The city has sent out an RFP to demolish the Mark Twain branch of the library at Burns and Gratiot.
RFP:
http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/About_DPL/Bids_RFP/rfp-mark%20twain%20demolition.pdf
Library:
http://tinyurl.com/yaj9rks
Printable View
The city has sent out an RFP to demolish the Mark Twain branch of the library at Burns and Gratiot.
RFP:
http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/About_DPL/Bids_RFP/rfp-mark%20twain%20demolition.pdf
Library:
http://tinyurl.com/yaj9rks
That's too bad, one of my favorite library buildings.
Wasn't there a whole lot of money sunk into that Library only about 5- years ago.
WHY?! I can't wait to see what exciting new development will go there.
After the high winds, the Tiger Stadium site is now full of garbage, and looks like any other vacant swath around the city, except it is fenced in.
Why are they tearing down a one-of-a-kind historic building on an arterial road? Gratiot is very blighted, but if it is used for mass transit, or if the airport is ever capitalized on, there is a lot of potential. What is the point of demolishing it anyway? There are enough dangerous burnt-out or crack houses throughout the city posing an immediate threat to people who live here.
Somebody needs to lock the doors of the City County building and light the place up so we can start over.
Sad, sad, sad. This was my library when I was a kid. It is a beautiful building designed by Wirt Rowland [[who also designed a couple of other little buildings called Guardian and Penobscot).
This library was closed by the city back in the late '90s with the promise that it was going to be refurbished. Instead it sat and rotted and nothing happened. When people in the community complained, the city took some of the books and opened an "annex" library in a local church hall. That's what's now proposed as the full-time replacement for this beautiful structure that was just left to decay as yet another f--- you to the east side, until it "must" be torn down [[a nice little money-maker for downtown's favorite demolition contractors).
We just keep shooting ourselves in the foot.
Well, I guess this explains why nobody in this town seems very interested in reading.
I grew up two blocks from a library, and got my first library card before I learned to write in lowercase. I knew all the librarians by sight, knew where to find the books I liked, knew how to get them stamped and take them home and bring them back by the due date and throw them in the slot. It was one of the first places I was allowed to walk by myself. Having a library right there in the neighborhood is a great thing for a kid. The more branch libraries we close and demolish, the fewer kids will have that experience growing up, and the less likely they are to end up literate and well-educated.
I honestly can't fathom what these people are thinking.
Very sad indeed. I spent many happy hours in this library as a kid.
There are many other buildings in that area that are in much greater need of demolition. Makes me wonder if they just pick the first building that catches their eye???
I also wonder why this is being demolished by the Library Department. Seems to me that if the Library Department no longer has a need for this building, it should be handed over to the city and added to the "master list of buildings to be demolished" and ranked accordingly [[preferably near the bottom of the list). Why is the Library Department, an institution dedicated to the preservation of knowledge, engaged in the perpetuation of stupidity?
Holy cow, when will it end?!?!?!!? Why are we knocking down our treasures? This building is not even broken into or in bad shape... There is no reason for it to go. The DPS and Detroit Library system are spending money on demolition when it could go to securing buildings, buying more supplies & books, educating our citizens. They should all be locked up and throw away the key. A sin against this city.
How ridiculous, they are so many other buildings more worthy of demolition then this one. I will head out there to take a few pictures sometime this week.
D'accord with you all. So let's do something about it. I know there are folks in Indian Village who'd fight on our side.
Are there any attorneys on this forum who can file an injunction against the DPL?
That should keep them busy for some time. Also, why isn't this building given to someone who will at the least mothball it? Paying to demolish it, at this stage of the game, and with the economy and finances of the city in shambles smacks of corruption. More demolition derby money kicked back into the pockets of city hall.
Hell, put it up for sale first- cash only- 10 grand takes it away. This is what they need to be doing to get these buildings into private hands.
