DaytonDailyNews.com

Dayton and Cleveland have always been at the center of the predatory-lending/foreclosure crisis as it has played out in Ohio.

Neighborhoods in both cities have been devastated. Residents lost their homes. Neighborhoods lost their stalwarts.

Now Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis is going to the state legislature with a proposal designed to give cities — and inner-ring suburbs as well — tools with which to at least try to clear the blight and, maybe in the future, start redeveloping abandoned properties.

Dayton is going ahead with this effort, one way or another. But new tools could help.

The Rokakis proposal would allow counties to create nonprofit "land banks" that could own and sell foreclosed and abandoned parcels. Proceeds from the sales would go toward demolition of other homes and buildings that are beyond saving.

Dayton is demolishing homes already, at the rate of almost one a day, but the need is far greater, and the city does not have the money.

Dayton is also taking ownership of some abandoned or ignored properties without necessarily having a specific use in mind for them, which is the basic concept of a land bank.

It has been pretty much forced to become a landholder as vacancies have multiplied and neighborhoods have complained about homes being stripped and criminals hanging out in them.

Taking over some of these properties has not cost much, because often the former owners don't want them; because the city has already been paying for upkeep; and because a recent state law frees the city from having to pay property taxes.

Dayton has not really decided what comes next with its properties. There's been talk of some city, county or regional agency handling the land in the long run. But what form that agency might take, whether it would be public or private (or some combination) and how it would be funded, are unresolved questions.

The Rokakis plan envisions a nonprofit at the county level, run by various local officials and appointees. Its funding would come partly from the penalties and interest people pay on late property taxes. (Many people are late, though they ultimately do pay up.)

There'd also be other sources, including optional contributions from local governments, besides proceeds from sales.

Under the plan, the land banks would be empowered to receive foreclosed properties both from real banks and governments. They could also put together bulk development deals, involving multiple pieces of land.

Mr. Rokakis emphasizes that people shouldn't expect a land bank to work miracles. If there's no market for property in some neighborhoods, the land could lie fallow for years. Still, that's better than allowing structures to be taken over informally by drug dealers or others who are up to no good. Meanwhile, perhaps some spots could become small parks, gardens or such.

State lawmakers have been among the villains in the foreclosure crisis, reacting ever so slowly to a phenomenon that was painfully easy to see as neighborhoods were being brought down. Mr. Rokakis has been one of the state's most passionate critics of passivity in the face of the calculated looting.

Legislators should take up the Rokakis idea seriously, not so much to help the cities, but to let the cities help themselves.