City rejuvenation will see 1,500 homes fall in just 90 days.
Within the next 90 days, the City of Detroit will demolish 1,500 abandoned and dangerous houses, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing pledged Tuesday.
To date, the Bing administration has demolished 4,500 houses, and the 90-day blitz will bring the total to 6,000, Bing said. The mayor promised to demolish at least 10,000 during his four-year term.
“It’s going to start here, but it won’t stop here,” Bing said, standing in front of a house on Coram on the city’s east side near Denby High School. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. … This is only about 10% of the houses that need to be torn down.”
More than 3,000 structures in the Denby area alone are considered so dangerous they need to be torn down, the Free Press analysis found. Last year, the city targeted the area around Denby and two other high schools for increased demolitions and patrols: Osborn, adjacent to Denby on the east side, and Cody, on the west side. More than 5,500 homes need to be demolished near Cody and more than 2,700 near Osborn.
Last fall, the city stepped up police patrols around the three school zones and brought together volunteer patrols to help. Although the extra patrols have helped reduce some crime, the cash-strapped city’s pledge to tear down dangerous structures in school zones remains unfulfilled.
Bing said when he first came into office, it cost the city about $10,000 to demolish one house, but the city has negotiated the price down with contractors to about $8,500.
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