WHAT TH F ....... sorry but my goodness they are intent on destroying the past, treasures, the city, peoples lives, and everything else. Someone needs to stop them enough is enough. I guess if you destroy the past no one in the future will have any idea what a well ordered society was like.
This was my library as a child. This building needs to be saved and re-opened as a library. There are so many children int this area that need a library. Is there anything that can be done. Can we get a legal opinion from a lawyer?
In the summer of 1901, Andrew Carnegie gave the city of Detroit $750,000 to erect libraries.
Was the Mark Twain Branch one of the 8 or 9 libraries erected with his funds?
No, this building was built in 1940.
It would make a nice place for a second GSCC neighborhood.
If there was a legal hook for an injunction [[nothing comes to mind here off the top of my head), you would probably have a decent shot at winning a preliminary injunction, because there would be irreparable harm by the demolition of the building. The city owns the building, though, so I am not sure what can be done. The way the city's government acts is so frequently exasperating.
I drove by tonight and the building looks fairly well secured [[although it was dark and raining and I didn't stop). But that building just to the south is absolutely horrendous. :eek: Couldn't they tear down that eyesore instead?
I get it. Of two similarly-sized buildings, the one the most intact, and with the most salvagable material is the more attractive of the two to the city and demolition firms, for different reasons, of course, right?
I'd wonder if the DPL would be more amenable to turn over that building to a non-profit like the GSCC for rehabilitation as a community center of sorts. Costs may prohibit it, but it's better than the alternative. Maybe just a open ended lease arrangement? Something?
Instead of the Joe Louis fist @ Woodward and Jefferson they should put up a wrecking ball.
The building to the south of the Mark Twain is a interesting set of townhouses built around a narrow courtyard. The end unit has a turret and there were garages that opened off the Gratiot alley. They were nice places to live until sometime in the 1970's when they began to decay. I remember several attempts to remodel them; but they never came back. The surrounding streets to the south of the Mark Twain are not badly kept. There are many good families keeping up their homes on Seminole, Iroquois, Seneca, and Burns.
Now this really and truly saddens me. That was my favorite library. At least once a year when I attended A.L. Holmes Elementary School, one of our teachers would get us together for a field trip to the Mark Twain Library. We would all gather at the side door on Crane and walk to the library together.
I loved the big fireplace in there, and the way they had those big leather high backed wing chairs placed in the area. The daily newspapers from all the major cities were hanging on those wooden rod contraptions, and some of the retired folks from the neighborhood would be there reading the papers.
Sometimes on a Saturday me and my friends would go there to check out books. I would always get 2 or 3. I felt so important walking home carrying books about some adventure or other.
We just drove by there a couple months ago on our way to see Cub, and I pointed the library out to my husband like I always do, and told him again about how beautiful it was inside.
Sad stuff that it is being demolished :[[
This sounds so Detroit. Isn't there a song called the "Wrecking Ball" ? That could become Detroit's Anthem. All the burnt out houses and Detroit wants to demolish beautiful historic buildings.
Back in the Coleman Era, several libraries were put on short openings. Our branch was Jefferson on Outer Drive. A study of usage was commissioned and Jefferson had the highest patronage for a branch library. Unfortunately, for patrons, since the neighborhood was still predomintly white, our branch was axed as a full service library. We went instead to Kennedy Library in Harper Woods which at the time was county owned and also took a subscription to the GP library.
My Mom attended East Commerce High School and Twain was her library. She is 90 now, I won't tell her about demolish plans cause she would cry.
I have been contemplating volunteering as a reader mentor for DPS but if area libraries keep closing whats the point?
Seems like Detroit wants to eliminate it past. Lets put up more sculptures like the amazing ugly Joe Louis fist. Poor man deserved better. Harmonie Park, a german enclave is now Paradise Valley? Maybe the philosophy is destroy history so it can be re written.
