Description
Various vagrants have been gathering here and it has gotten worse in the last week. I now see up to 8 different characters here pan-handling, throwing trash all around, leaving food out and attracting mice, and making the entire area unwalkable. It smells like a garbage dump.
also asked...
Q. What is at the curbside more than 24 hours in advance of scheduled pick up?
Α. Bulk Waste
Α. Bulk Waste
Q. Is this a vacant structure or vacant lot?
Α. No
Α. No
257 Comments
BH (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Bam929 (Registered User)
BH (Registered User)
Kath (Registered User)
Kath (Registered User)
tonya (Registered User)
ACA (Registered User)
KSims (Registered User)
UDCA resident (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
Lindanorth (Registered User)
Jimfrac (Registered User)
JLCounts (Registered User)
Please help clean this mess up!
Αναγνωρισμένο DPW Environmental Enforcement - SS (Verified Official)
MPhD (Registered User)
FCG (Registered User)
Linda (Registered User)
Michelle (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
This is out of control. Ive seen two fights here in the past month. Three years ago my car was damaged because of two panhandlers fighting, one of them bounces off the back of my car. One of the regulars has harassed my wife. They routinely walk in traffic.
The city of a Detroit is clearly not serious about rejuvenating neighborhoods outside of the radius of Ilitch/Gilbert money.
jobrien (Registered User)
Reality (Registered User)
Reality (Registered User)
J. Scott (Registered User)
cmcpvc (Registered User)
Nancy (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Lindanorth (Registered User)
Lindanorth (Registered User)
Lindanorth (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Sparrow (Registered User)
Κλειστό DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
Reopened VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
JJ (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
John (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
West412 (Registered User)
Latasha Webster (Registered User)
cmcpvc (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
BH (Registered User)
Eo1672 (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
T (Registered User)
Lindanorth (Registered User)
Keep_It_Clean (Registered User)
Suski (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Randy (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Lindanorth (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
mmcadow313 (Registered User)
Please address this situation, for the sake of the entire neighborhood. Attempts to address it and discuss solutions via our neighborhood app have been unsuccessful, and due to people outside of our immediate Green Acres community reporting residents to the administrators for “ranting”, some of us have had our accounts suspended on said neighborhood app. We have exhausted all options- and are looking to the city to at least lend support in eradicating this health and safety hazard ASAP.
Bob (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Sunday, July 29th, 2018, 12:15 PM — the usual suspects and a few new ones. Severa look half-passed out. Rolling around in filth. Falling asleep with cigarettes in mouth. Rotten food and wrappers everywhere.
This pedestrian area is completely unusable.
Enforce the law.
Judy (Registered User)
Randy (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Eo1672 (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Dear E01672,
We are not "chatting on this app." We are leaving direct messages for the above mentioned municipal agencies and departments so they can address the issue. Kindly unsubscribe from the thread if you are no longer interested in receiving updates from seeclickfix.
The situation is getting worse and worse. Hello DPW and other municipal entities. We are not going away. Your attention to this matter is expected.
Judy (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Randy (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Nancy (Registered User)
Κλειστό Eo1672 (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Reopened VinSpee (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
DO NOT close this thread until the issue has been resolved.
Again, if you do not wish to receive notifications, kindly "unfollow" the thread.
Eo1672 (Registered User)
To VinSpee and bolanrint:
I will do as I please, thank you. Especially if I’m getting responses that have been removed already about rape. Totally uncalled for, as is the comment about a “kit” this morning. Y’all need to call the police and the community liaison as stated in an earlier post. Call the POLICE.
VinSpee (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Randy (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
To Eo1672 - I don't know if you are with the City or are a private individual but this is a serious problem and there seems to an ongoing effort to pretend that the problem either doesn't exist or has somehow been solved. Neither is true. The people who keep trying to bring this to the attention of the City and/or the DPD also have been the recipients of insults. That's completely unfair.
