National
Squatters Slow Detroit’s Plan to Bulldoze Way to Prosperity
COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Chris Mathews’ crew showed up this month to demolish one of the thousands of vacant homes destined for demolition as part of Detroit’s grand plan to bulldoze its way to prosperity when a call from his office stopped them in their tracks: Someone was living there.
A middle-aged woman who watched the crew tear away the home’s warped wooden steps the day before had called their company, Adamo Demolition, to point out she was living on the second floor, despite no power, heat or gas and a flooded basement.
“It was like a swimming pool. We would never have thought anybody was upstairs,” said Mathews, noting that the incident cost his crew time because the demolition wasn’t called off until after they had shown up with their equipment.
As Detroit carries out its plan to tear down tens of thousands of homes to combat blight and tailor the city to fit its population, which has dwindled to about a third the size of its 1950s peak, it will have to deal with an unknown number of squatters. Since the city doesn’t allow occupied properties to be demolished, police must be summoned to remove squatters who won’t leave homes voluntarily, which can take weeks or months. That makes them a complication of sorts for the recovery of the city, which emerged in December from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Clearing away as many vacant houses as quickly as possible is a priority. Drug dealers often set up shop in them, bodies turn up in them and some houses have been sites of sexual assaults.
But for some of the approximately 16,000 homeless people in Detroit, the structures offer safety and shelter.
Michele McCray calls them “abandonminiums.” McCray, 58, has been homeless for much of her adult life, yet she has had her pick of vacant houses to live in over the years.
“You look for one that’s decent, already fixed up,” McCray said from a homeless shelter where she stays when it’s too cold to hunker down in a house without heat and other utilities.
“The first thing you do is cut the grass … because the neighbors want to know who you are and what’s going on over here. You have to maintain the property. Paint the place up, keep it looking good.”
She sees it as a community service.
“A lot of people leave the door open because they want somebody to move in there,” McCray said. “When you got somebody that’s living in a place … that keeps people from coming in, tearing the place up, stealing the fixtures. It cuts down on people starting places on fires, stealing your furnace.”
A survey completed last year determined that more than 40,000 structures needed to be torn down. Another 38,000 had indications of blight and could be up for demolition.
Squatters aside, the city will not stop its fight against blight, said Craig Fahle, a spokesman for the Detroit Land Bank Authority, the agency overseeing the project.
“Illegal occupancy is an issue, but there is plenty of work to do with homes that are not occupied,” he said.
About 10 percent of the houses Adamo goes out to demolish have squatters or evidence of squatters, according to Mathews.
Tiffany Tilley, a real estate agent, said about 20 to 30 percent of the more than 100 properties she has shown have had signs that someone had been squatting in them.
“When you’re in the kitchen you might see food with plastic utensils in open jars,” Tilley said. “There was an incident or two when there were feces stored in a bedroom in a bucket.”
Squatters make it more difficult to show and sell properties, she said, referencing an east side house shown to investors about a month ago.
“We didn’t go past the kitchen,” said Tilley, 38. “It was evident someone had been in there or was still in there. There is always a risk of danger when you’re dealing with someone who is squatting. I don’t want to take that chance.”
Latisha Johnson wants vacant houses in her East English Village neighborhood to be occupied, but not by squatters. She sees people living in houses that don’t belong to them as part of Detroit’s blight problem.
Johnson, a block captain and former leader of the neighborhood association, calls Detroit’s squatting “an epidemic.”
“I don’t personally believe that any squatter is a good squatter,” she said. “You don’t know exactly what is going on in that house. You don’t know if they are tearing up that house. The person has no responsibility and will not be held responsible for anything that occurs at that house.”
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
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Barbara Lee
Congresswoman Barbara Lee Issues Statement on Deaths of Humanitarian Aid Volunteers in Gaza
On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12). “This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.
By California Black Media
On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12).
“This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.
The same day, it was confirmed by the organization that the humanitarian aid volunteers were killed in a strike carried out by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Prior to the incident, members of the team had been travelling in two armored vehicles marked with the WCF logo and they had been coordinating their movements with the IDF. The group had successfully delivered 10 tons of humanitarian food in a deconflicted zone when its convoy was struck.
“This is not only an attack against WCK. This is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the direst situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, chief executive officer of World Central Kitchen.
The seven victims included a U.S. citizen as well as others from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Palestine.
Lee has been a vocal advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and has supported actions by President Joe Biden to airdrop humanitarian aid in the area.
“Far too many civilians have lost their lives as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu’s reprehensible military offensive. The U.S. must join with our allies and demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire – it’s long overdue,” Lee said.
Commentary
Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy
In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.
By Emil Guillermo
In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
We needed to know the blunt truth.
The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.
And to save it will require all hands on deck.
It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.
That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.
No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.
It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.
No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.
The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.
According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”
Only 29% said “yes.”
That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.
Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.
Sixty-five percent said “yes.”
Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?
Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?
How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?
Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.
Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.
Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.
Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.
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