CITY OF DETROIT OFFICES TO CLOSE FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY JANUARY 18

Refuse, Bulk & Recycling Collection One Day Later

Most City of Detroit offices will be closed on Monday, Jan. 18 in observance of the Martin Luther King holiday. Normal police, fire, water and sewerage, and bus services will be provided.

The Department of Public Works will NOT collect refuse, bulk and curbside recycling on Monday, Jan. 18.  Monday’s collection will be picked up on Tuesday, and Tuesday’s collection will take place on Wednesday and so forth.

The City’s parking garages will be open as normally scheduled.  Motorists also can take advantage of free metered street parking anywhere in the city on Martin Luther King Day.

The Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) will operate on its normal schedule on the King holiday.

The Detroit People Mover remains closed for now.

City of Detroit officials announced the first $30 million in demolition bid contracts awarded to seven small Detroit companies with a workforce of at least 50% Detroit residents.

The City’s new Demolition Department will seek City Council approval to hire seven Detroit-headquartered companies – five of which are Black owned – to conduct the first 1,380 demolitions financed with Proposal N bond funds. The demolition contracts were announced at Mayor Mike Duggan’s news briefing January 15.

Last November, Detroit voters overwhelmingly approved Proposal N to allow the City to sell $250 million in bonds to renovate or demolish 16,000 vacant homes in neighborhoods and grow Detroit-based demolition and rehab companies. City officials had pledged that a majority of the work would be done by Detroit companies if the proposal was approved.

In addition to the demolition work, the City also announced that contracts for first 300 properties for rehab will go out for bid Jan. 19. Under Proposal N, the City identified up to 6,000 properties that could be saved through renovations.

Unlike the federal Hardest Hit Fund demolitions, which were limited to certain areas of the city based on the density of occupied homes, the City now has the ability to conduct its demolitions in every city neighborhood.

A full list of the 1380 properties can be found at detroitmi.gov/demolition.

Three new groups of individuals are now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines at the TCF Center: Detroiters age 70 and older; U.S. Postal workers who live or work in Detroit; and City employees who are working at their regular job sites. These individuals may now schedule appointments to receive the vaccine.

The expanded list of eligible individuals was announced by Mayor Mike Duggan at his January 14 news briefing. The full list of eligible individuals now includes:

• Any resident of the City of Detroit who is age 70 or older (born in 1950 or earlier)
• Good neighbors, who drive anyone 70 or older to TCF Center, can get vaccinated at the same time – if they are 65 or older (born 1955 or earlier)
• K-12 and day care workers
• U.S. Post Office employees who live or work in Detroit
• Employees of the City of Detroit or City-related agencies who are working from their regular job site (but does not include City employees working from home at this time)

Since January 11, the City has scheduled nearly 6,000 of the 20,000 appointments available over the next four weeks. The first 400 residents were vaccinated January13. That number increased to 600 January 14 and will be up to 1,000 per day by next week. The current call volume for scheduling appointments allows the Mayor to lower the threshold to those 70 years of age or older.

Vaccinations will be administered by appointment only

Individuals will not be vaccinated without having first made an appointment and must show identification at the appointment. Eligible residents can call (313) 230-0505 between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday-Friday to make an appointment.  As of January 13, the average wait time for callers who made it through the initial prompts to determine their eligibility was about 15 minutes.

Individuals also will be provided specific instructions on when and where to arrive to the TCF Center, where they will be required to fill out a basic consent form. After receiving their vaccination, individuals will be required to remain in their vehicles inside the TCF garage for approximately 15 minutes to make sure they are not experiencing any side effects.

Second vaccination required

When they schedule their appointment, individuals will be provided two appointment dates, one for the first dose and another for the required second dose.  Call center staff will contact each scheduled person prior to their second appointment to remind them.

Detailed information on vaccines at the TCF Center is available at www.detroitmi.gov.

The Detroit Health Department (DHD) is providing two ways for residents to report businesses that are violating COVID-19 safety restrictions. A form is available at detroitmi.gov/health or anyone can call 313-876-4000. Businesses found to be in violation will be subject to a fine of up to $1,000. Chief Public Health Director Denise Fair said a list of businesses in violation will be maintained on DHD’s website.

Fair also referred businesses to Detroit Means Business as a source of masks and gloves at no charge to small businesses. Further information on PPE distribution, as well as easy-to-understand guides and other resources related to the State’s health order, is available at www.detroitmeansbusiness.org.