Detroit City Council Formal Session, 10 a.m.

Agenda: https://bit.ly/3NuKBnw

Note: you can access relevant documents by clicking the 📎 icon next to each agenda item

The public can access City Council’s calendar, links to join meetings virtually and watch previous meetings on City Council’s website:

http://video.detroitmi.gov/CablecastPublicSite/watch/6?channel=1

If you’re following along with me today, watch for a ‘🚨’ to signify the start of public comment

The meeting is called to order at 10:02am! 🎉

Invocation is by Dr. Katherine E. James today. https://t.co/94CBP7oh7q

Councilmember Angela Whitfield-Calloway is presenting a testimonial resolution honoring Frank Hammer for a “legacy of service” in Detroit. https://t.co/kteozGnAYc

Mr. Hammer accepted the award graciously. He said he might be the first person to receive an award whose taking part in a legal complaint against the Mayor and his administration. https://t.co/eopXOOulWX

The legal complaint will be subject of a Michigan Court of Appeals hearing on a June 18th. Mr. Hammer says the matter is about whether the city “illegally disregarded the Community Benefits Ordinance when it sold off our beloved State Fairgrounds for a song”

Mr. Hammer says he and his wife Karen have lived in Detroit for the last 50 years through which they’ve stuck it out, “loving the grit, endurance and fortitude of Detroit’s people” who continue to inspire them

Up next, Scott Benson is presenting a testimonial resolution honoring members of the techno industry. He said many people don’t know that techno was founded in Detroit in 1981 and the Movement Festival taking place this weekend is a direct result of a genre founded by 4 black men

Council member Benson is actually awarding several groups of artists and individuals engaged in the techno industry! DJ John Collins, Mark Flashes with Underground Resistance, Charles Hicks, Robert O’Brien, Vince Patricola(sp?) https://t.co/T0NeLyRUIb

Jennifer Witcher, DJ Minx, was also among those honored this morning. She shared her story and the inspiration behind Women of Wax. She once worked a day job at GM, DJing on the weekends and taking care of her children. https://t.co/uSrDSdPbEY

She was laid off by GM right before the pandemic. Coincidentally, while her online presence was starting to grow. Since then, her management company has done very well.

Moving forward on the agenda ➡️ Items under Sections 5-9 on the agenda we’re referred to the appropriate standing committees.

Benson said some of these artists will be performing at Movement this weekend.

🚨Public Comment is starting now!

1. Khary Frazier, founder of Detroit is Different, shared information about “aLot of Studio” which provides a mix of live podcasting and performances. Find out more here: https://detroitisdifferent.com/a-lot-of-studio/

1. Taura Brown - spoke about people who were placed in hotels by the City of Detroit, which was paid for with CERA funds, who are now being evicted unexpectedly. https://t.co/rDhx1udwv6

2 (cont’d) Ms. Brown described the issue as a “machine” that doesn’t hold landlords accountable, allowing them to evict tenants, which leads to the city paying for a hotel for a few weeks until they’re evicted and forced out into the streets again.

1. Joe with Detroit Eviction Defense - discussed a rise in evictions they are seeing in Detroit as federal aid is beginning to subside. Says this is happening at a particularly bad time with housing being more expensive as ever and less accessible than ever before.

1. (Cont’d) Many people were put in hotels and motels paid for with government funds who are now being told they have until the end of this month. The rooms they’re living in won’t be paid for anymore.

(I’m not going to share photos or names of the next few participants out of respect for their situation, as they’ve indicated they may be particularly vulnerable)

1. She moved into a home in November and by the end of the month, someone walked into her home saying they were the owner. She called the police, she is a victim of human trafficking & was afraid. They told her it was a simple matter & she had to take them to court.

4 (cont’d) She took them to Court, received a judgement and soon after DPD charged her with squatting, handcuffed her in front of her child and took her to jail. 24 hours later, everything she owned was removed from the house.

4(cont’d) she said it’s not the police departments job to evict people & asked where she was supposed to go with her baby.

Sheffield responded and discussed various resources available for Detroit residents facing a housing crisis. Sheffield scrambled a bit as she attempted to offer help during a public meeting and said, “we want to make sure that we wrap our arms around her as much as we can.”

1. She was wrongfully evicted last year. She was placed in a hotel. She doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do or where anyone would go in her situation. She found out she has to leave June 1st.

Sheffield responded again and said that while they’re downtown, they’re going to “definitely try to directly connect you all to resources.”

1. Ms. Riley - She was here 2 weeks ago to share her concerns about a water issue she’s had for some time now. The city offered her a small amount of money to fix the issue and eventually offered her more, but it was still not enough to replace her water heater.

6 (cont’d) She was without heat from 2016 until last year when everything was replaced.

