Brian Farkas points out a row of houses in need of demolition.Detroit — Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron is quick to point out to anyone who asks that, despite the high-profile struggles of the municipal government of Detroit, there are plenty of encouraging signs that good people are doing good things to make life better in the city.
On Sept. 17, the archbishop was given a personal look at an effort that accentuates just that, as he toured the Brightmoor neighborhood on Detroit’s west side with Brian Farkas, executive director of the Detroit Blight Authority.
The Detroit Blight Authority, whose founder and chairman is Bill Pulte IV, the grandson of the man who founded one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, is waging the monumental initiative to clear the city of blight. Their concept is to leverage economies of scale in the clearing of debris and demolition of houses.
Eliminating blight, Farkas points out, tackles the root cause of a community’s problems because it makes the community less susceptible to violent crimes, theft, fires and dumping. When the Detroit Blight Authority focuses on an area, he says, it’s with the involvement from concerned people who live there.
Riet Schumack, a resident of the Brightmoor neighborhood who regularly manages young volunteers in the neighborhood, describes her efforts to Archbishop Vigneron.On an hourlong morning driving tour, Farkas, Archbishop Vigneron and Jason Shanks, the executive director of Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, saw neighborhoods filled with abandoned and damaged houses, overgrown vegetation and mounds of litter. In close proximity, they saw the results of the Detroit Blight Authority’s work — occupied houses next to small open fields and neatly trimmed trees.
They even stopped along the way to talk with residents who have been instrumental in blight removal — and other positive initiatives — within their own neighborhoods.
“There’s a lot of energy in the city, and I saw so much of that today,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “I have great hope from what I saw. It’s about people with good will and smarts — and putting them together to help out their neighborhoods.
“I was very, very encouraged.”
Archbishop Vigneron also offered his support for the work that lies ahead for the Detroit Blight Authority — the stated goal of which is the elimination of blight from all of Detroit’s 139 square miles.
To learn more about the Detroit Blight Authority, visit www.blightauthority.com.
