Duggan Unites With Maroun Family To Begin Blight Demolition [VIDEO]
DETROIT (WWJ) -- In an announcement made Thursday morning, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has joined forces with the Detroit International Bridge Company in an attempt to fight the city's blight and keep communities safe by tearing down abandoned industrial buildings in the city.
But Duggan said that this is a task that the city cannot handle alone.
"There is a need for probably $800 million of commercial demolition, for which we which we have no source of funds," Duggan said. "We are going to need the business community to do what the Maroun family is doing here -- that you're going to have a responsibility to take down your own buildings."
Duggan said that he wants to get past the history of an adversarial relationship with the Maroun's -- owners of the Detroit International Bridge Company -- and move forward working together.
"The Maroun's and the Detroit International Bridge Company are very important employers in the city," Duggan said. "There's been a lot of history of an adversarial relationship -- I'm not the least bit interested in looking backwards, all I'm interested in is how are we going to go forward."
A 3-story building on the corner of Fort St. and 18th was brought down on Thursday after it had been acquired in 2013 to expand the DIBC maintenance facilities.