CHICAGO (AP) — Officials in Chicago are going to start tearing down or boarding up dozens of abandoned buildings they say gang members have moved into.

At a news conference on Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city's building department will spend $4 million to make it impossible for gang members to use the buildings as a base of operations.

Police have for the last few years expressed concerns about the growing number of buildings that were abandoned during the nation's financial crisis — saying the gang members use them to hide from authorities and stash guns and drugs.