Business Enterprise Zones

7 Mile is an all residential commercial business as well as Outer Drive. It is all industrial on the north side of State Fair and is also on the back side of those properties. Yet it is all residential on the south side of State Fair. Many of the commercial spaces are either vacant or have not been used since the start of the pandemic. Most of the commercial spaces need a lot of work and are in a very poor condition.

In the residential area there are many burnt and vacant homes, as well as vacant property which is either not being used or not being taken care of vigilantly. Almost every house requires some major repair, but due to lack of sufficient funds or negligence of the landlord, the owner who lives there is only able to cater to the repair when he receives a grant to pay for it, or else the home may be made uninhabitable. The homeowner might also try to stay there until the house burns down or requires demolition. The alleys have been abandoned and are like a thick jungle with very tall weeds and bushes growing out of control due to being overlooked for over two decades. The alleys are filled with debris and are home to wildlife, including large rats and other rodents along with those that prey on them. They tend to share shelter from time to time in the vacant homes where they infest and destroy areas in the house making it a dangerous place to walk through. It becomes fatal to the point that it may require demolition.

All the city-owned property is mostly neglected and ignored by the residents and city officials. Usually, the homes burn and require demolition which takes years to resolve. There seems to be trash in the street at all times, making it unsanitary, especially in the summer. From time-to-time sewer or manhole covers are stolen, caved in, or are destroyed and not repaired which makes it very dangerous, especially for the children. The typical animals that live in the sewer surface from time to time, especially at night to feast on the garbage lying outside for collection the next day.

All residents have limited income as they are either on the verge of retirement, are physically disabled, are drug and alcohol dependent, have marginal education, are abusive to everyone around them, have a fire arm and use it indiscriminately numerous times resulting in murder, are a felon or might become one, or if an innocent child is severely abused due to the guardian’s lack of care for the child. Furthermore, most people are unemployed, unemployable, or under employed for the many reasons previously mentioned. Landlords in all cases are classic slum lords by definition. It is not recommended for a non-resident to drive up and down the streets at night, or by day for that matter. The residents tend to keep track of everything happening behind the curtain. They have a network they depend on located on their block and in moments they are on the phone trying to identify whether or not that person belongs, and if not, that person is put at great risk.

This plight is seen in many areas in the City of Detroit and is highly concentrated in the south of 8 Mile, West of Gratiot, around Hamtramck to the west border which is I-75 better known as the East Side of Detroit. This area includes the City-Owned Airport – the Coleman Young International Airport located off Conner/Outer Drive and Gratiot, north to 6 Mile and west about ½ mile, the largest potential for improvement in the area for over 50 years. The East Side in a Federal Study released in 1997 was earmarked as the most dangerous area in the US based on police and fire records. Fire has greatly reduced based on the fact 1,000’s of home have burnt to the ground, 1,000’s of home demolished, leaving 100’s of acres of vacant and dangerous as vegetation, trash, and dangerous wild life have taken root. Much of this area extends to Jefferson to the east and south but tends to improve as one nears Grosse Point, and communities near Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River where Wayne County Community College is and where Chrysler (Stellantis) has expanded their operation north from Jefferson.