New Detroit signs coming to a neighborhood near you

New welcome signs are coming to 60 neighborhoods across Detroit through a federally funded program. 

Neighborhood associations registered with the Department of Neighborhoods applied last fall to receive customizable signs that are unique to each community. City officials said the signs will be installed starting in September. The project aims to highlight Detroit’s neighborhoods in collaboration with community organizations that make the city unique. 

“Some folks have signs, some don’t, and many neighborhoods have expressed the desire to have one,” said Detroit Director of Blight Remediation Zak Meers. “When we got the American Rescue Plan Act funding, we saw that as an opportunity to beautify and highlight our neighborhoods and ensure that they have representation.” 

The City Council approved a $512,500 contract with Space Lab Development earlier this year to fabricate and install the signs. Neighborhood signs will indicate the entrance to neighborhoods and the presence of established associations.

Meers said each organization was given a menu of sign shapes, colors and fonts to choose from. The signs will be easily recognizable but no two signs are exactly alike, he said. 

“What we were trying to do was balance the desire for an authentic, unique feel for the community groups, and also sort of to create some continuity,” Meers said. “We have so many awesome and diverse neighbors that offer all unique amenities and experiences, and they all deserve to be highlighted.” 

City officials scheduled site visits to scout locations where the signs will be installed. Each will feature the Detroit flag, neighborhood name, slogans or mottos used by neighborhood associations and the date the neighborhood was established. 

Cheryl Davis, vice president of the North Rosedale Park Civic Association, said their current sign is 10 years old and in need of an upgrade. She said the new signs will help the neighborhood brand itself ahead of its 100th anniversary this summer.  

“Our neighbors have a sense of belonging and we’re a desired area,” she said. “Properties are well-maintained, we have a lot of families here. We’ve been here 38 years, we thought it was going to be a starter home and it looks like it’ll be our ending home. Neighbors are like family and that’s why we didn’t think about moving.” 

Qualifying organizations had to be registered with the Department of Neighborhoods for at least three years, hold regular meetings and be featured on the city’s neighborhood map. 

“I don’t think this is so much an effort to define places and (neighborhood) names as much as it’s to highlight folks who have done all the work on the back end to create these organizations themselves and to represent themselves,” Meers said. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the signs are going to neighborhood associations that applied.