(bright music) - [Nicole] This is the Schoolcraft neighborhood on Detroit's West Side.

Depending on the day, you can see a haze caused by a concrete-crusher operation there.

"One Detroit" reported on the situation in March last year.

- This got to go, this got to go.

- [Nicole] Schoolcraft sits where Greenfield Road meets I-96, the Jeffries Freeway, one of the three neighborhoods you'll be hearing about.

In March, 2024, Schoolcraft residence called a press conference trying to revoke the crusher's operating permit.

- This is a neighborhood.

In fact, let me just stop.

We're only seven blocks away.

Only seven blocks away from this facility.

- He said he's seven blocks away, I'm right around the corner.

They cannot stay in our community.

They shouldn't have never came to our community.

I breathe it every day, I live right behind the plant.

This is the plant, this is the street, this is my house.

- [Nicole] This fight is ongoing.

In attendance, are political leaders and residents worried about heavy industry in their neighborhoods.

- This is an idea that's about 100 years old.

100 years ago (chuckles) in Detroit, industrialists were happily establishing plants, and mills, and refineries right in the middle of neighborhoods and nobody thought anything about it.

Fortunately, 100 years later, we know better.

- [Nicole] How do residents push back against nearby industry?

This is another Detroit neighborhood.

The second were visiting.

This is the site of a proposed concrete crusher.

- Thank you so much.

(protesters cheering) We wouldn't be able to do this without you.

I'll say Core, you say city, all right?

- [Nicole] This is Core City, not far from Downtown.

- Core!

- [Protestants] City!

- This is just north of Corktown, that hot development area where Ford Corporations Michigan Central Station now sits.

But Core City, the makeup is much different.

It's part of the multiple Detroit neighborhoods banded together, fighting heavy industry in their midst.

I make films about Detroit.

How it's changing, who's coming, and who's leaving.

I've been following the Core City concrete-crusher story since 2022.

The residents here stopped it from being built.

But how did they do it?

Vanessa Serna moved here from Toronto two years ago.

- Detroit has been trying to attract people to move here, from other states, from other countries, to make it blossom in the way that we know that it can.

And then people like me move here, and then this happens.

- [Nicole] The proposed crusher site, just hundreds of feet from her house.

There are piles of rubble waiting to be processed for an operation that had not even been approved.

When I first met Serna and her neighbors, Chrystal Ridgeway and Andy Chae, we took a walk over to the site.

- We got multiple house, one, two, three, four.

There's one over there, five, six, seven, eight, nine, there's nine houses right here.

The closest one being 300 feet away from the concrete crusher.

- [Nicole] It was in December, 2022 when the city denied Can-Am International an operating permit to build a crusher.

But that wasn't the end of it.

Can-Am appealed the denial.

I left numerous messages with Can-Am, And the attorney representing the company, but never heard back.

With the news of the crusher, residents told me their neighborhood has potential for other better opportunities.

- You can see the bridge to Canada.

This is crazy.

This is prime real estate in any other city in the United States.

- [Nicole] There are fields were houses once stood, and more nature, with committed residents who have stayed and people moving here.

Chrystal Ridgeway, born and raised here, she left Detroit, spent time in Europe, and then came back.

She wants to develop a camp for kids, and adults too.

- I know the benefits of being in nature.

And I know that it calms you, and it's good for your mental health.

- [Nicole] Concrete crushers are important for recycling building materials, but I also learned from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the American Lung Association that this crushing of aggregates, it's not good to live next to.

When you break down these materials, they create silica dust, almost impossible to avoid breathing in.

And the particulate matter can spread for miles, and can stay in the air for days.

- If I had emphysema, if I had asthma, or my children had asthma, it could exacerbate 'em, could send them to the emergency room, could mean they need more medicine.

So, those are the immediate effects.

If youre in Detroit, you have a 46% higher chance of developing asthma, or already having it, than anywhere else in Michigan This is according to the Michigan Department of Heath and Human Services.

- [Nicole] Eleanor Parnell has been a resident here her whole life.

