it's been almost a year since i first heard about the billion dollar transformation FORD MOTOR COMPANY had been planning. in fact, i'd guess it was around april 11th of 2016, but i'm sure i'm off by a few days.
the citizens were not notified in any planned out or civic manner - nope. in fact, i'm sure there were reasons why all of a sudden, in the newspapers and online - there was suddenly this article about how FORD would be investing over ONE BILLION DOLLARS to completely transform the 340 acre Research and Development site that sits in the middle of the Ford Historic Homes District, The Henry Ford, Greenfield Village, The Henry Hotel, and the Ford proving grounds.
Oh joy!! the neighborhoods screamed!!! oh yes - the savior is upon us!!! thanks be to Bill Ford, thanks be to the almighty mayor of dearborn who brokered this deal! our jobs will come back! our tax base will grow!!!
The reality is that FORD is consolidating - closing 70 different satellite locations around dearborn and allen park, and putting all those workers on the same plot of land they have used as the research and development facility for more than 50 years. really - not so many new jobs. just a consolidation. really - not so many new taxes - as they will be closing and moving out of 70 buildings and no longer paying for or on them. nope - just taking a piece of land they already own, and increasing the number of employees on site from 12,000 each day to 30,000 each day. yes, i said THIRTY THOUSAND. almost 3 times as many workers, and cars.
oh joy!! said the neighborhood!! so many more mouths to feed!! so many more restaurants can open and prosper!! i guess none of those restaurants bother ed to read the articles announcing the planned upgrades, which include amazing IN HOUSE food service and lunchrooms. plans that include an open campus in an effort to stoke workers creativity - and the availability of healthy wide ranging food choices for every single one of those 30,000 workers.
but still - the area is rejoicing. well, most of it. and they should - dearborn is no longer the prosperous place it once was. when FORD made huge cuts in staffing and laborers in 2001, and again in 2007, it affected this city as a whole. the saying goes that for each highly paid wage earner, 15 other people feed off that chain of money. for every 1,000 workers FORD let go, 15,000 others suffered. retail, food, city tax collections. people lost jobs, the housing bubble burst, foreclosures ruled the land, and dearborn suffered greatly. as of today - 70% of all school kids in dearborn schools are on free or reduced lunch. the city pools have closed due to lack of funds. the city libraries have mostly closed for the same reason. and now, as FORD says they are investing ONE BILLION DOLLARS the residents in dearborn rejoice in some false hope that the city can return to the greatness they once knew.
but FORD invests money like this all over the world all the time. why did it take so long for them to come home to roost? why can we read about investments and plant upgrades in mexico and canada and CHINA who got 1.8 BILLION dollars in 2015? really - china gets preference over the usa?
well, everyone is rejoicing. except for me. and maybe a few of my neighbors. and the reason why? FORD RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT is smack dab in the middle of a residential area.
in fact - i look at the back of the building my father worked in when he was still alive. and when we bought this house, it was essentially at the end of a dead end street, with a strip of park across from it, then a big flat parking lot, and then, abut 800 feet away, the R&D building he used to test ceramic engines in. it was quiet every day. the air was clean. the cars were quiet. we were happy. but now - now it looks like this.
in fact, it is so ugly, the pending sale of our home just fell through. due to the scope and duration of this construction project - our home has been devalued by 30%. while the rest of the city celebrates what they see as the return to greatness for a city as a whole - and homes are listed for $100,000 more than their zillow estimate (and selling for close to that) - i cannot sell my home unless i want to sell it for just a tad more than i paid in 2010. and, depending on the appraiser, and the actual work being done while they try to value my home, this 30% devaluation could go on as long as the construction.
in the near year that i have known about this redevelopment, i have been in contact with FORD workers in charge of the plans for the overhaul. repeatedly i have been told " Ford will not purchase neighboring homes or provide relocation assistance to homeowners; however, we will continue to monitor noise and vibration occurring at the property line. "
so - where does that leave me? in a place where i am forced to live next to construction and noise and air pollution and vibrations from the ground and from the heavy equipment being used. i have vertigo, which is set off by this type of noise, and so now, on a reg daily basis, i am off balance and sick to my stomach. unless i am willing to lose money on my investment, my home, i am stuck here, next to the world's worst neighbor, for the next ten years. because - oh yeah - the project is a ten year one.
