Detroiters' neighborhood work makes it into Seattle newspaper

The Seattle Times makes its way across the US and runs down what a few of Detroit's neighborhoods are doing to fight vacancies.

Excerpt:

Eric Blount, 51, an accountant, spent the spring and summer mowing grass at his own yard in Detroit and also at the large corner lot next door.

And when a real-estate agent nailed plywood over the ground-floor windows of the vacant, foreclosed home next door, Blount went over and painted the wood white to match the white-painted brick exterior.

"It doesn't pay to just look and not do anything," Blount said.

The foreclosure epidemic, while devastating to home values and the quality of life, has created bonds in neighborhoods hit hardest.

"Having this large a number of vacant homes and knowing no one is going to fix it, brought us together as neighbors," said Gail Rodwin, who heads the vacant homes committee in Sherwood Forest neighborhood in Detroit, where Blount lives.

Read the entire article here.