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Residents want to know who dumped a boat inside a van in the city of Detroit

Posted at 6:31 PM, Jun 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-21 05:12:28-04

Residents in one Detroit neighborhood say an unusual eyesore is leading to more illegal dumping on their block.

Renata Brown loves her house on Vaughan Street. What she doesn’t love is the eyesore on the empty lot next door - a bright red partially dismantled van with a boat dumped on top. 

Brown tells 7 Action News the unsightly blight is leading to more illegal dumping on the block.

7 Action News set out to track down where the boat came from. 

Mich’le Dunlap, who lives across the street, said the boat came from the property where a house was recently torn down. Dunlap claims contractors dumped it onto of the van, which was already sitting vacant. 

According to the City of Detroit, the property where the boat was sitting belongs to Revival Detroit, LLC. 

When 7 Action News contacted them, an employee says, while he was aware the boat used to be at the property, his contractors did not dump the boat on the van and he doesn’t know how it got there.  

Due to the condition of the van, 7 Action News was unable to track down the owner of the vehicle.

An inspector with the City of Detroit came to the site to determine if any citations should be issued. In the meantime, a crew from the city will be sent out in the coming days to pick up the boat and the van.

Have a story for Ronnie? Send her an email at ronnie.dahl@wxyz.com.