Blight to Beauty Program is at Work in Morningside Business Corridors

16357 E. Warren Avenue prior to facade improvement.

The City of Detroit’s Blight to Beauty initiative has been working on vacant property blight remediation on commercial corridors across the city since September 2021. Obsolete signage, mangled/overgrown fencing, and peeling paint have been the focus for this past year’s remediations. Along with removing the visual clutter, the teams also do general cleanup in the area. Hopefully, you have noticed freshly painted exteriors or, at least, get an overall impression of improvement on corridors near you.

An after photo of 16357 E. Warren Avenue freshly painted.

Blight is a public nuisance. The Buildings, Safety Engineering & Environmental Department (BSEED) property maintenance inspectors write correction orders (bright yellow sticker notices) for properties that do not meet the minimum standards set by city code, then will issue blight tickets if the violations are not addressed. A hearing officer with the Department of Appeals and Hearings (DAH) adjudicates the ticket at a blight hearing. Municipal code allows the city to recover costs for blight abatement done on privately-owned property, therefore targets are selected from properties that have been found responsible for a blight violation. The teams also remediate city-owned properties in need of maintenance.

Our partners with the Department of Neighborhoods (DON) and DEGC district business liaisons (DBL), and place-based groups like East Warren Development, who know the history and players of an area, will share their concerns or hot spots which are routed to inspectors for enforcement, ticketing, and remediation as needed.

Any point of the process from inspection through remediation offers opportunity to engage property owners, remind (or teach) them about the rules, and request that they move toward compliance.

Although invoicing and legal actions have been taken with owners with a reputation for neglect, the main goal of the work is to improve the visual experience on Detroit streets, protect the health, safety, and dignity of our citizens, and to motivate all owners to toward responsible behavior for the long term.

Clean is an essential foundation for economic development and can influence perceptions. One of the advantages of the Blight to Beauty work is that it encourages nearby owners to up their maintenance game or to invest additional funds in their property. Cleanup can also reveal the unique character of small commercial buildings and trigger a sale to a new owner looking to land a new tenant or start their own business.

The Planning & Development Department’s (PDD) design guide, “Vibrant Blocks for Business”, offers a framework to guide our corridors as they develop. We are fortunate to have the city’s Detroit Means Business (DMB) website and the Motor City Match (MCM) program which has supported individuals “from idea to open” and beyond with technical and financial support across the city so that new small businesses have activated formerly vacant spaces.

In the Morningside sections our teams touched twelve properties on East Warren (two city-owned) and five on Harper (one city-owned) in 2023. Maybe, maybe, next year some of those will be occupied and open!

www.detroitmi.gov for BSEED, DAH, DON & PDD info
https://detroitmi.gov/webapp/detroitdevelopment-opportunities for city and DLBA properties for sale
www.degc.org for DMB, DBL, and MCM
https://ewarren.org for East Warren Dev Co

For questions, contact Helen Broughton at blight2beauty@detroitmi.gov.