These are the obvious facts:
1) Vagrancy laws are being broken
2) Illegal drug use has been identified
3) It is highly probably that there are HIV, Hepatitis, and other disease risks associated with needles that people have observed being used and discarded
4) People are relieving themselves in the area and that carries with it disease risks
5) Residents have been repeatedly harassed as they pass through the area on foot or on bicycle
6) The accumulation of trash is also a violation of littering laws
This problem needs to get solved by the appropriate legal authorities. It is not going away on its own or subsiding to the level of a minor nuisance. It is growing larger with the warmer weather.
Bob (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
Ms. S. (Registered User)
mmcadow313 (Registered User)
mmcadow313 (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
Roxanne Dingrando (Registered User)
Roxanne Dingrando (Registered User)
Nancy (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
JJ (Registered User)
Fully support enforcing the law and getting this mess cleaned up. My duty as a citizen is to comply and follow the ordinances/laws of our community. When I see violations to the ordinances/laws that are written to protect society I report it.
I assumed Seeclickfix was a legitimate site that the City of Detroit uses and monitors for notifying them of activity they have authority to correct. Is Seeclickfix working as intended? Is there an appeal mechanisms if the response is not adequate from the city employees who are managing this site?
Judy (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
There are some facts that have not been brought up here. Two are the hotels just on the north side of 8 mile just west of Woodward. They are the distribution points for heroin in southern Oakland County. There was an effort to get at least one of them closed in the past few years, but it has been stuck in court. Until those drug distribution points are closed it is a problem for fixing this issue.
The next issue is the fact that this location is at the border or two cities and counties. It may make some sense to create a joint task force for this. If you notice the people, in general, stay south of 8 miles because Ferndale is very proactive given the size of the city and resources. They know that Detroit is still rebuilding after the bankruptcy and does not have the concentration of resources to fix this problem.
Maybe someone who is versed in local politics could work with the requisite agencies to create a real fix for this problem.
Just my 2 cents.
Seymour (Registered User)
Martin Baum
, Sherwood Forest·18 Jul
IMHO It's time to end this discussion. In Talmudic terms, both sides are right. Whether those who don't clean up after themselves, individually or collectively, are there because they have no place else to live/go and cannot navigate the competitive enterprise of daily living, or they are a loose confederacy of adventurers who endure living off the grid as a challenge , or anywhere in between, there is a human waste, health, safety, and even aesthetic problem that affects our neighbors in understandable ways.. This has to be respected. Here is my suggestion(s): (1) Ferndale and the 12th pct form a joint task force, in concert with their respective city attorneys, to find the leaders, or at least the most frequent occupants, and determine who allocates the corners and who maybe pimps off them; (2) inform these "leaders" in strong terms that they have to clean and maintain the area by a certain date and beyond going forward; (3) after which there will be collective law enforcement in the form of citations for loitering, or littering, or disorderly conduct. It is unlikely that they will appear in court, so a default will be entered against them. In this situation, the district court will have control over them in the form of probation for which they can be ordered to clean and maintain the area. These orders can be posted conspicuously in the area with fliers with notice that they and others who aid and abet them will be subject to probation violation. Violation of probation will subject them to orders to leave the area, or jail, and allow swift city measures clean the area. Those who return are subject to contempt of court and further legal action. This coordinated effort has to be firm and assertive. My 2 cents
bolanrint (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
Martin,
Great stuff, but again you're looking at the symptoms and not the underlying problem, the drugs. We need to remove the drug hotels to stop attracting homeless people to the area. As has been noted multiple times the majority (not all) of the people who are camping out in that area are coming directly or indirectly due to the drugs. I have lived here for 16 years. This was not a problem 9/10 years ago during the worst part of the economic downturn. So the only thing I see that has changed was the influx of drugs in that small area which then seemed to spring up people over a relatively short period of time.
So I do agree the joint task force is needed but, the target should be the drug hotels on the north side of 8 mile. They are the flowers attracting the bees. No flowers / no bees. I just don't want to waste a lot of time and money attacking symptoms and not the root of the problem.
Thoughts?
