HAMMOND — Tangipahoa Parish officials announced Tuesday that 100 blighted properties in the parish have been cleaned up over the last 18 months.

Most of the blighted properties were addressed by the property owners and family or friends, Parish President Robby Miller.

“Of the 100 cases that we have worked thus far, 92 of them have been addressed by the property owner,” Miller said.

One group of properties was recently cleared off Milton Road just north of Hammond. Crews worked in the August heat, demolishing a total of 10 run-down trailers, Miller said. The aged structures had been beaten by weather events over the years before being collapsed into manageable piles of debris, which were collected and transported out of the neighborhood by the trailer load.

Heavy equipment cleared the lots of overgrown brush, making way for future development, Miller added.

“We find that in most cases residents have been able to get the structural issues addressed on their own or with the help of friends and family,” Miller said, noting that the parish has had to find a contractor in just eight percent of the cases handled so far. In that event, the parish files a lien against the property to recover the clean-up cost.