Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett.

Indigenous people have regained control of a sacred burial mound at Historic Fort Wayne dating back more than 1,000 years.

The City Council unanimously approved a deed transfer giving a 0.58-acre site to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP) for $1. Members of the tribe said the property handoff is an important recognition of their sovereignty and deep connection to the land they inhabited long before it became known as Detroit.

“Our primary goal is to secure the long-term responsibility of protecting and preserving the Fort Wayne mound, ensuring our ancestors have a resting place and are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve,” said Tribal Chairperson Dorie Rios. “This deed transfer marks the beginning of a renewed era of collaboration and engagement between NHBP and Detroit. This is truly what a government-to-government relationship should look like.”

Vice Chair Robyn Elkins became emotional while explaining that it’s taken years of work to finally reclaim the mounds. She said, “It’s hard to believe this is happening.”

The site was once part of a larger burial complex, the Springwells Mound Group, which consisted of roughly 20 earthworks along a riverside bluff. Burial mounds hold significant cultural and spiritual importance.

City officials said the mound dates back to 750 A.D., far predating Detroit’s founding as a French settlement in 1701. 

Native leaders gathered on the bluffs at Springwells after the War of 1812 to negotiate a treaty with the United States. A star-shaped fort was built there, named after Gen. Anthony Wayne, displacing some burial mounds.

Many of the mounds were destroyed during excavations across the years by archaeologists who stocked museums with human skeletons and artifacts. Archeologist Henry Gillman in 1873 remarked on human skulls in racist terms, recording characteristics found in “lower races of man.”

Rios said the NHBP reclaimed ancestral remains and burial items from the mound group in 2014. The Tribe reburied them in a repatriation ceremony at an ancestral cemetery.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently unearthed human remains belonging to “one individual of Native American ancestry” at Fort Wayne. The Army Corps is carrying out a process to determine the fate of the remains.

Today, the mound is fenced off to restrict access.

The city consulted with the NHBP and other tribal governments, including the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, Wyandotte Nation, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and Wyandot of Anderdon Nation. 

“This has been a very long time coming,” said Council Member Coleman Young II. “We all know that this was and still is native land. We are very familiar not just with the genocide that took place in order for this country to be built, but also the spiritual connection that you have to this land.”

Council Member Angela Whitfield-Calloway said last week that the transfer is an “attempt to right a wrong.” She confirmed that a $100,000 study of capital improvements at Historic Fort Wayne included in last year’s budget is moving forward. 

“It’s a tragedy what happened over there,” she said. “You have to fight back the tears (when you) see how this city has allowed those buildings to fall into such disrepair.” 

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What page are we on? 

Today’s notebook covers the April 15 formal session.

Dig into the agenda, read Detroit Documenter notes or watch the recording for more details.

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Overheard in CAYMC 

Here’s your weekly round up of intrigue shared by residents during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, and smaller agenda items approved by the council.

Transit activist Michael Cunningham II is fundraising for a new vehicle after his taxi van broke down. Cunningham provides hand warmers, bus tickets and other resources to transit riders through donations to his cash app at $5555555love.

Whitfield-Calloway endorsed Nassar Beydoun’s decision to buy a troubled gas station on Six Mile. Beydoun, in an interview with WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), said he bought the gas station after an incident where a clerk shot at a suspected shoplifter who jumped off an overpass to his death.

Several residents attended a March council meeting to speak out against the former owner and demand the city to shut the gas station down. Beydoun, a former U.S. Senate candidate, said he plans to earn the community’s trust.

A cafe and rental space for small businesses is planned on land sold by the city. Zappy Estates and Logistics purchased 18338 Joy Road for $32,500. It contains a vacant retail building constructed in 1947. The developer plans to turn it into a cafe and multi-purpose hub for entrepreneurs to rent space and operate their small businesses.

The City Council granted an underground electricity easement to DTE needed to reactivate lights over sports fields at Jayne Park in District 3.

A downtown Chik-Fil-A is closer to opening after the council approved a zoning change allowing for signage and other facade alterations at the First National Building.

The chicken restaurant will be located on the ground-level of the 26-story office building at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Cadillac Square. The downtown location would be walk-in only and doesn’t include drive-up or drive-thru service.

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Extra inspectors hired to check rental properties

Council members were satisfied with the city’s efforts to ensure residents would receive work through contracts for rental property inspections.

