Warrendale on Detroit Public Television

Back in May of this year, I was interviewed by a crew from Detroit Public Television about life in the Warrendale neighborhood. This was part of a larger series that DPTV did on Detroit's neighborhoods post-bankruptcy.

The clip on Warrendale aired on the American Black Journal recently. It is currently available on Detroit Public Television's YouTube channel and is embedded above.

I couldn't help but notice that the segment on Warrendale has received more YouTube views than anything else that DPTV has posted. I think that is a good indicator of the fact that there is an audience that wants to see more of the Warrendale neighborhood.

This blog will return in earnest on Monday, February 1.

Dr. Ben Carson from Detroit

Dr. Ben Carson - Photo by Michael Vadon

Retired brain surgeon and Republican presidential candidate, Dr. Ben Carson, has been at the center a media firestorm in recent weeks. Much of it centers over details from his past, such as questions as to whether or not the story that he once stabbed a man as a teenager is true.

I don't normally discuss presidential politics on this blog. While Dr. Carson isn't from the Warrendale neighborhood, he is from Detroit. There is at least one portion of this scandal that I feel an overwhelming urge to opine about.

That is this: You know someone is from Detroit when them not stabbing another person is the basis for a presidential scandal.

And that, quite frankly, is all that I feel needs to be said about this matter.

Looking back on the Ransom Gillis House

The Ransom Gillis House has stood vacant in Detroit's Brush Park neighborhood for decades. Various attempts have been made to save this historic home over the years, but it looks like Nicole Curtis is going to be the one to make it work.

Nicole Curtis, of course, is the hostess of Rehab Addict on HGTV. She has rehabbed historic homes across the country but has concentrated on Detroit. The Ransom Gillis House is one of her latest projects.

Her work on this historic home has garnered a significant amount of media attention. Curbed Detroit, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, MLive, and WXYZ-TV are just some of the media outlets that have covered the redevelopment of this house. I'm excited to see this home come back to back to life and am grateful to Nicole Curtis for all of her hard work.

The media attention, though, does make me want to share a documentary short that I made with former Warrendale resident Lee Runchey back in the summer of 2007. Our film Held for Ranson is embedded above.

Detroit Police Commission issues annual report

The Board of Police Commissioners, which is a civilian board mandated by the City Charter to oversee the Detroit Police Department, released their 2014 annual report. This report includes statistics regarding complaints that citizens have registered against police officers or the department in general. More importantly, it documents a 20% increase in the number of complaints filed

Of the 6,461 complaints filed against the Detroit Police Department in 2014, 3,838 - or approximately 59% of the total - were related to allegations that an officer did not follow established procedures or allegations related to his demeanor. The remaining 41% related to arrests made, entry into a property, damages made to property, searches, use of force, or general harassment.

I spoke with Ricardo Moore, who represents Warrendale and the surrounding neighborhoods on the commission, about this spike. He believes a large portion of this spike in complaints has to do a similar increase in news stories and social media posts about the police. He went on to add that body cameras will soon come to the Detroit Police Department.

The full text of this 58-page report from the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners is available below.

2014 Annual Report of Detroit Police Commissioners

The report itself is fine. However, I believe it would have been useful if they provided some comparison with other departments of a similar size to Detroit.

Santana scares teens straight

For all the haters out there this special message is for you. Several months ago myself and my homie Raphael B. Johnson...
Posted by Harvey Santana on Tuesday, July 21, 2015

State Representative Harvey Santana posted this story to his Facebook page the other day. Please click "see more" to see the rest of this story. I think it is a great example of the power that we have to help teens turn their lives around.

My thanks go out to Santana and Johnson for doing their part.

Land bank to auction 17 Warrendale homes

Warrendale home - Photo by Frank Nemecek

The Detroit Land Bank Authority will soon place 17 vacant home in the Warrendale neighborhood up for auction. There will be an open house at Ss. Peter and Paul Church (7685 Grandville Ave.) this coming Sunday, June 28 from 1 - 5 p.m. to showcase these homes as well as the auction process.

If you are not familiar with the DLBA auction, a few basics are that bidding on each house starts at $1,000 and is open for one business day. Three homes are auctioned per day.

The 17 homes in Warrendale that will be placed for auction at:

• 6330 Abington Ave;
• 6481 Mansfield;
• 6594 Forrer;
• 6717 Longacre;
• 6720 Grandmont;
• 6759 Rutland;
• 7318 Woodmont;
• 7421 Mettetal;
• 7425 Rutherford;
• 7450 Woodmont;
• 7498 Rutland;
• 7501 St Marys;
• 7530 Forrer;
• 7537 Abington Ave;
• 7771 Memorial;
• 7811 Memorial; and
• 6315 Archdale.

Open House Tours are free and open to the public and gives folks an opportunity to see the house before bidding and get a sense of the rehab work needed. More information is also available on their website, which is www.buildingdetroit.org. On the website, one can also view the homes that are included in the auction.

Water deal on the line

The deal to create a regional water authority for southeastern Michigan is in trouble, according to published news reports. The City of Detroit's bankruptcy plan called for such an authority to be created no later than June 14. Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel doesn't appear inclined to go along with it.

If Hackel doesn't like the deal, that's between him and the people of Macomb County. I'm okay with this deal falling apart.

If there is no deal on a regional water authority then there is nothing to prevent the City of Detroit to retain ownership of that portion of water system that is within its city limits but sell the suburban portion of it. Such a sale would not only remove the water system's debt from the City's books, it would likely also leave us with more than $1 billion in cash.

The cash from such a sale could then be used to pay down some of the other debt that Detroiters carry - either debt from the City of Detroit itself or from the Detroit Public Schools. Either way, paying down our debts would enable us to lower our property taxes.

And lower property taxes - either as reduction in debt service levied by the City of Detroit or a reduction in what the Detroit Public Schools levy - would be welcome in a city like Detroit which has the highest taxes in Michigan.

If Hackel isn't happy with the regional water deal, that's between him and the people of Macomb County. I simply hope that Mayor Mike Duggan, Councilman Gabe Leland, and the other members of the City Council use this opening as a chance to advance the interests of our residents.

Let the deal fall through, if Hackel continues to object.

Sell the portion of our water system that is in the suburbs to any number of private investors.

Use the proceeds from such a sale to pay down debts - for either the City of Detroit or the Detroit Public Schools.

Once the debt is paid down, lower the debt service levy on Detroiter's property taxes.

The choice is clear. The only question that remains is: what will Detroit's leadership do?