City slumlords -- make that 'scavengers' -- target of News investigation

It's blight buster time.

Following an in-depth investigation in The Detroit News, Mayor Dave Bing has promised to crack down on absentee landowners who buy up foreclosed properties for as little as $500 and fail to maintain them. Turn up the heat, mayor. It's about time.

The News found that just 10 property owners own more than 5,000 parcels of land in Detroit. Only two of them live in the city. The largest private property owner, Michael G. Kelly of Grosse Pointe Woods, owns 1,152 parcels of land, many vacant, and owes the city nearly $100,000 in fines for failing to maintain his properties.

Excerpt:

"If you walked up to him on the street, you wouldn't know that he was a land baron," said Avery Williams, a city attorney. "He's a guy in blue jeans walking around looking like he's working on somebody's building."

Williams called Kelly a "scavenger" who preys on the "carrion" of Detroit, but the city soon may have no choice but to do business with him and other speculators. Kelly's companies have land in every corner, uniquely positioning him to be a player -- or impediment -- that could drive up the price of land in Mayor Dave Bing's Detroit Works Project to reshape the city. 

As Bing announces phases of the Detroit Works Project in coming months, the News quotes Wayne State professor John Mogk, who says Bing can expect lengthy and costly lawsuits claiming that favoring prospering neighborhoods over abandoned areas devalues their property. Here's the rub. It won't be residents filing those lawsuits ... just scavengers like Kelly, looking to make a buck off the city -- and impeding Detroit's future for their own profit.

Read about Bing's crackdown here, check out this video of speculator Michael G. Kelly, or read about how the 50,000 taxpayer-owned parcels of land could affect the city's turnaround here.