Seymour (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
Just spoke with Sgt. Sherley Bledsoe at the 12th Precinct. This how the DPD sees the problem:
1) Unless panhandlers engage in aggressive behavior the DPD cannot intervene
2) As far as violations of the vagrancy laws are concerned this is viewed as a fairly low priority
3) The DPD night shift will go by the area and "move people along" but once the police leave the vagrants come right back in a few minutes time and the DPD cannot spend the entire night parked at that intersection
4) The revenue stream from panhandling is significant enough to motivate the people involved to keep slipping through the holes in the system
5) As long as people (primarily from outside the area) keep donating money this problem is not going to go away
6) The DPD is hesitant to just keep handing out citations because these people do not show up and many judges are hesitant to allow these infractions to go to bench warrant for fear of clogging the system with these sorts of case. Evidently this is a problem at many other locations in the City.
At this point the City and the DPD are committed to "reining" in the problem - but only to a certain level. They do seem to be considering the possibility of setting up signage designed to discourage people from making donations. That is one direction the effort to clean up the area could go in.
The DPD had an unmarked car out there for four days this spring. They also eliminated the tent city that was erected in the lot to the west of the intersection. Beyond that it looks like status quo.
The City has had social workers and therapists out there trying to help people and these people don't want help. They keep coming back for the money
If you have any bright ideas call Sgt. Sherley Bledsoe at (313) 596-1221. Also, if you see illegal activity more serious than vagrancy violations - call her or call 911 if it's immediately threatening. She was quite polite, answered all of my questions, and told me to call back any time.
Bob (Registered User)
There are four points that people stop at when driving through the intersection. People could volunteer to go door-to-door in Greenacres and Sherwood Forest to collect money for Burma Shave style signs that can be erected from the monies obtained. The five consecutive signs could simply (and clearly) explain to people driving through any of those four collection points that:
1) DO NOT DONATE
2) YOUR MONEY SUPPORTS
3) DRUG USE
4) CHRONIC VAGRANCY
5) LITTER AND HARASSMENT
That might put enough of a damper on collections that people would go elsewhere. Anybody want to sign up to collect funds for this? You might even be able to solicit funds from the local merchants.
The City is considering putting up signage but single signs will be hard for people to read and can be easily obscured. It would need to be something effective.
Bob (Registered User)
There are four points that people stop at when driving through the intersection. People could volunteer to go door-to-door in Greenacres and Sherwood Forest to collect money for Burma Shave style signs that can be erected from the monies obtained. The five consecutive signs could simply (and clearly) explain to people driving through any of those four collection points that:
1) DO NOT DONATE
2) YOUR MONEY SUPPORTS
3) DRUG USE
4) CHRONIC VAGRANCY
5) LITTER AND HARASSMENT
That might put enough of a damper on collections that people would go elsewhere. Anybody want to sign up to collect funds for this? You might even be able to solicit funds from the local merchants.
The City is considering putting up signage but single signs will be hard for people to read and can be easily obscured. It would need to be something effective.
Bob (Registered User)
The City is considering putting up signage. Single signs will be hard for people to read and can be easily obscured. It would need to be something both safe and effective.
There are four points that people stop at when driving through the intersection. People could volunteer to go door-to-door in Greenacres and Sherwood Forest to collect money for Burma Shave style signs that can be erected from the monies obtained.
This could be done without significant cost to the City of Detroit. This intersection is an important gateway to the City and it needs to be cleaned up for reasons related to public safety.
The five consecutive signs could simply (and clearly) explain to people driving through any of those four collection points the following:
1) DO NOT DONATE
2) YOUR MONEY SUPPORTS
3) DRUG USE
4) CHRONIC VAGRANCY
5) LITTER AND HARASSMENT
That might put enough of a damper on collections that people would go elsewhere. You might even be able to solicit funds from the local merchants to support this effort and residents could also make donations. This problem can be resolved.
