Commissioner Attends Revitalization Summit

Douglas County Commissioner Ann Jones Guider, District 4, returned today from seminars held on the campus of Harvard Law School, in hopes of finding solutions to the local foreclosure crisis.

She was invited to the unique forum at Boston's Harvard University, where the goal was to develop effective strategies to address the vacant properties left in the wake of our current economic times.

"Every community is facing a fairly large number of foreclosures and vacancies or abandoned buildings," she said. "That really affects the surrounding properties, weather it's vandalism or whatever. A lot of people are concerned something illegal will happen there. We haven't faced a problem of this magnitude before."

"I was surprised to find out that District 4 led all areas in Douglas County last year with foreclosures and we are really rural. "

Guider is one of only four representatives attending from Georgia. Professor Frank Alexander, Emory Law School, invited Guider.

"I was humbled for him to consider me," she said. "With his expertise in taxes and foreclosures, I agreed immediately."

The trip will not cost the taxpayers anything. Guider used her personal sky miles for her flight to Boston and hotel and food expenses were paid by the Community Progress Leadership Institute.

She said the reason she attended was clear, "to find a resolution to the problem of foreclosures. I want to know how to handle properties that are just sitting there. I want to know how to stimulate their resale and stimulate the economy."

Guider said she will share her findings from the summit with the