A condemned property or a condemned building is a property or building that local (usually municipal) authorities have closed, seized, or placed restrictions on for various reasons, including public safety and public health, in accordance with local ordinance.
In most cities, condemned properties are usually buildings that are extremely dilapidated, damaged or deteriorated, so that they are likely to collapse or become an unattractive nuisance or urban blight. Such buildings may also be fire hazards or severe health hazards, and may be infested with rodent or vermin and lacking in basic facilities such as water, electricity, and heat. [1] Sometimes, such properties can be associated with illegal drug activity. [2] They are typically in violation of other code requirements that make it dangerous to occupants or the public. [3] Food storage premises within the municipality that are deemed non-rat-proof have also historically been candidates for condemnation. [4] In conjunction with condemnation, local authorities may prohibit or restrict occupancy, prohibit habitation, seize the property, prohibit certain actions such as preparation of food or transaction of business, mandate remedial actions, or raze the structure. [3]
Municipalities of Cumberland, Maryland, were given the power to condemn and seize insanitary buildings in 1915. [5]
In 2000, a Swedish researcher reports a case study in which after many years of puzzlement and contention, a building that housed government employees was condemned for sick building syndrome; that is, something indeterminate about the building itself made the occupants ill. [6]
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the President that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. The only exception to the state's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset—for example, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003 return-flight disaster.
Eminent domain, land acquisition, compulsory purchase/acquisition, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation is the power of a state, provincial, or national government to take private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and transfer ownership of private property from one property owner to another private property owner without a valid public purpose. However, this power can be legislatively delegated by the state to municipalities, government subdivisions, or even to private persons or corporations, when they are authorized by the legislature to exercise the functions of public character.
Public housing, also known as social housing or subsidized housing, is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local.
Indoor air quality (IAQ) is the air quality within and around buildings and structures. IAQ is known to affect the health, comfort, and well-being of building occupants. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to sick building syndrome, reduced productivity, and impaired learning in schools.
Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a condition in which people in a building suffer from symptoms of illness or become infected with chronic disease from the building in which they work or reside. The outbreaks may or may not be a direct result of inadequate cleaning or inappropriate cleaning methods. SBS has also been used to describe staff concerns in post-war brutalist-style buildings with misplanned building aerodynamics, defects in the construction materials or assembly process and-or inadequate maintenance. Certain symptoms tend to increase in severity with the time people spend in the building; often improving over time or even disappearing when people are away from the building. Exposure to toxic black mold might be a problem. SBS is also used interchangeably with "building-related symptoms", which orients the name of the condition around patients symptoms rather than a "sick" building. A 1984 World Health Organization (WHO) report suggested up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may be subject of complaints related to poor indoor air quality. Other causes have been attributed to contaminants produced by outgassing of some types of building materials, volatile organic compounds (VOC), molds, improper exhaust ventilation of ozone, light industrial chemicals used within, or lack of adequate fresh-air intake/air filtration.
A fire marshal or fire commissioner, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a state, provincial or territorial government, but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually include fire code enforcement or investigating fires for origin and cause. Fire marshals may be sworn law-enforcement officers and are often experienced firefighters. In larger cities with substantially developed fire departments the local fire departments are sometimes delegated some of the duties of the fire marshal.
Emergency management is the organization and management of the resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies. The aim is to reduce the harmful effects of all hazards, including disasters.
Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another private owner to further economic development. In a 5–4 decision, the Court held that the general benefits a community enjoyed from economic growth qualified private redevelopment plans as a permissible "public use" under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
The administrative divisions of Virginia are the areas into which the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state, is divided for political and administrative purposes. Some are local governments; others are not. However, all local governments are political subdivisions of the state.
Environmental Health Officers are responsible for carrying out measures for protecting public health, including administering and enforcing legislation related to environmental health and providing support to minimize health and safety hazards. Environmental Health Officers keep our water, food, air, land, facilities and other environmental factors safe of health hazards, whether biological, chemical or physical. They also address the related factors that impact behaviours. Environmental Health Officers assess and control environmental factors that can potentially affect health, to prevent disease and create health-supportive environments. Environmental determinants of health play a major role in a community’s overall health and well-being, and thus Environmental Health Officers are essential in improving population health outcomes and reducing the burden of disease.
"Right to know" empowers "people by allowing them to participate in an informed way in decisions that affect them, while also holding governments and others accountable". It pursues universal access to information as essential foundations of inclusive knowledge societies.
Condemned or The Condemned may refer to:
The government of Vermont is a republican form of government modeled after the Government of the United States. The Constitution of Vermont is the supreme law of the state, followed by the Vermont Statutes. This is roughly analogous to the Federal United States Constitution, United States Code and Code of Federal Regulations respectively. Provision is made for the following frame of government under the Constitution of the State of Vermont: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. All members of the executive and legislative branch serve two-year terms including the governor and senators. There are no term limits for any office.
The L. Ron Hubbard House, also known as the Original Founding Church of Scientology, is a writer's house museum and former Scientology church located at 1812 19th Street NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. Public tours are given on a regular basis. The operating Founding Church is now located at 1424 16th Street for services, bookstore and classes. The home served as the residence of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard from 1955 until 1959, during which time he incorporated the Founding Church of Scientology and performed the first Scientology wedding. The building is a contributing property to the Dupont Circle Historic District, a neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lead-based paint was widely used in the United States, because of its durability. The United States banned the manufacture of lead-based house paint in 1978 due to health concerns.
A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that harm being realized in a specific incident, combined with the magnitude of potential harm, make up its risk, a term often used synonymously in colloquial speech.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 4, 2011. The FSMA has given the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authorities to regulate the way foods are grown, harvested and processed. The law grants the FDA a number of new powers, including mandatory recall authority, which the agency has sought for many years. The FSMA requires the FDA to undertake more than a dozen rulemakings and issue at least 10 guidance documents, as well as a host of reports, plans, strategies, standards, notices, and other tasks.
Eminent domain in the United States refers to the power of a state or the federal government to take private property for public use while requiring "just" compensation to be given to the original owner. It can be legislatively delegated by the state to municipalities, government subdivisions, or even to private persons or corporations, when they are authorized to exercise the functions of public character.
Executive Order No. 26, entitled Providing for the Establishment of Smoke-Free Environments in Public and Enclosed Places, was issued by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on May 16, 2017. This executive order invoked the Clean Air Act of 1999 and the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 to impose a nationwide ban on smoking in all public places in the Philippines. The ban replicates on a national level an existing ordinance in Davao City that Duterte created as mayor in 2002. The order took effect on July 23, 2017, 60 days after its publication in a newspaper.
The U.S. government constructed a number of temporary buildings on the National Mall during World War I and II which stood from 1918 until 1971. They were built due to the urgent need for office space during wartime, but they remained in use during peacetime even though they disrupted the intended layout of the Mall according to the McMillan Plan for over half a century.