This is our community. Let's take care of it.
Blight doesn't disappear because we ignore it. Document it. Report it. Follow up. Get involved.
Call it in — every single time 575-546-0354 Luna County non-emergency dispatch · tap to callBe the first — scroll down and document something.
This is where we live. Our streets. Our neighborhoods. Our businesses. Our community.
Blight affects all of us. Fixing it takes citizens who are willing to notice, report, follow up, and keep pushing until something changes.
Pay attention to what's happening in your neighborhood. The burned house you drive past every day is not somebody else's problem.
Put the problem on the record. A photograph and an address turn a complaint into documentation.
Don't let the complaint disappear. One call is a grievance. A record of calls is a case.
Every figure below is counted from approved reports submitted by people in Luna County. Nothing here is an estimate.
0 properties documented in the last 30 days
See something that needs attention. A burned shell, a collapsing roof, a lot filling up with dumped appliances.
Photograph it from the public street or sidewalk and note the address or cross streets. Never enter the property.
This is the step that actually does something. Call non-emergency dispatch at 575-546-0354, give the address, and ask for a case number. Nothing official happens until somebody makes this call — posting to this website does not notify anyone.
Then report it here so the property is documented and visible. The map is what makes a pattern impossible to ignore — but it supplements your call, it never replaces it.
Once is a complaint. Every day is a record. Keep calling until it's cleaned up — then tell us, so the property gets marked remedied and the map shows a win.
Two minutes. A photo, a location, and a description.
Your connection appears to be outside the Luna County area (Columbus, Ohio (1475 mi from Deming)).
This site only accepts reports from people in and around Luna County. If you're local, tap below and allow your browser to share your location.
Still stuck? Email contact@righttheblight.com.
Report it.Then keep at it.
Reporting a problem is only the beginning. If it hasn't been addressed, follow up. Call again tomorrow. And the next day. Keep the issue active until the problem is remedied. Citizens have a voice — use it.
This website does not. Use at least one of these every time, then document it here.
Persistent, not personal. Follow up with the offices responsible for abatement — not with property owners, occupants, or their families. No confrontation, no trespassing, no threats, no harassment. A calm daily record of lawful complaints is what moves a property up the list. Anything else undermines the work and puts you at risk.
Documenting a property is the start. A community that pays attention is what actually changes the map.
You already know where the problems are. Photograph one this week and put it on the record.
Follow up on the properties you reported. A daily record of lawful complaints is the whole strategy.
Send it to your neighbors, your street, your church, your union hall. The map is more persuasive than any argument.
Two people reporting the same property is twice the record. Show someone how the form works.
City Council and County Commission meetings are open. Blight budgets get decided in rooms most people never enter.
Inside Deming city limits, the City Code applies. Outside them, County Ordinance 74 does. Complaining to the wrong office gets you nowhere — the section below sorts it out.
Cleaned-up properties get marked remedied. Wins belong on the record as much as problems do.
Blight took years to accumulate. The people who fix it are the ones still paying attention next spring.
Derelict buildings and rubbish piles break the law at three levels. Knowing which one applies — and who enforces it — makes a complaint much harder to dismiss.
No legal advice. No warranty.
What follows is a plain-English summary written by neighbors, not by lawyers acting for you. It is not legal advice, and this website makes no representation or warranty of any kind — express or implied — as to its accuracy, completeness, or currency. Ordinances are amended, repealed, and renumbered. Summaries leave things out.
You are responsible for reading, understanding, and complying with the law that applies to you and to your property. Do not rely on this page. Read the official sources linked in each section, contact the City or the County directly, or consult your own attorney.
Inside Deming city limits
It is unlawful for an owner, lessee, or occupant to allow rubbish to collect on any lot, occupied or not. Any such accumulation is declared a nuisance. If the responsible person refuses to remove it, the City may remove it at that person's expense, and the charge becomes a lien on the property. "Rubbish" is defined broadly enough to cover vehicle bodies, wood, glass, bedding, cardboard, and dirt.
Deming City Code §§ 4-1-1, 4-1-3 (Ord. 728, 10-10-1983)
Weeds may not exceed twelve inches, and the duty reaches past your property line: it covers the strip to the middle of the adjacent alley, the area between the property line and the curb, and ten feet beyond the line where there is no curb. The code names the offenders — pigweed, Russian thistle, ragweed, lambsquarter, and kochia.
Deming City Code § 4-1-2 (Ord. 728, 10-10-1983)
The nuisance list expressly includes any building so dilapidated that it is unfit for human habitation, kept so unsanitary that it menaces the health of people nearby, or presenting a fire hazard. It separately lists anything "attractive and dangerous to children" — naming a vacant accessible building, an excavation, and dilapidated walls or fences. Burned and open structures sit squarely inside both.
