Boxing class at the library and more

There are several challenges to running a hyperlocal blog like this one. For example, Google’s search rankings tend to rank sites lower if most of their articles are less than 500 words. That might not be a problem for those blogging about some topics. When one is blogging about one particular neighborhood, though, there are a lot of stories that I simply cannot stretch out that long without becoming redundant or boring.

Therefore, I’ve decided to start merging some of these stories into longer posts; creating one long post that the internet search engines like rather than three or four shorter articles that they rank lower automatically.

Boxing | Stock photo by Harut Movsisyan/Pixabay

Boxing classes at the library
The Edison Branch (18400 Joy Rd.) of the Detroit Public Library will host a boxing class this coming Saturday, March 8 from noon to 2 pm. This event is open to all ages. It’s a great way to build self-esteem and physical confidence.

More details about this class are available on the library's website, which is located here.

Pizza | Stock photo by Igor Ovsyannykov/Pixabay

Free slice of pizza

This Sunday, March 9 is National Pizza Day, which is one of those social media holidays that is near and dear to my heart. I look forward to celebrating at Sbarro's inside Fairlane Town Center where you can buy one New York slice and a beverage and get another slice of New York cheese or pepperoni for free.

Details and coupons are located here.

Rouge Park | Photo by Frank Nemecek

Rebirth of the nature trail?

The Friends of Rouge Park are exploring the possibility of reestablishing the original Wild Nature Trail. This trail was constructed in Rouge Park in the 1930s but has been in a general state of disrepair for quite some time.

I will have more on this story as it develops, especially if the nonprofit group decides to push forward with it.

Girl in a garden | Stock photo by Rudy and Peter Skitterians/Pixabay

Community garden launches fundraiser

The In Memory of Community Garden (6551 Minock St.) is attempting to raise $500 to support their ongoing operations. If you are willing and able to so, please consider making a donation over on this website.

The garden will provide children and families a place to learn about nutrition and the benefits that fruits, vegetables and exercise provide. Community gardening is a healthy, inexpensive activity for youth and adults that can bring them closer to nature and allow them to interact with each other in a socially, meaningful and productive way. Produce from the garden will help supply nutritious locally grown produce to low-income families in need and all surplus will be donated to our local food banks and pantry's. The Garden will add beauty to the community and heighten people’s awareness and appreciation for all living things.

Detroit police release new recruiting video
The Detroit Police Department, like most police departments in this nation, has more openings for police officers than it does people applying for those jobs. In order to boost its numbers, they have released a new recruiting video for social media and television.

Quite frankly, I think this video is kind of badass. It’s embedded above. I encourage everyone to watch it and share with anyone who you think would make a good Detroit police officer.

Interested parties can also get started on their career pathway by clicking here.

Please subscribe to the Warrendale Detroit Blog by entering your email address where is says “receive email alerts” in the upper right hand column of this page.

Community-wide meeting this Wednesday

An avenue - Photo by Peter H./Pixabay

Over the past nine months, residents and community  groups throughout Warrendale have come together and worked with the City of Detroit’s Planning and Development Department. They are going to propose a series of projects for the built environment of this neighborhood. This includes improvements to our streets, our houses, our parks, our businesses, and more.

After all of this work, it’s time for everyone to come out and see what these groups have come up with. The City of Detroit and others are eager to get feedback on everyone who lives or works in Warrendale. This is an essential part of building a community.

To that end, there will be a community-wide meeting this Wednesday, November 13 at the Dick & Sandy Dausch Campus NFL/YET of the Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan (16500 Tireman Ave.). Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Presentations will start at 6 p.m.

In addition, childcare will be provided on site for this meeting. If you have young ones that won’t sit through a presentation and you don’t have someone else to watch them, those facts should not be an excuse for not participating. Your voice is an important part of this meeting and that’s why there will be someone there to watch young kids while the adults talk about the future of our neighborhood.

Refreshments will also be provided for those attending this meeting.

Parking is available for this meeting in the lot at the Boys & Girls Club. If that lot fills up, additional parking will be available at the O’Live Church of God in Christ (16601 Tireman Ave.). The church is basically across the street from where this meeting will happen.

There is no cost or commitment for anyone to attend. I hope to see a lot of my neighbors in attendance this coming Wednesday evening.

Grand opening of the Minock-Whitlock Park in Detroit

It was a cold and rainy autumn day in Detroit this past Saturday; the sort of day when many souls wouldn’t think about venturing off the couch if they didn’t have to. However, for one group of Detroiters who have spent years of their lives preparing for this past Saturday, no amount of rain could possibly keep them away.

It shouldn’t be surprising then that more than 100 Detroiters came out to partake in the official opening of the Minock-Whitlock Park in Warrendale. They were joined by County Commissioner Alisha Bell, Mayor Mike Duggan, Councilman Gabe Leland, State Senator Sylvia Santana, and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib were there to cut the ceremonial ribbon and celebrate this moment.

A couple of years ago, a series of three vacant and blighted houses sat on this stretch of land at the northeast corner of Minock and Whitlock Streets. The City of Detroit managed to demolish the dilapidated houses but that still left empty land in its place.

The crew of volunteers who have spearheaded the In Memory Of Community Garden across the street decided to intervene. With support from the City of Detroit, the Land Bank Authority, and corporate sponsors, they were able to transform this vacant land into a safe and fun place for neighborhood kids to play.

This same group of volunteers also worked with the City of Detroit to establish the In Memory Of Orchard, which is near the garden at the southeast corner of Auburn and Whitlocks Streets.

