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(CBS DETROIT) – Detroiter Marica Walker speaking to the media on Friday says, “Oh crime, crime, that’s going without being said, crime,” as she talks about the house on Prest Street that sat abandoned next to hers for nearly a decade.
She says it was not only an eye sore but an open invitation to rodents, crime and people used it as their personal dumping ground.
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“Like mattresses, people were doing their roof and just throwing roof stuff over there, it was a bath tub over there we had to get, just a lot of stuff that was an eye sore just because they saw that it was abandon,” Walker said.
Walker says she tried her best to at least make that area look presentable, but after doing so for nine years, she’s glad the city was finally able to demolish it, last August.
Now with the passing of Proposal N, which would preserve and renovate 8,000 homes and demo another 8,000, the city says more blight will soon come down.
“For us It represents a level of comfort when they come down, theirs some comfort that you return to the residents or to the neighbor to the property” said LaJuan Counts, Demolition Department director for the city of Detroit.
Counts says the city is quickly approaching its first 100 demolitions under the Proposal N work and plans to demo 3000 this year. Prior to Proposal N, only 300 homes per year were demoed with general funding.
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Walker is glad this is finally happening.
“I feel good, I know it takes time,” Walker said.
Through a program with the Detroit Land Bank, Mrs. Walker will be able to purchase the land next to her for $100, she already has plans for it.
“Getting some grass over there making it look pretty, throw some lights over there, just maintain it and make it look nice in the neighborhood,” said Walker.
The demolition department is hiring and has a program in place for returning citizens to gain employment during the demos and long-term.
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