Business

Task Force Finds More than 84,000 Blighted Parcels in Detroit Neighborhoods

May 27, 2014, 9:53 AM by  Allan Lengel

Featured_blight_7863

The big numbers are hardly surprising.

A 330-page report released Tuesday by the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force found that there are 84,641 blighted parcels in Detroit, 73,035 of which are residential structures. That figure does not include big industrial structures, but neighborhood structures make up 98 percent of the blighted structures in the city.

The report said it will cost about $850 million to clean up the blight in the neighborhoods.  The city has about $456 million so far. The task force report said it will cost another $500 million to $1 billion dollars to clean up the large-scale industrial sites.

The task force, which was created last year, held a well-attended press conference this morning at Focus Hope on Oakman Blvd. in Detroit to announce its findings. Those in attendance included task force co-chairs,  Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, Glenda Price and Linda Smith,  Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

“Blight is a cancer. Blight sucks the soul out of anything that comes near it, let alone those who are unfortunate enough to live with it all around them, ” Gilbert said, reading from a letter from the report that was penned by the co-chairs of the task force. 

The plan is to rid the city of blight in the neighborhoods within five years, though that timeline seemed to be more of an estimate than a firm deadline. 

Of 84,641 blighted neighborhood parcels, 6,135 are vacant lots that require clearing because of dumping of materials and 5,471 parcels include commercial, civic and  churches.

Gilbert said 25,000 of 26,900, or  93 percent, of the publicly owned structures are blighted. 

Featured_task_force_12853
Task Force Co-Chairs Linda Smith, Dan Gilbert and Glenda Price

Mayor Mike Duggan noted: "The Detroit Public Schools is one of the biggest sources of blight in the community."

The report stated:

No city in the country has taken on the scale of blight that Detroit faces, nor have they proposed eradication timelines as aggressive as ours. This presents several challenges and opportunities. The most significant challenge by far is funding.

The blight removal will include some deconstruction in which property is taken apart and parts are salvaged so they can be reused.

Putting together the report and mapping all the troubled sites was not easy task.


Mayor Mike Duggan spoke Tuesday

In November 2013, the report said, the Blight Removal Task Force, in partnership with Michigan Nonprofit Association, Data Driven Detroit and Loveland Technologies, began the survey of all 380,000 parcels in Detroit. In the winter and spring, the task force analyzed the data to create a blight elimination proposal.

An interactive map was created to show every blighted structure.  

Gilbert said the technology, along with all the input from citizens and government, is ground breaking. He said Detroit could be known for pioneering such a program.

The report said the mapping project "should be extended to become a full, continuous two-way conversation with the public through a revolutionary smart hone and computer based too for sharing parcel-level information."

The report also stated: 

Blight is a drag on community energy. It is a siphon on city vitality. Blight is a strong deterrent to economic investment and a proven threat to public safety. Blight can be a source of despair or cynicism for people who have witnessed the decline of a particular building or neighborhood over time.

Broken windows, piled up trash, and scorched or stripped interiors of vacant structures have challenged Detroiters every day for decades. This has been a painful reality for the city’s people and has harmed the national image of Detroit.

To read the report click here.



Leave a Comment:

Photo Of The Day