Residents go to war with concrete crusher proposal • 2 shot in Southfield drive-by • Early voting in Michigan

FRIDAY NEWS HIT - A group of Detroiters is hoping to crush a concrete company's hopes of opening up a business in the city. Those who live and work near the prospective site say the dust and the noise would be too much.

The company behind this proposal says this will ultimately be a net positive for the region, but residents say if the city wants more people living in this area like they were decades ago—approving a concrete crushing facility will not help. So far, 200 people have signed a petition in opposition to the project.

Gladys Anderson has lived in the neighborhood since 1962.

"It’s like they want us out and it ain’t gonna be," she said.

Anderson, 83, is one of handful of Detroit’s core city neighborhood residents pushing back against efforts to turn the nearly five-acre property at Lawton and Buchanan into a concrete crushing facility.

"If we were in the middle of Bloomfield Hills or somewhere else, there would be no question, if we were going to have a pulverizing concrete facility in the middle of a residential area," said Chrystal Ridgeway.

Troy-based Provisions, LLC is requesting a change of use permit from the city to make it happen.

"Our houses are about 300 feet that way," said Vanessa Butterworth. "There’s absolutely no way that I’m not going to be breathing in that dust every day. My partner, my husband, my family, my neighbors."

Residents like Butterworth are concerned about inhaling concrete dust and it blanketing their homes as well as the noise that would come from the crushing process and increased traffic.

"They’re proposing to bring through 50 to 60 diesel dump trucks a day here without a proper route for the trucks to go," she said.

"I think this cleans up the City of Detroit: There’s a lot of demolition going on, on roads and bridges and things," said Murray Wikol. "And rather than putting it in landfills, what we’re offering the community - the greater community - is to reuse this, and save costs, time, and money, to repair the roads and infrastructure."

Wikol, the Provisions LLC CEO, says there’s only a couple handfuls of people living within 500 to 1000 feet of the proposed facility. On top of that, concrete crushing is highly regulated, and its mitigation efforts would make concerns about noise and dust, moot points.

"They spray the concrete with water on the way into the machine and it gets crushed and it gets crushed on the way out of the machine," he said. "And the water’s there and there’s not a lot of dust or noise."

People here don’t buy it.

"That water is going to mix with these hazardous chemicals in the concrete, go into our water go into the ground here, (and) go into the urban farm that’s right there," Butterworth said.

"It’s just going to make it harder for us to run our farm business," said Andy Chae, Fisheyes Farms. "If there’s concrete crusher in our neighborhood and people are questioning whether or not our food is safe because there could be concrete dust on the produce."

We have a statement from Detroit’s Building Department director which reads in part:

"We thoroughly examine all change of use requests for community impact and take into consideration the feedback we receive from residents in the area when making our decision.  We can say that this project in particular has received a large amount of negative feedback."

The building department says it would not weigh in on the pros and cons of the project while they consider this proposal. they plan to decide on it in the next 30-45 days.

The complete statement from BSEED Director David Bell is below:

"The company has requested a change of use permit, seeking city approval to allow this property to change to an active concrete crushing facility. We are in the process of reviewing this request and don't want to discuss the pros and cons until we make a determination in the next 30-45 days.  We thoroughly examine all change of use requests for community impact and take into consideration the feedback we receive from residents in the area when making our decision.  We can say that this project in particular has received a large amount of negative feedback."

Victim knew suspect in drive-by shooting in Southfield

Two people were sent to the hospital with gunshot wounds after being struck during a drive-by shooting in Southfield late Thursday evening.

A Dearborn Heights man was struck in the thigh and arm while a Detroit woman was hit in the leg around 11:15 p.m. in the area of 10 Mile and Greenfield. 

Both victims were traveling eastbound when they were struck. According to police, one of the victims knows the suspects. Currently, no one has been arrested in connection to the shooting. 

It's unclear what led up to the shooting as police haven't released a motive. The investigation is still in its early stages. The victim's are expected to recover found their wounds.