She watched the concrete pile grow from her house about 600 feet away.

- [Eleanor] No one contacted us.

- [Nicole] How'd you find out about it?

- I found out about it by continuing to see what was going on on the corner, and continuously asking, what is happening here?

And I've been in this neighborhood all my life.

I'm getting near retirement age.

I have a daughter that's a diabetic, insulin-dependent.

She has seizures.

And that health concern to me makes me wonder about, what is going to be happening to her health?

- We need housing, another grocery store, something for the seniors.

Anything, but this.

- Developer Colin Laitner, a Detroit-area native, he owns the Warehouse right across the street from the proposed crusher site.

So, when you purchased that building, did you know about the concrete crusher?

- Certainly not.

- [Nicole] And how would that affect your plan if it was constructed?

- It would destroy it.

I mean, it would destroy the value of the building.

It would eviscerate the vision, and we would have to pivot in some way.

My long-term vision, which has not changed for the building, is a mixed use, primarily residential.

I see Core City as a great area with a lot of opportunity.

You know, nearby, there's two churches, an urban farm.

- [Nicole] Andy Chae started Fisheye Farms in 2015 in another part of town, and then expanded to Core City.

He runs a farm stand and sells produce to local restaurants.

- I was, like, looking for alternative ways to, you know, make a life for myself.

And the vacant land in Detroit helped me to realize that, or fulfill that dream.

People always ask us, is the soil safe?

What about the air pollution?

And these are all, they're valid questions.

We soil-sample all of our spaces before we ever start growing in them.

- [Nicole] His concern is that dust from the crusher might cause his customers to question the safety of his produce.

- Locating a facility like this next to residents, and also locating it right next to a highway presents a number of concerns.

There's obviously health concerns, and then there's sort of, like, the cumulative impact concerns.

Highways are major sources of noise pollution, major sources of air pollution, including particulate matter.

And so, not at bringing in an additional source into an area that's residential.

- [Nicole] Five decades ago, the Jeffries Freeway, I-96, came through.

- I've lived in this house since 1962.

- [Nicole] Gladys Anderson watch I-96 get built right outside her front door in 1970.

It ripped her neighborhood apart, and scattered the people who lived on her block.

She said the building that was there on the crusher site, it was leveled decades ago.

- I think our community has been waiting for developers to come in.

- [Nicole] Anderson has vivid memories of the thing she used to depend on here in this neighborhood.

They would be welcome here again, she says.

- We had everything around here.

Stores on Buchanan from Grand River to Livernois, and all worn the same identical way, you could just walk to where you had to go.

But now, there ain't nothing.

So, we just do what you gotta do.

- Always work.

- [Nicole] I met artists and musician Sandy Hopkins 20 years ago performing in the Cass Corridor.

- See, from the outside it never looked bad except- - [Nicole] She lived there before she bought a fixer upper in Core City.

- So, anyways, this whole floor was gone, you could see.

- [Nicole] It's been eight years since she moved in.

Meanwhile, she's also fixing up the house next door.

- This is my favorite little room back here.

- Oh, neat.

- Do you think it's true, what they say, that like everyone in Detroit turns into a carpenter?

(Sandy chuckling) - Survivalist.

- [Nicole] Survivalist?

- You figure out what needs to be done and you do it.

- Mm-hmm.

- You know?

- [Nicole] Hopkins doesn't want the crusher here, and so she got activated.

Glad Vanessa Serna has taken the lead.

- And then you can point out Joanne's house and the concrete crusher- - Vanessa and I met, and then I met her whole circle and it's, she's very impressive.

We've needed her for 20 years.

(chuckles) - [Nicole] Other new housing has arrived in Core City as well.

There's dwellings like True North, the Quonset Huts.

And there's the Pope Francis Center.

The organization, Core City Neighborhoods, it goes back to the 1980s.

They're mainly developers of low-income housing.

Led by Willie Campbell, they run a food-distribution program.

But their main focus is still finding places for people to live.

