It’s been a full year since an innovative community-policing program called Project Green Light kicked off in Detroit. Residents, city officials, law enforcement and business owners all sing its praises, and rightly so. Near the enrolled businesses, crime has plummeted by nearly one half and patrons feel safer. This has not meant an end to […]
With spring on the horizon and Metro Detroit on the move, the Michigan Department of Transportation is prepping for another big construction season – and that includes the heavily used MLK Boulevard bridge over M-10. The MLK Boulevard bridge over M-10 will be replaced with a longer bridge to accommodate the widening of the southbound […]
If you’ve lived in Michigan for any period of time, you know this catchphrase pretty well: Freeze/thaw. Freeze/thaw. Repeat for nearly six months of the year. And while this year’s winter may not seem particularly mild, having extremes of warmth and then cold can result in something many Michigan residents know all too well: Potholes. […]
Lighting matters. Public lighting signals so many things. When it’s present, it provides evidence of community stability, safety and stewardship. It’s absence creates an open invitation for crime and community despair. That’s why the news that there are now streetlights in every zip code in Detroit should be heralded with thunderous applause. Last week, the Public Lighting Authority (PLA) […]
At one point, the searches became so frequent young Benny Napoleon removed a car seat, so officers didn’t have to bother yanking it loose when they stopped him to look for guns or drugs. It was the early 1970s and Detroit Police STRESS (Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets) units, which would soon be disbanded […]
Whether we realize it or not, we’ve all received or benefited from a second chance at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, not everyone is as quick or generous to extend a second chance when it comes to helping convicted felons return to society in a constructive and productive manner. These are the friends, relatives, […]
Community advocate DeVone Boggan knew it would be a tough sell – maybe the toughest of his life. But desperate times call for desperate measures and Richmond, Calif. was sweating in 2007. The community of 100,000, north of Berkeley, had witnessed an alarming 47 murders and wore the tag of one of the nation’s most […]
Dale Brown envisions a community where security doesn’t involve police officers and calls to 9-1-1 would be needless, even by the elderly and physically vulnerable. Brown doesn’t live in a desert or small town where neighbors leave doors unlocked. He resides and works in Detroit where his Threat Management Center’s privately trained men and women […]