Bob (Registered User)
Who is blocking the content? That's ridiculous. My comment was a suggestion that clearly legible Burma-Shave-style signs be erected at the four collection points of the intersection. These would be consecutive simple signs saying: DO NOT DONATE - YOUR MONEY SUPPORTS - ILLEGAL DRUG USE - CHRONIC VAGRANCY - LITTER AND HARASSMENT.
That's true and to the point. A drop off in collections would lead to people going elsewhere and a dramatic improvement in the situation. I got this idea from Sgt. Bledsoe's comment about the City considering signage. It would have to be something that a motorist could easily read, however without being a traffic hazard.
Judy (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Marlena (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
West412 (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
JJ (Registered User)
West412 (Registered User)
T (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Sounds like the city made a concerted effort to remove the vagrants and their trash. I sincerely hope they will continue to monitor the situation because:
1) The nearby residents are fed up.
2) This is not a good look for the city.
I appreciate the efforts of everyone who has spoken up about this issue and the action taken today by the aforementioned departments. We will continue to stay vigilant in order to put an end to this public safety issue.
Judy (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Keep_It_Clean (Registered User)
MPhD (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Agreed. It would also be helpful to identify and speak with the people who keep giving them matresses, dog food, etc. Saw a guy this morning almost certainly shooting up, trying to cover it up with a sheet.
This is a PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE. DPD, DPW.
Bob (Registered User)
Κλειστό DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
This message is to inform you that the issue you reported to the City of Detroit has been resolved.
Thank you for reporting this concern.
Reopened VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Eo1672 (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
It's almost like, by going there and spraying it down, the city is tidying it up for them -- doing them a favor. I'm sure they appreciate that.
It'd be cool if the city did something for us. You know, it would be nice to ride my bike across the street without having to say "NO" to one of them.
While I'm on that topic, I'll add that numerous people have reported being accosted by them, and there have been at least three notes of indecent exposure.
My car was damaged by a suspect on eastbound 8 Mile, and my wife has been called a "@#$%" by the one dready (not Abe).
This has to stop.
bolanrint (Registered User)
Ms. S. (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
JJ (Registered User)
Κλειστό DPW Solid Waste - CH (Verified Official)
Reopened VinSpee (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
Thank you for submitting your concern. This is a location that Solid Waste services on a bi-weekly basis with a police escort.
This area will be serviced Friday, August 24, 2018.
If you require anymore information you may contact this office at 876-0004. This request will now be closed.
Κλειστό DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
This message is to inform you that the issue you reported to the City of Detroit has been resolved.
Thank you for reporting this concern.
Reopened VinSpee (Registered User)
DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
This area will be serviced Friday, August 24, 2018.
If you require anymore information you may contact this office at 876-0004. This request will now be closed.
Κλειστό DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
This message is to inform you that the issue you reported to the City of Detroit has been resolved.
This area will be serviced Friday, August 24, 2018.
If you require anymore information you may contact this office at 876-0004. This request will now be closed.
Thank you for reporting this concern.
Reopened VinSpee (Registered User)
DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Κλειστό DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
This message is to inform you that the issue you reported to the City of Detroit has been resolved.
Thank you for reporting this concern.
DPW Environmental Enforcement - DP (Verified Official)
This message is to inform you that the issue you reported to the City of Detroit has been resolved.
AREA IS BEING SERVICED FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018.
Thank you for reporting this concern.
Reopened Bob (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
I’m about at my wits end with these people. The city *and the panhandlers.
Nothing is being done. Spraying the curb down and passing out trash bags only cleans the mess up for a minute, and they come right back. It’s almost like the city is doing them a favor by cleaning the area up.
I’ve had enough.
I’m so sick of seeing “Honest Abe” standing here with his sign that says “WILL WORK.” BS. He won’t work. How do I know? He’s always standing on the corner. Oh, an he told CNN,”Being homeless is my business.”
I hate that this has to be related ov r and over but here goes: these people have been offered every kind of help and simply do not want it.
Remove them.
Randy (Registered User)
Roxanne (Registered User)
John (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
And see VinSpee’s photo above — this new character has brought his own fold-out chair!
