$150 Mil from Feds for Blight Removal. Roy Roberts Named 'Blight Czar'

**Lowell** · September-28-13, 03:08 PM

It appears that Roy Roberts will be in a position to demolish some of the schools he closed as Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager.

Robert has been designated "Blight Czar" heading up a task force that includes Dan Gilbert. A $150 million has been provided by the Feds.

The officials also announced that Roy Roberts, formerly the emergency manager of Detroit Public Schools, will lead efforts to reform how Detroit deals with vacant land. In addition, the officials announced that former Marygrove College President Glenda Price, Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and Linda Smith, executive director of U-SNAP-BAC, the east-side Detroit community development agency, have agreed to be part of a blight elimination task force that will tackle coordinating the effort.

Roberts will be responsible for helping lead an effort to rid the city of blight, which is often cited by residents as a major safety and quality-of-life issue. The city has more than 70,000 boarded or abandoned structures.

Full Free Press Article Here

**JBMcB** · September-28-13, 08:31 PM

In addition, the officials announced that former Marygrove College President Glenda Price, Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and Linda Smith, executive director of U-SNAP-BAC, the east-side Detroit community development agency, have agreed to be part of a blight elimination task force that will tackle coordinating the effort.

I don't think people with a vested interest in real estate should be in charge of figuring out what buildings should be torn down. This kind of power has been abused widely in L.A. Someone on the board wants a parcel of land, or someone they know wants a parcel of land, they declare it blighted and it gets torn down and put up for auction.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · September-28-13, 08:55 PM

"Old Roy" seems to have his hands on everything these days. What did he do that was so special concerning DPS, that warrants him being named the new Blight Czar?

**poobert** · September-28-13, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

"Old Roy" seems to have his hands on everything these days. What did he do that was so special concerning DPS, that warrants him being named the new Blight Czar?

The answer is, of course, nothing.

I generally like this country a whole lot, but one of the big things that pisses me off is that once you hit that point where you join the Monopoly Guy club, you're untouchable. You get on the board for this and that, invited to be the CEO or whatnot of whatever, and if something goes wrong, you don't get fired, you resign. Meanwhile the rest of us are scraping by and drinking 30 packs of Stroh's to make it all palatable.

The worst part is, 90% of the time these sons of bitches are just members of the lucky sperm club and never did anything worth a flying fuck.

**softailrider** · September-28-13, 09:37 PM

Roy made it to the top at GM Truck. I wouldn't say he never accomplished anything.

**Cliffy** · September-28-13, 09:51 PM

Someone needs to tell Snyder that its ok to pick white people to run things. He's not fooling anyone by placing black people with these phony job titles.

**brizee** · September-28-13, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

"Old Roy" seems to have his hands on everything these days. What did he do that was so special concerning DPS, that warrants him being named the new Blight Czar?

Same thing that qualifies Gary Brown, or Kevyn Orr to run a city?

Or most of the appointees to RTA?

Good dinner buddies I'm guessing.

**313WX** · September-29-13, 12:18 AM

That explains why Roy Roberts stepped down as EM of DPS. He knew what was coming.

**night-timer** · September-29-13, 01:37 AM

Just a general question, if you had $150m to donate to Detroit, could the money be used for something more constructive and/or helpful than demolition of schools and the like?

**Hermod** · September-29-13, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by night-timer

Just a general question, if you had $150m to donate to Detroit, could the money be used for something more constructive and/or helpful than demolition of schools and the like?

Any money from the feds comes with strings dictating the purpose of the money [[and it is illegal to divert it to another purpose).

**wolverine** · September-29-13, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Any money from the feds comes with strings dictating the purpose of the money [[and it is illegal to divert it to another purpose).

Exactly. Money from the Feds has a very specific purpose. Sorry to be harsh towards the other poster, but I hear the same silly comments from folks all the time..."oh they should use the money for ____very difficult to fix problem____"

No. As much as id love to see more investment in teachers and schools, that's a big structural problem for the state to figure out. You need to get good mileage out of federal money and demolition or construction of whatever it is you need is a perfectly good use of that money.

The only time the fed should give bailouts to fund city operations is when public safety is in extreme crisis.

**313WX** · September-29-13, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by night-timer

Just a general question, if you had $150m to donate to Detroit, could the money be used for something more constructive and/or helpful than demolition of schools and the like?

No.

Have you driven around the entire city of Detroit lately?

Heck, $150 Million dollars ain't hardly enough to clean up the amount of blight Detroit has.

**313WX** · September-29-13, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Any money from the feds comes with strings dictating the purpose of the money [[and it is illegal to divert it to another purpose).