- Core City has been trying to encourage home ownership throughout the area.

I think it would be terrible you attract these new residents into the area, and now, you're gonna poison their lungs with concrete dust and other contaminants.

- You know, these heavy trucks moving through there, is obvious, over the years, that's what caused the most damage to your roads.

So, we're gonna have a lot of cracks and potholes and everything else, along with the noise.

- Our biggest marching orders is to keep our community involved and active.

- [Nicole] In April, 2023, the Core City organizers, they rally, and they call a press conference.

- We're still attempting to get new housing, and new stores, and new businesses that are going to be beneficial for our neighborhood.

- [Nicole] During the news conference, Can-Am gets served.

It's a citation for blight.

We find out the City of Detroit is suing Can-Am for failure to clean up the site.

Before Core City's fight against heavy industry, there was Grandmont Rosedale in the Northwest part of the city.

This is the third neighborhood we're looking at in this story.

More than two years ago, it blocked the construction of an asphalt-mixing plant.

Bridge Detroit found that in the city, since 2022, there were 46 industrial-permit requests.

They also found that the asphalt plant was the only project to be denied in recent years.

Then came Core City.

- You know, when I looked up what is the impact of a hot-mix asphalt plant, it was very shocking.

- Right now, we're in Rosedale Park.

There's also North Rosedale Park.

There's the Grandmont Community Association, Grandmont #1, and Minock Park.

That's about 5,600 households total, about 15,000 residents.

And our strong belief, was that everybody in those five neighborhoods was going to be inhaling all of the noxious fumes from the asphalt plant.

- Well, a concrete or asphalt facility, the emissions can travel one to two miles.

So, it's not just gonna affect whatever it's gonna go into, it's gonna affect multiple neighborhoods.

And, you know, when you've got all of these sites popping up across the city, that's affecting the whole city.

- [Nicole] People in Grandmont Rosedale mobilized, and quickly.

They organized a phone tree and circulated an online petition.

- It was pretty powerful, I think, demonstration of community will.

- [Nicole] The plan for the asphalt plant died in the spring of 2022.

But not long after, came the Concrete Crusher proposal in Core City.

- When I first learned of the proposal to put this concrete crusher in that neighborhood, I got in touch with Vanessa, the organizer, as quickly as possible.

- Pam Weinstein from the Rosedale community totally came.

- They wanted to share with her as many of the lessons that we had learned, and as many of the strategies that had worked for us so that she would be in an even better, stronger position.

- She actually helped build the campaign with me.

I didn't do it alone.

And thank God for her.

- [Nicole] It's July, 2023.

While the City of Detroit's Building and Safety Department, BSEED, stopped the Core City concrete crusher in December, 2022, Can-Am International appealed.

And so, the residents rallied again, heading to a Board of Zoning appeals hearing.

Grandmont Rosedale's Pam Weinstein is helping to guide the way.

- [Pam] To the right, when the door opens.

- I mean, honestly, the residents over there have been such great advocates.

On their own, have been so great at getting the city to sort of atop their perspectives and see their issues.

That luckily, there hasn't been a robust role for lawyers like we to play at, which is always great.

'Cause, you know, when we come in, it usually means something hasn't gone the way community residents want.

- The applicant is Can-Am International Trade Crossing LSLC.

The location is 4445 Lawton between West- - [Nicole] There were 100 letters sent against the concrete crusher.

Almost 1,800 signatures were collected in an online petition opposing the project.

- [Robert] Can you state your name and address for the record?

And you have one minute.

- [Nicole] 27 people testified at the appeals hearing by Zoom, or in person.

And no one spoke in support.

- I know the board has received letters from restaurants that we work with.

And I think it's undeniable that the restaurants in Detroit are also a big part of the economy here.

And so, this would have an even wider reach than our neighborhood alone.

- I'm a long time resident who has gone away and seen many different things in many different countries.

And to understand that this is actually an option that a business person would propose, is a travesty.

- While Can-Am International requested this hearing, no one appeared on its behalf to refute the resident's claims.

