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In Detroit's distressed areas, the neighbors left, and now services

disappear
May 20, 2012 |

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Rosetta Newby / TIM GALLOWAY/Special to the Free Press

By Cecil Angel
Detroit Free Press Staff
Writer

In the Davison Freeway and East McNichols area on Detroit's east

side, Rosetta Newby knows the cost of living in a neighborhood
marked by abandonment.

FILED UNDER
Local News
City Of Detroit
Dave Bing
Wayne State University
Warren

Her homeowners insurance is escalating, and no other company

will insure her at an affordable rate, she said. Her bank turned her
down for a loan for new windows and other improvements to her
home of 44 years on Charest.

There's no grocery store near her, and few streetlights work. All
that's left is a sprinkle of residents, shells of houses and vacant lots
framed by crumbling sidewalks.

Detroit man shoots and kills home

intruder, injures wife.
May. 09, 2012

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Mott Children's
Hospital outing

The Fab Five, then

and now

Living on Social Security, and at 75, Newby has few options.

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"If I had the money, I'd move," Newby said.

Related Links

That's exactly what the city is banking on.

It's a struggle to live in a neighborhood that's dying

Graphic: Detroit neighborhood rankings
It's a struggle to live in a neighborhood that's dying
Graphic: Detroit neighborhood rankings

ZOOM

Amid dwindling population and revenue, the

city is trying to encourage -- or push -people out of rundown neighborhoods that
are largely vacant, yet drain the city of its
resources. That means many of the services
that once were available to residents such as
Newby are no longer an option in her
neighborhood and others.
One of the biggest changes involves the
citywide drawing for the Senior Emergency
Home Repair program funded by Community
Development Block Grants.
Previously, an average of 5,000 people
would stand in line for hours at Cobo Center
hoping to be one of the 500 or so seniors
chosen in a lottery to receive home repair
grants of up to $12,000. Now, those living in
neighborhoods deemed distressed, like
Newby, are not eligible to receive the grants.
Also, under the city's Minor Home Repair
program, a resident at 80% of the average
median income could receive up to $25,000
in a grant to address health and safety
issues at their home. Now, that program, too,
disqualifies residents living in distressed
areas.
"The value of your home may be worth
$15,000," said Karla Henderson, group
executive for Planning and Facilities for the
city. "Why should we put $25,000 into the
home?"
However, in stable neighborhoods such as
Sherwood Forest, a person who meets the
eligibility requirements of 80% of the average
median income may now receive up to
$75,000 to fix up their homes.

"It's not politically friendly for some people, but it's necessary for the
long-term future of the city," Henderson said. "That's a significant
shift for us. It's going to affect hundreds of people."

A denser Detroit
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Mayor Dave Bing announced in July that the city would not force
people out of their homes under his ambitious Detroit Works
Project, but would instead realign services based on data and
market research. He also announced that the entire city would
benefit from a refocused Works Project. But that has since
changed.
"There are some areas where we are not going to invest. It makes
little sense to invest in those areas," Bing told the Free Press in
March.
"We don't want to entice people and lie to them," Bing said about
people living in certain areas holding out hope for a revival. "We're
going to be very specific where we want to invest or have a
developer invest."
The project focuses on creating denser and more stable
neighborhoods by shifting city services away from distressed areas
in a bid to more efficiently utilize resources. The minimum of
services would be offered to neighborhoods that are decaying and
sparsely populated.
Those living in areas the city deems distressed will not see any
improvements. Those in areas deemed stable will see new
streetlights, tree trimming, demolition of abandoned homes and the
development of businesses and new housing.
City officials and planners have visited neighborhoods and spoken
to block clubs and other groups about the changes. Still, many
Detroiters said they were unaware that city services were going to
be administered based on the area.
The urgent times call for the policy shift, city officials say.
As Detroit's population -- at 713,000 in 2010 and likely under
700,000 now -- and revenue continue to drop, the city is struggling
to provide basic services. The reality is currently playing out in City
Hall as the mayor and City Council debate the 2012-13 budget that
will likely slash more than $100 million in spending.
The city is now under a consent agreement with the state and must
make the cuts or face having an emergency manager appointed to
run the city.