Pathetic. :mad: :[[
Nope- it is not a Carnegie library. It was built by the PWA [[Public Works Administration), a New Deal Agency that did most of the major building projects in Detroit during the Depression [[the WPA got the smaller projects under $25,000). When it opened it was pretty unique- the PWA took care to design the exterior to architecturally fit into the surrounding Indian Village neighborhood, but made the interior floor plan more "modern" with wide, open spaces.
It is a horrible shame to tear down that building- I know you can't save everything, but this one is so beautiful, and one of the last significant New Deal buildings left in the city. Please post if there is any way people can get involved to save it.
Who are the idiots who are making these decisions? They should be called out and held accountable.
Facebook Group Live
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=204114801866
Please join, invite your friends, share stories or photos, and most importantly contact the city & DPL to express your concern and disappointment.
There is a meeting at 130 today at the library main offices. 2nd floor. Sorry for short notice but just found out.
Why doesn't Robert Bobb and Jennifer Granholm uses some of that stimulus money to restore this library. It could become a learning center/library with TV moniters, computer rooms, etc. You never heard Robert Bobb discuss building libraries. This neighborhool still has many children living in it. That lous of a mayor Kilpatrick and the council had used the renovation money for something else. I had used this library quite frequent in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's. Does anyone has vintage photos of the interior of this library? I would love to look at them.
http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...bid=2072105895
Please excuse the typos in the last two- they have been changed, but the corrections won't appear until the database is refreshed again.
aoife, thank you for posting the photos. The Mark Twain was truly one of Detroit's Palaces of Reading.
I had to stop by for a couple pictures yesterday.
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...9/100_9971.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...9/100_9972.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...9/100_9973.jpg
Maybe the DPL could nail a few books to the roof to replace the missing shingles. :[[
Yep. brings back old memories. That was mine hanging spot. I remember Ms Cosua, the elderly lady with the mole on her face, Miss James, Henry the janitor. Mrs Dickerson. Yvette the assistant clerk and the green DPL truck that used to drop off or pick up books that belongs to other libraries
Mrs. James, the Head Librarian at the Mark Twain in the 70's, had a personality that was perfectly suited for her job. She made everyone, especially children, feel welcome.
Yes she did. When money was given to DPL in 1985 to keep all libraries open full time the staff at Mark Twain was disbanded and transferred to other locations. Cynthia Moreland became the head librarian there. She was younger and strictly business oriented. No nonsense. She was nice also but in a different way
I've been by the Mark Twain Library a number of times over the years, both before it was closed and after. It seems to me that while the building was special it was no longer viable in it's primary function as a library. I would imagine that the Detroit Public Library administration struggled with what to do with the branch and how to do it with limited resources. So, whats more important, serving the citizens of Detroit with a viable building or sinking millions[[? +/-) into a building built for another time? I have seen the evidence of local thieves ransacking the branch for many years now, where is the outrage for that?
This would be a great living space. Perhaps a developer could convert it much like the school house in Lafayette Park which is now lofts.
Eastside,
Geat sentiments but have you looked at Gratiot Ave lately. There's no money for anything. If the Library builds a new library on the Mark Twain site to serve the citizens then they win. If they spend big bucks to save the building then citizens somewhere else in the city loses. I bet there's a ton of asbestos in the building, who's going to pay for removing that?
Could you could come up with a few hundred thousand dollars and save the building? It would be wonderful if you could.
what are the options for a non-profit organization[[s) to renovate, own and manage the remaining Detroit Public Libraries?
The Detroit public library's are already run by a non-governmental, non-profit organization. The choice's are to enhance their revenue stream by reapportionment of existing tax's, grants, and donations [[or whatever else can be found) to allow the full utilization and repair of the existing system; or reduce the number of costly buildings and activities of the system.
I have read that the Detroit Public Schools are possibly going to work closer with the library system to enhance the educational opportunities and effectivness for the children of Detroit. How can pissing away the money on an obsolete building, no matter how nice, benefit the city's children? And don't get me wrong, I love the architecture of the building.
this is a crying shame...I'm trying to enlist the help of EMU students and professionals and I hope someone has contacted SHPO...
