The City of Detroit launched a network of food pantries yesterday to help residents who normally rely on benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. 

The program, also sometimes called food stamps, has not been fully funded since Nov. 1 because of the federal government shutdown.  Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration has created a map of 85 certified food pantries.

“This is now live at DetroitMI.gov.  You can see the 85 sites.  Some are open one day a week.  Some are open five or six days a week.  And so you can go on the website, click on the one in your area that’s closest to you…and for example you can see this one gives you the address.” 

Duggan is also asking for volunteers to help hand out food to residents in need.  He says the plan should be feasible for the next two weeks. The city has authorized $1.75 million for the project.  

There’s no word on when the government shutdown might end. 

Additional headlines from Thursday, November 6, 2025

Chrysler recall
Chrysler is recalling 320,000 Jeep plug-in hybrid vehicles because of a battery problem that could cause them to catch fire. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the recall affects Jeep Wranglers from the 2020- 2025 model years and Jeep Grand Cherokees from the 2022-2026 model years.  Owners are advised to park the vehicles away from structures and not to plug them in. 

A repair for the problem has not yet been found.  There are reports of 19 fires and one injury possibly connected to the issue. 

DIA workers unionize

Employees at the Detroit Institute of Arts have formed the DIA Workers United union. It’s in partnership with with American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Culture Workers United Division.  The division of the union also represents workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The DIA Union campaign says it’s seeking “a fair, transparent, and respectful workplace that aligns with the values the museum shares with the community.” DIA representatives said in a statement they are supportive of the union, and respect the workers legal right to unionize. 

Last day to apply for Homeowners Property Exemption

Tomorrow is the deadline for homeowners to apply for the Homeowners Property Exemption – or HOPE – program. Those who qualify can received up 100% exemption on their property taxes for the current year.

Applications will also be taken for the 2024 tax year as well. Last year, over 10,000 homeowners received reductions on their taxes ranging from 10% to 100%. To see if you qualify or to apply visit detroit.mi.gov/hope. You can also visit city hall Friday, November 7th between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. 

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There are about 2,200 urban gardens across Detroit. In a place with a lot of empty tracts,  that can be a great use of land. 

And, over the past few years, the city has done things to assist the people who tend to it. There’s now an entire department dedicated to the inner workings of urban farmers. 

Recently, the city alongside the Eastern Market Partnership are collaborating to offer $225,000 in grant funding to Detroit-based farmers.

But even with the new dollars being made available, preserving and expanding farms can be challenging because upkeep can be costly and labor-intensive. With Mayor Mike Duggan leaving office, there will likely be turnover and questions about the priorities of the new administration.

Amanda Brezzell is the creative director and co-founder of Fennigan’s Farms in Detroit, a board member for the Detroit Food Policy Council, and a policy and engagement specialist for the Groundwork Center.

They spoke with Cary Junior II about the challenges and joys of farming in Detroit.

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In 2023, the City of Detroit took over the duty of maintaining the land alongside its freeways from the State of Michigan. That includes cutting the grass on embankments.

With more than 240 miles of freeways in Detroit to take care of, director of the city’s General Services Department, Crystal Perkins, says maintaining the land along the road is a full-time job.

“We have been doing five cuts on the freeways a year,” said Perkins, “Along with litter pickup, we’re out here seven days a week.”

Complicating the task, Perkins says more than 80% of that land is a steep slope.  Those embankments are traditionally cut with heavy duty riding mowers, which do run the risk of tipping over, creating a potentially dangerous situation for operators working just inches from where cars are doing 70 miles per hour.

But the days of worrying so much about rider safety could become a thing of the past. Payne Landscaping, one of two companies the city contracts with, has started to use remote-controlled lawnmowers.

The new technology moves the operator off the frame and up the slope, where they control the machine with a handheld device. Perkins says that set-up is attractive to a new generation of lawncare professionals.

“The operators are more technical,” said Perkins. “So your young adults, your people who maybe like to spend a lot of time on videogames.”

There are a number of benefits to working with the remote-controlled mowers, which are more lightweight than ride-along equipment. Payne Landscaping director, Terry Payne, says it allows his employees to cut grass, even when it’s wet.

“You can cut in the rain with these,” Payne said. “The other mowers, you cannot cut. You’re going to leave tracks.”

That makes it easier for the city to maintain its five-cut-a-year freeway upkeep schedule. City officials say keeping the slopes well-manicured helps discourage illegal dumping.

Beyond the convenience, Payne says the user experience with remote mowers is better than it is with ride-along gear.

“You bounce a lot,” Payne said of old mowers. “It’s bad on your knees and different things. So this is more comfortable. You’re just walking behind it.”

Detroit officials would like to see more remote-controlled lawn mowers buzzing alongside major thoroughfares, but the technology isn’t cheap — costing more than $60,000 per mower. That said, Payne says it’s about the same price as the traditional riding equipment his company would be using otherwise.

Detroiter Duane Williams is suing the city of Detroit and the police and fire departments for $100 million in damages over his wrongful conviction in 2013.

Williams was sentenced to life in prison in connection with a fire that killed two people.

He spent over 11 years behind bars before a judge ordered that Williams be released last year due to the conviction being tainted by false and manipulated testimony. Williams’ attorney, Todd Flood, says investigators lied about a lighter found at the source of the fire that killed two people.

“It was an accidental fire. The fire started on a couch in that room where one of the decedents was severely intoxicated. He was a known smoker, and there was smoking materials found in that room, on that couch,” he said.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

“I’m a prosecutor at heart, I’m a law enforcement guy at heart; I’m a person that stands for integrity,” Flood said. “This shocks the conscience when you look at this lawsuit and you see the people that ultimately conspired to put Dwayne behind bars.”