- I want to, first of all, congratulate you on your organizing efforts.

This is absolutely phenomenal.

- I think it's extremely disrespectful on the part of the appellant to not be present, which, I think, further proves that Can-Am is quite simply just a bad player.

- To be honest, I did visit the area, drove around, and I saw the number of houses that weren't there, but I did see the residents that were.

If it affects one person, that's enough.

But I'm happy you all showed up.

Because typically, when people do not engage and they don't show up, it could go the other way.

Okay, any questions?

Any under readies?

All in favor indicate for city, aye?

- Aye.

- Aye.

- Any nays?

Ayes have it, very much.

(participants applauding) - [Nicole] "One Detroit" made numerous attempts to contact the concrete-crushing company, and we have received no response.

April, 2024.

The fight continues at another hearing at Detroit City Hall.

- We're looking at the Core City area.

- [Nicole] Residents have been in contact with the City Planning Commission.

- The goal of CPC staff, after working with a lot of community, is to transition from M4 to SD2.

- [Nicole] M4 is heavy industrial, SD2 is mixed use, and would end any chance for the crusher to operate.

This effort is called down zoning.

- If we could, we would want to down zone all of these areas, you know, across the city probably tomorrow.

But with every area, the down zoning, it takes a lot of staff time.

We go out, do engagement, we talk to the communities, get support.

And I believe you'll see a lot of support shown for this proposal that's before you tonight.

- There's a house 200 feet away.

I know it's M4, but there are people that live there.

And staying in that is very archaic, it's not the same Detroit anymore.

We're trying to do new things.

- [Nicole] The developer of the proposed concrete crusher did speak at the hearing.

He told the commissioners a lot of the concrete on his property have been removed.

- [Murray] And the reason there's concrete bricks, tires, and everything else with illegal dumping, I've not put a pebble on the site.

Let's get that clear.

So, with that in mind, we're an M4, we wanna be an M4.

Maybe open to going a little bit down zoning, but if need be, I'll fight.

It's a federal taking.

It's against the Constitution of the United States of America, and we'll fight it.

- [Robert] Commissioner Russell.

- [Nicole] The City Planning Commissioners took an immediate vote on the down-zoning request.

- [Robert] And Commissioner Udabe.

- [Rachel] Support.

- [Robert] Mr.

Chair, Commissioners, that motion passes.

- Thank thank you, Director Todd, and congratulations.

(participants applauding) - Oftentimes, without resident voices, it's easy for a city to say like, well, we didn't hear anything from anybody, but the company.

And so, you know, nobody must care, we're gonna issue this permit.

And so, with the organizing here, I think, this facility, more than likely, gets built without resident opposition.

- I do think that residents are becoming less tolerant of living so close to industry, and they're fighting back more, and are trying to change things like the zoning laws, and they're showing up to these public hearings to fight these proposals.

So, I do think that that is changing in recent years, - [Nicole] Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan declined our request for comment about this.

City Planner Kimani Jeffrey, who works with the Detroit Planning Commission, did talk to us.

Will down zoning lead to more people coming to Detroit or staying in the city?

- I don't know if I could predict that, but I will say that anytime you're implementing a vision that the community is requesting or wants to see, I think that gives communities pride, I think that gives them ownership in their neighborhood, and I think that makes them want to stay, and it makes more desirable places to live.

- The piles of concrete are now gone on the proposed crusher property from when I first came here almost two years ago.

In September, 2024, Detroit City Council approved the down-zoning request to block new heavy-industry operations.

Across the street, developer Colin Laitner, he still has plans to convert his warehouse into 64 apartments.

He hopes to get the permitting process started soon.

- I hope that the Core City Campaign illuminates the discrepancy in having industry beside residential communities in Detroit.

We really hope that not only is this precedent sending, it's sending a big message to the City of Detroit that if you wanna attract more people to come live here, if you wanna bring people back from the suburbs, if you want people to spread the word about how their livelihood and their quality of life is great living in Detroit, then this is a no brainer.