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City Chatter: Hot conditions in Detroit detention center
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Welcome back to our roundup of city politics and policy news.
🌡️ High temps: The Detroit Detention Center, which holds arrested people before arraignment, has no AC. Council member Denzel McCampbell raised concerns with city police leadership, saying he's heard about heat-related problems there.
- A temperature log given to the City Council shows indoor temperatures in the 80s and 90s, up to 95.
- To help, workers installed fans and cooling units, opened and closed windows as needed and gave detainees ice water and bags of ice, Police Chief Todd Bettison wrote in a July memo to McCampbell. Officials are also looking into whether central AC is feasible.
- This month, McCampbell asked follow-up questions on heat-related illnesses experienced there.
📺 Media friction: Mayor Mary Sheffield's team canceled an appearance for WDIV's "Flashpoint" on Sunday after the show wanted to ask her about a recent allegation that she has denied.
- Anchor Jason Colthorp instead brought on media commentators to discuss the controversy and Sheffield's decision not to address it on the show.
- Watch it here.
👶 Kid care next to Aldi: A developer is requesting zoning changes so a day care business can open in a former Foot Locker on Detroit's east side.
- Kingdom Kare would open in Mack-Alter Square, a mid-2000s strip mall from developer Curis Enterprises with an array of tenants: a busy Aldi location, a Family Dollar, a former Rite Aid that's now a Five Below, a Detroit police mini-station and a Secretary of State office.
- It would include an outdoor play area behind the building.
- A City Council committee recommended the project for approval last week.