i am planning to write each day, to give a daily glimpse of this issue, so others can understand the horrors of it. of what it is like to be stuck in a place that daily is like war. and,as of today, i have discovered - my neighbors around the corner are now seeing this too, as FORD has cut down another large swath of trees and forest to make room for their parking decks. more deforestation. they drained 2 large areas of wetlands, too..........and no one has said a thing about it, except me, and when i opened my mouth last year - all hell broke loose.
this is my story. i invite you to follow it as it unfolds. i cannot stop the impending changes, but i can give voice to the situation. to all of my neighbors, and to all of their children. to all the people who cannot move away for various reasons, who will now be stuck here, living in the shadow of a 60 foot tall parking deck that will butt up to Edison Park.......it will look a little like this - but this one is not done yet, and it is in the middle of the campus. 5 layers of parking deck right along the edge of our homes. why, exactly, are we supposed to rejoice about that?
and YES i worry. i worry that opening my mouth now will cause all kinds of issues. i worry my home will be damaged, that i will be attacked, that my dogs will be poisoned - because this is big business. this is like trying to stand up to the mafia. i have already been attacked verbally on facebook pages across the city called a bitch, been told to shut up, had people claim i am making false statements and miseleading accusations. all i have said, this whole past year, is the truth. and i've been shunned for it, and sworn at, and belittled. so YES - i am afraid. i'm afraid more bad things will happen to my business, also, as it is in the city and has been for 18 years. i am causing a ruckus. and the city does not like that. and neither does FORD. nor do any of the local publications, online or in print, as i have been able to get not a single journalist or paper to get involved here. nope - the stakes are too high. it seems to just be me against one of the world's largest corporations. one little ant getting trampled under foot while the magician levitates dollar signs........
so it is now a couple hours later on march 20th, 2017.
we walk our dogs each day here in our neighborhood. we have a pretty usual path, but lately we have done shorter walks, partially due to weather and partially due to irritants in the air around the construction site. tonight we discovered that ANOTHER large swath of forest has been clear cut to make room for parking decks and drive ways. this is the second large area very near to us that has been clear cut - and it must equal around 10 acres at this point. those trees were OLD - areas that had been allowed to grow for 30 years or more. incredible old oaks and then a plethora of underbrush that gave homes to thousands of birds and various other small wild life. ten acres of trees is an entire world for some animals. and now it is all gone. as is the sound barrier it created. two whole blocks of people who previously saw a huge dense wall of growth across from their front door and now seeing lights and buildings they have never seen before, and hearing all the loud furnaces and air processors and internal building sounds - remember - this is research and development - these buildings have loud things going on inside.........
where it used to just be us who looked at the back of a building - now there are at least 30 homes who have nothing btwn them and the construction site. you can see the cranes from all sides. you can hear the noise from all sides. and those people - when they try to sell their homes - will have the same issues we have had. person after person will come through, and look at a house that would be worth a good chunk of change on any other day, and then turn to see the cranes, and the deck being built, and will walk away, uninterested. all those homes will fall in value, as has ours, because of the proximity to the loud pollution filled work being done.
pollution. it started last summer. we would go out to walk the dogs, and night after night the area smelled like a dead skunk. except - it was more acidic than that. it was more chemical based than that. it was like burning rubber. night after night it stank for hours out side our home and in our neighborhood. we had to close the windows on many nights when we should have been able to leave them open. depending on which way the breeze went was where the burning chemical smell would be heavier. by the autumn, at least once a week, when i open our back door to let the dogs out into the yard, i am overwhelmed by air pollution, and i lose my breath and start coughing. i have to use my rescue inhaler, and i cough for hours after ward - my lungs irritated and inflamed. it bothers our dogs too, who sneeze when they go out side and rub their faces because their eyes are burning. what is living next to this mess doing to our bodies? and when the parking deck is built, right along the backside of the city park, and kids try to play in the park - how many of them will suffer from the car exhaust? how will supposed extra tax dollars for the city be of any benefit then?