Williams says he still has mental scars from his near decade spent in prison, describing the difficulties just walking down the street can bring.

“I just kept telling myself, don’t look back, because in prison, you don’t want anybody walking behind you, and you don’t know who it is,” he said. “But I wasn’t in prison. I was free, and I tried so hard not to look back, but I had to stop and look back. I couldn’t help it.”

He said his time spent in prison has also forever changed his relationship with his wife and family.

“People think that the court systems work. People think that the systems that are in place, the appeals process and all these other things, work,” Williams said. “But they don’t work when you’re the person in the system, and that’s sad, and I pray that we’ll find a way to fix that.”

City officials have not responded to the lawsuit and said they will not comment on pending litigation.

Detroit officials say they’ve filed the “largest blight lawsuit in its history” against a blockchain-based real estate platform after it failed to maintain hundreds of residential properties in the city.

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Real Token, also known as RealT, is a Florida-based company that markets itself as a decentralized real estate security token platform. In the lawsuit, the city alleges that the company’s co-founders, brothers Remy Jacobson and Jean-Marc Jacobson — and their 165 affiliated companies — have neglected over 400 properties in Detroit by failing to maintain basic health and safety requirements, leading to widespread code violations and blight.

Detroit’s Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallet says the city wants them to pay $500,000 in blight tickets and ensure their properties pass compliance inspections.  

“We are also asking the judge to hold the Jacobson brothers personally liable for the circumstances that their tenants find themselves,” he said. “We are also asking the judge to take control of the entire process so that even the vacant properties are properly attended to [and] properly registered.”

Mallet says Real token used a complex web of shell companies to avoid responsibility for keeping up their properties.  

Real Token says it paid their parties to manage the properties and blamed them for the problems.  

“We are sending a message,” Mallet wrote in a statement, “no matter how innovative your business model may be, you cannot hide behind technology or corporate formalities to evade your responsibilities as a property owner.”

Other headlines for Thursday, July 3, 2025:

• More than 6,000 signatures have been collected by the group Dearborn Wants Wards to change the city council from an at-large body to district-based seats.
• The Michigan House has passed two bills that give police the ability to test for controlled substances during traffic stops.
• AAA says it expects almost 2.5 million people in Michigan to travel this Fourth of July weekend. State officials say they are suspending roadwork at more than 100 project sites over the holiday weekend to help ease traffic congestion.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Southwest Detroit native and entrepreneur Arnold Boyd is one of two write-in candidates competing against nine others in the city’s mayoral race.

Boyd, the founder of a school bus transportation company, launched his campaign in May and was one of the last to join the packed field of candidates facing off in the upcoming Aug. 5 primary.

Running on a platform of expanding skilled trades, making it easier to start a business, offering legal aid to senior citizens facing foreclosure and more, he says he would bring something new and different to the city.

“I’m running for mayor because I feel the city…all too often we vote for people that have name recognition or people that are career politicians,” Boyd said. “It’s time for the city to vote for people that come from their own.”

Boyd joined The Metro on Tuesday to share more details about his vision for Detroit and how he plans to achieve it.

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The city of Detroit announced on Monday that it has received a credit upgrade from the credit rating agency Moody’s for the 11th year in a row. 

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Detroit’s rating went up one notch from Baa2 to Baa1 with a positive outlook, the city reported. The city’s financial resiliency and its operating performance over time were key reasons behind this year’s upgrade, Moody’s said in a statement.

Moody’s cited key projects underway — such as the new Hudson’s development, the expansion of Henry Ford Hospital’s campus, and the new Water Square development — as positives, adding that the city’s tax base has more than doubled in the past five years. 

The city’s credit rating hit an all-time low at Caa3 — considered “junk bond” status — in June 2013 after declaring bankruptcy.

“This is what happens when elected leaders set aside us-versus-them politics and work together,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement. “Our CFO team, department heads and City Council all have demonstrated tremendous fiscal discipline over the past 11 years to help bring us to where we are today and to lay a strong foundation for years to come.”

Other headlines for Tuesday, July 1, 2025:

• Residents on Detroit’s east side are speaking out about gun violence after two young people were killed at a city playground near Denby High School on Friday. Police are still investigation the shooting, which claimed the lives of 4-year-old Samir Grubbs and 18-year-old Daviyon Shelmonson-Bey and left another teenager wounded. No suspects are in custody.
• The Motown Museum has reopened its “Motown Mile” art installation along the Detroit riverfront with a new exhibition honoring the legacy of Motown Museum founder Esther Gordy Edwards, titled “Keeper of the Dream.”
• Detroit’s neighbors across the river are celebrating Canada Day on Tuesday, commemorating the country’s “confederation.” Windsor residents celebrated with a parade down Ouelette Avenue late Tuesday morning.
• Detroit is getting a new WNBA team. The league announced the new team on Monday. Tom and Holly Gores will be the controlling owners of the new franchise, set to play in 2029. Other expansion teams will also be launched in Cleveland and Philadelphia that year. Detroit’s previous WNBA team — the Detroit Shock — played from 1998 until 2009, winning three championships during that time.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Detroit mayoral candidate and City Councilman Fred Durhal III last week announced his strategic plan for improving the city, including cracking down on blight and implementing a more “equitable tax strategy.”

His plan emphasizes the importance of cutting taxes and red tape when necessary, reinvesting in communities and “main streets,” creating more affordable housing and expanding Detroit’s development authority to Midtown, Corktown and to Gratiot, near Eastern Market. Durhal also wants to see more thriving business corridors, more Detroit enterprises and more city residents.

He joined The Metro on Wednesday to expand upon the priorities laid out in his strategic economic plan for the city of Detroit.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

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