Monumental effort to tear down blight would improve neighborhoods and Detroit's image

**Vic01** · February-23-14, 05:08 AM

The city’s proposal to spend more than half-a-billion dollars on blight removal creates a Marshall Plan-style vision that would change the face of Detroit and the fortunes of its residents in just a few years.
Ambitious? Undoubtedly. But without question it would reframe Detroit’s image in the eyes of fans and critics alike.

Just think: So-called “ruin porn” photographers, metal scrappers and other urban vultures would have far fewer structures to prey upon and could be put out of business. Moviemakers would no longer flock to Detroit to film scenes of RoboCop-like post-apocalyptic blight.

http://www.freep.com/article/2014022...ht-Orr-Detroit

**DetroitPlanner** · February-23-14, 06:23 AM

Do you have an opinion?

**Dan Wesson** · February-23-14, 08:02 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Do you have an opinion?

Professional hardcore scrappers are gonna look for fresh pickin's.

Sort of like The Right Honorable Coleman A.Young saying to them scrappers... "Hit Eight Mile Road".

No, I say!

Employ them Scrappers, bring 'em in the circle.

Give a man some scrap he gonna eat for a day, teach a man to scrap he gonna eat for a life time.

**Dan Wesson** · February-23-14, 08:05 AM

Oh, tread lightly here on them "ruin porn photographers". You pickin up on what I be layin down?

Smiley face!

http://www.detroityes.com/tour-detro...Fabulous_Ruins

**compn** · February-23-14, 09:40 AM

$100 million spent on blight removal next year, whos paying for it?

**Danny** · February-23-14, 09:56 AM

It's a plan, but it must be implemented.

**Dan Wesson** · February-23-14, 10:19 AM

Can you imagine profiteers and absentee landlords coming out of the weeds and looking for their share of 100 million for their valuable property?

**maverick1** · February-23-14, 11:55 AM

There are a few things I think about when I hear government officials tackling blight.

1. Is this a way to increase home values by reducing housing?

2. There is a serious lack of affordable housing in Detroit. Of course there are cheap houses but a significant portion of Detroit's population can't afford them. Housing projects have been closed or demolished, the city has very few apartments or multi-unit family housing which leads to people squatting or having nowhere to go.

3. how many of these houses are actually salvageable and can be given to individuals [[not businesses) to rebuild neighborhoods.

**DetroitPlanner** · February-23-14, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by maverick1

There are a few things I think about when I hear government officials tackling blight.

1. Is this a way to increase home values by reducing housing?

2. There is a serious lack of affordable housing in Detroit. Of course there are cheap houses but a significant portion of Detroit's population can't afford them. Housing projects have been closed or demolished, the city has very few apartments or multi-unit family housing which leads to people squatting or having nowhere to go.

3. how many of these houses are actually salvageable and can be given to individuals [[not businesses) to rebuild neighborhoods.

1. Yes if you can control the crime.

2. B.S. Lots of good housing at affordable prices. The real issue is that people don't have the skills or credit. Many folks are living under the table and will never qualify.

3. Salvageable is based upon market conditions. These will vary based upon desirableness of area. A stripped home in a very desirable neighborhood would be worth a lot more than a stripped home next to a drug house.

**rex** · February-23-14, 01:05 PM

there remains an abundance of people in the city that dont have the resources to maintain their homes. Some of Detroit is poised to rebound tho. Thats a good thing.

**royce** · February-23-14, 02:29 PM

Sometimes I can't stand the positive spin that John Gallagher puts into his stories. Sure it would be nice to get rid of the blight with a half a billion dollars, but really, is this realistic? And say that it's possible to tear down 450 vacant homes a week, there will continue to be additional homes that become vacant during this process. Also, I'm not sure if the "deconstruction" idea is a good idea for Detroit. Given the mentality around here, homes that can be salvaged will find their way to being "scrapped" instead of "rehabbed" because now there'll be a bigger incentive for scrappers to strip even more of a house's parts, and this time it will be legal.

**maverick1** · February-23-14, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

1. Yes if you can control the crime.

2. B.S. Lots of good housing at affordable prices. The real issue is that people don't have the skills or credit. Many folks are living under the table and will never qualify.

3. Salvageable is based upon market conditions. These will vary based upon desirableness of area. A stripped home in a very desirable neighborhood would be worth a lot more than a stripped home next to a drug house.

I don't see your reasoning for #2. When most people are making $12.00/hr or less they can't afford a to buy or maintain a house.

GUSHI · February-23-14, 08:52 PM

$12.00 x 40 hours =$480, after taxes $380.00-$400.00. $400 x 52 weeks in a year. $20800. You can purchase a decent house in Detroit for what $35,000. 15 years mortgage, what your payment nothing. 4 weeks in a month. $1600 gr0ss-mortage, house ins, and taxes[[$500/month)=$1100. Cable, phone, heat, electricity, water. $400=$700. Groceries $100/week=$400.00 You have $300 left over

GUSHI · February-23-14, 08:54 PM

Were there is a will there is a way. I have seen people making $12.00/hour buy house in nicer neighbor hoods that in Detroit. EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUES.

**Zacha341** · February-23-14, 09:05 PM

Drats. It's the car insurance rates [[even on an old beater) that made home ownership simply impossible!

