Motor City Makeover Uncovers Hidden Potential on Morningside’s West End

This year’s Motor City Makeover was a real group effort that far surpassed my expectations. We focused our work on Barham, Beaconsfield, and Cornwall. Barham has for years been a site for illegal dumping and had become so overgrown that heavy equipment was necessary to remove the debris.

Thanks to Aaron Smith and Motor City Grounds Crew, who have been cleaning up illegal dumping on Barham for years. They did a pre-MC Makeover cleanup on Friday, May 10. MCGC picked up and filled their dumpster with a large mound of junk from the corner of Barham and Cornwall. On the day of the event, MCGC delivered Morningside Community Organization a truck full of clean up tools and supplied a crew member with a large driving mower to cut the tall grass.

They also allowed my husband Gaston to use their mini-skid steer to scrape dirt, grass, and small bits of trash from sidewalks, street curbs and driveways along Cornwall that had gotten so buried under dirt and sod you couldn’t even see them anymore! To his credit, Gaston has been clearing the Cornwall street curbs and east Cornwall sidewalks with shovels and machines for three years, and it’s been difficult to get to the western walkways.

Jeff Jackson and his crew from Major Contracting undertook the monumental task of removing trash trees, an old mangled fence, and other blight from four vacant lots on Barham near Cornwall. (Major is the company doing the water line replacement in Morningside). They also cleared all the scattered heaps of refuse along the right side of Barham from Cornwall to East Warren, including large piles of couches, bags of trash, and construction waste from the vacant lots behind Family Dollar, where they have sat for months. Major cleared every driveway along Barham, which we never knew existed! Jeff and company also went above and beyond to raise up the up-cycled Monarch orange telephone pole film projection screen on Gaston’s and my lot at the corner of Nottingham and Cornwall so that we can have outdoor neighborhood movie nights. We recently planted a Xerces Society native pollinator garden in front of the projection arch.

I also want to thank Eric Dueweke, MCO President, for working so hard on the project, making this cleanup a priority and helping to pull volunteers, the city, Major Contracting and other organizations together, leading to our great success. MCO Board member Nic Hall rallied early, commencing with the “curb-apeeling” at 10AM sharp. We were overjoyed to see District 4 Councilmember Latisha Johnson and her community liaison Carlena Toombs show up to take part, helping with cleaning curbs and planting flowers around our trees on the berm of the Cornwall Corridor.

Local real estate agent and native eastsider Tim Davis also volunteered. David Coppiellie, who works with the Detroit Land Bank and whose father grew up on Beaconsfield, was another volunteer who worked hard with his shovel to edge the sidewalk on the neglected block between Beaconsfield and Barham for hours. Now we can stroll with pride!

MCO Vice President Twiana Odom and Denise Roberson, one of Morningside’s most regular volunteers, showed up for their second cleanup of the day and did even more work with us!

Last but not least, I want to acknowledge legacy resident and Cornwall Corridor Community Block Club member Dorothy Bishop, who lives at Barham and Cornwall. She was the first to arrive and the last to leave like the Marines. Dorothy and her grown grandkids worked extremely hard and ended with planting flowers.

My goal now is to get beyond just cleaning to lasting beautification. There is so much potential to turn our part of Morningside into a beautiful Detroit Bird City park with native habitat for birds, pollinators and peaceful-healing places for people to commune with nature.

With more volunteers and regular work days, we can make it happen! If you’d like to help, please contact me at (562) 895-9399 or charon.nogues.rad.estate@gmail.com.