Last year the Porterdale council passed tough improvements to its building code in order to go after landlords who do not keep their properties up.

We supported those efforts then and we applaud the fact that the city has begun to aggressively go after these landlords.

Monday the city took “caretaker” Curtis Jackson to court and cited him with 10 citations for property located on Spruce Street in Porterdale, according to our article in Wednesday’s edition of The News.

Jackson received a continuance so that he could secure a lawyer.

Slum owners and caretakers, as far as we are concerned, are some of the real bottom feeders of society.

To have the privilege to own something and then not take care of it is despicable; to be despicable already and then to take advantage of a poor family who may not have somewhere else to live, and who may fear being thrown out of their home if they speak up, is sinful.

Porterdale has plenty of older homes that are currently owned by slum landlords. We encourage Porterdale officials to keep going after them and we ask the judge to give these bottom feeders the harshest penalty that is allowed by law.

Porterdale is the home of many hardworking caring families who deserve to have protection from slum landlords.