First, a couple examples of blight. This one is in Brightmoor, but not in the 14-block area where we worked.
This is a row if vacant houses more than a mile from Brightmoor. Some people might be glad the weed trees obscure the dilapidated houses.
Enough of that or I might be accused of glorifying what is called around here "ruin porn." Alas, in this city there are 78,000 examples.
On to the area where we worked. This shows only one block, but demonstrates what the area is like. You can see how empty it is. Now imagine 14 blocks similarly empty. This is an improvement over the blight, but doesn't show a healthy city.
Another view of an empty area with one of the burned houses the Blight Busters did not remove. I had wondered why not. A friend explained that perhaps the owners could not be found or did not give permission.
Just to the west of Brightmoor is the Eliza Howell neighborhood. That looks to be in fine shape with every house occupied and homes and landscaping well maintained. The difference? I'm sure it's because Eliza Howell was higher up the prosperity scale when the Great Recession hit.
Through my travels I saw streets had several vacant homes next to occupied homes. In many cases it looked like the residents worked really hard to make sure their little plot was well maintained as a bastion against encroaching blight.
The Sunday Free Press has photos of yesterday's event. Sorry, none of me. The link reminds me I should get all the names right. The event was Blight Elimination -- 100 Houses Event, organized by Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, Mitch Albom Charities, and the Blight Authority run by Bill Pulte IV. I'm pretty sure I saw a van with "Blight Busters" on it. But that's not the official name of the organization.
A pretty sunset this evening
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