Biden wants Michigan as early-voting state in presidential primary

It may not feel like news now, but in two years it will become a significant shift in presidential politics as the order of several states are shuffled for the primary election season. Iowa has lost its decades-long status as the state that leads off the process.

Taking its place, according to the Associated Press, is South Carolina, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada. Those three states already had early primaries. But it's the elevation of two battleground states - Georgia and Michigan - into the early-voting scenes that is making the biggest news.

The Michigan senate unanimously voted to move up the state's primary schedule earlier this week. President Joe Biden is said to have had a hand in requesting an order change, according to a letter sent to the Democratic National Committee, AP reports.

It may mean more attention is paid to Michigan on the national scene. Politicians spending time in the state could indicate a larger play is at hand considering the sway that early voting states have on presidential primaries. 

Parking, transit questions spawn from $1.5B District Detroit proposal

For many who attended the first community meeting with land developers eyeing a $1.5 billion proposal to rebuild or renovate 10 buildings downtown, more questions than answers have spawned from the gathering.

Among the biggest queries is public transportation access. "We definitely need more of that. More Q Line extension like on Michigan Avenue, Jefferson, maybe Gratiot," said Harold Thomas, a resident.

A Wayne County Commissioner also voiced his concern that since much of the development will be on existing parking lots, that more parking would be necessary to accommodate the expected traffic.

The executives from the development agencies told residents in the first public forum earlier this week, they intend to work with the public in addressing all concerns so that no one feels left out of the process.

25 Detroit schools require partnerships after poor testing

Michigan's public education system received a blow after more than 100 schools came up short on test scores in the 2021-2022 school year. About 54 districts will now be required to partner with the state to achieve better performance and graduation rates.

The Michigan Department of Education is partnering with districts that have schools scoring in the bottom five percent or have a four-year graduation rate of 67 percent or less.

The move impacts several schools in southeast Michigan including 25 schools from the Detroit Public Schools Community District. This included Detroit Cody and Mumford high schools and Brenda Scott Academy plus two schools from Ypsilanti Community Schools.

Under the partnership agreements, districts will receive help from the Michigan Department of Education to develop "18-month interim target benchmarks" and "36-month end-target outcomes" for every school operated by the district included.

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It's going to be a wild end to the week for weather with temperatures rising until bedtime, pushed north by winds that could be a factor in climatic conditions through the weekend.

What else we're watching

1. A priest from a Catholic church in Lansing is accused of embezzling about $830,000 from three priests, according the Michigan attorney general.
2. Two food shelters are receiving enough food to feed hundreds of thousands of individuals. Bank of America says it is donating enough resources to Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners Community Food Bank to help feed 280,000 residents in Southeast Michigan.
3. Inkster police have arrested a driver after he failed to produce a license and for possessing an open alcohol container during a traffic stop. During a search, they found a loaded handgun. In a following investigation, police discovered the man was a convicted felon with multiple arrest warrants. 
4. The 45th Annual Potters Market is this weekend. Head to the Southfield Pavilion to see one of the state's most popular pottery events.
5. The director of the FBI will be in Michigan for an event as a memorial speaker at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Christopher Wray was named the Josh Rosenthal Memorial Speaker. 

FDA likely to end blanket ban on sexually active gay, bisexual men donating blood

Federal officials have moved closer to overturning a decades-old ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, after the Food and Drug Administration announced it "will likely support" the ban's end, the agency said Wednesday.

Currently, federal regulations prohibit blood banks from accepting donations from men who have had sex with men within the last three months. In a recent FDA-funded donor eligibility study, using blood surveillance information, the FDA says it will most likely support a policy transition that favors individual risk-based donor screening rather than the blanket ban that has been in effect.

"Although we do not have a specific timeline for when our analysis will be complete, the agency believes the initial data from the study, taken in the context of other data available from blood surveillance in the U.S. and in other countries, will likely support a policy transition to individual risk-based donor screening questions for reducing the risk of HIV transmission," the FDA said in a statement.