Clear Up Vacant Lots, Reduce Violence

Guest: Charles Branas, PhD, Professor and Chair of Epidemiology, Columbia University If you were in the market for a new home for your family, and your realtor took you to a neighborhood that had an overgrown vacant lot on the street, would that be a red flag for you? In some neighborhoods, maybe it’s no big deal. But in many urban communities, overgrown, trash-strewn abandoned lots can attract drugs and gun violence. Epidemiologist Charles Branas has found that simply landscaping those plots of land can make a real difference for a neighborhood.