Mayor Mike Duggan makes a surprise visit to Morningside

Mayor Mike Duggan listens to the concerns of the MorningSide community. Images courtesy of Nicolas Hall

Over the years, MorningSide has welcomed many guests to our community meetings. Non-profit leaders, city council members, and state representatives have all been a regular presence at our monthly meetings in the past. But it’s not often that we get a surprise visit from the mayor.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan came to our meeting at the Three Mike-Munich Park on August 10th to address many of the issues our residents face daily throughout our community.

Such concerns included the delayed special pickup of items many households had to discard due to the unprecedented flooding from the heavy rain storms of the mid-summer that left many basements completely ravaged.

Residents also mentioned the lack of expedited demolition of long-standing abandoned houses scattered across the neighborhood.

Other city officials including District 4 Manager, Rod Liggons, and Deputy District 4 Manager, Dennis Perkins also joined Mayor Duggan at August's meeting, providing additional feedback on our concerns.

Despite the challenges that exist in our community, make no mistake about it, there is definitely a buzz taking place in MorningSide, and it's drawing the attention of many across our city.

Winning the Eastside Community Network’s 2020 MOE Better Award for Best Neighborhood Association, land-use projects like Emerald Gardens, Grassroots Garden, and the Cornwall Corridor Community Project, and the Strategic Neighborhood Fund (SNF) that will breathe new life into the East Warren corridor by implementing new extended sidewalks, redesigned bike lanes, and modern lighting on both sides of the avenue – these are just a few signs of our revitalization.

Even more impressive is the fact that most of this implementation has been accomplished by individuals who live right here in MorningSide. That is something to definitely be proud of. Let's keep up the good work everyone. As we all know, it takes a village to impact real change.