OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Detroit City Council Committee Meeting on Secondary Street Nominations, 2025-10-23

City Council — Thursday, October 23, 2025
BodyDetroit, Michigan
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, October 23, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:51:58

Transcript — Verbatim
0:05

Good morning.

0:06

Will you please call the roll?

0:08

Council President Pro Tim James Tate.

0:10

Councilmember Fred Durha the third.

0:12

Present.

0:13

Councilmember Letitia Johnson present.

0:15

Noting that you have member Young here as well.

0:18

You have a quorum present.

0:19

Thank you so much.

0:20

We did notice a quorum.

0:21

Uh welcome uh member young.

0:23

All right, we are now in session.

0:25

Colleagues, is there a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting?

0:28

So move, Mr.

0:29

Chair.

0:29

Seeing no objections, that action shall be taken.

0:32

We will now go into public comment.

0:33

I know I've said this to everybody a couple of times who are here in person, but those who are watching online want to kind of give you a little bit of understanding of where we're going with today's meeting.

0:43

We have quite a number of folks who are here for secondary street uh sign uh recommendations, nominations, and we're going to go through them briskly.

0:53

I wanted to advise everyone uh again that today is not the day that we're going to actually do the vote, commit to the vote.

1:01

That vote will take place on the 23 names on Tuesday, once this item moves out of uh committee based on colleagues uh today.

1:12

This is a statutory part of the process, and as we have done traditionally, we move all the names out, all 23 names.

1:19

So today is an opportunity to uh view the presentations that have been put together for all 23 very worthy and honorable individuals.

1:30

Um so I always say this keep your energy because the actual vote will be taking place on on Tuesday, not today.

1:37

And just giving you just a foreshadowing because we have so many folks here today in person and online.

1:43

I believe the latest number was 35 people online.

1:46

Um because we have so much folks so many people here, we are going to have to truncate and shrink that time tremendously uh from the two minutes traditionally that we offer because we still, in addition to uh secondary streets, we have a full agenda that we have to go through as well.

2:03

And we are supposed to be out of here by one o'clock.

2:05

And I got a feeling we're gonna be knocking right on the door of that time based on that.

2:10

All right.

2:10

So with that being said, if there's anyone from the public who would like to speak on general public comment issues, now secondary streets again.

2:17

You will have an opportunity right after here, right after this section to speak.

2:21

If there's anybody who would like to speak in public comment, general public comment, raise your hand.

2:26

I see you, sir.

2:27

We got one in the committee of the whole.

2:29

Anyone online?

2:30

We got three in committee of the whole.

2:32

All right, we got three in the committee of the whole, general public comment.

2:36

If you are calling in for folks who are online on Zoom right now, if you're calling in about secondary streets, please lower your hand.

2:46

Give you a chance to do that.

2:47

Please lower your hand because you will have an opportunity to provide your comments during the public hearing, which will happen right after.

2:54

We have general public comment.

2:56

Okay, want to give them everyone an opportunity again to lower your hand if you are calling for general, excuse me.

3:02

If you are calling in for secondary streets, you will have an opportunity to do that.

3:07

All right.

3:08

Going once, twice, three times.

3:12

Collection of public comments, general public comments have now concluded.

3:16

All right, I see for general public comment.

3:20

Mr.

3:21

Jason Jones, he is in the committee of the whole.

3:24

Let's load that third person up.

3:26

Jason Jones, we got Mr.

3:27

Ronald Foster and Sonia Mays.

3:29

If we can have Sonia Mays uh in that third chair.

3:32

Oh, the other thing I'm gonna say is once I once you are finished speaking, please remove yourself from that seat to allow someone else to send in so we can be as efficient as possible.

3:42

All right.

3:47

And we'll start off.

3:48

Let's put the clock up.

3:50

Uh, we're gonna give uh I know it sounds bad, but we're gonna give you 30 seconds.

3:56

Got to get through it today.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Street Naming█████████████████████████████████████████████59%
Public Comment██████████████████23%
Zoning and Land Use█████7%
Historic Preservation████5%
Procedural███4%
Contract Management█1%
Home Repair Services█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Detroit City Council Committee Meeting on Secondary Street Nominations, 2025-10-23

The City Council committee convened on October 23, 2025, to conduct a public hearing regarding 23 candidates for the 2025 Secondary Street Sign program. The committee reviewed presentations by the Historic Designation Advisory Board, heard extensive public testimony from community members, developers, and relatives of candidates, and deliberated on zoning reforms before recessing to allow the full Council to vote in a formal session the following Tuesday. The 35 online and in-person attendees were given 30-second slots to speak due to the volume of participants and the agenda length.

