A&W Is Hiring

The A + W Restaurant (210 Town Center Dr. in Dearborn) across the street from Fairlane Town Centre is now hiring. Apply at the restaurant, if you're interested in this job.

Ralph Godbee to Respond to Critics Tomorrow

Ralph L. Godbee, Jr., Detroit's chief of police and a man who has spent almost all of his career in a series of administrative posts, will appear on Flashpoint tomorrow morning. This is billed as a chance for him to respond to critics with host Devin Scillian of WDIV-TV.

It's not clear exactly what Chief Godbee will say tomorrow. However, there are a few questions that I would like Mr. Scillian, or any other reporter, to ask.

• Why does the Detroit Police Department have a response time for priority runs that is 113% worse than it was under his predecessor? I doubt one can say be the budget is entirely the cause of this because the City of Detroit had a budget crisis back then, too.
• Why is it that the parts of Detroit that are patrolled by the Wayne State Police Department not only have drastically shorter response times but are ranked as having some of the lowest per capita crime in the region?
• Speaking of the Wayne State Police Department, why did crime drop dramatically in certain parts of Detroit when they were transferred from being the responsibility of the Detroit Police Department to being serviced by WSU Police?

These are the questions that I hope Mr. Scillian will ask Chief Godbee tomorrow. We'll have to tune in to see if he does.

Friday Focus: "Street Fighting Man" Shows Life in Detroit

In my Friday Focus segment for this week, I want to highlight a new documentary, Street Fighting Man, which provides a unique look into life in modern day Detroit. What I like about this film is that is goes outside of the usual Downtown - Midtown - Corktown comfort zone that a lot of filmmakers who do documentaries about Detroit find themselves in.

Award-winning filmmaker, Andrew James, has launched a Kickstarter campaign and trailer for the upcoming film, Street Fighting Man, a feature-length documentary that tells the story of three men, each a generation apart, struggling to survive in post-industrial Detroit. Deris Solomon is a young single father who wants to leave behind a high-risk life on the streets, Luke Williams is a middle-aged man remodeling a former crack house after being homeless for several years, and James “Jack Rabbit” Jackson is a retired police officer struggling to save his neighborhood from crime after the local police station is dissolved.

Street Fighting Man tells three intimate human stories buried within statistics of violence that too often dominate Detroit-related headlines. In the last two months alone, burned bodies, murdered children, and teen shootings were some of the major stories coming out of Detroit. Community crime-fighting groups like the Detroit 300 have taken their frustrations to the streets while President Barack Obama sent in the National Guard to help the overwhelmed police get a handle on what has become the “bloodiest city in America.” In an effort to push past these headlines and statistics, James moved to Detroit for over a year to closely examine life in the city’s neighborhoods, capturing this human struggle on the ground. In all, he spent two years documenting the lives of Deris, Luke, and Jack Rabbit as they struggled to escape violence, discovering a nuanced story of heartbreak and hope in each of their lives.

“We wanted to tell a universal, human story,” says James. “We wanted to avoid the popular tale of Detroit’s
economic decline or the trend to focus on young artists or entrepreneurs re-purposing vacant spaces near

midtown. Detroit is close to 50 percent unemployed and the downtown area is too far away and difficult to

access for many residents. With so many Detroiters coping with violence and struggling to get ahead, we felt the most immediate, meaningful, and representative stories would be found in the city’s neighborhoods.”

One such community is the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood on Detroit’s East side. It was once a thriving
middle-class area built up by the auto and manufacturing industries. But since the local police station closed
down, crime has been on the rise and residents have been moving out. It is here where director Andrew James connected with Deris, Luke, and Jack Rabbit and spent the majority of his time.

As Luke collects cans and acquires reclaimed materials to make an old home new again, Jack Rabbit stands up to violent young criminals who were once children in his neighborhood; eventually enlisting the help of Minister Malik Shabazz to close down a crack house. Meanwhile, Deris has to decide how he will provide for his daughter: by struggling to get an education, or by selling drugs like many of his peers. For each of these men, it is a war of little battles, often waged at home, at school, or in the streets. Ultimately, their three narratives collapse into one, telling the tale of one man as he attempts to make it through his youth, mid-life, and old age in post-industrial America.

James’ previous work, Cleanflix, a feature-length documentary about the Mormon-born clean film movement, premiered at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival in 2009. It is now available on iTunes, Amazon, and DVD. After the success of Cleanflix, James turned his attention to Detroit, Michigan, a city and state he has been visiting his entire life where he has personal history and strong family ties.

Street Fighting Man is nearing the finish line but needs to raise crucial post-production funding to bring it to the screen. In addition to approaching granting organizations, the producing team has launched a Kickstarter
campaign to help secure these much needed funds. Through a partnership with Amazon, Kickstarter allows

supporters to make secure pledges in return for incentives crafted by the project creators. If successfully funded within the deadline, the project receives the amounts pledged. The team of Street Fighting Man is seeking to raise $20,000 for post-production costs, including hiring Sundance-award winning editor Greg Snider (How To Die In Oregon). The campaign is set to conclude on Sunday, June 10.

"Click-It or Ticket" in Warrendale

The Detroit Police Department is running a "Click-It or Ticket" operation on W. Warren Ave. Get your seat belts on Warrendale.

This Must Be the Place

As I continue to ponder how to reinvent the Warrendale (Detroit) Blog, one of the things that strikes me is how many amazingly cool things happen in the Detroit area that no one ever really knows about. One of the things that I want to do is include a new, although likely irregular, series where I highlight some of these cool, but under-appreciated things.

My first installment is below.

This Must Be the Place is a web-series that looks at some of the interesting places where people chose to live. It looks at the some amazing characters and asks why they chose to live where they do.

This time around they ventured to Detroit where they met up with Allan Hill, a former auto body repairman. For the last seven years he has made his home in rather spacious digs. Let's just say he had a hard time relating to the constraints of our tight New York City apartments.

Warrendale Comes to WDET

Sally Patrella, a Warrendale resident and representative of Friends of the Rouge, was on Detroit's public radio station WDET yesterday. She talked about removing the Wayne Dam from the Rouge River.

Her interview is available on the station's web site here.

"We Bought A Zoo" at the Edison Branch Library

The Edison Branch (18400 Joy Rd.) of the Detroit Public Library will host a special screen of We Bought A Zoo this Saturday at 2 p.m. This is a great family film starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, and Thomas Haden Church about a man who seeks to start his life over by, well, buying a zoo.

This screening is free and open to the public. Complimentary popcorn will also be provided.