All about business

A committee of St. Louis aldermen will consider a plan today to help the city get more control over its thousands of privately owned vacant buildings.

The board’s Neighborhood Development subcommittee will hold a hearing on a bill to create a vacant building registry to charge owners of the buildings an annual fee and to make them provide local contact information to deal with problems at the property.

Some local real estate and development groups have criticized the bill, concerned about potentially having to pay fees for houses that take a long time to sell affordable health insurance with good benefits.

"It’s very frustrating to try and track down the owners of these buildings," said Alderman Kacie Starr Triplett. "We will now be able to hold people accountable."
The hearing starts at 1 p.m. in City Hall, Room 208.

(Tim Logan)

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