Bulldozers face many hurdles in blight blitz
FREEP FILM FESTIVAL
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP: U-M VS. MSU, 3:30 TODAY
ALL STATE
INAUGURAL EVENT LAUNCHES THURSDAY
MICHIGAN ST., MICHIGAN MEET FOR FIRST TIME IN BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
■ PULLOUT GUIDE INSIDE
SPORTS, 1C
■ FILMMAKERS TALK DOCUMENTARIES 1E
O N
■ FREE PRESS’ “PACKARD: THE LAST SHIFT” PREMIERES THURSDAY AT FILLMORE DETROIT
G U A R D
Sunday 3.16.2014
MOVES FROM THE D
Detroit dancer Sonya Tayeh rockets to top of dance world
F O R
1 8 2
www.freep.com
Y E A R S
IN Y COU OUR PON S
q
The winter we won’t soon forget
Aftermath could bring floods, wildlife deaths, bad allergies
MI BEST LIFE, 1D
MITCH ALBOM
Whatever happened to ‘as long as you’re under my roof’? A BETTER MICHIGAN, 17A
Tigers won’t confirm reports Iglesias out for extended time GO GREEN
The magic of western Ireland is within reach TRAVEL, 6E
23 10 High
INDEX
Bridge ............6D Business..........1B Corrections.....2A Deaths....21-23A Free Press editorials ......17A Detroit News editorials......24A Entertainment .1E
Horoscope...4D Mi Best Life .1D Lottery.........2A Metro..........4A Movies.........8E Puzzles ....6-7D Real Estate ...1F Sports ..........1C Travel...........6E
Vol. 183, Number 316 2014 Detroit Free Press Inc., Printed in the U.S.
$2.00 50%-90% OFF LOCAL DINING, SHOPPING, AND MORE DETAILS, 2A
Detroit Free Press Business Writer
Sharon Chapman lives near the Huron River in Hamburg Township, which the National Weather Service says has a 56% major flood risk. There are 3 to 5 inches of water in the snowpack, a hydrologist said, and that is a concern, too. Two inches would be considered high in March. TANYA MOUTZALIAS/SPECIAL TO THE FREE PRESS By Keith Matheny
T
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer
he harshest winter in decades isn’t done affecting Michigan just yet. This shudder-inducing winter has had a little bit of everything: near-record snowfall — 90.7 inches and counting in metro Detroit, nearing an alltime mark of 93.6 inches set in the winter of 1880-81; the second-most days below zero in a winter ever in the Flint area — 27, one day shy of the all-time record set in 1962-63, and a Great Lakes system that reached 92% ice cover this month — the most in 34 years and the second-most ever. But going into spring, this winter will continue to have impacts from flooding to fruit, deer die-offs to stalled shipping, and from bees to your sneeze. Here are just some of the ways the winter of 2013-14 will not soon be forgotten. See WINTER, Page 14A
Frigid today, 50 by Wednesday. FORECAST, 2A
Bulldozers face many hurdles in blight blitz By John Gallagher
Low
THE ROLLER COASTER CONTINUES
Demolition crews tear down abandoned houses on Turner Street in Detroit in August. RYAN GARZA/DFP
Paperwork, squatters, dirt just a few of the challenges for ambitious Detroit effort
SHIN SPLINTS
SPORTS, 2C
$239
MO SAVE RE TH AN
Hopes dimming for electric-car battery industry in Michigan By Nathan Bomey
A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 and was acquired by Chinese auto supplier Wanxiang Group.
