PONTIAC — Oakland County will team up with the Detroit Blight Authority to help resurgent communities such as Pontiac, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Bill Pulte, chairman of the Detroit Blight Authority and CEO of Pulte Capital Partners, announced today.
“Pontiac is on the path of succeeding once again,” Patterson said. “Improving its neighborhoods is another step toward its long-term recovery.”
Pulte developed the Detroit Blight Authority as a new standard for getting rid of blight. This non-profit organization is able to remove blight at about half the cost while recycling 80 percent of the material.
“Our goal is to revive neighborhoods block by block,” Pulte said. “We will begin our efforts in the city of Pontiac which has a list of more than 550 homes slated for demolition. We will also work with other communities which have a need for eliminating blight.”
The first home Pulte’s Detroit Blight Authority will clear will be the vacant dwelling at 70 Thorpe St. in Pontiac. It is located east of Telegraph Road and north of W. Huron Street. Pontiac City Councilman Don Woodward, who represents that neighborhood, said getting rid of blight will improve the city.
Oakland County’s Community & Home Improvement Division has already provided the City of Pontiac with $3 million in combined funding from Neighborhood Stabilization Program Round III and Community Development Block Grants for demolition of blighted homes which the city identifies. Pulte continues to fund the Detroit Blight Authority through private donations and grants. To donate to his efforts in Pontiac and elsewhere, go to theblightauthority.com.
In Detroit, the authority had eliminated blight — including vacant buildings, trash, debris and brush — from more than 500 lots or 24 city blocks in the Brightmoor and Eastern Market neighborhoods of Detroit.