Deming City Code §§ 6-1D-12, 6-1D-13(D), (E) (Ord. 1053, 12-10-2001)
The City Administrator issues a notice to abate setting a reasonable deadline. The recipient has ten days to request a hearing before the municipal judge — only three days where the City deems the nuisance an immediate threat to health and welfare. If it is not abated, the City abates it, and the costs, including reasonable attorney fees, become a lien on the property bearing interest at the legal rate until satisfied.
Deming City Code § 6-1D-13.1 (Ord. 1053, 12-10-2001)
Read the source → — Deming City Code, current through Ord. 1338 (12-16-2025)
Unincorporated county — not inside city limits
Ordinance 74 governs littering, nuisances, dangerous buildings, salvage yards, towing operations, and waste tires "within the County, but not within the boundaries of municipalities." If the property is inside Deming, the City Code applies instead and the City is who you call. Getting this right matters: the wrong office cannot act on it.
Luna County Ordinance 74 § 1.2
The ordinance lists, without limiting itself to these: accumulations of rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and abandoned materials; anything harboring rats, mice, snakes, or vermin; dumping of litter, construction waste, or building materials onto the right of way or another person's land; junked, wrecked, dismantled, or unlicensed mobile homes, RVs and trailers outside a permitted salvage yard; and discarded machinery or appliances creating an unsafe or unsightly condition.
Luna County Ordinance 74 § 1.6
A dangerous building is one that is ruined, damaged and dilapidated and dangerous or injurious to public health, comfort, peace or safety — or, in the ordinance's own words, one "which has a blighting influence on properties in the area." Listed conditions include fire hazards, dilapidation, disrepair, structural defects, and uncleanliness. Any such building in the County is declared to be a nuisance, and maintaining one is unlawful.
Luna County Ordinance 74 §§ 2.1, 2.2
A code compliance officer serves a notice — or posts a placard on the property if the owner cannot be served — and may extend the deadline by up to forty-five days for good cause. Failing that, the officer issues a citation or files a complaint in Magistrate Court, and the County or an aggrieved neighbor may seek an injunction, with costs and attorney fees recoverable as damages.
Luna County Ordinance 74 § 10.4.2
For a ruined or dilapidated building, or land covered with ruins, rubbish, wreckage or debris, the Board of County Commissioners may resolve that it is a menace and order removal. The owner has ten days to start work or file a written objection and be heard, with appeal to district court. If nothing happens, the County removes it at the owner's expense, and the reasonable cost becomes a lien against both the structure and the parcel it stood on.
Luna County Ordinance 74 § 10.5; NMSA 1978, §§ 3-36-1 to 3-36-6
Where the Building Official or Code Compliance Officer finds imminent danger of collapse, or any condition that could cause serious or life-threatening injury at any time, the ordinary notice periods do not apply and the violation may be prosecuted and abated immediately.
Luna County Ordinance 74 §§ 10.4.2(a), 10.6
Read the source → — Ordinance 74, the "Nuisance Ordinance" (filed 3-20-2010)
Everywhere in the state
State law lets a local government require an owner to remove a dangerous building or debris. If the owner refuses after notice, the government may remove it and charge the cost against the property as a lien. This is the authority Ordinance 74 rests on, and the ordinance cites it by name in its opening recitals.
NMSA 1978, § 3-18-5
Counties are granted the same powers as municipalities, including those necessary to provide for safety, preserve health, and improve the order and comfort of their inhabitants. This is why Luna County can regulate blight outside any city at all — and Ordinance 74 cites it for exactly that.
NMSA 1978, § 4-37-1
Knowingly creating or maintaining a condition that injures or endangers the public health, safety, or welfare is a misdemeanor under state criminal law — separate from, and in addition to, any code enforcement or abatement process.
NMSA 1978, § 30-8-1
Read the source → — NMSA 1978
General outline — procedures differ between the City and the County
This website is not part of that process. It is a community record kept by neighbors. Submitting something here does not notify the City, the County, the Sheriff, or any code enforcement officer, and it does not open a case, start a clock, or satisfy any requirement. Only your phone call does that. If you report a property here and never call it in, nothing happens.
A resident contacts dispatch or code enforcement. That call is what puts the property in front of the government. Everything below follows from it.
Code enforcement visits and documents whether a violation exists.
Written notice of the violation, with a deadline to correct it.
The owner either cleans it up or doesn't. Most of the delay in the whole process lives here.
If the owner won't act, the City or County can clear the property and place a lien against it for the cost.
This is a general outline, not legal advice.
Every submission is checked by a person before it appears publicly. Nothing publishes automatically.
Approved reports become a pin and a public file. Reports of the same structure stack together, so repeat complaints make the pin bigger rather than cluttering the map.
If you gave a name, email, or phone number, they are never published — they're visible only to moderators. Anonymous reports are fully supported. Photographs are stripped of their embedded camera metadata before publication.
When a property is cleaned up, it gets marked remedied and counted as a win rather than quietly deleted.