Refocusing dollars
On the wall in the Planning and Development Department's office, a
map shows the areas of the city broken down into steady,
transitional, distressed and varied markets.
Only a fraction of the city is steady -- neighborhoods such as

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Palmer Woods. Most of the city is varied. Other neighborhoods,

such as Grandmont-Rosedale, are transitional.
Steady neighborhoods have little blight and a high number of
owner-occupied homes; transitional neighborhoods are considered
either on the upswing or a downward spiral; varied neighborhoods
have some streets that are stable and others that are deteriorating,
and distressed areas have a high amount of blight, few amenities
such as stores and restaurants, and few block clubs.
Henderson said the administration is focusing its effort and
resources in areas where the investments make sense.
Although homeowners in distressed neighborhoods are not eligible
for fix-up funds, Henderson said the city might give minimum help.
"We may come in and do an emergency repair," such as repairing a
furnace so a family can get through the winter.
Lyke Thompson, director of Wayne State University's Center for
Urban Studies, said the city's targeting approach "is a really good
thing."
"You really need to focus those dollars if you want to have any
impact at all," Thompson said. "There's not enough to do everything
for every neighborhood."
In distressed neighborhoods, it's more difficult to make a big impact
with the federal dollars that are available, he said.
Thompson said neighborhoods that have been stabilized have a
positive impact on the surrounding areas. For instance, there has
been a 38% decline in crime in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood in
the past three years. But also, the half-mile area around Midtown
has seen a drop in crime, Thompson said.

No help for developers

The Rev. Kenneth Hogan, pastor of Living Bread Ministries
International in Redford Township, learned what the changes mean
for developers.
In 2008, his church's Manna Development Corp. completed a 20unit development of two- and three-bedroom apartments in the
Warren and McKinley area on Detroit's west side and now has a
waiting list of tenants. Hogan said he wants to build 50 additional
units, but the city won't give him a letter to receive tax credits as
part of his application to the Michigan State Housing Development
Authority. He needs the credits to finance the project.
"We're doing what we think the city would want to happen in the
community," Hogan said.
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Although the proposed project is near Manna's first development,

the difference is that now, the area is considered distressed.
"The market dynamics don't support what they were trying to do,"
said Marja Winters, Planning and Development Department deputy
director. "I think the city has the responsibility to make responsible
investments."
Many developers rely on MSHDA and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development for grants and tax credits to make
their projects happen. City officials say they don't want to
discourage people from building in Detroit, just not in areas
designated as distressed.
State and federal officials won't fund projects without the city's
approval.
The city planning strategy also has the cooperation of DTE Energy
and Detroit Public Schools. DPS, in part, is basing school closings
and new construction on each neighborhood's designation,
Henderson said. And for those thinking about buying land from the
city in a distressed area -- think again.
The city will not sell city-owned lots to developers in those areas,
Henderson said. Developers are being told that if they build in a
distressed area, the city will not provide sewer lines, sidewalks,
lighting or any other amenities.
"We try to be very clear about the expectations," Henderson said.
"What we try to do is steer developers in line with where our
resources are going."
She said developers can skip city help and build in a distressed
area using only private dollars if the zoning allows. But that could
change as the city considers rezoning some distressed areas,
perhaps as parkland, to prevent any kind of construction.
However, there are rare exceptions to the policy for developers,
Henderson said. For example, the area on the south end of Palmer
Park -- mostly apartments -- is distressed, but because of its
proximity to the park and the affluent Palmer Woods neighborhood,
developers had the city's full cooperation when applying for grants
from state and federal agencies to renovate apartments there.
If the city succeeds in clearing distressed areas, they could be
rezoned for urban agriculture, parkland or as industrial, Henderson
said.
In order to evaluate the impact of its policy change, the city has
defined three demonstration areas that have all four markets
represented. The areas are being monitored for a year and a report
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will be ready by August, Henderson said.

Some programs may be unique to a demonstration area but could
be expanded to others.
In southwest Detroit, for example, residents complained that
purchasing lots adjacent to their properties was a challenge. So,
the Bing administration decided to offer to sell 300 city-owned lots
in that area to the adjacent property owners.
The property owner would mail in $200 for the one lot, and the
deed would be mailed to them along with a gift card to buy a fence
for the property -- all without a trip to city hall.
Henderson said 100 property owners have responded to the offer.
Jose DeJesus Centeno is one of them.
"It makes me feel good," said Centeno, 43, who is purchasing two
lots. "I don't have to go to the city or nothing. They just mail it."
Centeno, a construction worker, has lived in the 8800 block of
Fulton for about 13 years. He said there are only seven houses left
on his entire block. He wants to see his neighborhood come back,
and to that end, he has bought three houses.
He lives in one house and two siblings live in the others. A third
sibling also has moved to the block.
When the city mailed Centeno the offer to sell him lots, he said he
was elated. He saw it as a chance to take possession of lots that
people were using as garbage dumps.
"I like to make it cleaner and better," Centeno said of his block.
Since southwest Detroit has a large population of residents whose
first language is Spanish, including Centeno, the city had Spanishspeaking employees available to help him over the phone to
complete the forms. In two to three weeks, Centeno expects to
receive the deeds to two lots.
The response has been so strong that the department has asked
the City Council to extend the Adjacent Vacant Lot Program. It is
set to expire on June 30, but the department is asking the city for a
five-year extension.

