long complained about
narcotics trafficking in their neighborhoods, Jennings said.

"From the neighborhoods' point of view, people are frustrated that there's
little screening that goes on by some landlords,'' said United Tenants
Association co-director Maria Markovics. "To make owners more accountable
for what happens in neighborhoods -- that's really important. We recognize
there are good tenants and bad tenants, and if the owner is allowing (drug
dealers) to stay in order to get rent money and profits, that would not help
the neighborhood.''

But Markovics also warned against seizing property from owners, saying she'd
want more safeguards in place to ensure such action would be absolutely
warranted. Albany landlord Roger Ploof, who maintains some 440 apartments in
the city, also said there is little that landlords would do without proof
there is drug dealing in their buildings.

Ploof, however, said he agreed with the concept of the plan.

"If I know there's somebody actively involved in drugs, I do my best to
evict them as an undesirable tenant,'' Ploof said, estimating he evicts
about one person each month for dealing. "If I see something, I tell them:
'We can do this nicely, or do it the hard way.' ''

Still, "You can't be every place at all times,'' Ploof said. "There are a
lot of people that have drug problems. Just because they have a drug problem
doesn't mean they are selling drugs. I don't know how you prove a landlord
knows (drug dealing) is fact.''

In the case where seized properties are turned over to the city, Jennings
said they could be auctioned off as part of Albany's home ownership program,
where the city can waive closing costs and legal fees, as well as assist
with down payments and other financial incentives. Spitzer also suggested
those properties be razed in some cases to create pocket parks.

"If it were to go to us, we would dispose of it as quickly as possible,''
said Jennings, adding that he proposed a similar idea in 1986. Other Common
Council bills to crack down on nuisance buildings were proposed as recently
as 1996, but were never voted on amid strong landlord opposition. "Everyone
pooh-poohed it then. It's our responsibility to move this on.''