Pubdate: Mon, 03 May 1999 Source: Daily Gazette (NY) Copyright: 1999 - The Gazette Newspapers Contact: http://www.dailygazette.com/ Author: Pam Allen, Gazette Reporter 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake