BATON ROUGE- Today Mayor Sharon Weston Broome announced the creation of a Blight Strike Team tasked with reviewing the blight elimination process and recommending administrative changes to improve blight remediation efforts in East Baton Rouge.

“The Blight Strike Team brings together several community partners with an interest in swiftly and efficiently addressing blighted properties throughout East Baton Rouge Parish,” said Broome. “I look forward to working with them toward solutions. Blight elimination is of vital importance to improving public safety and advancing economic development efforts in our communities.”

According to a release, the Blight Strike Team will include community partners, city-parish department leaders, redevelopment officials, and Metro Council members. The team will work side-by-side with the Metro Council’s Blight Study Committee which will focus on code issues.

The Blight Strike Team will meet for the first time on March 1, 2018 at 2 p.m.

The news comes the same day Ascension Parish President Kenny Matassa  announced that the parish will file lawsuits aimed at fighting blighted properties in the parish.