After all, the township's history goes way back and includes an 1831 appraisal by Alex de Tocqueville, the influential French visitor who wrote a famous analysis of the United States and its promise. That's now Waterford. The township has long had clean-up laws on the books. But they are criminal codes. Burdens of proof are high.
Jail time is possible.
Mr. Solden's plan, now being drafted, would make such cases a civil matter. But scale aside, the problems are the same. Supervisor Solden, serving his first term in the job, made clean-up an issue last fall when he ran for the office. But there also is a satisfying philosophical appeal in decriminalizing blight removal. Robbery is clearly a crime.