Detroit plans to post legal notices, take court action if needed in fight against blight

[FrodosPet]

Hopefully these are baby steps and not "Hey look as this shiny little thing over here and then STFU"

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/detroit-plans-to-post-legal-notices-take-court-action-if-needed-in-fight-against-blight/25392028

Detroit will post legal notices on empty houses and take court action if needed against owners of blighted properties in one northwest side neighborhood, Mayor Mike Duggan announced Wednesday.

Duggan announced the Marygrove neighborhood effort as part of his revitalization program for the bankrupt city. He said notices will be posted on every vacant neighborhood home before owners are sued.

~ snip ~

"Starting today, it's no longer acceptable to leave behind a vacant property in the city of Detroit," Duggan said in a statement. "Either you can fix it up, or the city will seize the property and get it into the hands of someone who will."

~ snip ~

To smooth the way for buyers, Talmer Bank said it was committing $1 million to a program in which homeowners get $25,000 forgivable loans when they buy homes in the neighborhood at auction. The loans will be forgiven at the rate of $5,000 per year that the buyer continues to live in the home.

[tech3149]

1. On the surface it sounds like a good idea

I think the devil is in the details. Those who have walked away from their homes probably did so because they saw no option even though they may have been there for a generation or more. More than likely, that choice was made facing little if any possibility of keeping and maintaining the property.

For those willing to buy the property as a primary residence, it's a good deal and a smart move for the city.
I see the problem in those properties that no one wants to buy. If history is any precedent, they will be seized and sold for pennies on the dollar to some developer that has the right political connections.
When sold at that rate it is likely that the tax assessment will be "adjusted" to reflect the sale price of the property and minimize the tax revenue to the city and make the property even more attractive.

From my POV Detroit has been royally screwed for decades through little fault of their own. The final nails in the coffin were the state not providing the shared resources the were obligated to and Wall St selling a really bad deal on interest rate swaps on bond deals.

[FrodosPet]

2. Is getting developers to invest in Detroit automatically a bad thing?

A lot of people who need homes don't have the resources to make the intense amount of repairs that a lot of those places will need to be habitable.

Short of the city owning them (which I am sure is the preferred mode for supporters of socialism) - how else are they going to be fixed up?