GUSHI · February-23-14, 09:14 PM

My old hood doing pretty good, Miller, Oliver, Dorothy, Winkleman, Dwyer. How can all those Arab Immigrants do it, and Americans can't. Oh I know they don't spend all day bitching about $12 bucks a hour, they work, budget and live. They pack lunches, they don't live on vending machines at work. Look at Hamtramck, vibrant, full of immigrants, how do they do it.

**corktownyuppie** · February-23-14, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by compn

$100 million spent on blight removal next year, whos paying for it?

It's coming out of the money we were supposed to be paying creditors.

So if you ask me, we are.
But if you ask the creditors, they are.

**Zacha341** · February-24-14, 06:48 AM

Too many 50+ inch flat screen TV's!

**compn** · February-24-14, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by corktownyuppie

It's coming out of the money we were supposed to be paying creditors.

so detroit is $18B in the hole, lets spend another $500m?

i agree demolition should be done on a scale this large, but the city is going to have to make some serious changes in order to function and survive this financial situation. those major changes are not in this plan.

its possible rick snyder/kevyn orr will change the plan into something more workable. this could be a bait and switch plan. we will see.

**Honky Tonk** · February-24-14, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by compn

so detroit is $18B in the hole, lets spend another $500m?

i agree demolition should be done on a scale this large, but the city is going to have to make some serious changes in order to function and survive this financial situation. those major changes are not in this plan.

its possible rick snyder/kevyn orr will change the plan into something more workable. this could be a bait and switch plan. we will see.

One idea would be to legitimize and license scrappers. Pay the unemployed to dismantle smaller structures. I don't know how feasible that would actually be, though.

**rex** · February-24-14, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by GUSHI

$12.00 x 40 hours =$480, after taxes $380.00-$400.00. $400 x 52 weeks in a year. $20800. You can purchase a decent house in Detroit for what $35,000. 15 years mortgage, what your payment nothing. 4 weeks in a month. $1600 gr0ss-mortage, house ins, and taxes[[$500/month)=$1100. Cable, phone, heat, electricity, water. $400=$700. Groceries $100/week=$400.00 You have $300 left over

Enough to get by from month to month but a new roof costs 10K or thereabouts. New windows i have no idea. Several thousand to paint the exterior, Several thousand more to paint the interior. There are all types of home repairs and upkeep expenses.
Just this year i replaced my roof, ceiling was leaking into the kitchen sink. Now i have to repair plaster up there. Plumbing issues that included water leaking into the basement after a shower & 2 leaky sinks. Furnace didn't start in November, Washing machine broke. I spent 13K on maintenance. By the aforementioned $300/month surplus thats 3.5 or so years of saving every extra penny. Plus transportation wasn't included in the above. Between gas, insurance, payments, repairs and whatever else it would cost me 4K a year to drive on the cheap.

**Honky Tonk** · February-24-14, 10:46 AM

You guys have hit the nail on the head and didn't know it. One of the big problems living in Detroit IS the cheap housing. You can buy dirt cheap @ an auction or forclosure, or squat, and when things go haywire, roofing, plumbing, windows, you deal with it as long as you can, then move on to the next cheap house. This is part of the reason for the blighted look. Your initial investment was minor, why spend major dollars for upkeep or restoration?

**mwilbert** · February-24-14, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by compn

so detroit is $18B in the hole, lets spend another $500m?

i agree demolition should be done on a scale this large, but the city is going to have to make some serious changes in order to function and survive this financial situation. those major changes are not in this plan.

its possible rick snyder/kevyn orr will change the plan into something more workable. this could be a bait and switch plan. we will see.

The whole idea of the plan of adjustment is that we won't be "$18B in the hole" afterward. That is a major change all by itself.

**DetroitPlanner** · February-24-14, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by rex

Enough to get by from month to month but a new roof costs 10K or thereabouts. New windows i have no idea. Several thousand to paint the exterior, Several thousand more to paint the interior. There are all types of home repairs and upkeep expenses.
Just this year i replaced my roof, ceiling was leaking into the kitchen sink. Now i have to repair plaster up there. Plumbing issues that included water leaking into the basement after a shower & 2 leaky sinks. Furnace didn't start in November, Washing machine broke. I spent 13K on maintenance. By the aforementioned $300/month surplus thats 3.5 or so years of saving every extra penny. Plus transportation wasn't included in the above. Between gas, insurance, payments, repairs and whatever else it would cost me 4K a year to drive on the cheap.

Regardless of maintenance costs the housing is affordable. An affordable house will cost about $3-4k for a new roof [[tear-off). $10k is closer to a McMansion sized home.

**maverick1** · February-24-14, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by rex

Enough to get by from month to month but a new roof costs 10K or thereabouts. New windows i have no idea. Several thousand to paint the exterior, Several thousand more to paint the interior. There are all types of home repairs and upkeep expenses.
Just this year i replaced my roof, ceiling was leaking into the kitchen sink. Now i have to repair plaster up there. Plumbing issues that included water leaking into the basement after a shower & 2 leaky sinks. Furnace didn't start in November, Washing machine broke. I spent 13K on maintenance. By the aforementioned $300/month surplus thats 3.5 or so years of saving every extra penny. Plus transportation wasn't included in the above. Between gas, insurance, payments, repairs and whatever else it would cost me 4K a year to drive on the cheap.

I agree. And what if they have children? It's easy to say it can be done when you don't have to do it.