This week in the notebook:
- Council waives Detroiters’ ambulance debt
- Restaurants must show health inspection results
- Study targets health impacts of bridge construction
- I-375 land use planning kicks off
Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett.
More than $125 million in medical debt held by Detroiters was nullified by the City Council.
City officials said they don’t expect to collect overdue bills from uninsured or low-income residents for ambulance services dating back to the 1990s.
The council was asked to write off outstanding debt from two accounts with AccuMed EMS to reduce their impact on the city’s credit rating.
Deputy Chief Financial Officer Nikhil Patel said the Detroit Fire Department is working with the administration to establish an annual process to write off delinquent EMS bills. Patel said waiving the fees doesn’t impact the city’s budget or future revenue projections.
“A vast majority of these people are individuals that, for some reason or another, we can’t collect on,” Patel said. “It might be financial hardship, it could be because they passed away. Rather than continuously trying to bill them over and over for things that in some cases are decades old, we’d like to simply clean off the balance sheet.”
The Detroit Treasury Office is also considering writing off old delinquent parking fees.
What page are we on?
Today’s notebook covers the June 11 formal session. All members were present.
Dig into the agenda, read Detroit Documenter notes or watch the recording for more details.
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The 17th annual Silence the Violence Rally is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 15 at Church of the Messiah. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and council members are expected to attend. A memorial march starts at 11 a.m.
Restaurant health signs required
Detroit restaurants are now required to post color-coded signs showing compliance with food safety regulations.
Council Member Scott Benson has been working on the proposal since 2018, and introduced a new version of the “dining with confidence” ordinance earlier this year.
The council unanimously voted to approve the ordinance. It goes into effect in six months.
The ordinance requires food establishments that are in compliance to post a green sign showing the date of the last inspection and a QR code linking to the results.
Restaurants that are closed by order of the Health Department are required to post a red sign.
Restaurants that are not in compliance with food safety regulations are required to post a sign that links to the latest health inspection report.
Signs must be posted in a place that is clearly visible to patrons before entering the restaurant. Detroiters can also access food safety inspections through an online database.
Benson said the ordinance is aimed at giving residents greater transparency.
“There is potential to enhance business for our restaurants because it will attract more customers who will return to restaurants that they trust,” Benson said in a statement.
There were 41 foodborne illness allegations reported in Detroit last year, including 10 that met the state’s definition of a foodborne illness outbreak.
Benson said more than 250 businesses displayed similar signage through a voluntary program launched last year in partnership with the Health Department. Several chefs and restaurateurs spoke in favor of the ordinance.
The Michigan Black Business Alliance opposed a previous version of the ordinance that required yellow signs when restaurants are working to address health violations.
Representatives of the Detroit Food Policy Council expressed strong support for the new version.
“As Detroit’s restaurant scene continues to grow and more people are able to take this opportunity to be part of the food system, people who are spending their hard-earned dollars deserve to know the place they’re going is clean and maintains health standards,” said Research and Policy Program Manager Amy Kuras.
The Health Department employs 21 inspectors, some of whom speak Bengali, Arabic and Urdu. The department is seeking inspectors who are fluent in Spanish.
Detroiters can report food safety complaints at restaurants online or by calling (313) 876-0135.
Complaints regarding grocery stores, gas stations or convenience stores must be reported to the state online or by calling (800) 292-3939.
Detroit loses economic development leader
A key Detroit economic development figure was honored by the City Council as she prepares to depart for a new job in Tampa, Florida.
Kenyetta Bridges has spent two decades coordinating development projects with the city. She is stepping down as chief operating officer and executive vice president of economic development and investment services for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.
Council President Mary Sheffield described Bridges as a “leading dealmaker and No. 1 cheerleader” for Detroit.
“There’s not one project completed in Detroit with DEGC that she has not had her hands on,” Sheffield said.
Sheffield named “transformational projects” Bridges was involved in, including Hudson’s Detroit, District Detroit, the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant, Michigan Central Station, Future of Health, and Detroit Pistons Performance Center.
“I’m proud to see a woman in the room and at the table for big projects,” Sheffield said. “You had such an impact as it relates to economic development in our city.”
Council members said Bridges’ departure is a major loss for the city, and thanked her for providing information to the council amid contentious votes on tax subsidies.
“Many of us, when we came in here, wanted to knock the door down and make sure everything we could get in our communities was coming into our communities,” said Council Member Latisha Johnson. “You’ve been supportive of that.”
Council Member Fred Durhal III told Bridges that she’s made a “tremendous impact” on the downtown skyline.
“We are losing someone who knows where everything is and how everything works,” Durhal said.
Street naming memorial extended to non-Detroiters
The council unanimously voted to allow non-residents who are buried in Detroit to be honored with a secondary street sign.
Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero said she sought to change the city’s street naming ordinance to honor Vincent Chin, an Oak Park resident who was killed in a racially-motivated attack in Highland Park. Chin’s murder was a turning point for the modern Asian American civil rights movement.
Chin was buried in Detroit’s Forest Lawn Cemetery. Under the new rules, non-residents who have been interred at a Detroit cemetery for 10 years can be nominated for a secondary street sign.
Nominees now need four letters of support from council members instead of three. Only five honorees are chosen each year.
Non-residents are already honored in some locations, but that changed when a street naming ordinance was adopted by the council.
