From the brick stoop of his white two-story house on the corner of Scott and Dubois on Detroit's northeast side, Pleas Taylor used to look out at the skeletons of burned-out, crumbling houses, hollow trees, and waist-high weeds that snared plastic bags and provided too much cover. The vacant houses "were too available to drug addicts and prostitutes. And you were always afraid kids would get abducted," says Taylor, taking a drag of his cigarette. "You can't supply a place for ignorance to hide."

Hiding spots are hard to find these days on Taylor's block. During a 10-day span starting January 28, a demolition crew razed the abandoned buildings and overgrown vegetation on his block and nine others. Their work was part of a pilot project by the Detroit Blight Authority, a nonprofit dedicated to eradicating abandoned buildings within the city.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]