Detroit Free Press Business Writer
The massive surge of Michigan tax credits and federal stimulus dollars that charged up the state’s nascent battery industry five years ago failed to generate the thousands of jobs that were promised. Any hope that battery jobs still are coming is complicated by the emergence of Silicon Valley electric-vehicle maker Tesla Motors, which recently announced plans to build a $5billion battery plant in the Southwest in partnership with Panasonic. Following the collapse of battery-maker A123 Systems and the dissolution of partnerships involving Dow Chemical
Standing between Detroit and its goal of razing 80,000 blighted houses in six years is a set of logistical challenges almost as mountainous as some of the landfills where the debris will be buried. Among those hurdles: finding enough dirt to fill the 80,000 holes left when structures and basements are removed. And finding enough trucks to haul all the debris to landfills. And training enough new workers in skills such as asbestos removal. One perhaps unexpected challenge will be removing squatters in abandoned houses. John Adamo Jr., CEO of Detroit-based Adamo Group, a firm that handles a lot of the city’s demolition work, says crews regularly find squatters in buildings on the demo list. He estimates that citywide perhaps 5% to 10% of houses slated for demolition are occupied by squatters. The city must also decide what a demolition site should look like once the crews haul away the debris and fill in the hole. “How clean is clean enough for the next intended use?” said Roger Homrich, vice president for community affairs at the Homrich demolition company. “If it’s going to be a playground, it better be immaculate. But if it’s going to be a manufacturing site, See BLIGHT, Page 15A
DECONSTRUCTING HOMES CREATES JOBS, SAVES ENVIRONMENT. 18A
Turning 65? It’s time to take the mystery out of Medicare and health care reform. Learn more about our Medicare plans at a free Medicare 101 Workshop. (800) 449-1515 or TTY/TDD (800) 649-3777 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
BLOOMBERG
and Johnson Controls, Michigan’s goal of becoming the world leader in battery supply production appears unrealistic. “We got the cart before the horse,” said Dave Cole, chairman emeritus of the Ann Ar-
bor-based Center for Automotive Research. Today, Michigan has only a few hundred battery workers in four plants — despite $861 million in Obama administration stimulus grants and $543 See ELECTRIC , Page 12A
Health Alliance Plan (hmo, hmo-pos) and Alliance Health & Life Insurance Co. (ppo, pdp) are plans with a Medicare contract. hap.org/medicare Y0076_ALL 201461 T65 CMS ACCEPTED 08/18/2013
178653pdf
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP: U-M VS. MSU, 3:30 TODAY
ALL STATE
INAUGURAL EVENT LAUNCHES THURSDAY
MICHIGAN ST., MICHIGAN MEET FOR FIRST TIME IN BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
■ PULLOUT GUIDE INSIDE
SPORTS, 1C
■ FILMMAKERS TALK DOCUMENTARIES 1E
O N
■ FREE PRESS’ “PACKARD: THE LAST SHIFT” PREMIERES THURSDAY AT FILLMORE DETROIT
G U A R D
Sunday 3.16.2014
MOVES FROM THE D
Detroit dancer Sonya Tayeh rockets to top of dance world
F O R
1 8 2
www.freep.com
Y E A R S
IN Y COU OUR PON S
q
The winter we won’t soon forget
Aftermath could bring floods, wildlife deaths, bad allergies
MI BEST LIFE, 1D
MITCH ALBOM
Whatever happened to ‘as long as you’re under my roof’? A BETTER MICHIGAN, 17A
Tigers won’t confirm reports Iglesias out for extended time GO GREEN
The magic of western Ireland is within reach TRAVEL, 6E
23 10 High
INDEX
Bridge ............6D Business..........1B Corrections.....2A Deaths....21-23A Free Press editorials ......17A Detroit News editorials......24A Entertainment .1E
Horoscope...4D Mi Best Life .1D Lottery.........2A Metro..........4A Movies.........8E Puzzles ....6-7D Real Estate ...1F Sports ..........1C Travel...........6E
Vol. 183, Number 316 2014 Detroit Free Press Inc., Printed in the U.S.
