PRESIDENT OBAMA has put job creation on the front burner  he outlined his new plan in a speech yesterday, and at last week’s jobs forum he said he was “open to every demonstrably good idea” to put Americans back to work.

Well, here’s a proposition: Cities and towns across the country are the default owners of hundreds of thousands of abandoned and derelict single-family houses, apartment buildings and factories. These places are a blight on our communities.

The federal government should reimburse cities and towns who hire people from the unemployment rolls to tear down these structures, clean up the properties and, if there is no immediate buyer for them, to turn them into green spaces.

Not only will this create jobs, it will also provide lasting economic value as the properties get placed back on the tax rolls. And the program would give clear evidence that the taxpayers’ (borrowed) dollars are producing a tangible public benefit. To encourage participation, Washington might consider giving cities and towns a 25 percent bonus  beyond reimbursing them for what they spend on reclamation. We could get such a program running by early next year, and it could run through, say, mid-2011.