Sadly, Lincoln has hit the nail precisely on the head. There is no effective way to control blight unless the extreme end of the process - taking over the property for unpaid taxes and liens - is an effective threat. In Detroit, and seeping into some of the suburbs, the property is worth so little that this threat is of no effect. If I have nothing but lint in my pocket, and someone threatens to take everything in my pocket, that is not an effective threat.
Most of the large-scale property owners also know how to protect their companies from any other attempt to control blight. If the City was able to go after a property owner's other assets - which I don't believe it can - then the property owner can always take that particular corporate entity into bankruptcy. Also, the smart property owners have corporations own all the property, since we can't put a corporation in jail.
But the root of the problem is value. If property is valuable, blight can be controlled, and if it's not, it can't. Detroit has to find a way to make the land under the buildings worth money, and that is purely a problem for City government.
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