BATON ROUGE — Mayor-President Sid Edwards is asking residents to help identify the worst blighted commercial properties in the city through a new campaign called the Top 10 Blight Property Campaign.

The effort is part of Operation Blight Reduction and is designed to gather community input on abandoned or neglected commercial buildings across Baton Rouge.

"Residents know their neighborhoods better than anyone," said Mayor-President Sid Edwards. "If there are abandoned or neglected commercial properties dragging down a community, we want to know about them."

Once submissions are received, city-parish staff will review and evaluate the properties. The ten highest-priority locations will be considered for potential demolition or other corrective action.

Edwards said blighted properties discourage investment, attract crime, reduce property values and hurt quality of life for people who live and work nearby.

"For too long, some property owners have allowed commercial buildings to sit vacant and deteriorate while our neighborhoods pay the price," Edwards said. "If you choose to neglect your property and ignore your responsibility to this community, there will be consequences. That's why I worked with the Metro Council to increase fines on blighted commercial properties to up to $1,000 per day. If you think you can neglect your property and hurt our city, we're going to hit you where it matters most: your pocketbook."

The campaign focuses exclusively on commercial properties. Residents can submit properties by completing this online form.

The deadline to submit is July 10.