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7,000 Properties To Be Razed During Blight-Busting Effort

DETROIT (WWJ) - A big effort was unveiled Monday in Detroit aimed at cleaning several neighborhoods of abandoned and dangerous homes.

Dan Kincaid with "Detroit Future City" says his organization played a role in determining what neighborhoods would be targeted.

Blight Elim. Prog. spkrs, demol.& protestors Farrow Group (PSweeting)"This begins to obviously influence the issues in our neighborhoods, planning element, quality of life sustainability for neighborhoods focusing on blight elimination, opportunities for future investment," said Kincaid. "But it also has to do with their economic growth efforts that are about making sure that we can deploy resources to ensure greater employment opportunities for Detroiters - greater access for development capital."

The Jefferson-Chalmers area and the East English Village are among the Detroit areas being targeted for clean up.

Governor Snyder announced in June the U.S. Treasury-approved program – the first of its kind in the nation – that allows MSHDA to use $100 million of its Hardest Hit Fund allocation for blight elimination.

It will reduce the number of vacant and abandoned properties in Detroit and four other Michigan cities: Flint, Grand Rapids, Pontiac and Saginaw.

Detroit is slated to receive $52.3 million in anti-blight funding; Flint will get $20.1 million; Saginaw $11.2 million; Pontiac $3.7 million, and Grand Rapids $2.5 million. About $10.2 million will be reserved to tear down additional abandoned properties that may become.

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