Traffic heading both east and west routinely queues along University Avenue in East Palo Alto during the weekday evening rush hour on Oct. 4, 2017. Photo by Veronica Weber. Amid ongoing concerns about ...

What is the difference between code compliance and code enforcement? Let’s say there’s a problem with speeders on highway 67, so the Colorado Department of Transportation puts up a speed limit sign.

In the battle to reclaim inner-city neighborhoods from the grip of crime and disinvestment, we must give proper attention to a tool that is too often overlooked: code enforcement. While law ...