Detroit’s Palmer Park has seen many improvements over the years, from renovated tennis and pickleball courts and a new dog park to a variety of habitat restoration projects.

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Home to the largest old-growth forest in the Tri-County area — and one of only seven forests in the city of Detroit — the protection of the park’s 70-acre Witherell Woods has been a key focus for community groups working to restore and maintain the park.

People for Palmer Park President Stacy Varner, and Bobbi Westerby — whose company Environmental Consulting & Technology is leading the park’s latest restoration efforts — joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss their goals and the importance of this public space.

Varner described the scenery in Palmer Park as “magical,” noting that there is work underway to make improvements to both the park’s trail system and natural areas. 

“Just like with any living thing, [the park] needs maintenance, it needs nurturing, it needs preserving,” Varner said. “That’s part of this effort, of the habitat restoration project that is going on in Palmer Park.”

Westerby says part of their restoration work will include removal of invasive species, like buckthorn, from Witherell Woods to help promote native growth.

“We don’t want to do a lot,” said Westerby of the forest restoration efforts. “We want to remove the stuff that’s not supposed to be there and let the things that are supposed to be there thrive.”

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Varner and Westerby.

WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

Related: CuriosiD: Are the woods in Palmer Park a virgin forest?

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 12, 2024:

• The city of Detroit and its fire department want to train all city employees in hands-only CPR. It’s already trained 100,000 residents on CPR and AED use – giving the city a “HeartSafe city” designation by a national preparedness program dedicated to improving outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest. To discuss their efforts and the importance of CPR/AED training, Detroit Fire Department Commissioner Chuck Simms and Medical Director Dr. Robert Dunne joined the show.
• Two University of Michigan professors have teamed up for an initiative aimed at increasing college-age voting called the Creative Campus Voting Project. They joined The Metro to discuss their efforts. 
• The Detroit Documenters recently attended a hearing by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy about possible changes to a permit for the Detroit Assembly Complex on Mack Avenue run by Stellantis. Residents are asking for the permit to be denied. To discuss what happened at the hearing, we were joined by Detroit Documenter Anna Harris and Coordinator Noah Kincade.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Outlier Media has a new and improved text service aiming to help residents get answers to essential questions. 

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Outlier Media Sarah Alvarez joined The Metro on Wednesday to discuss how the TXT Outlier service is helping address information gaps about housing, utilities, and other critical community issues. 

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Alvarez says while traditional news outlets across various mediums provide an essential service to the community, “radio segments and news articles are not always the most useful way to get information to people.”

“…and they’re certainly not personalized enough for people who are in some kind of information crisis,” she said. “So what would it look like, I thought, for a news service to really try to fill information and accountability gaps, and what would it take to do that well?”

The service — first launched in 2016 — allows residents to text Outlier keywords for additional information on related topics; or to talk directly with a reporter about a specific issue they might be facing.

Detroiters can take advantage of the service by texting “Detroit” to 67485. For more information, visit outliermedia.org/txt-outlier.

Use the audio player above to hear the full interview with Sarah Alvarez, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Outlier Media, at the 25:23 mark.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 11, 2024: 

• About a week ago, Gen Z Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost toured Detroit and the state of Michigan to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris. During that time, Producer Sam Corey spoke with the Florida representative about the biggest concerns facing young people, and what will turn them out to vote in November.
• Pollution from trucks and factories — coupled with poverty — led the city to be named the third-worst place to live for people with asthma in a new report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Allergy expert and native Detroiter Dr. Garen Wolff joined the show to talk about the report’s findings and what Detroiters can do to improve their air quality.
• The Funky Ferndale Art Fair is taking place Sept. 20-22. Director of the fair Mark Loeb joined the show to talk about what makes it unique.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The city of Detroit is using money from the American Rescue Plan Act to help residents with disabilities make their homes more accessible.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Detroit Home Accessibility Program — a joint project of the city of Detroit, CHN Housing Partners and Detroit Disability Power — dedicates more than $6 million in ARPA funds to home modifications for eligible residents to add ramps or lifts, widen entrances, modify handrails, or add alarms to the entries and exits of their home.

“Detroit has more than 129,000 disabled residents. Members of this large, diverse and important constituency deserve the ability to fully engage in all that our City has to offer,” said Ani Grigorian, disability access consulting manager at Detroit Disability Power, in a news release. “This program is an important step towards greater accessibility, and therefore increased well-being.”