1. Tenant Advocate - Discussed the housing crisis as it relates to the previous comments. “We don’t even know how many people are being evicted”. She said a tenant didn’t get a chance in Court because the landlord ripped the mailbox out to prevent her from getting a notice.

7 (cont’d) the tenant she referenced was able to get into a hotel and said it was nearly impossible to find housing.

1. Discussed a story about a mother who had 7 kids who had to bounce from shelter to shelter. Asked how those kids were supposed to get an education and said it’s up to the city administration to address this housing crisis.

1. Ms. Sheard - she’s the tenant whose landlord ripped the mailbox out - she’s in a hotel now but on June 1st, she’s going to be on the sidewalk. She’s tried to locate housing with a job and license, but they want her birth certificate which is (hopefully) in a storage unit

9(cont’d) - she’s 70 years old and only receives $80 in social security. She became emotional talking about how she didn’t even think about her birth certificate amidst being evicted https://t.co/CS2qF6elL3

1. She’s living in a hotel room and currently looking for housing. Her case manager told her she had until May 25th. On the 15th, she received a call while she was at work and they said she had to check out.

10 (cont’d) She has a 3 year old & has been saving money but if she hadn’t she doesn’t know what the outcome would have been.

A different vibe from Mary Sheffield today. In between these comments, she’s telling them to stick around so they can get their information and that Julie Schneider, Director of Housing & Revitalization Department, will be here to discuss this issue

(Note: these comments are all in-person)

1. Amy - Detroit Eviction Defense - she said 9/10 evictions are filed by landlords operating illegally and 25% of cases filed end in default. She also said police evictions continue in the Squatters Task Force which is unchecked.

Amy, Detroit Eviction Defense: “We’re losing a neighbor and you guys are losing a taxpayer”. She said Right to Counsel will not stop these evictions.

Julie Schneider, Director of Housing & Revitalization Department, is now in attendance. She said she heard some of the public comments and has been following some posting on social media lately.

Schneider said Congress and the State Legislature has appropriated roughly $308 million that has come to serve Detroit residence beginning December 27th, 22020.

They first round that was allocated residents didn’t need to be facing eviction. Those that were served a Notice to Quit or were going through the eviction process were referred to Wayne Metro and United Community Housing Coalition who’ve provided assistance.

Schneider said they city has been providing assistance to households who are in court facing eviction, as well as individuals who are not.

Julie Schneider, Director of City of Detroit Housing & Revitalization Department: “The hotel program was set up as a way to try to prevent people from becoming homeless”

These individuals were in special circumstances that had been forced from their home, perhaps an illegal eviction took place.

Schneider explained the various funding sources including CERA (statewide), ERAP1 and ERAP2.

ERAP1 has to be spent by June 13th. After that, the funding will go back to the Treasury.

Schneider said the state legislature put requirements and limits on ERAP2. There is language that restricts the city’s ability to actually spend that money on hotels.

$28 million of the $308 million was used to provide rental assistance who were behind on rent and the hotel program. Those funds are fully encumbered. They’re in a situation where the city doesn’t have additional funding for the hotel program.

Chelsea Neblett said that individuals who were receiving hotel support have been assigned to a case manager for assistance w/ housing leads.

If they’re not able to find housing in the six-month cap set by the state’s program, they’re connecting residents to CAM for shelter and support upon leaving the hotel.

The Housing & Revitalization Department didn’t have an answer as to the number of individuals who are currently staying in a hotel but they’ve contacted Wayne Metro and UCHC to provide those #s later.

Ms. Neblett gave her work cell phone number for a contact.

Councilmember Tate asked when the city was made aware of any changes and when the city communicated with individuals who were placed in hotels about the funds running out.

Neblett said when the hotel program started, they made a 6-month commitment to provide assistance through hotel placements. That never changed. They offered 6 months based on funding that was available.

HRD has weekly meetings with case managers and assistance providers to provide/receive updates on these programs. It doesn’t sound like there’s a mechanism in place to ensure they’re actually connecting with individuals they’ve placed in hotels.

HRD confirmed that around 260 individuals have received hotel assistance. This isn’t the total number that are currently in a hotel.

Whitfield-Calloway was noteably frustrated about the hotel program. She said “This is an emergency in this city.”

Whitfield-Calloway: “You can’t line item all of this. This is a real issue and I’m thinking as a Council that we should have been made aware of this.”

Councilmember Johnson discussed the importance of a long-term plan to ensure housing is provided, available and affordable.

Julie Schneider: “There is a reality coming that these dollars will not be available in the future.” The city has 46,000 households apply in the City of Detroit for housing-related hardships.

Councilmember Durhal asked if the city has housing coordinators that explain the process to individuals when they are moved in or placed in a hotel? He wants to know if they’re being transparent with information and letting folks know how long they have.

Neblett said that is the intent of the case manager assigned to support residents in hotels. They receive information about the “rules”, housing leads and notification about when the exit date is..

