Detroit cleans up border with Grosse Pointe Park

City demolishes 10 more abandoned homes along Alter Road

DETROIT – What represented years of neglect changed it in a matter of minutes, Morris Washington is loving what he's seeing from his stoop.

"Abandoned like nobody cared for them no more. I'm of kind of glad they're gone," he said.

The city of Detroit was on a bulldozing blitz along Alter Road on Monday, tearing down 10 dilapidated and abandoned homes. Over the last year and 1/2 the city has demolished 6,000 homes with federal dollars, with tens of thousands more to go.

Brian Farkas is the director of special projects for the Detroit Building Authority.

"The street is very occupied. You got houses with flowers in the front yard and a lot of neighbors. That's where we are targeting our demos across the city," he sad.

If anywhere the blight is more pronounced it's here -- the dividing line between Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park. The two cities are close in proximity yet worlds apart. The blight has been a point of contention between the two cities.

"What we are doing on Alter Road is what we are doing across the city, and I am sure it does impact them in Grosse Pointe Park, that they are feeling good that this is happening. But our first priority is making sure that people who live on this block are feeling good," Detroit Chief of Staff Alexis Wiley.

That's exactly how Tanya Covington feels now about her neighborhood.

"Awesome. It is picking up. It's beautiful. So I want to stay," she said.