POTTSVILLE -- The National Guard is helping board up blighted properties in Pottsville this month.
Four abandoned homes in the city of Pottsville are now boarded up.
Jeanne Ferhat lives on North 2nd Street, just down the street from two of the blighted properties.
"I'm glad they're going to do something about it," Ferhat said.
The homes were not boarded up by the city. They were boarded up by the Department of Military Affairs' Counter Drug Task Force as a part of its "Clean and Seal" campaign. The task force will be boarding up about 15 homes in the city.
"It's an effort for them to get involved in the community to show people how they can impact each neighborhood, not just when there is a large disaster," Pottsville City Administrator Tom Palamar said.
Pottsville's City Administrator Tom Palamar said out of the 6,500 properties in the city, only about 270 of them are blighted properties. The city has its own blight task force but is thankful to get help from the National Guard. Palamar said blighted properties are dangerous and can often be used for illegal activities like drug use or setting fires.
"Whether they be squatters or people who are looking to find a place to do things that they shouldn't do, they find their way into these properties," Palamar said. "It isn't safe for them to be in there but it's not safe for the community either."
The National Guard will be back in Pottsville next week to board up more properties.