Durhal said they have different agencies “floating around” but they want to ensure they’re doing everything they can to educate residents - what is this program, what does it do, for how long, etc.

Durhal said he thinks the people being in front of them today is indicative that the city is not getting information to them properly.

Schneider said they expect to have funding for approximately 47,000 completed applications. They’re close to that number today. Once they pass that number, they’ll be communicating about when the last day is to get applications in

The balance in the account is $150 million ($308 total has been provided to the city)

Whitifield-Calloway said it baffles her to know they have a land bank with house that the city owns. She doesn’t understand why they can’t match residents who don’t have a home to the homes the land bank owns.

Whitfield-Calloway: “This is not rocket science. We can match families with houses that we already own”

Whitfield-Calloway ran through various ways of providing housing to residents who don’t have a roof including a building that has approx. 200 units that doesn’t require a significant amount of roof.

Whitfield-Calloway: “They’re just asking for a roof over their head, they’re not asking for stainless steel appliances”

Santiago-Romero pointed out that only 7% (approx) of ARPA funding is appropriated for housing. She said there’s opportunities for them to change that and she hopes they do.

Sheffield said a follow-up conversation is forthcoming. She discussed amendments requiring housing that actually reflects the demographics of residents here in Detroit. She thinks times have changed and people are starting to understand that what they call affordable may not be

Sheffield: “If we can’t find housing in Detroit, something is wrong, right..... We’re not doing what we need to be doing as a city if we cannot place people in housing.”

In response to Councilmember Young’s question about compliance rates, Schneider said they created provisions to ensure landlords who were recieving assistance weren’t eligible w/o a certificate of compliance and/or improve their properties.

Schneider said they’ve seen an increase in compliance with the rental registry program.

Councilmember Young asked how many houses needed to be built to make housing affordable. Schneider said she doesn’t have an answer but she knows they’re a few years away from that being a reality.

Councilmember Mary Waters: “I’m just going to say this for the record. Don’t ask me for one penny for demolitions” She said she’s not approving commercial demolitions until the city fixes this housing crisis. “I’m just not doing it”.

Whitfield-Calloway: “We have the dollars, we just have to have the will to help the people that we say we care about.”

Shifting focus back to public comment now.

1. Operations Manager at Collinwood Careers - shared information about the work they do to connect residents with job opportunities. He invited Council to visit one of their career centers.

Now onto virtual participants:

1. Amy, District 5 resident: said a group she’s involved in did a calling campaign into her office last week to give her a heads up about issues discussed today. She said they’re going through all of these resources, but the system is broken.

1. Discussed their recent encounter with council members. They said they were very personable, and he appreciated their presence.

1. Opposed spending $7 million of ARPA funds on Shotspotter, which they called “faulty, invasive and wasteful”. If human beings called 911 and 98% of the time it was a false alarm, she said they wouldn’t be awarding human beings with $7 million more dollars.

1. Opposed 9.10 and 9.13 on the agenda, which are for ShotSpotter. They said there’s years of data that show “it’s harmful impacts”, noting that 5.6% of responses result in an arrest. Feels it’s unacceptable to spend 7 million on ShotSpotter after they discussed a housing crisis

1. Discussed various resident-led efforts to acquire property for affordable housing/stability that were rejected by the administration, including home repair programs. She said that when it comes to the middle class, they want them to take out loans

1. Ruth Johnson, CDAD - Asked Council to not put an unfair and unjust burden on people who are in a crisis to report, evaluate and require the enforcement of existing law. “This crisis has been longstanding. Let us do better.”

18 (cont’d) asked Council to not allow any public investment, including tax abatements, in housing developments that aren’t accessible and affordable.

1. Renard, Detroit People’s Platform and Transit Justice - suggesting using the electric buses on a rotational basis in neighborhoods impacted by environmental pollution and industrial expansion. Also suggested investing in the operations of city buses.

More on the roll out of electric buses in Detroit:

https://www.bridgedetroit.com/electric-buses-start-rolling-in-detroit/

1. Discussed inconsistencies in calculations for bond debt and pension payments. They said the city’s state equalized value is a fake number and that the city cannot withstand the amount of debt they’ve acquired.

1. Kelly, Campaign Zero - said they just listened to Black women testify to the fact that they don’t have housing, yet the city is about to vote to approve technology which has been proven to be predatory and insufficient. Urged a no vote on the $7 million ShotSpotter contract.

1. Iman - They have been rehabbing their home in Virginia Park for the past couple of years. She’s heartbroken after listening to the stories of women who are facing a housing crisis but also impressed hearing City Council’s response. Discussed the root causes of houselessness.

