Southwest Detroit residents want industrial development halted in neighborhood

Christine Macdonald, Detroit News, Feb. 2 2010---- The city's desperate need for jobs, tax revenue and a better quality of life are colliding in southwest Detroit, where residents fed up with pollution are pushing the City Council to crack down on heavy industry.

Some want a moratorium, or at least zoning changes, to restrict industrial companies from coming in or expanding in a corner of southwest Detroit. The council could halt tax credits for polluting manufacturing companies and ask the state to hold back, at least temporarily, on issuing permits.

The latest business hoping to open -- Great Lakes Petroleum -- faced such backlash that the asphalt company recently withdrew applications for two tax breaks, which needed council approval. It's unclear if Great Lakes -- owned by the Troy-based Ajax Paving Industries -- will ditch its $14.9 million expansion plans for a storage terminal at 12500 Stocker that would create six jobs, but neighbors vow to keep up the fight.

The debate is difficult for newly seated council members, pitting neighborhood concerns against growth in a city with 30 percent unemployment. "Jobs are priority one in the city," said Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown, who opposes the crackdown. "We have to look at this on a case-by-case basis. We have to balance the good and the bad."

Some southwest Detroiters are so frustrated they put white crosses in their lawns to signify family members suffering from illnesses they believe are pollution-related. Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr., who supports zoning changes, said the cumulative effect of the pollution is too dangerous not to take action. "We have to be realistic that you can reach a saturation point in certain neighborhoods," Cockrel said.

Home to heavy industry
Residents say they're surrounded. Southwest Detroit, which is roughly bordered by the Lodge Freeway, McGraw and Outer Drive, is home to Marathon Petroleum, a Detroit Water and Sewerage plant, the Detroit Salt Co., at least two other asphalt companies and the Ambassador Bridge that is used by 3 million trucks a year.

State air monitoring at sites in and near the neighborhood show it has the highest levels in the state of fine particle pollution, manmade chemicals linked to health problems. Health data on the area is conflicting or incomplete, but the most recent data show one of the area's ZIP codes -- 48216 -- has one of the highest asthma rates among Detroit children on Medicaid.
To residents such as Cheryl Elum, though, there is little debate. Four of her six children have asthma, all of whom were born on Liddesdale. Her 54-year-old husband, a truck driver, lifetime neighborhood resident and light smoker, died in November from brain and lung cancer. "Look at the price we are paying," said Elum, 51. "We are risking our lives here. But who has the resources to move?"

Fed up with waiting for the city, residents of the community of about 95,000 are conducting air emissions tests with help from nonprofits and the state. Jayne Mounce, an office manager and neighborhood resident, grew so tired of the pollution that she's now working for a nonprofit, Global Community Monitor. The California-based outfit trains volunteers to test for toxins, and Mounce's tests this summer found high levels of methyl ethyl ketone.

It is considered to be a hazardous substance that can be used in the making of plastics and paint. According to the federal government, high concentrations can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and cause depression, headaches and nausea.
"I can't believe how many people have health issues," said state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who grew up in the area and has asked Gov. Jennifer Granholm to order a state study on the cumulative effect of pollution in the area. "Of course poverty is an issue, but something else is going on."

Officials with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment are monitoring the residents' results and doing their own air testing. Results should be available in a few weeks, state officials said.
The nearby Marathon Petroleum said it typically emits far under its allowable emissions and overall 2009 emissions are expected to be down from the previous year.

Residents want moratorium
The moratorium is pushed by residents of the 48217 ZIP code, a predominantly black neighborhood of about 10,000 residents, bordering the cities of Melvindale, River Rouge, Ecorse and Dearborn. An initial proposal for the moratorium would stop the council from giving "heavy industrial" companies tax breaks for 90 days and ask Mayor Dave Bing and the state to hold off giving permits to businesses in the ZIP code. In the interim, a study by city staffers would have been done to find ways to reduce pollution in the area.

Bing won't say where he stands on a crackdown until the council takes action, but he indicated through a spokesman he wants to avoid restrictions. "Any limits placed on businesses may be counterproductive in this economic climate," spokesman Ed Cardenas wrote in an e-mail. "Detroit needs jobs, but residents deserve a healthy environment and a safe community." A city lawyer warned council members in January that a long moratorium would be unconstitutional because it could be viewed as a "taking of property." Cockrel said the council is leaning against a moratorium and toward zoning changes, including distance requirements from residences and other industrial companies. It could include other southwest Detroit ZIP codes, but nothing specific is proposed.

'In the public interest'
Great Lakes officials wouldn't comment, but have said the project would provide jobs and clean up the contaminated site that was most recently occupied by Owens Corning Roofing and Asphalt, which stored and manufactured specialty cements for the roofing industry. State officials granted a permit to Great Lakes in November, concluding their emissions "were permissible and did not pose a risk to the public health or environment." It plans to truck in asphalt cement, used in road paving, and store it at high temperatures by natural gas-fired burners. Great Lakes officials said the project would produce 98 percent fewer emissions than Owens Corning Roofing and Asphalt. But that company closed in 2007, so neighbors say the project would increase pollution.

"(Great Lakes) will be providing jobs in the community; ensuring that a local business has a greater chance of success; will put a currently idle property back into beneficial reuse consistent with its zoning and history and will be remediating the site and installing controls to protect groundwater in the future," wrote company owner James Jacob in an October letter to Tlaib. "This is all clearly in the public interest."

But a community meeting in November drew fire from residents, many of whom walked out because they complained they weren't allowed to talk. Two days later, Great Lakes dropped a request for a brownfield tax credit that would have saved the company about $3 million in tax credits and cleanup costs. In late January, the company told the city it planned to drop an application for a personal property tax exemption. It's unclear how much that would have saved. "This is not economic revitalization when you give one person a job and lose 25 to pollution and illness," said Theresa Landrum, a resident and cancer survivor who blames area pollution.

Additional Facts
At a glance
Southwest Detroit is roughly bordered by the Detroit River, the Lodge Freeway, McGraw and Outer Drive. Here's a look at the neighborhood, which is generally thought to be comprised of four ZIP codes, 48209, 48210, 48216 and 48217.

Population : 95,500

Prominent industries: Marathon Petroleum, Detroit Salt Company, a Detroit Water and Sewerage plant

Median household income: $25,215, compared to $29,526 in the city as a whole and $44,715 in Michigan.

Education: About 4 percent have at least a bachelor's degree, compared to 11 percent in the city and 22 percent in Michigan.

Prevalence* of asthma among children on Medicaid: Ranges from 4.2 to 6.7 in southwest Detroit ZIP codes, compared to 5.2 in the city and 4.9 in Michigan.

*Prevalence is the total number of cases in the population, divided by the number of individuals in the population.
Source: U.S. Census and the Epidemiology of Asthma in Michigan