More big, evil-looking eyes will be peering out from Detroit's burned and abandoned homes during Angels' Night this year.
Signs featuring 3-foot-wide sets of eyes warn, "This Building is Being Watched: Stop Halloween Arson," and ask people to call 911 if they see something suspicious.
The signs, which have been used in past years, are part of the city's Angels' Night effort to prevent arson fires. Thousands of volunteers will patrol the streets with flashlights and flashing lights on their cars in the days leading up to and including Halloween. Last year, there were 94 fires during the three days of Angels' Night, compared with an average of 20 to 25 fires on a typical day in Detroit.
The signs were going up Thursday in the neighborhoods west of the Southfield Freeway and north of Joy Road. A two-man team of inspectors from the dangerous buildings division of Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department walked Ashton Street and posted them on vacant houses. All 50-plus inspectors in the department will be participating in the campaign between now and Halloween.
"We're out there all the time, doing proactive work," said Tim McCarthy, who has been identifying vacant buildings, condemning abandoned buildings and ordering teardowns for the department for 12 years. He emphasized that city workers need help from residents. "They've got to call if they see any suspicious activity."
Marcus Williams, 32, who lives in the neighborhood, applauded the effort.
"We're going to be watching so those clowns don't burn it up," he said. "If I had a car, I'd be driving around with one of those lights."
Gabriel McNeil, 50, who owns a soul food carryout restaurant in the neighborhood, was out for a walk when he saw the workers, staplers in hand.
"I love it," said McNeil, who lives on Detroit's east side and has volunteered to coordinate food at an Angels' Night hub on the east side for the past six years. "People, when they see the signs, it's an eye-catcher: 'Somebody's watching.' So that's a great thing."
As the signs were going up, Detroit Fire Lt. Robert Brooks was leaving a nearby firehouse with a truck and three other firefighters to document burned, vacant and abandoned homes. It's an effort to get eyesores condemned and torn down with equipment and support from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The pictures they take with camera phones issued in the department for the project will be entered into a database. That information will be used to secure more funding for demolitions in the city.
"We don't mind doing something that benefits us and the people -- us because we won't have to fight that fire," Brooks said, pointing to a vacant home across the street from the firehouse.
Copyright 2012 - Detroit Free Press
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