$2.00 50%-90% OFF LOCAL DINING, SHOPPING, AND MORE DETAILS, 2A
Detroit Free Press Business Writer
Sharon Chapman lives near the Huron River in Hamburg Township, which the National Weather Service says has a 56% major flood risk. There are 3 to 5 inches of water in the snowpack, a hydrologist said, and that is a concern, too. Two inches would be considered high in March. TANYA MOUTZALIAS/SPECIAL TO THE FREE PRESS By Keith Matheny
T
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer
he harshest winter in decades isn’t done affecting Michigan just yet. This shudder-inducing winter has had a little bit of everything: near-record snowfall — 90.7 inches and counting in metro Detroit, nearing an alltime mark of 93.6 inches set in the winter of 1880-81; the second-most days below zero in a winter ever in the Flint area — 27, one day shy of the all-time record set in 1962-63, and a Great Lakes system that reached 92% ice cover this month — the most in 34 years and the second-most ever. But going into spring, this winter will continue to have impacts from flooding to fruit, deer die-offs to stalled shipping, and from bees to your sneeze. Here are just some of the ways the winter of 2013-14 will not soon be forgotten. See WINTER, Page 14A
Frigid today, 50 by Wednesday. FORECAST, 2A
Bulldozers face many hurdles in blight blitz By John Gallagher
Low
THE ROLLER COASTER CONTINUES
Demolition crews tear down abandoned houses on Turner Street in Detroit in August. RYAN GARZA/DFP
Paperwork, squatters, dirt just a few of the challenges for ambitious Detroit effort
SHIN SPLINTS
SPORTS, 2C
$239
MO SAVE RE TH AN
Hopes dimming for electric-car battery industry in Michigan By Nathan Bomey
A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 and was acquired by Chinese auto supplier Wanxiang Group.
Detroit Free Press Business Writer
The massive surge of Michigan tax credits and federal stimulus dollars that charged up the state’s nascent battery industry five years ago failed to generate the thousands of jobs that were promised. Any hope that battery jobs still are coming is complicated by the emergence of Silicon Valley electric-vehicle maker Tesla Motors, which recently announced plans to build a $5billion battery plant in the Southwest in partnership with Panasonic. Following the collapse of battery-maker A123 Systems and the dissolution of partnerships involving Dow Chemical
Standing between Detroit and its goal of razing 80,000 blighted houses in six years is a set of logistical challenges almost as mountainous as some of the landfills where the debris will be buried. Among those hurdles: finding enough dirt to fill the 80,000 holes left when structures and basements are removed. And finding enough trucks to haul all the debris to landfills. And training enough new workers in skills such as asbestos removal. One perhaps unexpected challenge will be removing squatters in abandoned houses. John Adamo Jr., CEO of Detroit-based Adamo Group, a firm that handles a lot of the city’s demolition work, says crews regularly find squatters in buildings on the demo list. He estimates that citywide perhaps 5% to 10% of houses slated for demolition are occupied by squatters. The city must also decide what a demolition site should look like once the crews haul away the debris and fill in the hole. “How clean is clean enough for the next intended use?” said Roger Homrich, vice president for community affairs at the Homrich demolition company. “If it’s going to be a playground, it better be immaculate. But if it’s going to be a manufacturing site, See BLIGHT, Page 15A
DECONSTRUCTING HOMES CREATES JOBS, SAVES ENVIRONMENT. 18A
Turning 65? It’s time to take the mystery out of Medicare and health care reform. Learn more about our Medicare plans at a free Medicare 101 Workshop. (800) 449-1515 or TTY/TDD (800) 649-3777 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
BLOOMBERG
and Johnson Controls, Michigan’s goal of becoming the world leader in battery supply production appears unrealistic. “We got the cart before the horse,” said Dave Cole, chairman emeritus of the Ann Ar-
bor-based Center for Automotive Research. Today, Michigan has only a few hundred battery workers in four plants — despite $861 million in Obama administration stimulus grants and $543 See ELECTRIC , Page 12A
Health Alliance Plan (hmo, hmo-pos) and Alliance Health & Life Insurance Co. (ppo, pdp) are plans with a Medicare contract. hap.org/medicare Y0076_ALL 201461 T65 CMS ACCEPTED 08/18/2013
178653pdf
