This example of Detroit blight is posted on Flickr by Patricia Marks.
Mayor Mike Duggan has an eight-figure news nugget in his first State of the City address Wednesday night, Matt Helms reports in a Free Press preview.
Duggan will announce an additional $20 million to kick-start demolition of fire-damaged abandoned houses using untapped insurance funds in his first State of the City address tonight, people familiar with the proposal said Tuesday.
In a speech that’s expected to focus heavily on blight removal and making city services more responsive to people in neighborhoods, Duggan will announce that the money from an escrow account set aside by the insurance industry will fund a blight blitz that — based on the average estimated home demolition cost of about $8,500 — could help tear down more than 2,300 houses.
The "found money" is an example of past sloppiness by Detroit's dysfunctional government. It's "from a pool that insurers set aside for the city to help fund demolitions of homes beyond repair after fires," Helms explains.
The escrow money went unspent amid a bureaucracy noted for turning back tens of millions in federal grants after missing deadlines or not following legal guidelines.
Sources tell the Free Press that the mayor "also will update residents on efforts to cut red tape in neighborhood services and create a Department of Neighborhoods with offices based in City Council districts."
His 7 p.m. speech at City Hall is not open to the public.
