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"We won't give up or give in," Heidelberg Project director executive director Jenenne Whitfield vows in a "Dear Friends" statement on Facebook late Tuesday night, following a fifth suspicious fire this year at Tyree Guyton's globally known east-side folk art attraction.
We were not stopped by bulldozers and we will not be stopped by acts of arson. Instead we WILL become smarter, stronger and even greater. Our history after 27 years demonstrates this!
Earlier in the day, Guyton voiced similar determination to The Detroit News:
"This isn't going to stop us. I can’t wait to clean this up and get started again. I’m not down. You have to rise up and look beyond this.”
Citing concern for neighbors' safety, Whitfield announced these security steps for the outdoor displays:
- We have enlisted a car to patrol the project starting tonight
- We are working on our own improved lighting of the area
- We hope to strategically place security cameras throughout the project
The “House of Soul” on Elba Place, part of the Heidelberg Project, burned before dawn Tuesday. Hundreds of Motown vinyl LPs had been on its outside walls. (Facebook photo)
Whitfield's request for assistance from "supporters in Detroit and around the world to help us secure and strengthen the Heidelberg Project" drew a quick offer from a small suburban firm.
"I would be happy to install security cameras that can be watched using the Internet," posts Tania Shurko of Farmington Hills, who founded a home-based IT business called Shurtech in 1998. Whitfield asked her to get in touch directly.
At The Detroit News, reporter Serena Maria Daniels quotes project staff member Amanda Sansoterra as saying the organization hasn't seen a need for safeguards until now.
“Obviously, with all that’s happening, we do need it, but the money has to come from somewhere,” Sansoterra said. “If it was just one area that we needed to patrol, that would be one thing, but it’s not. It’s two and a half blocks.”
Daniels adds this background:
The latest suspected arson incident struck at 4:40 a.m. Tuesday, when Detroit firefighters were called to extinguish a blaze at the “House of Soul” on Elba Place, which had been festooned with hundreds of vinyl LP records by Motown artists and that is now reduced to a pile of charred timbers, siding and shingles.
Guyton and Whitfield have said they believe they know who’s behind it, though they declined Tuesday to name the individual or individuals. Both say they are working with the city police and fire departments. . . .
The project has faced hostility from its beginning in 1986, when Guyton . . . first started nailing found objects onto Heidelberg Street’s abandoned houses as an act of social protest and artistic expression.
