Falling fast

This week’s abandoned house serves as a fine example of just how quickly a home can fall into ruin. According to neighbors, this once fine structure on the 2400 block of Helen on Detroit’s east side has been vacant only a year or so. “It was still livable up until last October,” one neighbor said. Then, just before Halloween, vandals broke in and trashed the place. Most of the houses on the block are nicely kept, with many sporting fresh paint jobs and nicely maintained lawns. So this empty hulk, with its smashed windows and garbage-strewn yard, stands like a gaping wound. “Something like this,” said the neighbor, “makes it hard on the whole block.”