Consent Calendar

  • The minutes from the previous meeting were approved unanimously upon motion.

Public Comments & Testimony

General Public Comment Phase:

  • Support for Zoning Reform: Jason Jones (Technol Development, co-founder of Reed), Sonia Mays (CEO of Developed Detroit), Brittany McGee (Apparatus Development), David Alade (Century Partners), Derek Scott (J297), John Wiley (Strongtown Detroit), Lindsay Rowland (Develop Detroit), and Matthew Williams (Detroit-based real estate developer) all expressed full support for the "Let's Build More Housing" zoning reforms (Item 6.4). They stated the reforms are necessary to remove barriers, reduce costs and red tape, and enable local developers to build more housing units.
  • Concerns Regarding Zoning Reform: "Don't Rush Massive Zoning Changes" opposed the rush to pass the 179-page ordinance, arguing residents did not have time to review it. "Not That Karen" criticized the 30-second time limit as insufficient. Amy Himeter expressed support for the specific removal of minimum parking requirements for small businesses under 6,000 square feet as a benefit to transit riders. Dorothy Bennick expressed concern that the reforms would cut parking numbers, creating a problem in neighborhoods where residents cannot park. "Don't Rush Massive Zoning Changes" also expressed strong opposition to the zoning changes, linking it to support for specific street candidates.
  • Support for Secondary Street Nominations:
    • Imam Abdullah El Amin: Jibril, Eric Sabrie, Dawood Clark, Monique Riley, Thomas Germain Larcy, Tasim Diallo, Omar Peterson, Asiya Ahmed, Mark Crane, Abdul Rashid, Cab Weston, Erin Menzies, Carolyn Pruitt, Satori Shakur, Shakira Haleen, Larisha Amad, William M. Davis, Hawa, Aliyah Mahdi, SN Said, Margaret McCarty, Aisha Mustafa, Norell Hempfield, Tiana Starks, Shahida Muhammad, Amina, and Horace Rashid Mahdi expressed support for naming a street after Imam Abdullah El Amin, citing his interfaith work, community service, and leadership at the Muslim Center.
    • Reverend Dr. Joanne Watson: Les Little, Maya Watson, Marquise Jenkins, Monica Lewis Patrick, Dr. Nafratari Kinjay (Nikari and Kinich), Cicely McCullough, Leanne Hun, Donna Blake (via proxy), Tracy Peters, Cassie Jones McBride, Tawana Petty, and several other callers expressed support for naming a street after the late Councilwoman Joanne Watson, citing her legislative achievements and service to the city.
    • George Clinton / P-Funk: Monique Riley, Ingia Kai, Gabe Gonzalez, Sheila Horn, Robert Moore (proxy), Paul Riser, Kern Brantley, Michelle Riley, Arthur White, and Deedra Lane (via proxy) expressed support for naming a street after George Clinton, highlighting his impact on Detroit music and culture.
    • Martha Jean "The Queen" Steinberg: Rodney Deal, Bob Martin, Janetta Middlebrook, Robert Moore, Dawn Stevens, Tanya Miller, Trinier Steinberg, Melva Walker (via proxy), and Lisa Jackson expressed support for naming a street after broadcaster Martha Jean Steinberg, citing her civil rights work during the 1967 riots and community service.
    • Dick Night Train Lane: Aubrey Lee Jr. (via proxy), Marquise Jenkins, Richard Walker, David Greenwood, Melinda Walker, and Letty Sanders expressed support for naming a street after Dick Night Train Lane, citing his NFL career and leadership of the Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL).
    • Viola Liuzzo: Anthony Luizo and Cindy Dara (via proxy) expressed support for honoring civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo.
    • Others: Walter Watkins and Aubrey Lee Jr. supported Aubrey Lee Sr.; Eric Rhymes supported Jalen Rose; Cheryl Gibson supported George Cook; Mark Crane supported Andrew Stark; and others supported figures like Dr. Haifa Fakori, Jalen Rose, and Greg Mudge.

Specific Testimony Highlights:

  • Opposition to Zoning Rush: "Don't Rush Massive Zoning Changes" argued the rezoning moves too fast without resident understanding.
  • Support for Interfaith Work: Multiple speakers, including Imam Abdullah El Amin's family and colleagues, highlighted his ability to build bridges between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities.
  • Support for Black Business Legacy: Speakers for George Cook emphasized his role as the first Black owner of a Baskin-Robbins in Detroit.

