Detroit using clear boards on vacant properties
DETROIT (CBS DETROIT) - The City of Detroit is transforming the way vacant properties look with a unique material that will hopefully attract buyers and cut crime.
It's a common sight regarding vacant properties: boarded up with plywood.
But over time, the city discovered it wasn't long after they'd finish the job that folks would undo their work.
"Anyone can come and use a saw or anything to cut that plywood, pull it off," Tasha Sewell, field operations supervisor with the Detroit Demolition Department, said
The city's Demolition Department is combating a costly cycle with sheets of plexiglass.
"In the beginning, it was significantly more. With the recent increase of costs for plywood, it's almost to the point where it's competitive. It is a little bit more expensive than plywood. But the fact that we don't have to come back three or four times to the same property to re-secure--that's where the savings is," said LaJuan Counts, director of the Detroit Demolition Department.
Sewell says the clear boards have a certain curb appeal.
"It just looks better, and it gives, you know, the neighbors' a sense of security that, you know, they can see inside the property if someone happened to break in or access it," Sewell said.
Besides reducing vandalism and other crime, whenever a potential buyer tours a property, they won't need a flashlight.
It takes about an hour and a half to install the clear boards. The department has installed over 1,500 in almost two years of doing so.
The concept is gaining popularity nationwide.
Ohio became the first state in the country to ban the use of plywood to secure vacant structures.
"Our whole goal is to keep the property in a condition where they are marketable and sellable, and then people will come in and buy those properties and rehab them," Counts said.