Originally Posted by wolverine

Exactly. Money from the Feds has a very specific purpose. Sorry to be harsh towards the other poster, but I hear the same silly comments from folks all the time..."oh they should use the money for ____very difficult to fix problem____"

No. As much as id love to see more investment in teachers and schools, that's a big structural problem for the state to figure out. You need to get good mileage out of federal money and demolition or construction of whatever it is you need is a perfectly good use of that money.

The only time the fed should give bailouts to fund city operations is when public safety is in extreme crisis.

Did either of you read his question?

He said if YOU had $150 Million dollars to DONATE. He's not talking about the Federal funds.

**Detroitnerd** · September-29-13, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

"Old Roy" seems to have his hands on everything these days. What did he do that was so special concerning DPS, that warrants him being named the new Blight Czar?

Well, demolishing all those schools probably helped him develop solid business relationship with our local demolition contractors, whom he has showered with public money for years.

**Barbara_10** · September-29-13, 04:21 PM

"illegal to divert"
Now, that is funny.
Ask KK& Company about that.

**wolverine** · September-29-13, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Did either of you read his question?

He said if YOU had $150 Million dollars to DONATE. He's not talking about the Federal funds.

Please, in the context of a thread on a federal bailout?

**Hermod** · September-29-13, 07:42 PM

Having been in the sights of the feds many. many years ago for having spent money for the right purpose out of the wrong pocket, I can tell you that most fed funds are narrowly targeted.

**antongast** · September-29-13, 07:49 PM

Christ, and people complain about unionized civil servants having too much job security. The American Federation of Well-Connected Fuckups must have really gone out on a limb for this guy.

**Vic01** · September-29-13, 11:13 PM

from the article
"Roberts will be responsible for helping lead an effort to rid the city of blight, which is often cited by residents as a major safety and quality-of-life issue. The city has more than 70,000 boarded or abandoned structures".

I'm don't think the blight mentioned in the article is all "schools"... more likely they're mostly single family homes, with some multiple family flats and apartments thrown in the mix... then the business or commercial properties

**Spartan** · September-30-13, 10:57 AM

Another article from Deadline Detroit. Gilbert wants to build a giant scoreboard to track the progress lol.

http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/artic...ing_in_detroit

This is good, but I do hope they don't "overestimate" what is blighted and tear down good buildings in the process.

**Zacha341** · September-30-13, 11:08 AM

I wonder when he'll be getting around to that neat handful or more of abandoned DPS properties with every window out, abandoned for the last few years? The hulk at Clarmont and the Lodge/ US 10 comes to mind. A few near Chene.... etc.

**Detroitnerd** · September-30-13, 11:31 AM

Public policy enriched Dan Gilbert, making him a success.

Since Dan Gilbert is a success, he should have a hand in public policy.

RINSE, REPEAT

**Wesley Mouch** · September-30-13, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by Spartan

Another article from Deadline Detroit. Gilbert wants to build a giant scoreboard to track the progress lol...

Nice to see someone thinking creatively. I wish him lots of luck and money in his venture. He's pulling Detroit up with leadership -- now if only we had a mayor who thought like this to work us through the financial crisis.

**Richard** · September-30-13, 04:21 PM

There already has been a demolition scoreboard on the city web site for at least 3+ years.

Mr Gilbert has stated the every property that is deemed not viable needs to be demolished,who determines what is viable or not and what is the formula.

How many buildings are now viable that were not at the given time five years ago.

He already picked the low hanging fruit so in theory any vacant building still standing is at this time not viable and needs to be demolished.

You can see where this is going and who will benefit.

The last round of demolition funds of $53.000.000 there was a cost of $9.000.000 in administrative fees.

$150.000.000 could garner at least $20.000.000 in admin fees.

Remember not long ago when the concences was that the city is broke and there are no funds left ,seems like there are lots of opportunity left to make a buck.

**gvidas** · September-30-13, 06:09 PM

If I had $150 million to tackle blight, I would:

1) Support existing groups that are successfully rehabbing buildings, or using vacant space for constructive ends [[dog parks, sculpture parks, plain-old-park parks, growing things, whatever); create a straightforward process for said groups to buy/lease publicly owned properties for said purposes.

2) Make it easier for current taxpayers to buy/adopt publicly owned properties that are adjacent to their properties, and for community organizations to buy/adopt ones within their sphere of influence.

3) Be vigilant about collecting unpaid fines from absentee/delinquent property owners; be lenient towards owner-occupied housing.

4) Support existing groups that are deconstructing buildings.

5) Demolish only as a last resort. Afterwards, plant low-maintenance groundcover. Maybe buy some goats.

Of course, I'm no czar; I'm just some asshole with an internet connection.