New Police Station to Cover Morningside, East English Village and Cornerstone

Please help petition for a new police station to cover the areas of Morningside, East English Village, and Morningside. I am Scott A. Hastings, who moved to Morningside 25 years ago from Farmington Hills to live in a diverse, racially mixed, middle-class neighborhood.

Unfortunately foreclosures have devastated our neighborhoods. The 48224 zip code – MORNINGSIDE – has been the hardest hit in the United States declining property values up to 99%. Driving through Morningside, East English Village, and Cornerstone, nobody would imagine that areas in Metro Detroit have a housing shortage.

A police station would stabilize the neighborhoods, increase property values, and repopulate our area. Some say we cannot afford a new police station or more police officers, but it is obvious we cannot afford NOT to have them.

A police station would stabilize the neighborhood and stop crime. In twenty-five years of living in Morningside my exterior doors have been stolen, my copper piping has been taken, my built-in mail boxes have been ripped from their brick foundation and I have been held and gun point… (My friends have advised me to move for many years, but my eternal optimism and efforts to help have always trumped that issue).

For these reasons many contractors have stopped restoring homes, realtors cannot put signs in front of homes or hold open houses, and banks have stopped lending to buyers.

A police station would increase property values by giving residents a sense of safety and stop the blight. My property value is 90% less than the insurance replacement cost. The replacement cost is $410,000 and the property value is $41,000; these numbers are appalling… I think it is shocking that an 850 sq. ft. Wood frame home on a slab in Royal Oak is selling for near $100,000 while a 1,850 sq. ft. Brick Tudor in our area with a basement is selling for $1,000 and others are torn down. Many of the homes are selling for less than they did 80 years ago at the time of their construction. The reason is crime, Detroit residents have complained for decades…

A police station would greatly help to repopulate this devastated area. The main reason people have left and plan to leave is the lack of police officers and police enforcement. The nearest police station in Detroit is 10 miles from my home. The police officers are working 12 hour shifts and cannot keep up with 911 calls. If there were enough officers police response time would be minutes rather than hours, officers could constantly walk the neighborhoods like in Washington D. C., New York, and other major cities and quality of life would improve. More officers would drastically reduce crime, encouraging middle-class families to move back and build large brick homes once again.

Please help make a new police station in our area a reality by signing a petition.