PA 169 would help. Establishment of a local historic district and apply to SHPO for a certificate of Eligibility. This would be a crying shame if this came down. Obviously the city doesng give a rats ass about preservation efforts whatsoever. Use tax payers money to tear it down rather than give it away to a viable non profit or presrvation group and create a TIF district from it to bolster the area...
What would make you think that that library would be replaced by a new building? Isn't it more likely to just be yet another vacant lot, like the other spots where closed library branches have been torn down?
Mark Twain was a viable library until 1998 when it was closed down for "renovation" by the city, despite the objections of neighborhood groups, with the promise that it would reopen soon. That "renovation" turned out to be a take the money and run scam for one of the city's favored contractors, and then the library sat empty while scavengers picked away at parts of it.
Even for all that, the building remains remarkably intact. Some of the collection has been moved and is available at an "annex" in a church hall several blocks away, which was finally opened by the city after neighborhood groups protested the apparently stalled "renovation" and their lack of a library. So, the library could be put back where it belongs. It would be a real shame if the people in that still well-populated area did not get their library back, and get the bitter booby prize of another vacant lot instead, because it was more expedient [[and profitable) for the city to now give one of their favored demolition contractors a bundle of money to destroy yet another of our city's beautiful historic structures, all in the name of some false savings.
While I again respect your opinion, I cannot help but comment.
1) The city does not own the Libraries
2) The bids for any library project are open to public bid
3) The library seems to award to the lowest qualified bidder
[[See DPL website for commission minutes)
4) I seem to remember that even back in the 90's hearing that there was asbestos all over the building. In the city anyone selling or transfering a commercial building must ensure that the environmental concerns are corrected before the transaction or ar addressed as part of the contract.
5) How much do you think it takes to operate and maintain a building such as that? [[ I bet you could operate 3 or 4 smaller libraries for the same amount)
6) Are you aware that back around then [[90's) that the State stopped giving the DPL any state funds which if I remember equated to 25% of the annual budget.
Once again, how could anyone believe that a library system in a city with the financial issues that abound even consider imposing their will upon the library. How can you place a priority that these buildings must come before all else?
What about the vacant dilapidated building that sits next to the former library. The city need to tear that eyesore down. It is dangerous too. Use to be a nice building back in the day. Does Matty the prune Moroun own that one also? Detroiters have to be embarrassed having inexperienced, bought and paid for elected officials making decisions for the city. Even Mildred Gaddis with her infenite wisdom had back peddled from supporting this so called officials. Never listen to anything she and other talkshow hosts have to say.
I took these pictures last month, compare them with the ones I took about a year ago in post #36 of this thread. :[[
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...202010/005.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...202010/006.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...202010/007.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...202010/008.jpg
That god*[[@%& Stoned Planet guy. I have his real name and place of business, and I am half tempted to post it on here. What a raging jackass.
You should, I've recently seen his name inside several historic buildings that I thought were closed up and in decent shape.
My second home as a kid was the Jefferson Branch Library on Outer Drive just north of Warren Ave right next to the Alger Theater.
.
Are you really that much of a deuchebag? A name written on a building is the fuel for you fire?
You get mad at someone for writing their name on a building, but you don't get nearly as mad when the property owner lets it start falling down due to negligence.. Get a clue dude! The word STONED on some WINDOWS can be wiped right off! Can that roof be wiped right off? Can the walls inside of the structure be wiped right off?
You should be getting mad at the people who allow the buildings to fall into such disrepair in the first place! Get a clue or a life, either or would help you in your endeavors!
The building next door to it need to go first. I had thought that Mark Twain was saved by a Catholic organization. That building could be made into a school or some type of business. It has a full kitchen upstairs and a lot of loft space that used to be the "Stacks' where they had kept the older books. It also has two restrooms. The basement has two restrooms, a small room used for showing movies and other events, a janitors office, and a boiler room. Is the city not giving the building permit to the new owners if someone had purchased the building? There is another libray on Field street near Lafayette that had been closed for years. These buildings could be put to good use. Raze the dilapadated structures that sit on Vernor and Canton.
