Flooding at the Southfield Freeway

A portion of the Southfield Freeway flooded recently because of the tremendous amount of rain that Detroit has received over the past couple of days.

Lance Rosol of Pixel Perfect Photography managed to snap this photograph of what is now the Southfield River. It shows the Southfield Freeway, near Outer Drive, which is approximately 4 miles south of the Warrendale neighborhood.

Detroit Police Response Time: Now 113% Worse

Warren Evans

A little over a year ago, when Warren Evans was chief of police, the Detroit Police Department had a 24 minute response time for priority one calls. More importantly, their response time had improved by 29% from where it was a year earlier.

Now, however, things are different.

Warren Evans has been replaced as chief of police by Ralph Godbee. Chief Godbee is a fine individual, but he is someone who has spent almost his entire career in administrative posts within the department as opposed to being on the front lines fighting crime on a daily basis.

I tried not to hold Chief Godbee's lack of operational experience against him. However, it is becoming clear that he is simply not up to the task of leading one of the largest police departments in the nation.

Even though the department's budget is just as large, the Detroit Police Department's response time has now climbed to an average of almost 52 minutes, according to statistics released by the City of Detroit.

52 minutes.

Protecting and Serving - in 52 Minutes

The national average for police response time in major cities, by the way, is only 7 minutes. A review of police statistics shows that the Detroit Police Department currently has the largest budget of any police department in North America on a per resident basis as well as the worst response time of any urban police department in the industrialized world.

At 52 minutes, this means that the Detroit Police Department's response time is 113% worse than it was when Warren Evans was chief of police. That is a dramatic change for the worse in such a short time period.

To say that this is unacceptable does a disservice to the word "unacceptable." If the safety of Detroiters were truly a priority for Mayor Dave Bing, he would demand immediate changes within the leadership of the Detroit Police Department.

Warren Avenue Community Organization

Please join the Warren Avenue Community Organization on Thursday, November 17 6 - 7:30 p.m. at NFL YET Boy's and Girls Club (16500 Tireman). Please enter via the east entrance to the building.

This is a very important meeting. They will nominate and elect officers for the 2012 - 2014 term.

Obama Gas Station + Henry Ford's Grave

I was do some field research for a client today and took my camera along with me to show a few off the beaten path things about the Warrendale area of Detroit.

• Brennan Pools;
• Henry Ford's grave; and
• The Barack Obama gas station.

Detroit is always full of surprises. This collection of oddities from around the neighborhood is your Cool Warrendale Thing of the Week.

Mayor Bing to Discuss Bus Crisis at 5 p.m.

Mayor Bing to Talk About Bus Service

Mayor Dave Bing will hold a press conference regarding the on-going problems with DDOT bus service at 5 p.m. today. The Mayor has faced harsh criticism from the City Council and others over the fact that many city buses are routinely late, sometimes up to three hours behind schedule.

Needless to say, I will likely have much to say about this issue once his press conference is over.

Joy Road - The Movie

Since Joy Road is the northern boundary of the Warrendale neighborhood, I was intrigued to find out that there is a new movie debuting soon entitled Joy Road.

Joy Road is set in modern day Detroit. Most of the locations for the film were on location here in Detroit. This movie tells the story of a public defender who has to defend his sister's boyfriend, the reputed leader of the notorious MVP gang.

This movie is just something for Detroit. It has a national audience having been named "Best Narrative Film" at the Hamptons Black International Film Festival. It was also an official selection at the American Black Film Festival and the Urban Mediamakers Film Festival.

Personally, I think it's great some artists from Detroit have managed to complete a project like this. I'm excited to see what happens with it, how Joy Road will be received by audiences and critics, and how far they will be able to go with this.

Most of all, I hope that the filmmakers will be able to make a sequence or a television series for Joy Road. I wish everyone who is involved in this project nothing but the best.

The official trailer for this film is on YouTube and is embedded above. The filmmakers also have a Facebook page for their project here. Joy Road will premiere at the AMC Star Southfield (25333 West 12 Mile Rd. in Southfield) on October 20. I hope to see a lot of neighbors and friends at the theater.

Featured Business: Pizza & Fish Express

Pizza & Fish Express (6540 Evergreen) opened earlier this week, taking over in place of the short lived Pizza - A - Go-Go. Hasan Harb is the owner of the newest Warrendale eatery, which also features a mini-mart.

Pizza & Fish Express - Photo credit: David L. Malhalab (MNS Photo)

Pizza & Fish is offering great take out food and mini mart. They hope to have a long relationship with the Warrendale neighborhood. Mr. Harb and his family own other Pizza & Fish outlets in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Los Angeles, and Kalamazoo.

Pizza & Fish is the Featured Business for this week. I think it great that the Warrendale neighborhood can attract a replacement business to that location as quickly as we did.