VOA标准英语2014--Motor City Mapping Project Takes Aim at Detroit Blight

 

Motor City Mapping Project Takes Aim at Detroit Blight¹

DETROIT, MICHIGAN — Urban and industrial blight as a result of Detroit’s economic decline has changed the look of the so-called Motor City and how it is perceived.  But a new task force charged with revitalizing the city is spearheading an effort to electronically catalog each troubled property.  The Motor City Mapping Project is on the cutting edge of technology and aims to give city planners a complete look at the task of eliminating blight in Detroit

To many who visit Detroit, the trash-filled lots, run-down houses and abandoned factories are symbols of Detroit’s past prosperity.

But Tia Ciara Bonner is able to look beyond the ruins. “As a Detroiter, I want to feel safe.  So I need these abandoned homes knocked down,” she said.

Bonner is doing something about it, one run-down block at a time.

As part of a three-person crew of surveyors with the Motor City Mapping project, Bonner uses an electronic tablet to describe the condition of each troubled property she examines.

“I have saw [seen] more burnt up homes and more empty lots than the houses that are standing,” said Bonner.

The information the surveyors gather winds up on computers back at Motor City Mapping headquarters, where a team reviews the information, a process called “blexting.”

“Blexting is short for blight texting, so kind of appropriate with the theme,” explained 

Jerry Paffendorf, CEO of Loveland Technologies, the company that designed the blexting software. “As properties are surveyed, they are stored in a database and immediately visualized² on a map.  Everything comes in real time, kind of like Twitter,” he added.

Paffendorf said surveyors in the field leave no stone unturned. “There’s like 360,000-some properties in the city and, as we sit here, I think we’re at about 180,000, so about half,” he stated.

“We’re looking at all structures in the city of Detroit and all vacant land,”  Glenda Price said. Price is co-chair of the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force, which oversees³ the Motor City Mapping Project.  She says the Task Force is bringing local, state, and federal agencies together to tackle the city's blight. The ultimate goal is not just mapping the blight, but eliminating it.

“One of the biggest obstacles in achieving that goal is money, because it is going to be costly⁴, so that is why we recognize it will take probably three years, is what we are projecting to have the funds in place that will, in fact, be necessary to do the job,” stated Price.

 

The estimated cost to the city of Detroit to clean up each blighted⁵ property is about $5,000 to $10,000.  Once the Motor City Mapping Project wraps up survey work sometime in February, members of the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force will have a better idea what it will cost to totally delaminate Detroit’s infamous⁶ blight.

1 blight   

n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残

参考例句：

• The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
• There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。

2 visualized   

直观的，直视的

参考例句：

• I had visualized scientists as bearded old men. 我曾经把科学家想像成长满胡子的老人。
• "I visualized mangled and inadequate branches for my fires. 我想像中出现了砍得乱七八糟的树枝子，供不上壁炉烧的。 来自名作英译部分

3 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

4 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

5 blighted   

adj.枯萎的，摧毁的

参考例句：

• Blighted stems often canker.有病的茎往往溃烂。
• She threw away a blighted rose.她把枯萎的玫瑰花扔掉了。

6 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。