As you might already know, Ford Motor Company has bought the dilapidated Michigan Central Station, formerly the property of greedy Ambassador Bridge billionaire Matty Moroun.
We’re counting on Ford to bring the place up to code. And also to be good neighbors, and look out for the community, being conscious to provide community benefits.
In Detroit, the process is somewhat spelled out, and requires, among other things, the formation of a neighborhood advisory council.
The vote to select two neighbors to represent us took place earlier tonight at the Detroit Police Athletic League headquarters.
Each of the residents of the “impact area” (roughly a square that includes the North Corktown and Hubbard-Richard neighborhoods) was given an orange slip on which to write in the names of two nominees.
It was not weighted, so it wouldn’t have made a difference if I had written Jerry Paffendorf’s name in the Nominee 2 slot rather than Nominee 1.
I’ve known Jerry for a few years now, I often see him around the neighborhood, and also sometimes downtown and Midtown.
From his Facebook posts, I get the sense that he’s looked at a lot of numbers and maps, and that he really cares about the neighborhood specifically and the city in general.
So I think he possesses precisely the right knowledge to help negotiate community benefits to the best mutual advantage of Ford and Detroit. I don’t really know Heather McKeon (she pronounces her name sort of like McEwan) but she strikes me as genuine.
In his remarks prior to the vote, Jerry reiterated that Ford plans to have something like 5,000 employees in the train station, which is a lot more people than there are in the impact area. “We haven’t wrapped our heads around that yet,” he said.
Jerry wasn’t expecting to win the election. He ran for Wayne County Treasurer back in 2015, hoping to replace the seemingly catatonic Raymond Wojtowicz, but he didn’t get far.
I don’t know how well my second nominee did, but we were assured that they will still be part of the process. Well, really all of us have to be part of the process. Jerry and Heather are our point people in talking to Ford, and I’ll be talking to both of them over the next few weeks.
Former Detroit City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel will also be involved in the community benefits process, and current Councilwoman Raquel Castañeda-López has pledged to help in various ways, such as by providing meeting space at the Mary Turner Advocacy Center.
Castañeda-López also expressed concern for area residents who don’t have Internet access. The Planning and Development Department website is a little hard to find even if you do have Internet access.
Here’s the link to the community benefits page: www.detroitmi.gov/... (scroll down to “Michigan Central Station”). The next public meeting will be August 14, but the location will be changed, and updated on that page, the city promises.