The independent owners of residential rental property have traditionally not had organized netowrking abilities. Finding classes and information about landlord/tenant laws was cumbersome and could be compared to finding your way in a strange town without a road map. Recently some landlords have formed neighborhood coops to address neighborhood specific problems and to work along with other neighborhood owners to fight crime and blight. Last year a group of rental property owners got together and brainstormed ideas on how they could improve this frustrating situation. Thus the Landlord Information Network Coop, L.I.N.C., was created as an umbrella organization over the neighborhood landlord groups. Many L.I.N.C. member landlords own properties in troubled neighborhoods of Albuquerque, including: Trumbull, La Mesa, South Los Altos, and Kirtland Korner. These neighborhoods had been plagued with crime, drug dealing, graffiti, and other blights of the city. The owners found that along with knowledge about laws and networking with the neighboring landlords that having good working relationships with government and law enforcement was also helpful in doing good business in these areas. L.I.N.C. has cooperatively fostered and maintained working relationships with government and law enforcement in order to promote these tools to independent landlords. The basic philosophy being “let's work together, not against each other." There have been a number of noteworthy success stories relating to L.I.N.C. and its members. Many landlords have cleaned up the conditions at their properties, an important step in turning around a neighborhood. More and more landlords are becoming intolerant of drug dealing and other criminal behavior and evicting the crooks that terrorized these neighborhoods. Landlords are getting involved in their communities. A great example of that is Kirtland Korner. This area is north of Gibson, west of Carlisle and consists mainly of apartments. The landlords in this area have had neighborhood charets where they looked at conditions and discussed how to improve them. They assisted in the opening of a neighborhood resource center. They supported Kirtland Elementary in a "Character Counts March" in which the kids at the school along with teachers, parents, police, firefighters, community activists, landlords and neighbors marched through the area picking up trash and chanting anti drug and anti gang messages. They were also treated to appearances by the police helicopter, garbage trucks, and the mounted police. The landlords served punch to the kids at the end of their march. The event was highlighted by a contest to name the neighborhood. The contest resulted in the name "Kirtland Korner" which the landlords adopted along with the City of Albuquerque. Independent landlords hold one of the keys to making Albuquerque neighborhoods better, safer places to live. Keeping property in good condition, screening tenant applicants, and being aware of what is going on in your community are all elements of making a better community. L.I.N.C. provides a number of opportunities throughout the year to the owners of rental property including seminars and round table discussions. If you would like more information about joining L.I.N.C. please call Secretary/Treasurer Liz Thompson at 883-6188 or e mail liz@lobo.net. It costs just $25 per year to join and upon joining you receive a member packet full of useful information relating to operating as a landlord in Albuquerque. Thanks to Liz Thompson for writing this article and for her hard fought efforts to cleanup our neighborhoods.