THE CITY OF TREES RETURNS TO
BE THE CITY OF CHAMPIONS!!!
HPC3 PARTNERS WITH DETROIT FOOD POLICY COUNCIL
Happy New Year From Soulardarity! 1
WATER FIGHT
Publisher’s Corner
2021 Has arrived and there are many exciting things on the horizon for the city of Highland Park. The coalition of Allies that are at work daily in the city grow stronger and more resilient. It is only fitting that we enter 2021 with our first, 8 page issue and hopefully not our last. Let’s grow together
#STAYSAFEHIGHLANDPARK #HP4LIFE #HIGHLANDPARKSTRONG- Juan Shannon
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Design, printing & fulfillment By Modern Tribe Communications, Inc. Copyright September 2020. All rights reserved. Published Monthly. Reproduction in whole or in part without express permission of the publisher is prohibited. Opinions of contributing writers do not necessarily reflect the views of Parker Village News, Modern Tribe Communications or its affiliates. We are not responsible for unsolicited material. PARKER VILLAGE PRINT & DESIGN To advertise with us, please e mail: Orders@Moderntribe.us SUBJECT: Newsletter Publisher/Editor: Juan Shannon Graphics/ Thurmond Goins Operations Mgr./ Monica Wilcox
Important Dates Highland Park Just Recovery Task Force Folder of notes and public documents: tinyurl.com/JRTFpublic Community Input Form: tinyurl.com/JRTFinput Zoom meeting link: tinyurl.com/JRTFmeeting Or dial (312) 626-6799 meeting ID 829 9012 8391 password 532190 HPC3 Food Distribution ( PORCH DELIVERY ) 01/11/21 Parker Village 01/18/21 Avalon Village 01/25/21 Parker Village 02/01/21 Avalon Village 02/08/21 Parker Village 02/15/21 Avalon Village
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Publisher/Editor: Juan Shannon Operations Mgr : Monica Wilcox Graphics: Thurmond Goins @t2Squ Contributing Writers: Gracie Lugo-ThomasWooten & Angela HEADQUARTERS 181 East Buena Vista, Highland Park, Michigan 48203 www.moderntribe.us | www.ParkervillageHP.com
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Andrea Shaw began muscle building exercises at age 17. It was her mother who convinced her to start working out at PowerHouse gym in Highland Park. She entered her first contest in 2008 and after competing in various contests, entered the right one for her in 2019. The Chicago Pro bodybuilding competition ushered in a chapter in her life story. Bodybuilder.Ultimately Andrea went forward to becoming the latest Ms. Olympia Champion for 2020. PV News and Highland park salutes you!!!
Community Care/Needs Assessment: Combating COVID-19 in Highland Park & Surrounding Communities) Sign up to get resources or support your community! If you need this form translated in another language please contact us.
WATER FIGHT
Join this Facebook group in order to read posts about and be connected to ongoing efforts/resources https://www. facebook.com/groups/646455195924175/ Thanks for joining us in mutual community care during this time.
The Highland Park Human Rights Coalition
Much love, Soulardarity Staff & Board
Highland Park, MI has long had its own municipal water system, dating back to when the city was a booming enclave of nearly 50,000 residents. The Water Plant in Highland Park, MI was once a model plant but today it is abandoned, shutdown and looted.
Questions? Please feel free to reach out to Jackson Koeppel, Executive Director (director@soulardarity.com) or Shimekia Nichols, Deputy Director (communications@soulardarity.com) *IF YOU ARE IN A RISK CATEGORY, PLEASE KEEP YOUR OWN SAFETY IN MIND IF OFFERING HELP*
The reckless way the Highland Park Water Department was shut down brought lots of harm to residents. Residents said “this aint right”, stood up to the city and fought back by filing a class action lawsuit. The suit states that the city neglected to send water bills, or sent inaccurate bills, after a lack of repairs on Highland Park’s water treatment plant. By which forced the city to switch to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Also, the lawsuit said the city violated the city ordinance because water bills have to be based on actual meter readings and there has to be procedures for residents to make complaints about billing.
THE CITY OF TREES RETURNS TO BE THE CITY OF CHAMPIONS!!! 3
The five-year old class action lawsuit has been settled and includes wins for residents. About 2036 residents will save approximately $2 to $3 million on bills issued that happened between 2012 and when new water meters were installed on their homes. The settlement prevents water bills from being attached to resident property tax bill. Water bill dispute procedures are outlined for residents. You should have received a brochure Water Bill Dispute Process which are steps you can take to dispute water bills in your January 2021 water bill as outlined in the lawsuit.
