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On a block of neat, single-family homes in northwest Detroit, one house spoils the view. It is charred and rotting with a collapsed porch roof, and the lawn has been turned into a makeshift dump. The house has been like this for months -- an eyesore, a hazard to curious children, and a scene for potential mischief. But neighborhood activists are hopeful that could soon change. Starting next week, the city will have a new weapon against blighted properties and the owners who neglect them. Modeled after a similar program in Chicago, the new Department of Administrative Hearings is a sort of blight court that takes building violations and illegal dumping cases out of the overburdened district court for quicker action. If violators ignore the department's decisions, there will be consequences: Hearings officers can garnish their wages, put liens on their property and take other measures to force them to comply. Officials say the system, which becomes effective Jan. 1, will be a vast improvement over the old one, in which only a limited number of violations could be prosecuted and enforcement was next to impossible. The changes have the support of community activists and some business circles. But critics worry the system could be used as a revenue generator with little regard for fairness. [more]