Empty Houses A Hot Issue For Atlanta Mayor Hopefuls.

ATLANTA -- With less than two weeks before the election the two candidates for Atlanta mayor are stepping up their campaigns and their fundraising.  There are several hot-button issues that are likely to bring voters to the polls.

One of them is how to help the city deal with the rising number of abandoned houses and the crime they breed. 

"25 years ago, this is where my children played," said longtime West End resident Diane Trimble.  "It was a safe beautiful neighborhood."

But for Trimble the West End that was and the West End that is are two different communities.

"I'm just so fearful that some of the children in this neighborhood are going to be victims of crime," she said as she walked with her friends.  "We have so many open and vacant houses in the community it's just unreal."

In fact, on her street the empty houses outnumber the occupied houses two to one.  And when that happens crime moves in.

"I'm afraid to sleep at night," said one burglary victim named Vanessa.  "I'm afraid to leave home."

When the burglars can't get in the door they go through the door, literally, but smashing a section of it out.  Or they go through the window or the basement, stealing everything from TV's to toilet paper.

"And it's just devastating," said Vanessa.  "It's scary, and every night before I go to sleep I say Lord, I pray I wake before I die.  I'm afraid they might come in and kill me in my sleep."

There are thousands of abandoned houses in Atlanta, each one a potential incubator for crime, holding entire communities hostage.

"I have lobbied for a code enforcement board," said mayoral candidate Mary Norwood.  "I want to see a better system of property maintenance.  I want to see an owner registration, property owner registration, which will be before the state legislature."

Norwood wants to take state lawmakers through these neighborhoods to show them what the city's up against.   

Candidate Kasim Reed said the city doesn't need more legislation.  It needs more feet on the street.

"I think first of all we need to move code enforcement into the police department," said Reed.  "That will actually take care of two objectives: One it will actually have our police closer to our communities; and two it will make for more robust enforcement."

Both candidates agree that absentee landlords should be more heavily fined for code violations than residents who actually live in the homes.