No one ever said I wasn't pissed at the property owners. Why does this, what's your word, "deuchebag," and others like him have to go and destroy stuff? Yes, buildings will show some wear and tear without them, but why do you think the Lafayette Building came down? If you think it wasn't because of the "deuchebags" like him making them look like schitt, it would still be here.
I agree! Great point buildings! Here is one of MY OWN pics from just last week....As DetroitZack knows It is quite RARE when I show my own stuff! LOL! :) What ya'll think?
Attachment 8098
Looking at pictures of vacated DPS buildings and now DPL buildings makes me think I am watching The Walking Dead.What a shame.
As both of my Dads told me growing up. " We live in a wasteful society". Both were smart enough to have married my Mom, And while thinking of it both left for the burbs around the same time.
LOL I left the window open? Or did I go in an open window or door?
Get this straight.. I am not the one opening these places up! I am not the one ripping the copper out of the walls or stealing things or breaking things for that matter!
A fresh coat of paint never hurt anything :P It actually preserves what is underneath :P
We can argue about this like little kids if you all want, but we ALL know for a fact that painting a few letters does absolutely no damage to any property..
It may even draw the attention of the property owner and get them to take better care of the property..
I have yet to find one of these abandonments that doesn't have busted up walls, falling ceilings, water leaks, etc.. Even a little terd of a place right by me was wide open for a few years with ripped up walls and the power was still on..
You can say putting a name on some glass "opens the window" for more names on the building but don't your photos do the exact same thing? You are taking pictures of street art canvas.
Have you ever said once go* *amn that NARK guy? or that you hope SID dies? Or is it just me you want to focus on? Hell, why not bring SC into the mix? :D
Now, shut up and enjoy the show ;)
http://www.stonedplanet.com/index.ph...162&Itemid=242
the window well around back had pools of blood in it yesterday
You cant just post that and not explain....I know several explorers that may have hurt themselves at Mark Twain. Now I am worried, especially because I have been in Texas all week on vacation. Please Jared...let me know what it looked like.
Sorry I was out of town. We did not go in [[obviously) but we were looking at the building, and there were pools of blood leading to a white tarp with blood on it. It was still glistening, so we called 9-1-1 and got out of there. A friend of a friend was there that day and saw nothing. I have a photo of it, but I do not want to put it up as it is pretty disturbing.
Thanks for the reply....I have since talked to my fellow "explorers", so they are okay. But I still wonder what happened. Look above [[pic) and you can see that I was there in December, but the last time that I checked Mark Twain in January or February the fence was locked up and the windows were boarded up. So the building is open again huh?!
Just an FYI -Said person [[who shall remain nameless) fell off the top step of the ladder. In bad shape, but will recover.
that was a lot of blood for falling 5 feet, but i wish the best if that is the case.
Those were the days...
Chandler Elementary...
Walking to the Mark Twain library after school...
Block Club Parties....
And Motown Music....
The Seventies were great!!
I was driving by Mark TWain Library the other day and I saw a big sign on the front of the building about a meeting this week about "What to do with the Mark Twain Detroit Public Library Branch?" I wonder what they will do with it...I would like to see them at least restore the building and try to save it from the scrappers and vandals.
Wow. I thought TRTL was obnoxious. I can't believe a grown person capable of operating a computer took the time to write STONED in such a shitty, non-artful way. Take some graffiti lessons if you're going to continue to treat abandoned classics like your personal canvas.
I had noticed work was being done on the former Mark Twain Library building today.I would love to know what is the plan for the building.
Boarding up the place again?
This building was one of the first buildings I encountered in this forum since I found it. The building was closed but still in a decent shape. And much of the inventary was also still in place, although I think most of the books are now infested with mildew. Since then I saw post after post of more missing parts like the gutters, ironwork and also the lettering on the building. I wonder what it looks now.
