Senate Bill 572 is a bad bill

Lawmakers are considering Senate Bill 572 which, in my opinion, would hurt our city of Cape Girardeau's ability to protect our citizens' property values and diminish our city's ability to renew and reinvigorate neighborhoods.

Senate Bill 572 is intended to punish one St. Louis County city that has imposed unreasonable fines for nuisance violations. The bill's reach goes too far, by imposing restrictions that will affect our city and other community's ability to keep neighborhoods cleaned up, picked up and desirable for residents.

SB 572 takes away cities ability to impose increased fines against repeat violators or those who ignore citations. By capping the fine at $200, the legislation removes incentives for violators to take care of their properties despite repeated citations.

Our city staff and council have worked diligently to have ordinances in place to improve the housing stock in our city. The effect of the above restrictions would lead to derelict properties, and eventually to lowering the attractiveness, health and safety of our neighborhoods. SB 572 is a bad bill. I encourage citizens to contact legislators to ask them to vote no on Senate Bill 572.

HARRY E. REDIGER, Cape Girardeau Mayor