'It's going to get worse'

At Moran and Victoria, a sign on a vacant lot reads "Creating a
Caring Community Starting with You and Me."
Down the street in the 13800 block of Moran, William Moseley Jr.,
22, looks at five abandoned houses across the street from a house

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he shares with his grandmother. One of the houses is burned.

On his side of the street, there are more abandoned houses both
north and south of him. Few of the intact houses are owneroccupied, but are rentals, he said.
"They're trying to get people out of the city," Moseley said of the
city's policy. "They don't want us to come back here."
His cousin and his cousin's wife used to live in one of the nowabandoned houses across the street. "It was a real nice house,"
Moseley said.
Two days after his cousin moved out, the scrappers moved in. They
stole aluminum from the exterior, windows, appliances, the furnace,
cabinets and fixtures, Moseley said.
"It was so fast, you would have thought it was a NASCAR pit crew,"
Moseley said. "Even the front door is not there anymore."
He scanned the houses.
"It's hard for people in this neighborhood to have all these
abandoned houses. The city doesn't care," he said.
When told that the city would be cutting the grass just at the
borders of vacant lots in the neighborhood and that crumbling
streets would not be resurfaced, Moseley said, "It's going to get
worse, if nobody is getting the help they need. It's going to spread.
This area is going to be like a war zone."
He says he has plans to move soon, possibly to Southfield.
He's lived in the neighborhood since he was an infant, and life has
grown harder. He said he pays $235 a month for car insurance for
his 1999 Chevy Malibu.
"Where you're from and what your ZIP code is matters," he said.
In the future, the city will ask residents to move from distressed
areas, but they won't be forced to move.
"We do not want to force anybody to leave," Henderson said.
Instead, the city will offer incentives, she said.
"Before we can approach residents, we have to have alternatives
for them," Henderson said. "We have to be able to provide
residents options."
Homeowners in distressed areas may be able to sign over their
homes to the city in exchange for a house in a more stable area.

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"We don't have an official program in place yet, but that's

something we're looking at," Henderson said.
No one will be offered money for their property; that's not an option,
she said.
"We have to be up front with folks. That's the vision. That's the
direction we're headed," she said.

Services cut, not taxes

On Newbern near Victoria, the Rev. Bernard Cannon, pastor of
Perfecting the Saints of God Church, talks about plans to acquire a
lot next to the church to perhaps build a fellowship hall. He also
wants to buy a large county-owned parcel behind the church to use
as a parking lot.
Cannon said he was unfamiliar with the city's new policies on
planning and city services for the mostly rundown neighborhood.
"How do they inform people when they're changing policy?"
Cannon said. "This is the first time I've heard of it.
"It may be a good policy for the city to save money, but it's not good
for the taxpayer down the line," Cannon said. "The taxpayers are
getting ripped off."
Cannon, 64, said the policy was going to cause more harm than
good.
"When people start to leave these properties, what's going to
happen is that the tax base is going to dwindle," he said.
That is something that Barbara Ford knows firsthand.
Ford, 67, lived in the distressed east-side neighborhood for 40
years before moving in December to Sterling Heights.
"I wasn't going to move, but I was robbed three times from
September into October, and I knew I wasn't safe," she said. In the
second robbery, she came home and found the burglars in the
house.
"Some people are ready to go," she said. "I personally was not
ready to go. It was a forced move."
Ford, who praised police response time when the thieves were in
her home, said it is not fair that city services are being cut, yet
residents are still required to pay taxes.
"I think it's a horrible idea," she said. "They're still paying taxes. If
you don't want to move -- that's your choice."

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She understands the city's actions are meant to save money during
a financial crisis.
"That may be fine and good," she said. "But is it right?"
Contact Cecil Angel: 313-223-4531 or cangel@freepress.com. Staff
writer Kristi Tanner contributed to this report.
More Details: Find out more
The Detroit Planning Commission will host an event Wednesday
for developers and investors regarding ways to reuse and develop
vacant school buildings and sites. The event will be at 8:30 a.m. at
Sacred Heart Major Seminary, 2701 Chicago.
Detroit Planning and Development Department: 313-224-6380 or
www.detroitmi.gov /DepartmentsandAgencies
/PlanningDevelopment Department.aspx .
The Detroit Works Project is hosting community meetings to
discuss long-range plans for the city. Go to http://detroitworks
project.com for details and schedules.

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