Steep hillside in Bern, made available for public use and enjoyment
Hillside path at Nice, laid out to avoid steep gradients
The condition is a deplorable one from every point of view, and it is of great importance that steps should be taken to alter it. Where they are really worth developing for private occupation, so as to become useful and productive, such lands ought generally to be so improved; in the many other instances where to follow such a course would be for the owners to throw good money after bad, the City ought to step in and assume the burden of maintaining the land in a decent and attractive condition, converting it from a public nuisance into a park asset of positive value to the public.
An overlook terrace at Lyons
To advance this end the City ought to pursue a definitely active policy in the matter. First, it should systematically insist upon the maintenance of all such vacant lands in a clean and orderly condition, and, upon the failure of any owner to perform the duty, it should declare the condition of the lot a nuisance, clean it up, and make the cost a lien upon the property. Second, it should entirely reform the procedure with respect to the collection of delinquent taxes and other public liens; instead of allowing them to run on indefinitely with accumulating costs, it should enforce a prompt settlement or demand the sale of the property for taxes. Third, it should deliberately acquire considerable areas of the lands in question, by tax sale, private purchase or condemnation, having due regard, in selecting the lands for acquisition, for their relative adaptability to public and to private use.
Precipitous hillside in Paris, planted and cared for by the City