Independent mayoral candidate Kevin Acklin said the Ravenstahl administration should be making a greater effort to combat abandoned properties citywide, and pledged to earmark as many federal stimulus dollars as possible toward the battle.

City officials responded that they are already doing exactly that: after weeks of work, the city applied today for $30 million in federal stimulus funds specifically for acquiring, rehabilitating and reselling such properties.

Mr. Acklin, a Squirrel Hill attorney, said abandoned structures hurt neighborhood property values, discourage investment and -- using the recent fires in Sheraden as an example -- are a public safety concern. He said Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's main strategy for dealing with the properties is sending the Public Works Division's Redd Up Crew to clean them up.

"We're putting people's lives in danger by not addressing this problem," he said at a news conference today. "The ad hoc manner in which this administration has handled abandoned properties has to come to an end."

Mr. Acklin said the stimulus funds would be used to demolish or refurbish the properties. He also called for a renewed emphasis on the Bureau of Building Inspection, creating an inventory of problem properties and instituting a restoration program funded by tax credits and low-interest loans.

The city's neighborhood initiatives director, Kim Graziani, said in an interview today that the city and the URA have been meeting for weeks with neighborhood groups citywide on crafting an application to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds. Meetings were held throughout June and a draft plan posted on the URA's Web site in advance of the application deadline on Friday.

Under HUD guidelines, the city was forced to target their efforts in census tracks marked by low-income residents and a high volume of abandoned properties. Most of the funding is to be used on housing rehabilitiation -- only a small portion is supposed to be used on demolition.

The city plans do match their hoped-for $30 million in stimulus funds with an additional $30 million in city, URA and private funding, largely from banks that have committed to underwriting home-improvement loans to neighborhood organizations. HUD is not expected to award funding until December at the earliest.

Mr. Acklin and another independent, Franco "Dok" Harris, are expected to challenge Mr. Ravenstahl in November's mayoral election.