Danville, VA - Danville City Council members and citizens were up bright and early this morning taking a tour of blighted areas in Danville.
The tour is part of Danville's War on Blight, an effort to revive rundown neighborhoods in the city.
The tour gave people a chance to see just how many abandoned homes there are, and what conditions they're in.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are two-thousand abandoned homes in the city of Danville.
Almost three years later, city officials believe that number has increased drastically.
Inspections Director Jerry Rigney wants to show others just how much of an issue that is.
"Numerous houses are in the blighted stages and we're just taking everybody on tour to let them actually see first-hand," Rigney said.
About twenty people loaded on a bus and rode through the blighted heavy areas, which were mostly the center of the city.
Rigney lead the bus tour and described why some of the vacant houses are in such bad condition.
"Crimes, drugs get in these houses. They break in and steal all the metal and copper and all the valuables out of these homes and the people own these homes. But even then, they're kind of victims of the whole process also because they either can't get rent or can't fix the houses up or don't have the money to do that and eventually the house come into a condition where it needs to be removed," Rigney explained.
The Inspections department wants to let citizens and city officials know that they are tackling this issue.
"I think it's important that they know that it is there and it does exist and we are making and effort to clean the neighborhoods up," Rigney said.
