Volunteers help clean up 90-year-old woman's yard

Dangerous blight surrounded her west side home

DETROIT – A 90-year-old woman is getting some help after Local 4 aired a story on dangerous blight that surrounded her west side home.

Ruth Brown has lived on Burnette Street on Detroit’s west side for 53 years. Seven abandoned homes and a collapsed porch burden her street, she said.

“Either way I look, I say, ‘Oh Lord, no,’” Brown said.

Local 4 first aired Brown’s story on Friday. Today, the city arranged for volunteers from Motor City Blight Busters to clean up the mess.

“I didn’t know he was going to do all this,” Brown said. “Now I can sit (on the porch) and enjoy looking at it.”

Motor City Blight Busters intervened because Brown’s neighborhood falls outside the city’s hardest hit zones, meaning grant money could not be used to clean up.

Brown said she is thankful for the volunteers who spent the day making her home cleaner and safer.


About the Authors:

Jason is Local 4’s utility infielder. In addition to anchoring the morning newscast, he often reports on a variety of stories from the tragic, like the shootings at Michigan State, to the off-beat, like great gas station food.