The contracts, which total $12 million, were held back last week after Whitfield-Calloway voiced concerns about paying companies based in Athens, near Battle Creek, Southfield, as well as Westerville, Ohio. City officials said Tuesday that three of the companies filled all inspector jobs with Detroiters, while the fourth committed to hiring Detroiters in the future.

Whitfield-Calloway said she was pleased with the assurance that residents will obtain work through the contracts. 

Contract amounts were also adjusted so each receives $3 million, said Deputy Chief Operating Officer Andie Taverna. She said city officials are working to build a pipeline of qualified inspectors who live in the city.

Vendors will inspect single-family and two-family homes to ensure compliance with city regulations. The council adopted a streamlined inspection process last year to bring more properties into compliance and revamp an escrow program that allows residents to set aside rental payments until repairs are made.

Contracting documents state there are roughly 80,000 rental properties and 70,000 are believed to lack a rental inspection and certificate of compliance.

The contracts were awarded to SAFEbuilt Michigan, Custom Built Construction, The Inspection Group and Prospections, LLC.

Whitfield-Calloway had voiced frustration that money was going to contractors located outside the city, at one point asking “where the heck is Athens?” She said Detroit needs to train more residents to do the work.

She invited recent graduates of an employment training program offered by No Barrier 2 Success to Tuesday’s meeting, saying they received certifications to clean up lead contamination in older homes.

Council Member Scott Benson said the city needs to focus on improving the living conditions of dangerous properties that are not in compliance with the city.

An unnamed resident called in for Tuesday’s meeting to complain that her landlord has ignored city inspectors and failed to fix 13 issues found during a recent inspection.

Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero said state lawmakers need to create more protections for tenants, arguing that state law “tends to lean in support of landlords.”

“What needs to happen is legislative change at the state level,” she said. “It needs to come from people telling their stories, their frustrations and their issues. We need to organize to change those laws at the state level.”

Detroit’s new Tenants Rights Commission is planning to meet for the first time Thursday, April 17 from 4-6 p.m. at the Joseph Walker Williams Recreation Center.

Sidewalk repairs rejected   

The City Council struck down a contract to repair 5,000 sidewalks damaged by Detroit’s bond-funded demolition program.

The council voted 5-4 to reject a $2.9 million agreement with Major Contracting Group, arguing that demolition contractors should bear the cost of damaging city sidewalks. No votes came from Whitfield-Calloway, Latisha Johnson, Santiago-Romero and Mary Waters.

LaJuan Counts, group executive of construction and building operations in the mayor’s office, said Proposal N contractors were required to repair sidewalks they damaged while executing demolition work. The city withheld $2,500 in site finalization funds from contractors for each property where the sidewalks weren’t repaired, she said, which became the source of funding to repair them.

Whitfield-Calloway said it’s “illogical” for the city to be on the hook for damaged sidewalks. She said the city can’t keep up with addressing sidewalks that residents “are begging us to come and repair” near daily, “but we seem to find a pool of money for the contractors.”

City officials said roughly 470,000 sidewalk squares in need of repair were identified in 2023. The contract would have repaired around 5,000 sidewalk squares at 1,900 properties.

Counts said Whitfield-Calloway is looking at it the wrong way.

“While it seems as if the city is paying for this cost, it’s not,” Counts said. “It’s money that would have been paid to the contractors had they been able to execute the repairs. The city said we were not going to have damaged sidewalks because of demos.”

Counts said contractors put down metal plates to protect sidewalks, but preventing the damage altogether is very difficult when working with excavators and other heavy equipment.

“It’s just the nature of the beast,” she said.

Council members did not discuss alternatives to repair the damaged sidewalks.

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Summer events return downtown   

Summer activities are coming soon to downtown parks and public spaces.

The City Council was given an overview of summer park activations by David Cowan, chief public spaces officer for the Downtown Detroit Partnership. The nonprofit has a zero-dollar contract with the city to manage 18 public spaces within downtown. Cowan said the DDP holds 1,200 events per year and 95% are free and open to the public.

The DDP is planning the following summer programming for Campus Martius, Cadillac Square, Grand Circus Park, Capitol Park and Beacon Park.

Downtown is hosting Summit Series, a four-day ideas conference for business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors from June 5-8. It includes a pop-up roller rink in the parking lot of the Detroit Opera House.

Bedrock is continuing its Decked Out Detroit summer activations, scheduled to run May 22 through Oct. 31. Plans include photo booths, games, mobile vendor carts, interactive installations and additional seating outside Jimmy John’s, Mr. Kabob, Noorjahan and Hot Sam’s.

Bedrock is also holding events for singles and families throughout the week.