Detour: 🐝 🌤️ Spring is for the bugs and the bees (2024)

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Did you get your fill of margaritas, parties and Mexican culture last weekend?

It seems so: Thousands of people on Sunday attended the Cinco de Mayo parade in Southwest Detroit. But the festivities were interrupted when partygoers say police dispersed the crowds without warning. At least seven people were detained, ticketed and released.

Some witnesses at El Club — including community activist Ofeliza MuÑeca Torres Saenz, who was scheduled to perform — expressed their frustration on social media after officers entered the venue and canceled Saenz’s set. The witnesses draw a contrast with the lack of police activity during the NFL draft weekend when two people were arrested despite 275,000 fans showing up each day, some of whom even breached security barriers.

City Councilmember Mary Waters called on Detroit Police Chief James White to address the “economic damage to businesses and the psychological hurt inflicted upon residents” during Cinco de Mayo festivities. White defended the department’s actions, telling BridgeDetroit that businesses in the area were double or sometimes triple over capacity, and some were operating without proper licensing.

Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero still called the department’s actions “unacceptable” on social media Monday and asked that anyone who had negative interactions with the police at the event to email her office at councilmembergabriela@detroitmi.gov.

In other community news this week, the Biden administration made a pit stop in Detroit; school district officials are concerned students are getting ahold of weed edibles; and a data expert maps out Michigan’s power outage problem. And what would Detour be without a roundup of this weekend’s events around the city? 😇

💚 SaMya and Team Detour

Detroit in Five

Veep visits Detroit: Vice President Kamala Harris visited Detroit on Monday as part of a nationwide tour to tout the Biden administration’s economic agenda, especially investments in electric vehicle manufacturing and small businesses. Harris announced $100 million in U.S. Department of Energy grants for small- and medium-size auto parts manufacturers to retool and train their workforce for electric vehicle production. She also said the administration had reached its goal of increasing federal contracts for minority-owned small businesses by 50%. Michigan small business owners surveyed in February were slightly less confident about their prospects in the next six months than before, with respondents citing the economy and inflation as the biggest issues. Harris’ visit also drew about 40 pro-Palestinian protesters demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. The vice president told reporters that the administration is “closely tracking what is happening on the ground” but declined to comment further. President Joe Biden is expected to make his own visit to Detroit later this month. (Detroit News, White House, Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit Free Press)

Put those old coffee grounds to work: Reducing food waste while creating free nutrients for your garden — composting can be a win-win. But you can’t just throw eggshells on your lawn. Get the lowdown on composting methods and how to avoid smells and rodents in Planet Detroit’s guide. Some quick things to note: Meats, bones, dairy and oil are no-gos in the compost pile, and save pet waste (which can carry parasites) for trash day. Need a hands-on look before you start your pile? Watch some how-to videos from Michigan State University Extension, or attend Keep Growing Detroit’s Let It Rot class on May 23. Or get inspired by community leaders helping Detroiters compost. If you want to reduce waste but have nowhere to put it, Midtown Composting will pick up food scraps weekly for a fee. (Planet Detroit, Michigan State University Extension, Keep Growing Detroit, C40, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Midtown Composting)

Weed in the wrong hands: Students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) are hospitalized for eating cannabis edibles almost every week. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and school board members sent a letter to federal, state and local lawmakers last week saying DPSCD has already had 745 drug-related infractions this school year. It’s unclear how many infractions involved weed, but the district said numbers have increased since legal cannabis sales began in Michigan in 2019. During the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, DPSCD only had 289 drug-related incidents. The school district wants lawmakers to make it illegal for cannabis packaging to imitate candy and to require clear drug labeling. District officials also want detection equipment to detect weed and vape pens, along with funding for a public awareness campaign to keep edibles away from children. Detroit City Council asked for a report on how to restrict weed billboards after a 9-year-old said during public comment that he worried the ads were influencing kids. (Chalkbeat Detroit, CBS Detroit, Hour Detroit, BridgeDetroit)

Let that grass grow: See a neighbor with tall springtime grass peppered with yellow dandelions? Don’t assume they’re being lazy — they may be participating in No Mow May. Some who participate in the environmental movement skip mowing their lawns, which can diminish important pollen sources for bees and other insects. Detroit hasn’t officially recognized No Mow May, but cities like Ann Arbor and Royal Oak endorsed the cause in 2022. The benefits of letting your grass grow were backed by a 2020 study that’s since been retracted. Some cities even ticket homeowners for overgrown fields. The City of Detroit doesn’t explicitly say it will ticket for tall grass, but it does issue blight tickets to property owners who fail to do maintenance. If you just can’t stand the tall grass, maybe you can stomach a Less Mow May — or perhaps get rid of your grass lawn altogether. (Axios Detroit, NPR, MLive, City of Royal Oak, Peer J, City of Detroit, Axios Des Moines, Michigan State University)

Best of the Rest

❌ U.S. House Rep. Shri Thanedar’s community center on Livernois Avenue was covered with pro-Palestine graffiti sometime Monday. The controversial Democrat who represents most of Detroit released a statement Tuesday calling the act “simply unacceptable.” The graffiti was painted over by Wednesday. (Outlier Media, Metro Times, Shri Thanedar)

✍️ 📚 The Detroit Writing Room is hosting a summer author series at The Whitney’s outdoor garden through August. The first event, Stories for Young Readers, is May 29 with authors Gerry Boylan, Eli Clark and Amy Nielander. Guests can also buy from 27th Letter Books onsite. Tickets are $60. (Detroit Writing Room)

🐶 Looking to adopt a furry friend? Detroit Animal Care and Control’s Empty the Shelter event is ongoing through May 15. Nearly 110 dogs have been adopted since May 1, but there’s still about 100 canines left looking for their “forever home.” (Friends of Detroit Animal Care and Control, Freep)

🍩 Our donut dreams are back: Dutch Girl Donuts soft-opened on May 4 after being closed since 2021. The grand opening is set this weekend. Expect the same fried, sweet deliciousness for a couple of bucks. (BridgeDetroit)

🛒 🥕 Detroit-based Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan announced Fresh! by Gleaners, a market-style emergency food assistance facility in Warren expected to open early next year. The $4.8 million project comes after a spike in need following increased food costs and the end of programs that were started earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic. (Freep, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Spotlight

A map of Michigan power outage severity, just in time for spring storms

by Sarah Alvarez

Spring has arrived in Detroit, bringing more daylight, green leaves, and — more than likely — wild weather and power outages.

Data wrangler Forest Gregg, who has tracked power outages in Michigan, mapped electricity outage data from 2021 through 2023 to show how Michigan power companies compare to each other and to utilities in neighboring states.

Get Busy

Mother’s Day garden show, Pups and Pints and more

by Meghan Rutigliano

Dive into the drama of Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar at El Club on Friday, or hop on your bike for a group ride on Saturday afternoon with Cruise: Detroit. And of course, Sunday is all about celebrating moms with flowers and pastries at the Royal Oak in Bloom flower show!

This edition of Detour was written by Aaron Mondry, Kate Abbey-Lambertz, Laura Herberg, Meghan Rutigliano, Sarah Alvarez and SaMya Overall, who is really going to miss our founding executive director (but is so excited for the future!).

Grab some grub at this food truck corridor in Southwest Detroit.