I really wish our tax structure was such that every fiscal quarter that a property sat empty, the landlord had to pay a higher tax rate, expressed as a percentage of asking price for rent. One fiscal quarter empty, pay 25% of the asking price, two f-quarters empty, pay 50%, up to 100% every quarter until the place is rented, and to be adjusted downward if the rent is lowered.

Right now this guy buys up property all over town and doesn't care when some of them sit empty because he writes it off as a deduction against the rest of his properties. He'll make a ton of money off the residential units he's building on my street, jack the rent on his commercial properties through the roof, and then deduct those "losses" from his profits for tax purposes. It hurts our city in so many ways, and the city really has to enact some progressive tax structures to deal with this predatory behavior.