Pilfering: Another La Salle Gardens Tragedy

[evergreen]

Well, folks, in two weeks I'll be home to Warrendale after working a year in Afghanistan for the US Army Corps of Engineers. While I've been here, I scour the real estate sites once every couple weeks just to see what amazing houses are being offered for low-low prices. Last summer, I brought to your attention a house in Hubbard Farms selling for $1000, and just last month a 5 bedroom, 3200 sq ft house on La Salle Boulevard selling for $9800 [[it was torched shortly after I started the thread). Well I've found another remarkable house, and what has happened to it angers me.

http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...troit-MI-48206

In pictures 9 and 10, you'll see the fireplaces mantles of 2 different fireplaces have been pried off the wall and wall sconces missing. The thiefs are permanently de-valuing and degrading Detroit's housing stock so thoroughly its sickening. Every single Detroit neighborhood has experienced this - stolen A/C units, aluminum siding ripped off houses, aluminum awnings ripped off houses, replacement vinyl windows and steel doors ripped off houses, yet I don't see the outcry from my fellow residents. These thieves are lowering the value of our own houses my destroying the neighboring ones, and it doesn't seem like anybody's doing anything about it! We're just accepting it.

About 2 years ago, the council was considering several regulations that would have discouraged the stripping of houses, but they never passed anything, and nothing new has been done.

This is something that we can fight [[yes, I am being idealistic). We can raise hell at City Council meetings until they act.

I hate seeing Detroit's unique housing stock stripped also, but I don't think a new ordinance would change this. First of all, theft is against the law so technically this is already illegal. Second, municipal ordinances can only create misdemeanors, not felonies. Third, Council's edicts barely have effect downtown, much less throughout the city.

I can look out my window and see numerous blight violations every day - these are purely stationary offenses, no need to run to catch the offender - and the city seems to be unable to enforce the property maintenance code. We have an ongoing problem in my neighborhood with illegal dumping of rubbish etc on vacant properties or lots. This also is against the law.

How the heck is the city supposed to stop strippers from entering unsecured, vacant properties in the dead of night to strip fixtures etc??? This is a very real and practical question that needs to be answered before drafting a new ordinance.

In a city where the cops spend a large amount of time dealing with crimes against human beings, property crimes in unoccupied dwellings go way down in terms of priority.

[JBMcB]

The problem is in the way a lot of people think nowadays.

Current thinking:
"It doesn't look like anyone owns this, it's mine now."

Correct thinking:
"Nobody gave this to me, and I didn't buy it, so it belongs to someone else."

I see this as the continuation of a trend of people not growing up intellectually beyond adolescence. Witness the rise of outrage culture, where people are personally offended that other people may hold different opinions.