54 mins ago - Politics
Detroit City Chatter: Summertime crime drop
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Welcome back to our regular roundup of city policy news.
🚓 Summer crime down: Cities generally see more crime in the summer months, but Detroit managed to notably lower its rates this summer, officials touted Monday.
- Homicides of juvenile victims dropped 89% from nine last summer to one this summer, while nonfatal juvenile shootings fell 22%, overall homicides fell 25% and auto theft fell 17%.
Zoom in: Mayor Mary Sheffield and police chief Todd Bettison attributed the drop to their new community intervention strategy.
- Part of that plan was Occupy the Summer, which kept young people busy with basketball leagues, nighttime rec center hours, other things to do and resources if they needed help.
- Officials said the city's focus on engaging youth kept "teen takeovers" at bay.
🏗️ Filling in vacancy: Detroit is putting out a request looking for a developer to build new housing on empty land in North Corktown — which it says is ripe for development because it's near Ford's Michigan Central campus and has been chosen for federal Choice Neighborhoods assistance.
- It's the latest update in the city's new-build home saga: Sheffield wants to build 1,000 homes in the next four years, helping fill in the city's large swaths of vacant land. But new homebuilding is really expensive here in Detroit, so not many people do it (yet).
- The city is offering 1.5 acres of public land for a developer to build at least 20 for-sale housing units or homes on 16th Street by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The request leaves the type (condo, townhome, single-family home) up to the developer.