DPS gives land to City govt., millions in utility debt forgiven

I wonder how many of these buildings, how much of this land, will be renovated and have some kind of community educational/recreational component? What, if any kind of other uses would be entertained? http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...ment/18058887/ Excerpt:

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Detroit — Mayor Mike Duggan and Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Jack Martin announced a deal Tuesday to erase $11.6 million in debt DPS owes the city in return for the transfer of 77 vacant school buildings and lots.
Under the agreement, the city will forgive the debt, primarily electric bills DPS owes, according to a statement posted on the city's website.
In exchange, DPS will turn over control of 57 vacant schools [[31 secured and 26 unsecured) and 20 vacant lots where schools once stood. According to the district, the value of the properties equals what the district owes the city.
"We will take between 10 and 12 buildings and move in a timely manner to demolish them," Duggan said.
The city has identified $4.3 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds that can be used to raze those structures by mid-July, the mayor said.
"Each property that has a good playground will be assessed by Parks and Recreation," he said. "If they are well maintained, the rec department will make them available to the neighborhood."
Duggan said all of the buildings will not be demolished.
"There may come a day when more people move back into the city," he said

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I was wondering if anyone was going to comment on this. This needs to be tie-barred to the discussion of the Grand River/Blight issue. These schools are a huge blight on the neighborhood and I am glad something will be done to address this.

I am still wondering why it is property in lieu of paying for basic services that the City has provided the schools [[electricity). My feelings are mixed. I am glad that the City will be able to deal with securing or removing the blight, but am angry that it got hosed on $11 million and now has to take on the risk involved of these open blighted structures.

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Originally Posted by Hypestyles

I wonder how many of these buildings, how much of this land, will be renovated and have some kind of community educational/recreational component? What, if any kind of other uses would be entertained? http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...ment/18058887/ Excerpt:

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"Duggan said all of the buildings will not be demolished.
There may come a day when more people move back into the city," he said"

Kind of reminds me of the quote from the first Godfather movie, "there may come a day, and that day may never come" That was a huge debt to forgive. Restoring and/or maintenance on all that land/buildings, is going to take serious taxpayer dollars. Good luck.

Out of the 4 schools I attended in Detroit, 2 have already been demolished [[Dickerson and Cass). I think Field is still around, and Duffield still stands. Pretty sad.

That said, it will be good for these schools to come down. They do create issues in these neighborhoods. Hopefully some of them can be repurposed.

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

"Duggan said all of the buildings will not be demolished.
There may come a day when more people move back into the city," he said"

Kind of reminds me of the quote from the first Godfather movie, "there may come a day, and that day may never come" That was a huge debt to forgive. Restoring and/or maintenance on all that land/buildings, is going to take serious taxpayer dollars. Good luck.

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It was going to take 'serious taxpayer dollars' either for the district, or the city. Why does it matter which?

This looks to me like a sensible deal. The electric debt was pubic debt. And the land mess is a public land mess. The public is dealing with it.

Since the Detroit school district is coincident with the city itself, this shouldn't change anything. [[Am I right here?)

In Chicago, a number of closed school buildings have been converted to condo lofts. It's possible with the right renovation and design that the buildings can be re-visioned into office buildings and apartments.

It's been done in Detroit as well: http://detroit.curbed.com/tags/leland-lofts

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Originally Posted by Islandman

It's been done in Detroit as well: http://detroit.curbed.com/tags/leland-lofts

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The schools that are being turned over are no doubt the worst of the worst. They are probably in terrible condition and in terrible locations.

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Originally Posted by Hypestyles

I wonder how many of these buildings, how much of this land, will be renovated and have some kind of community educational/recreational component? What, if any kind of other uses would be entertained? http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...ment/18058887/ Excerpt:

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Part of the reason for this is that DPS will likely have to put their buildings on the open market, which would lead to some being sold to charters.

Whatever you think about charter schools, it's not a great business plan to sell surplus assets to a competitor.

I think my grandmother would call this "killing two birds with one stone."

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

The schools that are being turned over are no doubt the worst of the worst. They are probably in terrible condition and in terrible locations.

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^^^^This^^^^ I will give you one [[anecdotal) example: Carstens Elementary.

Four short years ago it was a feature article in the WSJ of what was positive with DPS – dedicated teachers and engaged students. It had a health clinic, a seven-day-a-week recreation center and a food pantry.

It was closed about a year ago and now sits vacant. I don’t know if it was ever properly secured and today it is open to vandals and scrappers as the photo below shows.

The attached aerial photo shows the Carstens neighborhood. Go a half mile in any direction; NORTH is Mack Avenue, EAST is Alter Road and Grosse Pointe Park beyond, SOUTH is Jefferson Avenue [[just off the edge) and WEST is Conner. Now spot the number of rooftops in that square mile. Roofs are few and far between in Detroit, yet there many roofs east of Alter in GPP.

Carstens was sited where it is because it was a great location for a school in the burgeoning east side of Detroit in 1915. Today it is surrounded by blight in the middle of an “urban prairie.”

So what will be the adaptive reuse? Apartments, senior housing or condos? Not likely. Retail? What little retail there is on Mack, Charlevoix, Kercheval or even Jefferson is struggling now. And if it was converted into a charter school where are the kids? They disappeared from this square mile of earth.

Kids that went to Carstens are now going to Remus school [[550 students in PK to 8) south of Jefferson Avenue. Remus draws from an area of about 2.5 square miles. When I attended Carstens I walked to school as did nearly every kid I knew. You cannot do that today.

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Originally Posted by BankruptcyGuy

Part of the reason for this is that DPS will likely have to put their buildings on the open market, which would lead to some being sold to charters.

Whatever you think about charter schools, it's not a great business plan to sell surplus assets to a competitor.

I think my grandmother would call this "killing two birds with one stone."

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Wow. That would never have occurred to me. But its so obvious. No organization wants to make it easy for their competition.

In NYC, co-location is a big issue. Detroit doesn't have a shortage of buildings. This is the next best way to make Charter real estate scarce.

Thanks, BG.

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Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Wow. That would never have occurred to me. But its so obvious. No organization wants to make it easy for their competition.

In NYC, co-location is a big issue. Detroit doesn't have a shortage of buildings. This is the next best way to make Charter real estate scarce.

Thanks, BG.

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I have yet to see a map of which ones are included in the deal. Some areas are losing population rapidly and I doubt a charter would want to buy a stripped property. If some are not too bad off what will keep the City from selling them to Charters? Won't that get them onto the tax rolls as they are not considered public property any longer?

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

I have yet to see a map of which ones are included in the deal. Some areas are losing population rapidly and I doubt a charter would want to buy a stripped property. If some are not too bad off what will keep the City from selling them to Charters? Won't that get them onto the tax rolls as they are not considered public property any longer?

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Me? I never bet against bureaucrats.

Nothing prevents the City from selling them to Charters, but the City can more easily cite alternative uses and argue that they have no mandate to advance education. Where the school board would have a harder time arguing against a Charter -- without appearing to be against education. Selling to the City doesn't eliminate possibility of Charter use. But I do think it gives alternative uses a leg up.

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Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Me? I never bet against bureaucrats.

Nothing prevents the City from selling them to Charters, but the City can more easily cite alternative uses and argue that they have no mandate to advance education. Where the school board would have a harder time arguing against a Charter -- without appearing to be against education. Selling to the City doesn't eliminate possibility of Charter use. But I do think it gives alternative uses a leg up.

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I looked this up during lunch. If you go to the Mayor's site there is a map. The number of secured buildings is dwarfed by the number of vacant land and open and dangerous buildings.