Homeowners who live in single-family homes who receive social security disability benefits, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Children’s Healthcare Services benefits or Veterans Administration disability benefits can still apply.

The program is expected to provide accessibility upgrades to at least 250 homes.

Applicants must also have homeowner’s insurance and be current on property taxes or in a payment plan. There are income requirements for participation. For more information, visit chnhousingpartners.org/Detroit/dhap or call 866-313-2520. 

Other headlines for Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024:

• Mason K-8 Academy opened its newly renovated and stocked school library today. The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) chose Mason to receive 18,000 new books from the Council of Great City Schools and Scholastic.
• Cass Tech students who live in Hamtramck and “Banglatown” – an area close to Hamtramck – are asking DPSCD to provide bus transportation to the school. Education nonprofit 482Forward organized student and adult members to take their appeal to tonight’s school board meeting. 
• The Detroit Food Commons will host a concert series this fall. The Freedom Sounds fall concert series kicks off Sunday, Sept. 22 with jazz percussionist and Jazz at Lincoln Center alum Ali Jackson. Bassist and composer Marion Hayden will perform Oct. 27; and on Nov. 24, multi-genre percussionist and food justice advocate Aisha Ellis will perform. The series is curated by violinist and flutist Michelle May. The events, held in the Mama Imani Humphrey Banquet Hall on the second floor of Detroit Commons, cost $25 to attend with funds going towards Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network’s community programs. 
• The Hamtramck Parks Conservancy has a new director of programming and communications. Alicia Chiaravalli has a background in environmental science, play design and sustainability. She will be responsible for developing recreation programs, coordinating volunteers and community partnerships for the conservancy. 

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

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is expected to be complete in 2025.

The bridge is being built in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood in Southwest Detroit — a place where, for years, residents have faced issues associated with heavy industry. Now, residents are dealing with the challenges that come with the construction of a roughly $4.2 billion international bridge. 

Simone Sagovac, director of the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition, joined The Metro on Tuesday to help us understand the impact the bridge has had and will have on residents.

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In 2017, the group helped secure an almost $50 million benefits package for people living in the area. One of the overall issues people in the community face has to do with truck traffic, Sagovac says. During the coalition’s data gathering efforts, they counted 1,200 trucks driving on Livernois Street in one day.

“Something that wasn’t really anticipated was, you know, the scale of a development like this. It is the largest infrastructure project that both countries have had in 100 years and it’s 165-plus acres,” Sagovac said. “And when they’re in the thick of construction, and there’s no grass, and no trees covering that dirt – the dust has been a huge problem for the community. People have chronic sinus conditions. Asthma accelerated in the area. And the project is trying to do things with street sweeping but the dirt gets carried on the trucks and these trucks are allowed to drive on residential streets.” 

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Simone Sagovac, director of the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 10, 2024: 

• The Detroit area is home to one of the largest groups of people with sickle cell disease in the country. The painful disease is caused by an inherited genetic mutation and most of the people who have it are Black. For decades, there weren’t many treatment options for the disease outside of pain medication. But in recent years, new medical technologies have helped alleviate and even cure sickle cell disease. Larenz Caldwell, a sickle cell patient who underwent a stem cell transplant six years ago; and Outlier Media Science Reporter Koby Levin joined the show to discuss. 
• The Detroit Fiber Club is hosting an immersive exhibit showcasing environmental- and fiber-based art at the Boyer Campbell Building in Milwaukee Junction through Sept. 28, as part of the Detroit Month of Design. To discuss the exhibit, we were joined by Co-Curators Sarah Rose and Lisa Waud, and Detroit Fiber Club Managing Director Meg Morley.
• Detroit Artist LeKela Brown is kicking off the College for Creative Studies’ Woodward Lecture Series. The CCS graduated joined The Metro to talk about her work and her first solo-presentation, “From Scratch: Seeding Adornment,” currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Officials in Detroit are again offering a photo identification card that allows residents access to various businesses and city services.

City officials and community stakeholders gathered in Rouge Park on Thursday to celebrate the newly revitalized Tireman-Minock Park in Detroit’s Warrendale/Cody Rouge neighborhood.

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Detroit City Councilman for District 7, Fred Durhal, said Thursday that the new park symbolizes something great: “Community ideas,” he said.