i tried last spring, the spring of 2016, to alert our neighbors about what was coming. it seemed like they were all on valium. no one really seemed interested - nor did they have the strength to fight against what they knew would be a losing battle. i love my neighbors - they are people who i am thankful to live near and share my time with. and so - i tried to stand up for all of us, even knowing there were issues behind closed doors i could not alter. i wrote to FORD, i wrote to the mayor, begged to have the proposed plans revisited and for the green space FORD was championing to be along the edge of our homes - not in the center of the development. i stood up for the old people and the kids whose health would be affected. i stood up for the home owners who would lose value. and - i was met with disdain and abhorrence. no one liked what i was saying. no one believed me. and, as i said before, my business is in dearborn and has been for years, and when i should have been spending time packing and moving my home to escape in the brief window i had before construction really got going - i had to move my business instead. a hardship. it happens to those who speak out against the grain.......
now my health is suffering, and summer is coming, and i won't be able to use my deck during the day. or my florida room most nights. and who knows what will happen if i try to grow a vegetable garden. my windows will have to stay closed and i'll be trapped inside - in a house that has one of the only second floor florida rooms around (it's an amazing place to spend bug free summer nights) and a huge yard and deck - because of air pollution and acid rain. sure - i know you think i am exaggerating - but anyone with asthma would understand after just a few hours here on a typical day.
i am saddened by all of this. by trying to stand up for so many, and not even really being able to help myself. i tried - i tried to get away and leave all this behind, but i cannot, not without giving up a large portion of my life savings that are tied into the value of my home. and i tried to notify people to file complaints when FORD announced they would be draining acres of wetlands to build parking decks, but the info sent out lead nowhere - there was not a single way to access the forms they had supposedly filed to make any complaints about the draining. there have been no new plans filed to show they will create more wetlands to replace the old. and now - the second large acreage of trees has been lost. all that habitat for wildlife. i wonder if dearborn will see any more of these woodpeckers who were recently rediscovered? i am not so sure....
http://www.pressandguide.com/news/pileated-woodpecker-shows-up-in-dearborn-after--year-absence/article_15cc1500-0065-5f8b-aa47-ab5a5c89c85c.html
i have a lot of fear, and a lot of anger. had the area been notified a year earlier - we could have made the choices to move or stay much easier. but instead, a massive change was thrust upon us, and everyone has been caught off guard. stuck here, so to speak. most of the residents believe this will become the new SILICON VALLEY, as FORD plans to use this land to make it's electric and autonomous cars come to life. i do not have that kind of faith. i do not worship at the altar of FORD like so many other residents of this city. i bet most of them would tell me to move (actually they already have - i've had lots of "well then get the hell out" comments on social media). but right now i can't. and while i'm stuck here i will continue to tell my story, day by day, about what life here is like. thank you for reading.
part two - march 21st, 2017
in 2010, when my husband and i bought this house, which at that point looked out over a huge flat parking lot and then at the back of a big brown brick building - why did we buy it? why did we want to live here?
we were looking for a home. we had been in south dearborn heights for 20 years. near the airport, near the airport noise, in a small bungalow that had worked very well for us. but it was time to move and we had always wanted to live in dearborn proper. we had many friends in the area of the Ford Historic Homes and attended many parties and family events in this area. we found this home because it kept popping up in the side bar of the realty website we were using, and it was just so dang pretty. through a series of twists of fate - we were able to afford it, and we moved in at the end of december 2010. we had just enough days to put up a christmas tree and celebrate the holiday in our new home. that very first night, i remember, we stood in the florida room with our arms around each other and watched the first night of the holiday lights fireworks. it was all so magical.
this house was built by gustav kockrick in 1936. it has art deco plaster ceilings, wonderful hardwood floors, original fenestra windows. it has character like no other home i've ever been in. it spoke to us in so many ways when we first saw it, and has continued to make an impact over the past 6 years of living here. it is full of memories.
