Joe
Club Member
Great organization :thumbsup:
DETROIT (WJBK) - A local non-profit putting people back to work while cleaning up Detroit is now in the international spotlight. However, it's what's wrong with the city that has a news crew from Ireland so interested.
The Motor City Blight Busters are hard at work demolishing a burned out home on Detroit's northwest side. In a city bursting with abondoned and derilick properities, Blight Busters' work is never done.
"There's much to do and if you just stand around and complain, nothing's going to get done. So, we've got a lot of work and, thank God, we have a lot of help," said John George, founder of Motor City Blight Busters.
George has been at this for 21 years. Now, his efforts are attracting international attention. A crew from Ireland's main news network is shooting a documentary on America in 2009 was fascinated by the level of decay in Detroit, specifically the number of burned out houses.
"The physical impact for an outsider to see something like this, it really does shock you," said Charlie Bird with RTE. "I did not believe that there could be such a site in America in the year 2009."
However, good things are happening, such as putting people to work. Blight Busters is employing workers through the governor's prisoner re-entry program and the city's summer youth work program. Then, of course, there's the blight busters demolition crew.
Blight Busters has already cleared two other houses in the same northwest Detroit neighborhood and a fourth is next on the list. All of it is a part of a contract with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority that calls for Blight Busters to demolish ten homes in twelve months. They've already demolished nine since June first and neighbors on this street full of children are relieved to see the abandoned properities go.
"I'm glad (they're) going down. It's going to make the neighborhood look better and it's going to be... safer," said neighbor Jessica Williams.
Video:
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/090807_blight_busters
When we were there a week ago, we helped remove one of the homes that is now an empty lot in the video.
DETROIT (WJBK) - A local non-profit putting people back to work while cleaning up Detroit is now in the international spotlight. However, it's what's wrong with the city that has a news crew from Ireland so interested.
The Motor City Blight Busters are hard at work demolishing a burned out home on Detroit's northwest side. In a city bursting with abondoned and derilick properities, Blight Busters' work is never done.
"There's much to do and if you just stand around and complain, nothing's going to get done. So, we've got a lot of work and, thank God, we have a lot of help," said John George, founder of Motor City Blight Busters.
George has been at this for 21 years. Now, his efforts are attracting international attention. A crew from Ireland's main news network is shooting a documentary on America in 2009 was fascinated by the level of decay in Detroit, specifically the number of burned out houses.
"The physical impact for an outsider to see something like this, it really does shock you," said Charlie Bird with RTE. "I did not believe that there could be such a site in America in the year 2009."
However, good things are happening, such as putting people to work. Blight Busters is employing workers through the governor's prisoner re-entry program and the city's summer youth work program. Then, of course, there's the blight busters demolition crew.
Blight Busters has already cleared two other houses in the same northwest Detroit neighborhood and a fourth is next on the list. All of it is a part of a contract with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority that calls for Blight Busters to demolish ten homes in twelve months. They've already demolished nine since June first and neighbors on this street full of children are relieved to see the abandoned properities go.
"I'm glad (they're) going down. It's going to make the neighborhood look better and it's going to be... safer," said neighbor Jessica Williams.
Video:
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/090807_blight_busters
When we were there a week ago, we helped remove one of the homes that is now an empty lot in the video.
