John Eligon of the New York Times reports on Detroit's crackdown on metal scrappers.
He writes:
For generations, scavengers have prowled this city with impunity, pouncing on abandoned properties and light poles to pilfer steel, copper and other metals they could trade for cash at scrapyards. The practice left tens of thousands of buildings so damaged that they could not be restored, turning places like the North End into grim cityscapes that appeared to have been ravaged by a tornado.
In recent years, the city has become serious about fighting back. It razed dozens of rickety homes — lucrative scrapping targets — in this neighborhood alone in the past year. Residents have become increasingly vigilant about chasing scrappers away from their blocks, lawmakers have enacted rules making it more difficult to turn a quick profit from scrapping, and the police and private and public agencies have stepped up enforcement efforts.
The battle has been critical in places like the North End, a community with both expansive blight and bright economic potential, given its proximity to the city’s cultural and commercial heart.
Yet even as the crackdown on scrapping helps make neighborhoods like the North End look better, it is sounding a death knell for part of the underground economy that took root during Detroit’s long years of decay. And with that, people who continue to have bleak job prospects in the city’s stubbornly sluggish economy are finding their struggle to survive that much harder.
