One of the largest-ever urban farming projects in the nation is underway on Detroit’s east side. The 140-acre area is largely abandoned and littered with trash, tires, furniture, rotting homes and discarded boats. The plan by Hantz Farms is to transform the blight into an urban forest with 15,000 hardwood trees.
From inside a vacant homeVacant lots are strewn with everything imaginable.Much of the area has been reduced to an urban prairie.Elnora Wade hopes the tree farms will remove the eyesores.Discarded boats are a common find.Sidewalks are overgrown.A lot of vacant space.Hantz Farms also plans to demolish vacant homes.Many of the homes are not salvageable.Hantz Farms pledged to demolish 50 abandoned houses.Tires will be cleaned up during the project.Some roads look rural.Abandoned houses attract fires and crime.Among the abandoned buildings are small stores.But it may be a tree farm.Message encourages students to stay in school.Abandoned houses often are the last standing on the block.This is the largest building to be acquired during the land deal.Known as “Murder Bears,” the stuffed animals are part of a makeshift memorial.Fires are common and exhaust resources.
Steve Neavling lives and works in Detroit as an investigative journalist. His stories have uncovered corruption, led to arrests and reforms and prompted FBI investigations.