Income-based Payment Plan As a result of this settlement, not only is a clear procedure on how water bills can be disputed, Highland Park residents do not need to be in a dispute about a water bill to enter into an income-based payment plan. Why are water bills so high? In future articles we will discuss water affordable issues. Water is our most precious natural resource, but who has the right to make decisions about how it is used? Everyone has the right to clean and accessible water, adequate for the health and well being of the individual and family, and no one shall be deprived of such access or quality of water due to individual economic circumstance. Article 31:U.N. Committee on Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights the United Nations has declared 2005-20015 as “The Decade of Water''… With twothirds of the world’s population expected to run short of fresh drinking water by 2025, water has come to be known as “the gold and oil of the 21st century.” (Food & Water Watch.) By the Way…What are the Hours of Service at the Highland Park Water Department? The Highland Park Human Rights Coalition have received numerous residents’ complaints “saying the office was closed before 12pm when they went to pay their water bills in person. One of many examples: December 7, 2020 a resident went to pay her bill approx. 10:30am. The water department office was closed. She immediately purchased a money order and dropped payment in the mail. On December 19, 2020 she received a letter stating her payment was past due. December 21, 2020 she returned to the water department to discover the office closed again around 10:30-11:00am. She immediately returned home and called the water department approx. a little after 11:00am. The water department’s voicemail answered saying “the water department is closed. Call back during business hours''. https://www.mwro.org/HPHRC.htm
Wayne County Covid 19 DataHighland Park, Michigan 412 cases 25 deaths 1/12/21 https://wayne.maps.arcgis. com/apps/opsdashboard/ index.html#/d04fff4645b140319fad972eb3740550
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HPC3 PARTNERS WITH DETROIT FOOD POLICY COUNCIL
HPC3 partners with DETROIT food POLICY COUNCIL to get food and water out to the community. Starting with a water drive on 12/31/20 and 1/2/21 volunteers and staff delivered hundreds of bottles to the HP Fire Department and Police Department, various churches, community groups and direct to the public!!
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Happy New Year From Soulardarity!
• Reliable Power: We recently submitted the comments of over 100 Highland Park and Detroit residents, and comments from the Highland Park School District calling for reliability improvements from DTE, compensation for those harmed by outages, and a stop to unjust rate hikes! Highland Parkers deserve quality infrastructure and reliable service. This builds on the media action coordinated between our Council President Carlton Clyburn and Congresswoman Rashidal Tlaib about the July outages. Learn more and file your own comment at work4medte.good.do/outages • Sustainable Development: We held a meeting last month with the developers of Hamilton Ave LLC, the project being developed by Eric Means before his untimely passing. Thanks to advocacy of Highland Parkers and Detroiters, they committed to exploring solar potential with us. We are planning a meeting with the developers to talk about including solar in the development and community benefits in terms of jobs, training, and financial support for residents. Email director@soulardarity.com to be looped into that conversation.
2020 was a long and challenging year. We’re glad to be on the other side of it. Our members, staff, and board were incredible in their leadership and accomplished so much. We rose to the challenges of COVID-19 and the associated struggles with energy poverty and community resilience, along with many Highland Park and Detroit partners. A few highlights from our Highland Park work in particular: • Launched our Highland Park Organizing Fellowship around GOTV for the 2020 election - thank you to our first class of fellows Kim McDade, Shadrick Wilson, Michelle Jones, Louis Tutt, and Kallela Martin! • Welcomed Kubwa Baraka Johnson and Lex Draper to our staff team!
“Soulardarity has a way of pulling you in. Once you come to a meeting, once you begin to talk to the people it will pull you in. And I’ve just become more and more committed to being active in the City of Highland Park and seeing it come back to the beautiful jewel that I know it can be.” -Michelle Jones, 2020 All Star Member Of The Year
• Launched Highland Park Community Crisis Coalition in partnership with Parker Village and Avalon Village, supported by the Detroit2Nepal Foundation and Ford Foundation. • Delivered over $10,000 in utility assistance, funded 2 emergency solar generators installed by Ryter Cooperative Industries, and raised funds for 2 new blocks of solar street lights!
We hope you will join with us in 2021 to grow our work for community clean energy, sustainability, and self-determination in Highland Park!
Watch our whole virtual annual report at: tinyurl.com/2020SOUL
JOIN over 200 member at soulardarity.com/member BE SUPPORTED with utility assistance in 2021 at tinyurl.com/HPC3assist
Here are some major recent accomplishments and action items to be aware of for Highland Park.
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CONNECT with us by calling or texting 313.349.1063
Hello from the attendees from our virtual annual report in December! 7
181 East Buena Vista, Highland Park, Mi. 48203
#COMING-SOON2021 #HP4LiFE 8