Discussion Items

  • Secondary Street Sign Nominations (Item 6.6): The Historic Designation Advisory Board presented 23 nominees (8 rollovers, 15 new). The committee noted that 23 names were submitted, but only 5 will be selected. The Board raised concerns about the increasing number of rollovers (projected 18 for next year) and the unsustainable growth of the nomination list. Councilmember Pro Tem James Tate proposed that the council and the Advisory Board office discuss how to retool the process to prevent an unmanageable number of candidates in future years.
  • Zoning Reform (Item 6.4): The committee discussed the "Let's Build More Housing" zoning revisions. While public comment was extensive, the committee deferred substantive decision-making on the zoning changes to the full Council session or a future meeting to allow for full deliberation, citing the complexity of the 179-page document and the request from developers to move forward quickly.
  • Administrative Items:
    • Line Item 6.1 (LPD Assignment): Moved to receive and file with a one-week bring-back for a response from the city regarding the memorandum.
    • Line Items 6.2 & 6.3 (Corktown Properties): Moved to receive and file with a two-week bring-back as requested by the parties involved.
    • Line Item 6.5 (Audit Requests): Moved to receive and file.
    • Line Item 6.7 (Senior Buildings/HUD): Moved to receive and file.
    • Line Item 7.1 (ARPA Home Repair): Moved to formal with a recommendation to approve, but postponed to the end of the agenda for further questioning regarding the use of funds (administration vs. repairs).
    • Line Item 7.2: Moved to bring back in one week to obtain further information on ARPA program outcomes.
    • Line Item 7.3: Moved to formal with a recommendation to approve.

Key Outcomes

  • Motion Passed: The committee moved to send the entire list of 23 Secondary Street Sign nominees to the formal City Council session without recommendation, allowing the full body to deliberate and vote on the winners on Tuesday. The committee noted that they cannot select the recipients during this hearing.
  • Motion Passed: Line item 6.6 (Secondary Street Sign report) was received and filed.
  • Motion Passed: Line items 6.1 and 6.5-6.7 were received and filed.
  • Motion Passed: Line items 6.2 and 6.3 were brought back in two weeks.
  • Motion Passed: Line item 7.2 was brought back in one week.
  • Recess: The Planning and Economic Development Standard Committee recessed to the call of the chair to allow the Neighborhood and Community Services committee to meet.
  • Clarification: The committee clarified that 35 people participated online, and the 1010 public hearing was recessed to allow for the formal session next Tuesday where the actual vote on the 5 street names will occur.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning. Will you please call the roll? Council President Pro Tim James Tate. Councilmember Fred Durha the third. Present. Councilmember Letitia Johnson present. Noting that you have member Young here as well. You have a quorum present. Thank you so much. We did notice a quorum. Uh welcome uh member young. All right, we are now in session. Colleagues, is there a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting? So move, Mr. Chair. Seeing no objections, that action shall be taken. We will now go into public comment. I know I've said this to everybody a couple of times who are here in person, but those who are watching online want to kind of give you a little bit of understanding of where we're going with today's meeting. We have quite a number of folks who are here for secondary street uh sign uh recommendations, nominations, and we're going to go through them briskly. I wanted to advise everyone uh again that today is not the day that we're going to actually do the vote, commit to the vote. That vote will take place on the 23 names on Tuesday, once this item moves out of uh committee based on colleagues uh today. This is a statutory part of the process, and as we have done traditionally, we move all the names out, all 23 names. So today is an opportunity to uh view the presentations that have been put together for all 23 very worthy and honorable individuals. Um so I always say this keep your energy because the actual vote will be taking place on on Tuesday, not today. And just giving you just a foreshadowing because we have so many folks here today in person and online. I believe the latest number was 35 people online. Um because we have so much folks so many people here, we are going to have to truncate and shrink that time tremendously uh from the two minutes traditionally that we offer because we still, in addition to uh secondary streets, we have a full agenda that we have to go through as well. And we are supposed to be out of here by one o'clock. And I got a feeling we're gonna be knocking right on the door of that time based on that. All right. So with that being said, if there's anyone from the public who would like to speak on general public comment issues, now secondary streets again. You will have an opportunity right after here, right after this section to speak. If there's anybody who would like to speak in public comment, general public comment, raise your hand. I see you, sir. We got one in the committee of the whole. Anyone online? We got three in committee of the whole. All right, we got three in the committee of the whole, general public comment. If you are calling in for folks who are online on Zoom right now, if you're calling in about secondary streets, please lower your hand. Give you a chance to do that. Please lower your hand because you will have an opportunity to provide your comments during the public hearing, which will happen right after. We have general public comment. Okay, want to give them everyone an opportunity again to lower your hand if you are calling for general, excuse me. If you are calling in for secondary streets, you will have an opportunity to do that. All right. Going once, twice, three times. Collection of public comments, general public comments have now concluded. All right, I see for general public comment. Mr. Jason Jones, he is in the committee of the whole.

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