Council members expressed some reservations about opening the process to non-residents but felt comfortable adopting the changes since they have discretion in selecting from a pool of nominees.
“There are a limited number of names that council can approve,” Sheffield said. “It is still a very competitive process, even if we approve and allow (Chin) to be considered.”
Representatives of the Association of Chinese Americans are advocating to add Chin’s name to Peterboro Street, which was the heart of Detroit’s historic Chinatown neighborhood.
Tao Liu said Chin could have become a Detroit resident if he wasn’t brutally murdered, but he is a symbol of social justice and deserves a memorial.
Santiago-Romero is working with the Historic District Advisory Board (HDAB) to designate Chinatown as an officially-recognized historic site.
HDAB Director Janese Chapman said the board is working to identify buildings that were part of the Chinatown neighborhood.
“We have no representation of Detroit’s Asian American community and its devotion as a presence in Detroit,” Chapman said. “This will help address that concern.”
Council Members Coleman Young II, Angela Whitfield-Calloway and Santiago-Romero also nominated a secondary street in honor of Richard “Night Train” Lane, a former Detroit Lion and NFL Hall of Fame inductee.
The request seeks to place a secondary street sign on Cochran Street near the corner Ballpark in Corktown.
Lane was appointed by former Mayor Coleman Young as the first Police Athletic League. He lived in the Bagley neighborhood until his death in 2002.
How does Gordie Howe Bridge affect public health?
The Health Department and Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation are expanding studies of how the Gordie Howe International Bridge is affecting the health of nearby neighborhoods.
A $1 million contract with the Hispanic Development Corporation was unanimously approved.
A previous study on health impacts from the bridge construction on the Delray neighborhood was conducted from 2018-2021 but was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The contract allows for two additional phases of study and town hall meetings.
A second round of interviews are planned for roughly 350 households that were contacted in the first phase, followed by the release of data and recommendations from residents on reducing adverse impacts from the bridge.
I-375 land-use plan starts
A firm was selected to conduct a nine-month study on zoning and land use strategies for real estate that will be opened by the controversial I-375 project.
Interboro Partners, LLC was selected for a $349,818 contract in consultation with Detroit Collaborative Design Center and the Black Bottom Archives. The study will supplement community engagement and land use planning led by the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Roughly 30 acres of valuable new land is expected to be created. City planning officials said the study will inform a land use framework plan for economic development and quality of life improvements within the I-375 project area.
Four in-person public meetings are expected, plus eight virtual stakeholder meetings, followed by a final public presentation.
MDOT’s proposed design includes raising the freeway to street-level and reconfiguring interchanges that connect I-375 to downtown and Eastern Market.
The project is expected to impact Lafayette Park, Brush Park, McDougall-Hunt, Eastern Market, and the Central Business District.
Detroit Lead Urban Designer John Sivills said planning efforts will result in a policy by 2029 for future consideration by the City Council. It will not determine future private ownership of real estate opened up by the I-375 project.
“Zoning regulates what is and what is not permitted on land, and it can help to preserve your area’s unique character to achieve the community’s vision for the future,” Sivills said. “It helps us to delineate parks and recreation and open space and it also helps to prevent incompatible uses in a neighborhood.”
Police commission appointment delayed
The council postponed voting on appointing Eva Garza-DeWaelsche to the Board of Police Commissioners.
Garza-DeWaelsche is a Detroit resident and former police officer assigned to the west side. She previously served nine years on the police oversight board, from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2015 to 2020.
Now she serves as president and CEO of SER Metro-Detroit, a workforce development organization.
Garza-DeWaelsche was interviewed on June 5 by a council committee. Whitfield-Calloway pressed Garza-DeWaelsche on her support for police surveillance tools like Project Green Light and expressed concern about a former officer serving on the oversight board.
“We need someone to really speak up on behalf of the citizens and not always favor DPD down the line,” Whitfield-Calloway said.
Whitfield-Calloway noted that the council approved a $300,000 legal settlement with Robert Williams, who was wrongfully arrested after facial recognition software misidentified him.
Garza-DeWaelsche said she supported policy changes that created additional guardrails around the use of surveillance technology and required weekly reports on how facial recognition is being used.
“I’m concerned, just as everyone is, about the safety of our city. I want reduced crime. I want a police department that has state of the art equipment and resources for mental health. We have to have community trust,” Garza-DeWaelsche said.
Former Police Commissioner William Davis called in to Tuesday’s meeting to vouch for Garza-DeWaelsche’s character but said there are “already too many former police officers on the board.”
She and her husband Robert acquired El Central Hispanic News in 2022. She is the majority owner and publisher while Robert is the managing editor and runs daily operations.
Where is Detroit’s artist council?
Whitfield-Calloway asked the Legislative Policy Division to provide a report on a Council of the Arts that is required by the City Charter but doesn’t currently exist.
Detroit artists are seeking to establish the council to give local talent a larger voice in cultural programs. The charter defines the group as a 15-member advisory body appointed by the mayor.
Whitfield-Calloway also wants to know what it would take to give the council the authority to nominate members.
Artists are organizing to create the advisory council in light of a mural project led by New York nonprofit Street Art for Mankind.
Murals were painted by a group of international artists and a second phase was planned to include local artists, but the project was canceled.
Planning Director Antoine Bryant is the subject of an ethics investigation after executing a contract with Street Art for Mankind before receiving the City Council’s approval, a violation of the charter.
