Posted inAccountability

Southwest residents seek answers about Moroun-owned truck yard

A residential-zoned parcel has been leveled and fenced off, violating city ordinance. Residents are worried about more trucking coming to their neighborhood. Southwest Detroit residents convened last week at Donovan’s Pub seeking answers about recent activity at a property belonging to the Moroun-owned real estate company Crown Enterprises at Toledo and 25th Street.  “We’re desperate,” […]

Posted inVoices

OPINION: The EV transition isn’t just about cars – the broader goal should be access to clean mobility for everyone

Sita M. Syal, University of Michigan The race to decarbonize passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the U.S. is accelerating. Battery electric vehicles accounted for almost 6% of all new vehicle sales in 2022, up from close to 3% in 2021, and demand is outstripping supply, even as manufacturers roll out new models and designs. […]

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OPINION: New report on Detroit and Rouge River’s contaminated sediments urges creative financing, environmental justice

The window for leveraging federal funds to clean up the Detroit River ends in 4-5 years. Advocates call for urgency and new approaches. Contaminated sediments on the U.S. side of the Detroit River and in the lower Rouge River continue to limit the ecological recovery of these ecosystems, including making fish unsafe for human consumption […]

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OPINION: The origin of the water affordability crisis in Highland Park

Republished with permission from Detroit Urbanism. The City of Highland Park once operated its own independent municipal water supply, from June 1915 through December 2012. Toward the end of that period, while the city was under emergency state financial oversight, inspections had found that the facility had suffered from years of deferred maintenance and was therefore “temporarily” shut […]

Posted inAccountability

Study finds racial disparities in distribution of federal funds for water systems

by María Inés Zamudio, Center for Public Integrity January 20, 2023 The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by President Biden last November, is pouring billions of dollars into an upgrade of the country’s aging water infrastructure. But a new study has found that white communities have been favored in distribution of the funds, something that’s controlled […]