Keeping the demolishionists busy
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Demolition blitz getting under way
Detroit to raze 365 vacant buildings
About $10 million in federal aid supports catch-up campaign
David Josar / The Detroit News
Detroit -- State officials next month will begin razing 365 vacant homes and commercial buildings in the city, the beginning of a blitz that could record the most demolitions since Dennis Archer was mayor.
"We're going to take it to a new level," said Carrie Lewand-Monroe, executive director of the Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority that Gov. Jennifer Granholm created in 2003. "This is our start."
Some $10 million in federal money, part of the federal plan to fight the foreclosure crisis, is spurring the effort, which includes 500 demolitions statewide. The land bank has acquired title to more than 6,700 parcels in Detroit after they remained unsold at Wayne County sales on tax-foreclosed properties.
Two months ago, red cardboard signs began appearing on rundown buildings to let owners and neighbors know the structures were targeted for destruction. One is affixed to the façade of a boarded-up two flat at Clay and Cameron near Interstate 75 and Grand Boulevard.
"Once that goes, I hope the rest of them go," said Aleisha Burns, a patron at the nearby Coney Island who lives around the corner. "Every vacant building is another place for trouble."
The state is targeting 330 homes and 35 commercial buildings. The city, meanwhile, is taking advantage of another $14 million in federal stimulus money to knock down nearly 1,600 buildings.
Together, that would be the most since Archer razed 2,250 in the 2001-2002 fiscal year.
Even so, the demolitions are a drop in the budget compared to the 78,000 structures that the U.S. Postal Service estimated in March had remained vacant for at least 90 days. That's up 20 percent from 2005.
Rita Denard, 50, who was recently laid off, said she's seen the number of vacancies increase in her north end neighborhood. Seven are slated for demolition, including a burned-out building on Bethune with a falling-down porch and a house with broken windows and doors on Mount Vernon whose water is running in the basement.
"We do need some help," she said.
The state is working with Greening of Detroit, which will try to set up community gardens and agriculture plots and possibly set up small nurseries to grow trees until they are ready for planting elsewhere.
But Monica Tabares, a spokeswoman for Greening, said funding has not come through for the large-scale projects, so the group will try to partner with local organizations to establish and maintain the gardens.
Lewand-Monroe said state contractors will remove basements during demolitions so the lots could accommodate new construction.
Other plots will be available to adjacent land owners for $100 or given to nonprofit organizations with the hope that they be used to build new homes.
Central Detroit Christian Community Development, which has opened the local produce store Peaches and Greens and also has built low-income housing, has received nine parcels from the land bank.
The group welcomes the plots, but is only able to use them for community parks and gardens. "We'd love to be able to build on them, but the economy just won't allow us to do that right now," said Lisa Johanon, the group's executive director.
Lewand-Monroe said she realizes the land bank still has its work cut out for it."This is the start of what we can do," she said. "We're hoping to take what is blight and turn it into a viable neighborhood."
djosar@detnews.com [[313) 222-2073
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...cant-buildings