when i was a kid, my family would spend weekends up north at the cabin. a small cabin deep in the woods. my father worked for FORD and having a cabin up north is something many FORD workers know - it is ingrained in the fabric of people who work at auto companies. kind of the american dream - house in the city, cabin up north. it was small - just a one room square, with a fire place and an out house and well water. when my parents died in 1999 and 2001, the family had to sell the cabin. my sister and i went there one last time in the summer of 2001 and spread our parents ashes. no more visits, no more time up north, just memories. the cabin in the wood surrounded by oak trees was gone.
this house, the one i live in now with my husband and 2 dogs, is one of only 2 houses on our street. one of only 2 houses that "face the wrong way", as the neighbors say. instead of being at the end of the block, and facing the house across the street - our house was built facing the end of the street. which, when it was built, meant it faced the now gone Edison School, which had opened in 1931. next to the school was edison park, which is still there today, even though the school has been gone many years.
in the 50s FORD bought the land behind the school and built the beginnings of their R&D center. as it expanded, and times changed, edison school was demolished, and ford bought the parcel of land and expanded in the 80s. what had been a school turned into a flat parking lot which sat between what is now my house and the large brown brick building. no other house, no close buildings, nothing but some grass, some trees, and this parking lot. the view from our living room window has been rather odd and cinematic these years - odd orange glowing lights, test cars in clothes parked next to pine trees that are supposed to help hide them, and a big open expanse that makes it easy to watch the moon and stars at night.
we saw this house, and said we could never live by the big brown building. but we left after our viewing, and we cried. we wanted to live here with every fiber of our bodies. this house is surrounded by ten mature oak trees. the back screen door has the same hinge and slams with the exact same sound as the cabin door up north, in the summer, when you step into the kitchen, the marble counter tops have the same cool feel and smell of the well water up north, and i can close my eyes and be standing back in the cabin as a child, looking out the old fenestra windows, in the woods. and to top it off - that big brown building, well, it IS the building my father worked in. so in the absence of my parents, and the cabin up north, i could stand in my own home, with all it's similarities, and have that experience all over again. we bought this home for so many reasons - the solitude, the peace and quiet, the connection to a time long gone.
it has served us well. the yard is huge and we've built it into many outside "rooms" so to speak. we have a separate side yard the dogs cannot access which we use for growing a veggie garden. the area behind the house is a meandering shade garden with beautiful brick work and pavers and a hosta lined stone path. the deck is secluded from view by a wall of evergreen shrubs, and the main side yard has beautiful rose bushes and wisteria. we look out our windows at edison park and the huge oaks that fill it. the old plaster work is beautiful, the floors soft to bare feet and warm, and the details are everywhere you look. we are artists and musicians - this is a place where we feel truly at home - truly ourselves. we love this house, and all spring and summer long, neighbors walk by and tell us stories of attending edison school, of having seen this house their entire lives and loving it, and they thank us for caring for it the way we do. we truly thought we would be here until we died of old age.
the shock of seeing the plans unveiled last spring floored me. a complete overhaul of all 340 acres. 6 parking decks. new facades that are all reflective. buildings that will be lit at night with blue led tops on them. in the midst of a neighborhood. a ten year construction plan that will not only include the 340 acres, but then the complete replacement of the street we live on, as all the gas and sewer lines into and out of the complex go through this neighborhood. some of our neighbors were ready - and have already moved. some are in the planning stages and are building their dream homes in other parts of the state. and many cannot leave due to finances or age. of course the people who work for FORD are happy, in that odd we love Apple products kind of way - it means they will still have a job and a paycheck. and then there is me - i found my dream house and had 5 wonderful years here, only to be now in the beginning stages of a ten year construction debacle with no way out. the dream house has become a nightmare. and i can't wake up.
april 12, 2016 - this is the first plan that was unveiled
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2016/04/12/ford-transform-campus/82935594/
the first pic shows what campus is like now - all the dark grey areas are flat parking lots
i would also like to pint out that the entire left side is residential, the entire lower edge is residential, and the area on the right hand side along rotunda is a high school and then residential. while some days it feels as if it is only me who is in the mess, it really is an entire neighborhood.
and then this next pic shows what should be happening - which is a slight change from the original plan in hopes to make the project a tiny bit more neighborhood friendly.
my next segments will detail all the encounters i had with FORD LAND MANAGER employees last summer, and how truly important a strong neighborhood association is.
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