We’ve all heard about Detroit’s blight issues, and seen many of pictures and new reports showing nothing but that. And it is true; neighborhood blight is a big issue in Detroit, and a big concern when it comes to matters of safety and neighborhood growth.  

Well Detroit has recently received $52 million dollars of the “Hardest Hit Funds” to put towards Detroit area demolitions. With the lack of city money to deal with issues such as this, Detroit is doing its best to make sure every dollar counts.

 The Detroit community has put together a number of community leaders,including Mr. Gilbert himself, to decide where that money goes, and which structures will be demolished. This blight task force will be surveying the properties in the city, and evaluating them individually (based on their condition) for demolition.

But is the condition of a structure really the only factor that should be taken into account when deciding whether or not to demolish a structure? Mr. Gilbert and the blight task force don’t think so. Preservation Detroit doesn’t think so. And I don’t think so either.

 Preservation Detroit and the Michigan Historic Preservation Network have partnered to bring a new level of data to the table when making these decisions. While Mr. Gilbert and his team will be evaluating the parcels based on condition, these preservation groups thought it valuable to evaluate structures based on other criteria.

What is the condition of its architectural integrity?

Does it fit in with the neighborhood characteristics?

What is the intactness of the block?

Does it require further research and attention?

So that’s what they did. I, along with numerous other trained and untrained volunteers set out to six neighborhoods across the city in groups of three or four. Within 3.5 weeks, these survey teams collected this information on over 19,000 individual properties.  I loved having the chance to explore the historic streets of the Morningside/ East English Village and the Southwest Detroit neighborhoods to collect this information.  But more importantly, is what will happen with this information.  This information collected by myself and numerous other volunteers will be at the table when the decision makers are deciding which structures to tear down, and this information will help to protect important pieces of Detroit’s architectural history.

 And yeah, I got to be a part of that.