Woman waits years for city to tear down blighted house

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A vacant house in shambles next door to a Detroit woman trying to hold on to her corner of Detroit.

FOX 2 first shared the story last July and the city promised to tear down that eyesore.

But nine months later that house is still standing - vacant for years on Detroit's eastside.  And dangerous.

"The kids walk up and down here," said resident Maxine Jones. "Somebody could easily drag one of them inside these houses."

Maybe you recognize Jones - she is a community activist.  Fox 2's Ron Savage did a story on her back in July and the city promised to do something about this house then.

But that was months ago. And look at the house today, it's still there.

"It's been like that going on six years," Jones said.

So let's try one more time.

FOX 2: "Is the city going to tear down that house?"

"We probably aren't," said Charlie Beckham, director of the department of neighborhoods.

What? 

According to Beckham. The city is using federal dollars to tear down houses. But the feds say which houses can be torn down and this house is not in one of these zones.

FOX 2: "How do you get in an HHF zone?"

"That's a very good question," Beckham said. "They dictate the zones. When we came into office we had probably 35 to 40 percent of the city was in that."

Doesn't sound good.

"It's heartbreaking," Jones said.

But wait; there may be hope for Miss Jones.

"First of all I want to thank Miss Jones for being active in her neighborhood and being her block club president," Beckham said. "But in the next week to 10 days we can get a crew out and board up that house to get a little more security out there."

That does sound good. We'll be watching.