Out-Of-Class #1: A Pretty Good Example ...

... with some typical problems, too. Take a peek:

(name redacted)

June 26, 2014

Out of Class Assignment #1

Detroit Transportation Maintenance

Out of Class #1

The low maintenance and irregular upkeep of the roads in the metro Detroit area are constantly being complained about among Detroit citizens. 

Citizens of Detroit such as Keiarra Menefee and Noelle Sanford SAID THEY; ATTRIBUTE! are outraged with the recent conditions Detroit roads have been in. Many Detroit citizens see the low HYPHEN HERE maintained roads as a form of neglect and endangerment to others.

“This past winter was especially bad with the roads. More than often, I never saw snowplow trucks until long after the roads were horrible. This made it extremely difficult to get from place to place safely,” said Sanford.

          
  Some citizens, such as Menefee, even see the hazardous streets as a reflection of how bad the city really is.

            “The infrastructure of Detroit’s roads makes the whole city’s appearance look even worse. It shows me how neglected Detroit really is – we can’t even maintain smooth roads,” said Menefee.

            Although there is constant concern for the conditions of road, are citizens truly taking actions to their concerns and voicing their opinions? According to Kirk Garner, the RSO Radio Operator of the City of Detroit Wayne County Roads Division, they are, constantly.

            “People are calling in everyday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m,” says Garner. “Commuters, tourists, citizens, politicians, everyday people, people who are just walking in street – everyone.”

            With the constant complaints and lack of action, it’s understandable that citizens are upset about these road conditions. For the amount of money Detroit taxpayers and citizens pay, the main question rises to everyone’s head, “Why aren’t our roads being maintained?”

            According to Rana Mitchell, a road technician for the Wayne County Road Maintenance Department, Detroit roads are constantly being looked over, however, the city can only do so much at once due to lack of financial support.

            “Most of our funding used for maintaining roads come from the federal government and MDOT; very little comes from the money taxpayers pay. Factoring in the costs it pays for the equipment and workers used for the fixing of roads, and the amount of city debt we have, Detroit can only fix so much at once,” said Mitchell.

WHAT IS THE AMOUNT OF FUNDING FOR ROAD FIXES IN DETROIT? HOW DOES IT COMPARE IN YEARS PAST; IS IT MORE OR LESS OR A LOT LESS? AND HOW MANY MILES OF ROAD ARE THERE, ANYWAY? LET’S GET SOME NUMBERS TO QUANTIFY THESE CLAIMS.

            Due to this lack of funding, Detroit prioritizes what roads should be fixed first. According to Mitchell, state roads such as freeways, highways, and streets that tend to have a high volume of traffic, are usually the ones to be fixed first.

After the fixing of those roads, if there is still money left over, the city of Detroit will then begin to fix the roads in the more rural/residential areas says Mitchell.

However, according to Garner, in areas where people pay higher property taxes, the roads tend to be fixed first. This is why citizens who reside in the downriver area tend to have nicer streets.

IS THERE DATA TO PROVE/DISCLAIM THIS? CAN WE SEE IF WE CAN GET MONEY SPENT ON ROAD FIXES BROKEN DOWN BY ZIP CODES OR SOMETHING, AND TRY TO DETERMINE WHICH NEIGHBORHOODS GET PRIORITY, IF ANY DO? LET’S FACT-TEST THIS CLAIM

According to Mitchell, Detroit will always have roads that need fixing up due to environmental factors and the different types of asphalts used to build these roads. This is another reason why Detroit tends to prioritize what roads should be fixed.

“Our roads are more likely to become damaged because of the environment and the high amount of people who live here. Winter is where the streets in Detroit get damaged the most…hence why you’ll never see workers fixing roads during this time; only during the summer,” says Mitchell.

However, despite the prioritizing, the City of Detroit Wayne County Roads Division still keeps track of the roads that are in desperate need of fixing, such as Telegraph Road, and the Seven and Six Mile Roads.

If a particular street in Detroit has any extreme crocodile cracking WHICH MEANS, WHAT? and potholes, continues to damage the cars, receive complaints, and/or endanger the lives of commuters, residents, and tourists, workers are told to do temporary fixes SUCH AS WHAT? says SAID, STED SAYS Mitchell.

“Although they are not permanent fixes, they allow people to travel safely without getting hurt, or worse. On top of citizen complaints, we also go by facts like, how many times a road has been fixed or temporarily fixed,” says Mitchell. “There are also surveys engineers from the City of Detroit Engineering Division does every so often – we look at those as well.”

 

Story Word Count: 685

Informational Sources

Keiarra Menefee

Title: MSU Student

Telephone Number: (313) 505-2246

Email: keiarra.menefee@yahoo.com

Address: 18632 Kentucky St., Detroit, MI 48221

Noelle Sanford

Title: Babies R’Us Cashier

Telephone Number: (313) 808-0330

Email: sanford.noelle@gmail.com

Address: 17367 Strathmoor St., Detroit, MI 48235

Kirk Garner

Title: RSO Radio Operator of Wayne County Road Division

Telephone Number: (313) 224-7600 (With the extensions 9 then 0)

Email: lgarner1@waynecounty.com

Address: 29900 Goddard Rd., Detroit, MI 48242

Rana Mitchell

Title: Road Technician for the Wayne County Road Maintenance Department

Department Telephone Number: (313) 933-4705

Personal Telephone Number: (313) 570-5314

Work Email: rmitchell@waynecounty.com

Personal Email: ranamtchll@yahoo.com

Address: 3001 Columbus St., Detroit, MI 48206

ASSIGNMENT GRADE: (grade redacted)

INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS: A SOLID START; WE TALKED ABOUT GETTING A NEUTRAL EXPERT AND I KNOW YOU TRIED, BUT LET’S TRY AGAIN: I THINK THE STORY WOULD BE HELPED BY GETTING SOME PERSPECTIVE ON WHETHER DETROIT’S PROBLEMS ARE UNIQUE TO DETROIT, OR TYPICAL OF BIGGER CITIES THESE DAYS, OR BOTH. ALSO, SOME DATA WOULD HELP TO HELP PROVE AND CONTEXTUALIZE SOME MAJOR POINTS, LIKE WHEN THE CITY SAYS THERE ISN’T ENOUGH MONEY, IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO SEE HOW MUCH MONEY THEY DO HAVE FOR ROAD FIXES AND HOW THAT COMPARES TO (PRESUMBABLY BETTER) PAST YEARS. IS THE TREND THEY HAVE MORE OR LESS OR THE SAME MONEY? MAKING SUCH IMPROVEMENTS T YOUR STORY COULD RESULT IN A SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER REWRITE GRADE.