Demolish abandoned buildings and plant trees

[Libertas]

Why do cities like Detroit allow abandoned buildings to remain standing? To combat climate change maybe we should demolish abandoned buildings and use that land to plant trees and community gardens.

Maybe there cities should adopt laws saying that once a building is unoccupied for more than 2,3, or 4 years, the city or county can use eminent domain to take the property. Once taken and the building is demolished, and nothing can ever be built on that land again.

This would have several profound effects:

Would create green spaces in inner cities.
Force the inner city to de-urbanize.
Give inner city dwellers access to land to grow their own food
Help combat climate change
Reduce the amount of heat absorbed by cities during the summer

 

[Shady Pines Ma]

Places like Detroit and Baltimore should also pay the homeless to clean up their cities.

 

[Libertas]

Places like Detroit and Baltimore should also pay the homeless to clean up their cities.

Some would work and make some extra money, but a great number of them would refuse to work.

After Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans some of the evacuees ended up at a summer camp in my area. I volunteered to help at the camp so I got to see this first hand.

The people running the camp contacted a local state unemployment office and arranged for a bus to pick up the adults to help them look for jobs. When the bus arrived at the camp a lot of the adults refused to get on the bus. The evacuees were staying at the summer camp for free, even their meals were provided for free, and they refused to look for work. They would not even get on the bus and go to the unemployment office.

Shortly after that, and after a sexual assualt by one of the people staying at the camp, the camp was closed and everyone had to relocate.

 

[Shady Pines Ma]

Then the homeless can get paid to plant the trees!!