I had spoken to one of the workers who were at the building today. He has said that they are removing the asbestos before they raze the building. He did say that the books that were left in their were in bad shape.
Razing the building? I'm sure they have a wonderful plan for the reuse of the land...
I can't comment on whether or not the library should be open or not but, assuming that they do plan on closing the library, why in the hell couldn't they have had a book sale so that the books don't deteriorate?? it just seems that they City and the DPS shut the doors of their buildings and forget that they are still full of assets that they may be valuable to others or could be used elsewhere in the system. Disgusting.
Of all the other decrepit buildings in that area, why would they be tearing down the library first?
It's Detroit, we're not supposed to have nice things.
Stromberg2
There was no book sale because this library was never supposed to be closed down, and it sure as hell wasn't supposed to be abandoned, left to rot, stripped, and then torn down. The loss of this building is a disgusting shame that one can pin directly on mismanagement by the DPL and the City. It is the library I spent much of my childhood in, and my mother was on the "friends" board there for decades.
The Mark Twain Library was closed in the late '90s for what was supposed to be a relatively short roof repair, since some water damage had appeared in the ceiling near the roof. But then the DPL - relatively flush with funds and grants in the '90s - decided to turn it into an updating of the building, and let out contracts for a bigger construction job than just fixing the roof. The community was very excited by the flashy plans for their "renovated" library shown at meetings by the DPL and its contractor. But then the contractor had "difficulties" after starting the job and disappeared [[almost certainly because they bid too low and discovered they'd lose money on the job).
At some point during the agonizingly prolonged process to get a new contractor in there, the city "discovered" asbestos in the building, and called for its "abatement" before any further work could be done. So, over the objections of the community, the DPL declared that a "total renovation" of the building would now be necessary and that the library had to remain closed. It is, of course, a deep mystery why no one in the DPL seems to have thought or realized that a building built in 1940 would have some asbestos in it. Many in the neighborhood and among those who worked on the originally planned renovation believe that the "discovery" of this asbestos was very conveniently timed - to get the DPL out from under this project, maybe?.
By this time we're into the early 2000s, and harder times had come to the city. What had once seemed like a short sweet and affordable renovation that would keep this beautiful Wirt Rowland-designed building going for future generations and enhance the neighborhood, had instead become a big project for which there was no money that would cost the community its library. The DPL was still promising everyone that the renovation work on the library would be restarted soon, but it just sat there, abandoned.
Finally, some ministers in the area got together and insisted that the city at least allow them to get some of the books out of the building that would be most useful to people and particularly children and teens, and set up a temporary local library so folks would have a place to go to read and study. So, a "Mark Twain Annex" library was set up by DPL in a nearby church hall with some of the books from the old library.
Now, predictably, much has been stripped from the building that sat there abandoned and unguarded for several years. The unfixed roof leak just got bigger and more severe [[especially since the strippers took the copper flashing from the roof) and now the entire ceiling is ruined, the floor rotten, and the remaining books destroyed. The "Annex" has been removed from the name of the library in the church gym, and the DPL is now calling that the "Mark Twain Branch."
So, the building has been declared a "total loss" that must be demolished as soon as possible [[by one of the city's favorite demolition contractors, of course). And, most ironically, the long-delayed asbestos abatement is finally being done - so that the contractor can safely tear the building down and leave us here on the east side the benefit of another lovely vacant lot.
Disgusting indeed...
Interesting turn of events. I'm betting this story wasn't told to the bus full of suburbanites channel 7 shuffled into the city.
I drove by recently and there was a truck out front being loaded up. I couldn't make out what it said, it was storming but it said environmental something. Anyone know what's going on now? Maybe being preped for demo?
They are doing the asbestos removal and preparing Mark Twain for DEMO....so very sad:[[
Saw demolition starting on the Mark Twain Branch today. The dilapitated building next to it remains standing. Anybody got any pics?
