© Jonathan Alcorn/ReutersActivists stand in a living room of a foreclosed home, where squatters have been living, during a blight tour that the activists say highlight how big banks are hurting local communities by failing to maintain their foreclosed properties.
The smell of rotting food and decay inside 10956 South Wilmington Avenue, Los Angeles, was overwhelming.
A burst pipe in the kitchen ceiling leaked water onto a floor littered with half empty cans, razor blades, odd shoes, stained clothing and an upturned, mold-ridden sofa. Windows were smashed and boarded up.
The vacant home was foreclosed on in August 2011 by Bank of America, which has done nothing to repair it.
And in a cruel twist that underscores the connection between the housing meltdown and the fiscal crisis afflicting many local governments, the city of Los Angeles lacks the wherewithal to force the property owner to clean up the mess.
Across America, bank-owned, blighted houses sit untouched, sometimes for years, disfiguring what in many cases are already troubled neighborhoods. Activists say the problem is particularly acute in minority areas. And many cities do not have the resources, the will or the power to force banks to maintain their properties.
Comment: This story reminds us of another Spiritual Predator: Prem Rawat AKA Maharaji.