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A notice posted on a vacant Detroit house warns the owner to respond or become one of dozens facing nuisance abatement lawsuits in a new anti-blight effort launched by the city Wednesday, April 9, 2014

(Khalil AlHajal | MLive)

DETROIT, MI – The city began posting notices on vacant houses near Marygrove College on Wednesday in a first wave of warnings to the owners of blighted properties facing nuisance abatement lawsuits.

The Detroit Land Bank will file up to 79 lawsuits Monday against owners who don’t respond to the notices, which were posted by city workers after a Wednesday press conference.

The city plans to threaten another set of lawsuits in a different neighborhood every two weeks starting in May.

City Council President Brenda Jones said the effort targets houses that are bringing the city no tax revenue while diminishing the safety and property value of surrounding homes.

“The sun is shining in this neighborhood today,” she said in a press conference outside one of the vacant houses on Roselawn Street. “We’re going to see changes happening.”

Mayor Mike Duggan said the land bank will look to seize the houses of unresponsive owners, demolish those that aren't salvageable and auction the others to bidders who have no history of owning blighted or tax-foreclosed properties.

“We prefer not to sue people,” Mayor Mike Duggan said

“But if you want to avoid a lawsuit, here’s the option you have: If you want to sign a consent agreement with us that says in the next 60 days, you will sign a contract to get your house renovated and in the next six months, somebody will be in that house, we’re going to be thrilled… If you’re not prepared to sign an agreement, Monday we’re going to file a lawsuit.”

Details on the auction process were to be announced next week.

Talmer Bank announced dedicating $1 million to the Marygrove neighborhood, with plans of offering winning bidders forgivable $25,000 home loans. The bank would forgive $5,000 for each year the buyer would live in the home, for up to five years.

Dell Richardson, who's lived in her Roselawn Street home for over 50 years, said she hopes to see the effort make a difference in a neighborhood that has seen blight creep in and threaten a once vibrant neighborhood over the last several years.

“There are a lot of people in the neighborhood that care, but you can’t do it by yourself,” she said. “We’ve got to get the blocks back.”

Resident Cheryl Richardson called the mayor’s terms a “good deal.”

“It’s good if everything follows through,” she said. “I want to see something happen.”

Other residents had concerns for property owners who work slowly to fix their homes and struggle to find tenants.

More to come.

Follow MLive Detroit reporter Khalil AlHajal on Twitter @DetroitKhalil or on Facebook at Detroit Khalil. He can be reached at kalhajal@mlive.com or 313-643-0527.