Corktown residents choose representatives to be voices for Ford projects

Allie Gross | Detroit Free Press

Nearly 100 southwest Detroit residents and community members gathered Monday at Detroit PAL — the former Tigers stadium site — to choose two people to represent them on the Neighborhood Advisory Council, a citizen-based group tasked with working with Ford to make sure future Corktown developments take into account the needs and concerns of those who live in the area.

Jerry Paffendorf, CEO of Loveland Technologies, and Heather McKeon, an interior designer with Patrick Thompson Design in Detroit, were selected by their neighbors to join the nine-person council. Both residents of historic Corktown, the duo were among 24 people who threw their names into the ring with the hope of becoming the two resident-elected representatives.

The remaining seven members are selected by the Detroit Planning and Development Department (they get four appointees), the local district council member Raquel Castañeda-López (she gets one appointee) and the two at-large council members Brenda Jones and Janeé Ayers.

The latter two already made their selections last week. Jones chose Hubbard-Richard resident Aliyah Sabree, who is a judge in the 36th District Court and the daughter of Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree. Ayers selected Sheila Cockrel, a former member of the Detroit City Council who lives in historic Corktown.

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Ford announced in June that it had purchased Michigan Central Station in Corktown and plans to build a tech campus there with as many as 5,000 people eventually working at the station.

Castañeda-López and the City of Detroit Planning and Development Department indicated that they'd make their decisions based on the candidates from Monday night.

"I'm pretty excited right now, I'm glad that the community was behind me in selecting me," said McKeon, who purchased a formerly abandoned house in Corktown in the fall of 2016.

"It just gives me confidence that I can go out and talk to the right people," she continued, "find out what they want, bring it back to the table and do that throughout the entire process."

Jerry Paffendorf and Heather McKeon - both Corktown residents - discuss being selected by the community to the neighborhood advisory council and their role as representatives in discussions w Ford. pic.twitter.com/9bE9PMWAM6 — Allie Gross (@Allie_Elisabeth) July 31, 2018

Under the Community Benefits resolution that passed in 2016, a Neighborhood Advisory Council is to be formed when a development project is worth $75 million or more in value, gets $1 million or more in property tax abatements or is given $1 million or more in city land. The council is then charged with advising the developer of any concerns community members have about the anticipated project.

"I feel like I've been kind of training for a position like this without knowing it," said Paffendorf following the vote. "I've got into all sorts of cool projects in the neighborhood over the last 10 years and I've met a lot of people. I've worked with nonprofits and companies and I am a renter as well as an owner in the neighborhood so I feel like my interests and what I'm afraid of and what I want to see have a connection with a lot of different kinds of people and I look forward to listening and translating what people want into things Ford and the city understand."

In Corktown rn where community members have gathered to vote on two residents to sit on the neighborhood advisory council and represent them during community benefits discussions w Ford. 24 people thrown their names in the hat. Voting underway now. pic.twitter.com/wNom9IjZ58 — Allie Gross (@Allie_Elisabeth) July 30, 2018

Paffendorf, McKeon, Sabree, Cockrel and the soon to be announced other five members will gather over the course of four meetings in August and September (scheduled for Aug. 14, Aug. 27, Sept. 10, Sept. 17). During this time they will come up with a list of impacts and community concerns as Ford develops properties in the neighborhood.

They will then present these concerns to Ford, which will then have to respond. Following this, an agreement — known as a community benefits agreement — will be drawn up between the city and Ford.

So far in Detroit, only six projects have been subjected to the law — four of them Dan Gilbert initiatives. The end results, according to a March report from WDET, have been a lot of talk and not many actual benefits.

Debra Walker, a community organizer and Corktown resident who was present Monday, is aware of the hit-or-miss quality of the process.

Walker was on the Neighborhood Advisory Council for the redevelopment of the former Detroit Free Press building. She said she had a really positive experience. While she wasn't on the council for the redevelopment of the Hudson building, she said she attended meetings but ultimately stopped when it became clear that community members who were not designated as council representatives weren't having their voices heard.

While representatives from the city's planning department stressed Monday that the role of the council members was to amplify the voices of residents, and not just come with their own issues, ensuring this happens can be hard.

"I have some concerns," said Walker, referencing the Hudson experience that felt like a deviation from what she expected with the Community Benefits Ordinance.

"I think the process says I should still have a voice," she continued. "If the process really works the way it's supposed to then I'd feel strongly that I still have a voice."

Pointing to the fact that three of the selected four council members are white, and three live in historic Corktown, Walker noted that it was important for the Planning Department and Castañeda-López to take demographics and diversity into consideration when they make their selection.

"It's diversity — not just race and ethnicity — it's got to be location, age, socio-economic, gender," said Walker, who did not run for the position because she knew she wouldn't be available for all the meetings.

Ford has expressed eagerness to engage in the process.

Eight people from the company were present Monday, including Richard Bardelli, program manager at Ford Land who gave a presentation on some of the company's plans.

"This is our first community benefits review," Bardelli said after the presentation. "I think what we want to do is make sure we're bringing the community into what we're doing, make sure we hear them all and then make sure we understand how we can talk back to the community."

Bardelli says parking has been one of the main concerns his team has heard about so far, with residents worried about the streets getting congested.

Ford has plans to build a parking deck behind the train station on the old tracks and concerns have also been raised about how the southwest view of the train station would be affected.

"That's come up a couple times, we're aware to not impede those views," said Bardelli.

Maria Salinas, who lives outside of the "impacted" area drawn up by the city and therefore ineligible to run for a seat on the advisory board — showed up to express concerns about how southwest Detroit would be affected.

Salinas, who says she grew up in the neighborhood and fights for equity in the community, was concerned that much of the talk has been about development in historic Corktown and not enough talk about what will transpire behind the building — southwest Detroit — when Ford comes to town.

Bardelli said he had heard this before and is ready to listen so that nobody feels forgotten.

"I think it's really important that we listen in the next four meetings and understand," he said.

For Paffendorf, there is a lot of exciting work to do.

"This isn't about the renovation of a building, we're talking about Ford making an ambitious bet on the future of transportation, and doing it here," Paffendorf said during the allotted time each candidate had to pitch the room on why they should be a representative. "That's going to put tremendous pressure on everything, especially housing. I don't think we fully have our minds around it yet, and I want to help us get there."