Today in the notebook
- Letter leads to lead concerns
- Spirit Plaza upgrades coming
- Lawsuit settled after police shooting
- More room for childcare facilities
Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett.
Detroit officials are reassuring residents about the safety of their drinking water after thousands of households received a letter that caused mass panic.
Gary Brown, director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, held an emergency press conference Tuesday morning then apologized to City Council members for the confusion.
Brown assured the council that “the water is safe.”
More:
- What you need to know: Detroit’s water safe, but lead pipes remain a risk
- New maps detail locations of lead in drinking water lines across Metro Detroit
Brown said some 225,000 households, businesses and day cares received a letter stating their water main is made from “unknown material but may be lead.”
The letter warned that homes connected to a lead service line have increased risk of lead exposure and included information on health risks.
Brown said there are roughly 80,000 lead service lines in Detroit, plus another 20,000 that are made of an unidentified material. There are roughly 300,000 water service lines total.
Council members said they received a flood of calls from residents worried that their drinking water is contaminated.
Council President Pro Tem James Tate said some residents wrongly worried the situation was comparable to the Flint Water Crisis. The city is launching a “full-court press” to clear up confusion, Brown said
An injection of $95 million in federal dollars, plus another $30 million in city bonds, helped speed up the pace of replacing lead pipes.
The city tests for lead exposure annually. The 2023 report showed lead levels are within federal guidelines, however health organizations say there is no safe level of lead exposure.
Last month, the Biden administration ordered drinking water systems across the U.S. to identify and replace all lead pipes within 10 years.
The mailers were required by and written by the EPA. Brown said he should have expected residents would be confused.
Council members said their constituents are panicking.
It could cost $400,000 to issue another mailer to residents. Brown said he’s exploring other options to inform residents.
What page are we on?
Today’s notebook covers the Nov. 19 formal session.
There is one last formal session meeting before the council ends its business for the year. Got any predictions?
Dig into the agenda, read Detroit Documenter notes or watch the recording for more details.
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More upgrades for Spirit Plaza
The council approved a $2.9 million contract with Michigan Recreational Construction for Spirit Plaza renovations.
City documents show plans to remove and replace the existing playground, install a new covered stage, turf surfacing and other amenities like seating and water fountains.
Spirit Plaza was established in the former median that once connected Woodward and Jefferson avenues.
Some residents objected to the street closure. The plaza has since become a destination for food trucks, musical performances, civic demonstrations and family hangouts.
The public area was installed in 2017, then made permanent by a narrow vote of the council in 2019.
The council previously approved using $800,000 in bond funds to improve the park, which finished in 2020.
New upgrades are also paid for with bond funding.
City settles wrongful death lawsuit
The City Council approved a $1.8 million legal settlement with the estate of Lamont Johnson, who was fatally shot by police in 2018.
A jury ruled in favor of Johnson’s family in March, awarding them $1.5 million, but lawyers representing the police officers who killed him argued the damages were excessive and requested a new trial.
Detroit Police officers Tyler Nagy and Raul Martinez responded to an alleged assault on an October night. An alleged victim said Johnson tried to stab him, was drunk and left to arm himself with a gun.
The officers found Johnson pushing his bicycle near an apartment building. They drew their weapons and told Johnson to put his hands up, but did not identify themselves as police.
Body camera footage showed Johnson didn’t move his arms or hands, according to court records, but the officers opened fire less than three seconds later.
There was no bullet in the chamber of Johnson’s handgun and it was found snapped into its holster.
A police report claimed Johnson reached into his waistband and retrieved a small handgun, but body camera footage showed Johnson kept his hands on the bicycle.
Family members testified that Johnson retrieved his girlfriend’s gun after the alleged victim started throwing bricks through the window of Johnson’s disabled brother’s apartment.
The Detroit Police Officers Association awarded Nagy and Martinez in 2019 for heroism in “preventing a violent man from harming his victims or any other innocent citizens.”
According to the Detroit News, a union pamphlet claimed Johnson “removed his .32-caliber pistol from his waistband and started to raise it” at the officers.
Nagy testified that he did not see the gun before he shot seven times at Johnson. Nagy was promoted to sergeant in 2022.
Child care homes allowed in new places
The City Council amended zoning regulations to make it easier to open childcare facilities across Detroit.
Childcare centers, family day care homes and group day care homes will be allowed in zoning districts where they were previously prohibited.
In some cases, zoning changes make daycare facilities a “by-right use,” removing the need for additional review or approvals.
Council Member Latisha Johnson said opening new opportunities for childcare facilities is a good goal, but she struggled with taking away opportunities for residents to have a say. Johnson was the lone no vote for that reason.
Childcare centers can now open in land zoned for residential and parks and recreation. Family day care homes can open in business districts, market districts and special development districts.
Group day care homes can also open in business districts and special development districts they were previously barred from.
Other changes require child care centers to have an outdoor play area or easy access to an off-site park, eliminate off-street parking requirements, and specify the minimum distance between group day care homes.
