Public commenters lambasted the solar neighborhoods projects, several saying the city forced them from their homes and is once again displacing Black residents through eminent domain.
Loving this sunshine recently! Are we outside #Detroit??
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Today I’ll be live reporting a Detroit City Council meeting at 10am!! Let’s start the day off right!
08:33 AM Apr 22, 2025 CDT
Here’s today’s agenda- it’s a doozy! pub-dehttps://pub-detroitmi.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=214130
This session is called to order at 10:10 am! Let’s hop to it !
Public comment time! The first commenter complains about Mike Duggan, saying he needs to be stop and that he’s stolen so much from the Detroit people- that the residents of Detroit need to unify against him.
Next is a man named Robert King, who says that the busses are running ‘every which way’, that there are no seats for seniors- and that it’s the bus driver’s responsibility to provide that.
Another commenter recounts his support for renewable energy, that the police evicted a woman wrongfully because she lived in a solar neighborhood, and that the city of Detroit is trying to rob the people of their own assets.
There’s a lot of mentions of god in today’s session, I imagine it has something to do with the pope’s passing and how people see that affecting the political world.
Next commenter talks about how the city of Detroit stole their home in the middle of winter- and that they’re now homeless. That they were treated as criminals, and that the Detroit solar project is doing more harm than good. Getting illegally evicted despite their best efforts, with no help.
Council woman asks for more information and to get in contact with their attorneys in order to see what she can do for them.
The next commenter, part of occupy Detroit, talks about once owning six houses on an undisclosed neighborhood- breaking out into tears because his son was taken from him because he had no housing after his property was lost to the aforementioned initiative.
I assume this is what he was talking about while mentioning occupy Detroit, but I’ll probably revise this at the end of the thread.
buhttps://buildingdetroit.org/commonelements/occupied/application/
“When do I matter?”
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The next woman outcries after lamenting being accosted by Dpd. Council woman assures her she’ll get something in writing to the dpd- another member of the council says that an investigation is underway.
20 people raising their hands on zoom for public comment, our first digital commenter talks about procuring a van for this man, who commented earlier.
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https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=997239252546470&id=100067812136003
Next Detroit resident advocates for block clubs and associations that are not receiving funding to improve their neighborhoods- and is asking for a helping hand from the city of Detroit.
“What power do you guys have to help the people?”
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A man bitterly asks “When are you gonna start fighting for us?” against Mike Duggan, saying that he steals Detroit’s tax dollars, and gives nothing in return.
Theo Pride asks the city council to look at research concerning sports practice facilities not returning investments from the average Detroit citizen, and actually gentrifying neighborhoods- doing more harm than good.
I really like what this next commenter is saying, but I can’t keep up with it while typing so it’ll be included at the end of the thread.
Another commenter talks about how a certain group (predominantly black) of city of Detroit retirees were targeted, and have been for the past 11 years. Asking for help.
“The city voted for the solar initiative without any thought”
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an online participant going by ‘we see you’ in the zoom meet recounts how they feel the council is wasting our tax dollars and failing us. Mentioning that 184 million dollars in revenue should be in ‘our pot’ . Not anywhere else.
A woman wants the city to put the retirees who are suffering reductions in savings on a better plan, one that supports their needs as former employees on equal grounds with everyone else.
Commenter going by ‘You matter’ is asking why a city with over 66 thousand properties couldn’t figure out a way to go solar without using eminent domain. That it’s based on 1951, and was intended to be used for racist means.
mjrl.orghttps://mjrl.org/2018/04/09/the-color-of-blight-michigans-troubled-history-of-urban-renewal-complicates-detroits-comeback/
For context, because I didn’t know- Eminent domain is the power of the government to take private property for public use, even if the owner does not want to sell.
There’s a moment of silence for Pope Francis, as requested by a member of the public.
There are a LOT of sentiments concerning racist illegal overtaxation and foreclosure today, many speakers today are talking about losing their homes.
A man named Mr.Bloom talks about the supposed waterfront multi-sport complex project having the potential to undermine taxpayers. Much like the previous commenter focusing on this issue- Theo Pride- he asks the council to really mull over their decision concerning this.
Public comment is now closed, and we move on to number 16 on the agenda (page 6)
17.1 is postponed until the end of the agenda, moving on to 17.2
Approved without objection. 17.3 is the legislative policy decision requesting permission to do study on implementing local smart taxes, and there are some questions as to how it can be legally digestible to the public.
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A response is given that the report is intended to cover all legal aspects
Representative with the city clerk’s office explains that the increase in the proposed contract because Covid took a hit to their process and caused them to expend the amount of money originally allotted.
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There are no objections and the item is approved.
18.2 - 18.8 are approved. Followed shortly by a discussion of 18.9, mentioned by several public commenters earlier, the Lump Sum Cash option.
John Naglick talks about how some people didn’t even have a choice, retirees having to pay 6.7% of interest back from an already poor retirement plan. Because the date has already passed to take money away from these people over the span of their lifetime- this proposed plan was brought to the table
As an alternative to having a reduction on your pension check with absurd interest- one could just pay a lump sum without interest at any time. Approximately 3400 people are affected by this.
18.9 is approved, as well as 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, and 19.5
20.9 and 20.10 fly by, as well as 20.11. On to New business!
21.1 and 21.2 are approved. 21.3 - 21.9 are moved for approval with discussion, a councilman bringing up 21.6 asking about the selection process works for this contract.
It ends up getting moved to the end of the agenda, but the rest of them are approved.
21.10 - 21.13 are approved, but 21.14 is denied, and 21.15- 21.17 are removed.
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Returning now to the two items that were moved to the end of the agenda, starting with 17.1
Beau Taylor clarifies that he wants a contingency plan for if they’re not able to access the funds in time, which is why the provisions were included in his documentation.
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17.1 is approved
Moving to member reports, which is item 27 on the agenda, in which one member asks for the citizens what is being done about the solar resolution- and that she wants it to be a line item.
Head councilwoman says that they’re trying to get in contact with the attorney today and that they can discuss making it a public process.
Mentions of the earth day awards this Saturday , April 26, at Union Carpenters and Millwrights Skilled training Center starting at 10am. Exciting stuff !
The office will be hosting a summer camp and youth job fair on Tuesday May 20th at the Northwest activity center !
Returning to that public comment I missed was an urge for the council to support research on implementing smart tax. Good for him! That motion was passed and honestly I myself am curious to see what results it yields.
If you believe anything in the coverage today is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@outliermedia.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line!! Look for me on https://documenters.org ❣️