22 (cont’d) opposed using $7 million on ShotSpotter, which she described as an improper investment into the community

1. Believes DLBA is the “biggest money grab the City of Detroit has ever witnessed in the history of the city.” Opposed spending money on commercial demolitions until the housing crisis is addressed

1. Jacob, Campaign Zero - opposed ShotSpotter contract. Asked what the point is in buying a technology that ultimately can’t be used due to the policy that requires police depts to deny records requests for audio recordings, including prosecutors

1. Quoted a BSEED report that said of the 60K rental properties in Detroit, only 800 are compliant with the city.

1. Said the situation the city is in is because of the policies of the current administration and previous City Council that allowed it to happen.

1. Worked for the city for 30 years and said it’s disappointing to see how people are being treated . They worked, paid taxes, took pay cuts, days off with no pay, did what they were told & then the people get to the crossing gate and everything they’ve worked for is taken away.

28.DeRay, Campaign Zero- Opposed ShotSpotter. Asked Council to remember that the city doesn’t own the data, ShotSpotter does. Based on Campaign Zero’s research, they haven’t found a city with demonstratable decreases in gun violence or violent crime

Note: ShotSpotter contracts will be in the Public Health & Safety Committee on June 6th. 👀

1. Said the evictions are absurd and ridiculous and shouldn’t be happening in this city, especially when there’s $7 million available for ShotSpotter

And that concludes public comment!

All items under Section 15 were approved. Under Section 16, Councilmember Tate has questions about 16.4

Tate said the contract cost estimates includes hours on Saturdays, Sundays and some holidays. He asked when these would be used on holidays. https://t.co/WaceIi74pV

Derrick Gray said he’s not sure when they actually provide these services. Tate said the cost is estimated that the city will be utilizing their services on holidays, 50 hours on the weekends for $10/hour more and “other times”. Gray doesn’t know whether those fees were ever used

Chris Jones, OCP, chimed in on the discussed. This is an as-needed service. The estimated hours are only in the case they’ll need to utilize these services. They have to put that in the bid document to estimate the # of hours they may need to serve us.

Jones said they may not need it all, but it’s there if they do.

Gray explained that these are the machines that vacuum out catch basins and drains. The costs associated with the contract are more of a fee schedule than anything else.

Councilmember Johnson said she understands the city has 12 vactor trucks they utilize to clean out catch basins. Mr. Gray clarified that these don’t service outside drains, only those inside city facilities (i.e. Fire Department drains).

The trucks that the city owns are used by DPW. This contract will service GSD. This contract was postponed to the end of the agenda.

16.1-16.3 and 16.5 were approved. 16.4 will be brought back at the end of the agenda. 16.6 was mistakenly added as a voting item, it’s being referred to Neighborhood & Community Services.

17.1-17.4 and 17.6-17.9 were approved.
Benson and Whitfield-Calloway voted “no” on 17.8
17.5 and 17.10 are Smalley Construction contracts and both failed with all councilmembers voting no.

The remaining items under Section 17 on today’s agenda were approved.

Now on Section 18 - Items 1 through 18.

Santiago-Romero said CRIO and OCP have confirmed that Inner City Contracting is in good standing with teh city. They’ve lost a few certifications but that doesn’t mean they can’t bid on future contracts.

Santiago-Romero said her concerns are that this contract is being investigated by the Office of Investigator General’s office to determine whether or not it’s a small business. Also has questions about whether they’re paying the city the appropriate amount of taxes.

The contracts with Inner City Contracting will be brought back in two weeks(I’m pretty sure?) A lot of discussion around these the last two days/weeks

18.53 is a duplicate and was removed the agenda. Santiago-Romero discussed line item 18.55. This is her resolution urging MDOT to maintain pedestrian bridges over freeways in the City of Detroit.

Santiago-Romero said her resolution is in response to this incident. She said they hear from the department that they want to remove pedestrian bridges which she believes would be a mistake.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2022/05/17/my-whole-torso-is-a-huge-bruise-man-falls-through-pedestrian-bridge-in-detroit/

Santiago-Romero wants City Council to think about investing in these bridges, rather than removing them. “We have too many freeways in the city. We need people to be able to move from one place to the next, and these pedestrian bridges help maintain that mobility.”

18.54 and 18.55 were approved.

Items 22.1, 22.3, 22.4, 22.9 were moved to New Business for a vote today due to the timing - they’ll take place prior to City Council returning from the Mackinaw Policy Conference.

22.10 was also removed because the street closure is no longer needed by the administration.

With the exception of 22.1, 22.3, 22.4 and 22.9 which were approved and 22.10 being removed - items under Sections 20-25 were referred to the appropriate Standing Committees.

Councilmember Young spoke about his father as today is former Mayor Coleman A. Young Sr.’s birthday.

With nothing further on the agenda for today, the meeting was adjourned at 2:13pm.

This concludes the Detroit City Council Formal Session meeting on Tuesday, May 24th, 2022.

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