Detroit is home to 302 child care centers, with 124 located in residential districts and 110 located in business districts.
Virtually all of the city’s 89 licensed family day care homes 62 group day care homes are in residential districts.
Board the bus in style with new platforms
Temporary bus platforms will soon hit the streets along East Jefferson Avenue, providing a smoother boarding experience for riders.
The council approved a $1.15 million contract with Spanish company Zicialacities. It pays for 21 temporary boarding platforms that can be picked up, moved and reused along other bus routes.
Raised platforms are 50 feet long and 10 feet wide, running down the curb. They also include ramps to the road for bicycle access. The platforms are accessible for people who have a mobility disability.
Jonathon Hondrop, capital projects manager for the Detroit Department of Transportation, described the platforms like “LEGO pieces” that can be easily installed and moved.
Hondrop said the Zicialacities is the “only company in the world” that provides the product.
The Jefferson Avenue route has been DDOT’s preferred choice for testing new system changes. It was first to become a rapid transit route, with rides scheduled every 15 minutes.
Construction on other enhancements to stops along the route started this fall.
Residents can report issues at bus stops through the city’s Improve Detroit platform.
Hondrop said DDOT is also in the process of adding 100 bus shelters in the next two years, including 60 this year.
Additional service improvements starting next year include:
Are EV chargers outpacing ownership?
The city of Detroit continues to subsidize a network of electric vehicle chargers.
The data shows EV drivers make up a tiny fraction of motorists in Michigan. Only 0.63% of vehicle owners have one statewide.
State data shows a relatively small number of EVs are registered to Detroit addresses. Zip codes located downtown, near the riverfront and the Bagley neighborhood are more likely to contain EV owners and charging stations.
Detroit has 36 fast charging ports and 338 level 2 charging ports at 141 locations.
The city is adding 80 charging stations at 20 more sites through contracts approved Tuesday.
The council approved $4.6 million contracts split evenly between Walker-Miller Energy Services and Wayne-based MasTec Network Solutions to install public charging stations.
The council also approved a $650,000 contract with the Detroit Building Authority to install chargers for government employees who use a surface parking lot outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.
Renovations at recreation centers have also included new EV charging stations.
Detroit Chief of Mobility Innovation Tim Slusser said the goal is to ensure EV owners live 3 to 5 miles from a charging station.
Wayne County has roughly 7,300 EVs among its 1.7 million residents, lagging behind Oakland and Washtenaw counties despite having more charging stations.
Land swap sets up affordable housing
Fellowship Chapel Church is buying 67 vacant parcels in the College Park neighborhood to build new low-income housing.
The City Council authorized the Detroit Land Bank Authority to sell the land to Amandla Community Development Corp., a nonprofit affiliated with Fellowship Chapel. City documents don’t list the sales price.
An $11 million affordable housing development is planned for the vacant land.
Ninety-six units would range between one and three bedrooms, affordable for people earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income.
Rents would be affordable for a single-person earning between $20,160 and $53,760 or a three-person household earning between $25,920 and $69,120.
The land bank also traded land with the Detroit Housing Commission for an expansion of Smith Homes at Evergreen and Lyndon. The land bank exchanged 38 parcels for 34 parcels owned by the commission.
Industrial blight removal
A $25 million grant is helping the city clean up blighted industrial sites across Detroit.
The state funding is dedicated to demolition, environmental cleanup, sewer replacement and other preparations to make the sites ready for future development.
Projects include the Packard Plant, the former Kettering High School and Kronk Recreation Center, and shuttered industrial sites on Shoemaker Street, West Vernor and West Fort streets, and an area in the Midwest-Tireman neighborhood.
Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department received $25 million from the State Land Bank Authority in November 2023.
On Tuesday, the council amended a subgrant agreement with the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority to perform cleanup activities.
Drop-in shelters for unhoused Detroiters
Cass Community Social Services will provide drop-in shelters for unhoused Detroiters.
The council approved a $3.5 million contract to keep the shelters going through June 2026.
Shelters must serve men, women, families, youth, veterans and people fleeing domestic violence. Certified mental and behavioral health professionals must assess people upon arrival and provide transportation to medical services if needed.
Learn more about referral services, here.
The contract requires CCSS to provide three meals per day, sleeping accommodations, towels and hygiene products.
CCSS will work with Detroit’s emergency housing referral system to help households that need shelter beyond one night. Shelter locations will include:
- Overnight Drop-In Center: 1534 Webb Ave.
- Daytime Center: 12025 Woodrow Wilson
- Administration Building: 11745 Rosa Parks Blvd.
Detroit hiring community health workers
The Detroit Health Department is hiring four community health workers to expand outreach across the city.
New funding from the federal CDC has allowed Detroit to spend $330,780 on a firm that will recruit and pay the new staff members. The health department has final approval of the candidates and will supervise employees.
The council approved a contract with Southeastern Michigan Health Association to recruit the community health workers.