ENOUGH.
bolanrint (Registered User)
Randy (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
John (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
This is like bees coming to flowers. Until you cut down the flowers the bees will keep coming.
Please stop thinking of the people as homeless in need of help or anything else, these people are drug addicts who are refusing treatment. Take 5 minutes and talk to them. Other than that group there is a drug dealer who pretends to be homeless and has been working that corner for over 4 years. A simple pole cam over the area would make this obvious to all. But since this at a city/county border it is hard to fix until there is a regional or at least local joint task force between Detroit and Ferndale to fix the underlying problem. Frankly, if it was me in law enforcement I would use the 100 mile from the border rule and pull in State Cops, DEA, FBI and other federal agencies to really put the squeeze on, take the hotels, demolish them and fix the underlying problem. But that would take a lot of willpower by the state initiated by the cites which I don't believe see this as a critical problem given everything else. An even more innovative solution would be eminent domain by Ferndale to take the land and work with a developer to build affordable housing like they are doing at 8mile and Pine Crest.
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
1. This problem we are talking about is a symptom of the 2 drug hotels in SW Ferndale that are attracting the people. If you talk to the people the majority are drug addicts there and at least 1 drug dealer.
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
Stephen,
Are you a part of this discussion on Nextdoor? Much of this has already been discussed in detail.
Kim Tandy informed me via email that a solution is being sought in conjunction with the State to make the area unviable for loitering.
Bob (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
DPW Environmental Enforcement-ABH (Registered User)
Αναγνωρισμένο DPW Environmental Enforcement-ABH (Registered User)
Reality (Registered User)
Reality (Registered User)
Jimfrac (Registered User)
bolanrint (Registered User)
What started as a few vagrants (they do no accept or want help) hanging around all day has now turned into a tent city, with new arrivals every day. They have folding chairs, tents, sleeping gear.
It is a permanent settlement.
Does the city of Detroit really want this as the first thing people see when entering from the North?
VinSpee (Registered User)
Stephen John Lemelin (Registered User)
1 of the 2 root causes for this problem is gone. Happy day!
Judy (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
West412 (Registered User)
Κλειστό DPW Environmental Enforcement-ABH (Registered User)
Reopened VinSpee (Registered User)
Reality (Registered User)
West412 (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Judy (Registered User)
Reality (Registered User)
Αναγνωρισμένο DPW Environmental Enforcement-ABH (Registered User)
TJ (Registered User)
Keep_It_Clean (Registered User)
Keep_It_Clean (Registered User)
Tammy (Registered User)
TJ (Registered User)
TJ (Registered User)
MPhD (Registered User)
Reality (Registered User)
TJ (Registered User)
Detroitgrrl (Registered User)
As many others have already pointed out, the issue of, "Omg the unsightly homeless! Ew!" Will continue to be an issue until the actual problem itself is resolved.
Perhaps it would benefit everyone if, instead of targeting the homeless and freatibg an uproar, that same energy and vitriol is directed toward an immediate investigation as to why only 5 million- out of 25 million dollars in funding is actually used toward homeless outreach programs and assistance. Again, that os out of a 25 million dollar budget.
If nothing else, perhaps it could fund a few more garbage cans to dispose of the refuse and maybe some big potted plants to camoflage the "distasteful sight". Hell, if they could take several million to paint a tarp over a building instead of fixing it, imagine what could be done here. Maybe some of the people will even be willing to dress in disguise and everything!
Follow the money; not those that obviously don't have any.
Janna (Registered User)
MPhD (Registered User)
TJ (Registered User)
seymour (Registered User)
MGriffiths (Registered User)
MGriffiths (Registered User)
seymour (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
MPhD (Registered User)
Randy (Registered User)
Bob (Registered User)
MPhD (Registered User)
Keep_It_Clean (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
K. (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
VinSpee (Registered User)
Jennifer Roeglin-Martinez (Registered User)
MPhD (Registered User)