“When we go to these community meetings, folks talk about, ‘we need a place to recreate; we need a walking track so we can walk at least a mile; we want to have swing sets; we want to have playscapes for our children so they can stay active; we want a picnic place so we can congregate and even in the summertime hold some of our meetings here,'” Durhal said. “So what you see here today is indicative of that type of thought that you guys put out into the community that we take back to our public-private partnerships and bring all this into fruition.”

The park was funded as part of the city’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund initiative, with additional funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, Huntington Bank and the Gilbert Family Foundation.

The park sits on the former site of Dixon Elementary School on Detroit’s west side. Dr. Patricia Butler, community development manager for the Cody Rouge Community Action Agency, said at the park’s unveiling on Thursday that she has hoped the area would be revitalized ever since the day the school closed. 

“And when I saw the school going down I didn’t get discouraged, because I said when something comes down, something else is going to come up. And out of the ashes came this beautiful park,” said Butler.

The park, located within the bounds of the much larger Rouge Park, features a playground, picnic tables, picnic shelters, walkways, and fitness equipment.  

WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

Other headlines for Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024:

• Detroit Home Accessibility Program applications are now open for Detroit residents who need accessibility modifications made to their homes.
• The Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber of Commerce is conducting a survey to ask about the potential of developing an LGBTQ+ business district in metro Detroit.
• Metro Detroit is offering a mix of summer music events this weekend, including the annual Ribs and R&B festival at Hart Plaza; The Queens of R&B tour coming to Little Caesars Arena on Friday, headlined by groups Xscape and SWV; and The Lathrup Village Music Festival outside the Southfield Municipal Center, featuring Thornetta Davis, Stacey “Hotwaxx” Hale, Paul Hill and more. 

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

The Detroit Police Athletic League is partnering with the Detroit Police Department to start a new community initiative to help build positive connections with the city’s youth.

The “Coolin’ with Cops” program will start with a meet-up at Rouge Park at 6 p.m. this Wednesday, with future meet-ups occurring every Thursday for the next nine weeks.

David Greenwood, director of community engagement and facilities for Detroit PAL, and Sgt. Bryant George, a Detroit Police sergeant and Detroit PAL’s youth development officer, joined The Metro on Wednesday to share more about the new program.

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Greenwood explained how Detroit PAL, a nonprofit that started in 1969, began as a way to bridge the gap between the police department and the community. Greenwood and others with PAL continue to bridge that gap today. 

PAL uses athletics as a way to connect with Detroit’s youth and build a positive relationship between them and the police.

“Well, what we see is growth. What we see is friendships. I think one of the biggest things, even for myself, I maintain a friendship 40 some odd years later, with friends that I met through Detroit PAL,” Greenwood said. “It’s cool to play sports and all of those good things, but we know through sports, we develop so much more. There’s goal setting, resilience, embracing a healthy lifestyle, accountability and teamwork.”

But how do they achieve that growth and teach kids valuable lessons through sports? George, a previous PAL kid himself as well as Greenwood, said it’s all about making it personal for them.

“It’s just all about just being yourself. You know, I wear a uniform to come to work, but I’m still a person,” George said. “And you know, when you allow them to know that, and they can feel and touch and see and you know, you really can just break that barrier of, you know, I’m afraid of the police, or I can’t trust the police.”

George says Detroit PAL complements well with the more proactive side of policing to provide a well-rounded service to the community. The upcoming “Coolin’ with Cops” meet-ups are just one of many ways PAL aims to help grow connections between local youth and the police.

“Our goal is to keep them away from guns, away from gang violence. Hey, pick up that football, keep this in your hand. Go to a good high school, go to a good college,” George said. “Become whatever it is that you want to become, even become a Detroit police officer, you know, like I did, but you know, that’s our goal is that, you know we’re present, and you don’t have to be perfect, but you just have to be present.”

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Greenwood and George.

More headlines from The Metro on August 7, 2024:

• The Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research is holding its annual Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City this week. It’s a gathering of some of the most important automotive leaders and thinkers, as well as public officials — including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Jamie Butters, executive editor of Automotive News and host of the Daily Drive podcast, joined The Metro to share more about the event and discuss the panels he’ll be hosting there.
• The primary elections happened yesterday in Michigan. Despite an exciting presidential election year, there weren’t a lot of surprises this time around. Congressional Democrat Elissa Slotkin and Republican Mike Rogers will be moving on in the Senate race. And Congressman Shri Thanedar defeated Detroit Councilmember Mary Waters in the 13th Congressional District. WDET’s host of Morning Edition, Pat Batcheller, joined The Metro to discuss the main takeaways from yesterday’s election.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.