They started demolition of the Mark Twain Branch on Gratiot.
http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=5606
It nobby matterin. Dayn't no one using lieberries no more anyhow!
It's always sad to see a library close, and a tragedy to see one reduced to rubble.
Thanks for the link to the pics.
Sad to lose a great and free public institution and such a lovely bldg . I wish that someone would have been able to renovate it into something else, [[other than a church, LOL). While library usage has declined over the years, mostly in response to the internet, usually when I go into my branch library, its a decent sized crowd. Ok, most of the people are using the internet....but it good to see people taking advantage of this wonderful public service. Maybe I'm just nostalgic because the library helped open up a world of possibility for me growing up.
As a side note, although we have the Detroit Works Job Program?, it would be a great added resource if DHS would partner with DPL on some kind of employment services program. DPL has been institutional to a number of people in resume writing.
Seeing that partially demolished library gave me a sick feeling in the gut. I know the books were removed long ago, but what does it say about a community that no longer needs a house of knowledge. Truly sad end for what once was.
Don't blame the community. The community tried like hell to save this library and its books. They saved as many books as the authorities would let them save, and those books are now sitting in a church hall as the "new" Mark Twain Library.
No, it's DPL, City of Detroit, and contractor negligence, along with the work of our erstwhile scrappers on buildings the city chooses to leave open to rot that are wholly to blame for this building's destruction.
And the same community that forces people to buy foreign crap and not hire minorities.
Stupid community. Feels good to cast blame on them, I suppose. Luckily what happens in the CoD is not a symptom of suburban future. Troy passed their library millage! Whew!!
The same thing you would do if you saw somebody scrapping your neighbors house, if you have to ask then it explains a lot of why things are what they are.If you are asking seriously then I can further elaborate and maybe give a few pointers on steps to take .
Such as each time somebody damages a building it adds costs which are not only costs to restore the damage but the added costs to the pride of the city ,the added costs to society loosing one more piece of the history that formed our ancestors,the cost to future generations because we choose not to preserve the past and made the decision for future generations that they do not deserve the same as we had.
So in theory a illeagle scrapper is not only destoying the past but also making the choice for every other citizen insuring that the property will not be available in the future.
I would say that the first response would be to call the police but given responses on this board they would probably not respond as a priority but I also believe that there are some LEO that are really trying to make a difference,log your call times and send the info to the city council members, make it an issue that they really need to address, squeaky wheels do get the grease and if enough of the community stands up they will be forced to address it, you pay them, they do work for you and your community and it is their responsibility and duty to address your concerns or step aside.
Will you calling or emailing that one time make a difference? probably not but sending 5 emails a day copying and pasting something like "When are we going to start addressing and enforcing the scrapping issue?" takes less then two minutes if you get no response your state legislators also work for you then it will be easier to secure buildings and not having to tear them down it is called mothballing and it is done as a common practice elsewhere.
I looked at two different properties one in Detroit and a similar one in another state,roughly same size and built in the same year and have been vacant pretty much the same amount of time ,the one in the other state is intact other then a few broken windows and still has equipment from the sixties in place apples to apples it will cost me over $4,000,000 to do business in Detroit verses the other city as a direct result from damage caused by scrappers and salvaging, the other city has the same problems as Detroit but they are aggressive when it comes to building stability and ensuring future use for public benefit and jobs.
If nobody says anything then nothing gets done ,if nobody presses the issue it becomes acceptable and the result is posts like this building after building going to waste.
Richard, I agree with almost everything you've said, but the problem is that you seem to have very little idea of the actual situation in the City of Detroit and the level of economic desperation here, or of the community around the Mark Twain Library and the fight they actually fought. They did everything you suggested and more, extracted promise after promise from the authorities involved, and all of them were eventually broken, leading to this outcome.
Demoliton almost Done.
This library was architecutural gem. To watch contractors demolish without regards for salvaging mahoghony bookshelves and gothic arches is sad.Attachment 10811
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