The many costs of desperation

Last weekend, a thief attempting to steal copper from the closed and to-be-renovated Wheatley School, was eloctrocuted. See "Man Killed Trying to Steal Electric Wire."

But this is a problem elsewhere, and it's a problem of economic desperation. I have seen evidence of this kind of over the years. One guy was bicycle-based and had a cart connected to his bike that he used to haul his findings, presumably to a scrapyard in SE DC.

The Detroit News reports about this today, in "Who's stealing all the copper? Thieves get bolder as metal prices skyrocket." According to the article, items stolen from sites under renovation can put the end to the project, because extra money doesn't usually exist to replace stolen items such as boilers, wire, and other infrastructure. This is one of the many costs and difficulties of rehabilitating under-invested areas.
Daniel Mears / The Detroit News. Scrap metal is hauled into a recycling yard near Central and Vernon in Detroit. The price for copper has skyrocketed in recent years. This month, copper has sold for about $3.30 a pound on average, while three years ago, a pound fetched about 70 cents.

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization