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Detroit — Responding to the eighth fire this year at the Heidelberg Project, Detroit police said Monday they will step up patrols around the open-air art exhibit to calm neighbors upset by a string of arsons.
The latest blaze Sunday night at the east side site destroyed the “Clock House,” making it the fifth house in the project to be leveled by flames this year.
Police say the empty building at Ellery and Elba caught fire about 10:50 p.m., with smoke blanketing the area like fog. Fire crews arrived in under 10 minutes, but the building was engulfed. On Monday, all that was left was one wall and charred timbers.
“The fires are getting closer and closer to inhabited houses,” said Shanese Slater, who lives with her elderly parents across from the sprawling exhibit created by artist Tyree Guyton. “Of course I have fears. And I’m bewildered why a project that brings beauty and art to this neighborhood is being sabotaged.”
Sgt. Michael Woody, a Detroit Police spokesman, said Capt. Shawn Gargliano of the department’s 7th Precinct is working with patrol officers and special operations officers to get more patrols in the area.
“They are going to step up patrols to help the fire department and to provide citizens with peace of mind,” Woody said.
Officials at the Heidelberg Project have previously said they hired a security guard in mid-November to patrol after dark. Monday, spokeswoman Amanda Sansoterra declined to say what other steps project officials have taken.
Surveillance cameras and better lighting have been discussed, and the project has a fundraising campaign, with a target of $50,000 on Indiegogo.com, to finance added security.
As of Monday evening, the “Securing a Legacy” campaign had raised $37,052, or 74 percent of its goal with 11 days to go. The site is at: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/art-from-the-ashes-securing-a-legacy.
Slater, who gets up for work at 4 a.m., said she’s seen a security vehicle on occasion, “but the arsonists seem to be eluding it.”
She speculates the arsonist must use a lot of flammable accelerant “because these fires are like, ‘Boom!’ and the house is destroyed.”
A block away, longtime Heidelberg opponent B.B. Odums has seen a security car as well, and said one night it tailed her, watching her as she got out of her car and unlocked her front door.
She said the incident alarmed her, since she assumes the guard probably carries a gun.
“Now we have to worry about fires and nervous security guards driving around profiling people,” she said.
Odums said she’s particularly concerned the Polka-Dot House, which is inhabited, could be the next target.
Besides the Polka Dot House, remaining projects include the Numbers House, which was damaged by two smaller fires this year; the Teddy Bear House, and a fourth house on Mount Elliott that does not have an official name but is covered by boards with multicolored taxicabs painted on them.
Sunday night, an emotional Guyton watched the billowing smoke from the street near the project.
“In the words of Plato, I have to be quiet and still. I have to think,” Guyton said as his eyes welled with tears.
He said he planned to leave the charred remains of the Clock House standing as an artistic statement.
“I will say this, (the house) will be a part of my protest,” Guyton said.
The Detroit Arson Department is working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate the fires.
Detroit Fire Capt. Charles Simms said in November that a person of interest had been identified.
Should anyone be officially identified as an arson suspect, the fire department has the authority to submit warrant requests and take individuals into custody.
ATF special agent Donald Dawkins said the agency is following up on a number of leads.
“At this point, it is really a public safety issue, you have people living in homes there,” he said. “It’s a dangerous situation all the way around, so we’re just trying to work on this and do everything we can.”
The ATF is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction, Dawkins said. Also helping is the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dawkins said authorities are not ruling out the possibility multiple people have been involved in the destruction of the 27-year-old art installation — a public art space that attracts a large following.
“In an investigation like this, tips from the public are really necessary in solving these crimes,” Dawkins said.
Following the Nov. 28 fire that gutted the War House at 3710 Elba, Heidelberg Project executive director Jenenne Whitfield said the nonprofit’s only concern was the safety of residents. “We are working in full cooperation to do everything we can to put an end to this madness,” she said.
The challenge police face is they cannot expend limited resources on one specific area alone, Woody said.
“If the department were to do that, do you think the taxpayers would have an issue with that?” he said. “It’s a very sticky situation for us. We are in the business of policing and doing everything we can to ensure the safety of all our citizens.”
Woody added: “The problem is it’s difficult to be everywhere all the time, and in this particular neighborhood, that’s almost what needs to be done — be there 24/7 since these arsons are happening at all different times.”
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131209/METRO01/312090034#ixzz2n2URefvE