The group plans to expand the existing playscape to include monkey bars once additional funds can be raised.

The Minock-Whitlock Park is open every day from dawn to dusk.

WXYZ-TV features a Warrendale community garden in a news segment

WXYZ-TV featured the In Memory Of Community Garden (6551 Minock St.) in a news segment yesterday evening.They mentioned the impact that it has had on our portion of Detroit; transforming a series of vacant lots into an asset for the Warrendale neighborhood. The best part, in my opinion, is that they also highlighted one of the things that makes this community garden different from any of the other ones.

The In Memory Of Community Garden is the first, and so far only, garden to partner with the Detroit Detroit Police Department on their Project Greenlight campaign. This means that there are surveillance cameras on the property that silently monitor the streets around it. The video feed from those cameras, of course, is monitored by DPD headquarters.

This enables the garden to act as both a deterrent to crime and also as a tool for police to identify any situations that they need to respond to. This is one more thing to help keep Warrendale safe.

Prior to this, the Project Greenlight locations have mostly been gas stations, liquor stores, and other commercial structures along the main corridors. This leaves the residential side streets vulnerable and its a vulnerability that is only made worse when criminals who want to avoid the Greenlight cameras start cutting through side streets.

The hope is that with more of these participating locations coming onto residential side streets, there will be fewer criminals cutting through to avoid surveillance on the main strips.

I, for one look forward to seeing more of these cameras in residential areas.

PBS looks at rain gardens in Warrendale

Film crew from Detroit Public Television sets up - Photo by Frank Nemecek

I was interviewed yesterday by a film crew from Detroit Public Television, who was working on behalf of the show SciTech Now on PBS. An upcoming episode of the show will examine the four bioretention gardens in the Warrendale neighborhood as well as their impact on our neighborhood and the rest of Detroit. Barb Matney, president of the Warrendale Community Organization, was also interviewed for this episode.

The four bioretention gardens in Warrendale were designed by researchers at the University of Michigan. They are designed to soak up and help treat some of the rainwater that would otherwise go into Detroit's sewage treatment stream. More information about these rain gardens is available from my friends at CityLab over on their site.

I am personally glad to see some of the vacant lands in Detroit put to a productive use. These rain gardens improve the local environment. They also make it less likely for flooding to happen in our neighborhood and improve our overall quality of life.

The four bioretention gardens in the Warrendale neighborhood of Detroit are located at:

• 8027 Greenview Ave.;
• 8287 Evergreen Rd.;
• 8084 Stahelin; and
• 8091 Vaughan St.

SciTech Now air regularly on PBS (channel 56 in Detroit) and online. The producers were certain when the episode focusing on Warrendale's rain garden will air. As soon as I learn the date that it will air, I will share it here and on this blog's Facebook page.

All of this is why PBS and their look at the bioretention gardens in Detroit are my Cool Warrendale Thing of the Week for this week.

Pocket park project coming to Warrendale

Area targeted for a pocket park - Photo by Barb Matney

Barb and Joe Matney, the dynamic duo behind the In Memory Of community garden here in the Warrendale neighborhood and key members of the Warrendale Community Organization, have launched a new project. They are working to create a new pocket park in our area.

The project will take vacant land in Warrendale and allow it to be used for recreation. They are trying to raise $10,000 through a GoFundMe campaign.

 Additional information about this project is available here.

Cool Warrendale Thing: Kosciusko

I posted before about the efforts to renovate and reuse the long-shuttered Kosciusko Elementary School (20220 Tireman St.) as a community center. The Detroit Community Design Center, which is a part of the University of Michigan's College of Architecture and Urban Planning, held a series of community meetings. All of this was done in partnership with the City of Detroit, with support from the Michigan Historical Center.

Over the course of several meetings with neighborhood stakeholders during the summer and autumn of this year, they were able to ascertain the needs of the Warrendale community. They then worked with residents and others to design a concept to adapt this vacant school into something that would meet those needs.

While the architects are still finalizing their plans, and things can still change going forward, I am proud to be able to discuss at least the preliminary details.

One of the shortcomings of the Warrendale neighborhood is that there is a shortage of quality child care facilities relative to the sheer size of its population.  This is why the preliminary plan envisions reusing some of the space on ground floor as a child care facility.  An independent, licensed day care facility would then rent this space in a redeveloped Kosciusko Center.

Also on the ground floor, these conceptual plans call for some of the old classrooms to be made available as office space for either non-profits or local business start-ups.  Each of these tenants would pay some type of rent, which is crucial in covering the utilities and other operating expenses for the building.

A fitness center is tentatively planned for the old gymnasium.  This space could also be repurposed as a banquet facility, if the need arose.

The old auditorium is reimagined as rehearsal and performance space for local artists.  It could also be used for lectures or meeting space for various community groups.

The second floor of this facility is imagined as supporting counseling and guidance resources for troubled or at-risk youth. It would also potentially have a computer lab, library and production studio.

The outside of Kosciusko is almost as interesting as its interior.  Besides having a separate play area for the day care center as well as a football field and community garden area.

Finally, the entire area would be connected to the proposed greenway project that is likely to move through the Warrendale neighborhood.

I need to emphasize, of course, that all of this is still preliminary.  However, the early signs for this project are extremely encouraging in my opinion.

As always, as more details become available, they will be reported on this blog.  Until then, Kosciusko Elementary and its potential reuse as a community center is your Cool Warrendale Thing of the Week.

With that, I'd like to open this up for discussion. What do you think of efforts to reuse Kosciusko Elementary as a community center?

Please post your thoughts in the comments section below.