| |
|
| |
Detroit
knocks
down
10,000th
vacant
house in
2˝
years.
Mayor
calls
it, “a
good
start.”
By
Wendell
Bryant/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
- Mayor
Mike
Duggan
gathered
together
both
residents
and city
leaders
to mark
a major
milestone,
The
removal
of
the10,000th
vacant
building
since
Duggan
took
office
in
January
2014.
Averaging
about 75
every
week for
the past
134
weeks.
The
city’s
dizzying
pace of
demolition
dwarfs
what the
city has
done in
the
past, as
well as
any
other
program
in the
country.
Detroit
demo
crews
now
average
about
150
demolitions
per
week, up
from
about 25
per week
before
Duggan
took
office.
To put
things
in
perspective,
Detroit,
as a
city,
has
demolished
more
houses
in the
past 2˝
years
than
have
been
taken
down in
any one
state in
the
country.
“We have
made
real
progress
in the
past 2˝
years
and
improved
the
quality
of life
for
residents
in a lot
of
neighborhoods,
but we
still
have
lots of
work to
do,”
Mayor
Duggan
said.
“But
10,000
demolitions
is a
great
start,
and we
are not
going to
let up
one
bit.”
Duggan
has said
that if
the city
had kept
its
previous
pace of
demolition,
it would
have
taken 30
years to
remove
the
40,000
unsalvageable
buildings
across
the city
and new
blight
likely
would
have
been
created
faster.
At its
current
pace,
the
Mayor
expects
the task
will
take
about
six more
years,
provided
Federal
funding
continues
at the
same
level.
Hitting
10,000
demolitions
– at a
pace
that
averages
about
150 a
week –
was a
"remarkable
accomplishment,"
Duggan
said.
"Every
time one
of these
houses
goes
down, we
raise
the
quality
of life
for
everybody
else in
the
neighborhood".
Quarter-billion
dollar
program
To date,
the City
Detroit
has been
awarded
more
than a
quarter-billion
dollars
by the
U.S.
Treasury
Department
and
Michigan
State
Housing
Development
Authority
to
remove
blight.
Multiple
allocations,
based on
the
success
of the
ones
prior,
have
allowed
Mayor
Duggan
to
significantly
increase
the
number
of
neighborhoods
where
demolition
can take
place.
When the
first
federally
designated
zones
were
approved
in 2013,
only 21%
of
Detroiters
lived in
neighborhoods
eligible
for
federally
funded
demolition.
However,
Mayor
Duggan
successfully
lobbied
to have
those
zones
expanded
three
times,
and now,
90% of
Detroit
residents
now live
in
neighborhoods
where
the city
can
demolish
dangerous
and
abandoned
buildings.
“We are
fortunate
to have
great
partners
at the
Treasury
Department
and at
MSHDA
who
recognize
the
impact
our
blight
removal
efforts
are
having,”
Mayor
Duggan
said.
“We
would
not have
come
this far
without
their
support.”
Blight
Removal,
Not Just
Demolition
Demolitions
are part
of a
much
broader
anti-blight
strategy
under
way in
Detroit.
Property
auctions,
nuisance
abatement
agreements,
and
community
partner
sales
have led
to more
than
1,400
properties
being
renovated
in
neighborhoods
across
the
city.
More
than
4,600
vacant
side
lots
have
been
sold to
neighbors
and put
back to
use. And
aggressive
anti-foreclosure
efforts
have
kept
tens of
thousands
of
families
from
losing
their
homes
and
having
them
become
vacant.
The City
is also
planning
more
than 150
commercial
demolitions
this
year. It
has
already
brought
down 25
commercial
structures
totaling
nearly 1
million
square
feet of
blighted
space.
“The
reason
we are
tearing
down is
to
rebuild,”
said
Mayor
Duggan.
The
city’s
demolition
program
is also
having a
positive
impact
in ways
that go
beyond
removing
blight.
A 2015
report
from
Dynamo
Metrics
and Rock
Ventures
found
that
home
demolitions
have
been
responsible
for
increased
property
values
in
neighborhoods
across
the
city. It
found
the
valuation
of homes
within
500 feet
of an
HHF
demolition
increased
by 4.2
percent,
-- more
than
$209
million
citywide.
In
neighborhoods
where
all
aspects
of the
city’s
blight
removal
program
are in
effect,
the
increase
in
property
values
has been
even
greater.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
I
HI TECH NEWS
I
SPORTS
I
