Public Safety Archives - The Handbuilt City

Public Safety Cities & Urban Planning Transit infrastructure

MSP: Seat Belt Use Drops To Lowest in 17 Years

July 20, 2021July 20, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments congestion, COVID traffic deaths, helmet laws, highway safety, highway safety planning, michigan, michigan OHSP, michigan state police, mitten, mittentimes, rates of traffic death, seat belt laws, seat belt usage, seat belts, seatbelt, seatbelts, traffic, traffic safety, traffic violence

The Michigan State Police released data from a study today that showed that fatalities are on the rise, while seatbelt usage is on the decline. We look at how this plays out across a few jurisdictions.

Politics Public Safety Movements & Organizing

Candidate Craig: Will The Paradoxes Play In The Provinces?

May 12, 2021May 11, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments black lives matter, Black Republicans, Black Senate candidates, Black Senators, candidacy, candidates, Congress, defund the police, Democratic Congress, detroit will breathe, governor of michigan, governorship, Gretchen Whitmer, gubernatorial, gubernatorial race, gubernatorial race in michigan, police, police brutality, police brutality lawsuits, political, politics, Republican Congress, Republican Senators, Republicans

Detroit Police Chief James Craig’s abrupt announcement that he will be retiring to almost certainly run for governor– as a

Public Safety Infrastructure Small Business Streetscaping

New Grand River Streetscaping: Safer, Slower, Greener

May 4, 2021May 4, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments bike lanes, black-owned business, crosswalk, crosswalks, Detroit, effect of streetscaping on public safety, garden stores, gardening, gardening store, gilmour garden tools, grand army of the republic building detroit, grand river, grand river avenue, grandmont-rosedale, highland park, home depot, local business, maumee lake region, native plants, neighborhood investment, north rosedale park, pages bookshop, pedestrian safety, public safety, raised crosswalks, street safety, streetscaping and public safety, tina castleberry, traffic violence

New streetscaping improvements have turned portions of Grand River Avenue, on Detroit’s West Side, from a street-level freeway into something more closely resembling a real city street that people might be able to safely hang out and shop on.

Public Safety Transit infrastructure

Morning Coffee, Detroit Traffic: The Post-COVID Craze Is About To Be Wild

May 3, 2021May 3, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ambassador bridge, bicycle safety, bike safety, car culture, cars, cycling infrastructure, cycling safety, Detroit, detroit police, detroit river, detroit traffic, dodge challenger, dodge charger, dodge durango, driving, gratiot, hi-riser, infrastructure, jeep, Mikki Taylor-Hendrix, nonmotorized infrastructure, pedestrian safety, riverfront park, traffic violence, west riverfront park, why do people always rev their dodge charger

Yesterday, Detroit was a whole traffic jam, as an increasingly vaccinated cross-section of, well, everyone, emerged from the cocoons of Michigan winter and lockdowns.

Policy Public Safety

Police Reform: Imagining New Roles For A Safer, More Functional Society

April 23, 2021April 23, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 1312, abolish the police, acab, angie schmitt, austerity, black lives matter, BSEED, budgets, building department, building inspections, building inspector, building officials, community engagement, community meetings, cycling, cycling safety, dave bell, defund the police, democracy, Detroit, detroit police chief james craig, detroit police department, detroit will breathe, fuck the police, james craig, jessica parker, legal aid, municipal budgets, municipal government, nonmotorized transportation, pedestrian fatalities, pedestrian safety, police, police abolition, police brutality, police brutality lawsuits, police departments, police reform, policing in the united states, prison abolition, prison reform, public funding, reform the police, safe mobility, safe streets, social justice, social safety net, social welfare, social work, social worker, social workers, traffic safety, traffic violence

We expect police to respond to, well, everything. And they’re not suited for it. Rethinking policing in the United States will require us to figure out alternatives for who is responding to what issue.

Public Health Public Safety Transit infrastructure

Lethal Projectiles: Car Culture, Gun Violence, and Police Shootings

April 19, 2021April 19, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments adam toledo, black lives matter, BLM, brian calley, brooklyn center, chicago, city government, department of transportation, detroit police, detroit police chief james craig, detroit will breathe, diane cross, gun violence in chicago, james craig, jeff cranson, lane miles, level-of-service, LoS, mdot, michigan department of transportation, municipal government, officer-involved shooting, police abolition, police abolition movement, police brutality, police brutality lawsuits, police reform, police shooting, police shootings, public health, public police, traffic violence, violence, what about chicago, what about gun violence in chicago

Matthew Lewis points out that departments of transportation and police departments are two of the least democratic institutions in American society right now– and are two of the biggest threats to public health.

Politics Public Safety Law

Taxpayers Spend Hundreds of Millions Per Year On Police Brutality Settlements. That Money Could Be Better Spent.

February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 538, 911, 911 calls, amelia thomson-deveaux, black lives matter, corktown, damini sharma, Detroit, detroit will breathe, detroit will breathe lawsuit, fivethirtyeight, hulk hogan gawker lawsuit, hulk hogan lawsuit, laura bronner, lawsuit, lawsuits, litigation, nate silver, new york city, nonviolent crimes, police abolition, police brutality, police brutality lawsuits, police lawsuits, police reform, police violence, police violence lawsuits, settlement, settlements, springfield mass, violent crimes

A new article from FiveThirtyEight looks at the staggering sums of money taxpayers are liable for in police brutality lawsuit settlement in 31 American cities. The data are unsurprisingly incomplete, and unsurprisingly appalling.

Mobility Public Health Public Safety Cities & Urban Planning Cycling

Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America

January 25, 2021January 25, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments accessibility, automobile fatalities, automotive infrastructure, autonomous vehicle, autonomous vehicles, car fatalities, car infrastructure, cars, class, cycling, cycling safety, cyclist, cyclists, death, driving, elaine herzberg, elaine herzberg death, elaine herzberg uber, environmental racism, mobility, pedestrian, pedestrian deaths, pedestrian safety, pedestrianization, pedestrians, pedestrians killed, public health, public safety, race, safe mobility, safe streets, self-driving car, single-occupant vehicles, street design, streetscaping, walkability

Angie Schmitt’s Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America (2020) is a must-read

Public Safety Movements & Organizing

Nice To See You Again: DPD Back in Full Force

August 23, 2020October 23, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments black lives matter, BLM, Detroit, detroit police, detroit police chief james craig, detroit will breathe, hudson's site, james craig, mike duggan, national lawyers guild, police, police abolition, police brutality, police reform, shinola, violence

Detroit protests have been largely quiet since June. This changed last night when protesters downtown, challenging the new federal law enforcement intervention in Detroit being championed by Mike Duggan, Police Chief James Craig, and US Attorney General William Barr, were met with batons, pepper spray, and tear gas.

Business & Economics Public Safety Gun Control Movements & Organizing

Blood on the Louis Vuitton: Is Looting In Chicago A Referendum On The Zeitgeist?

August 10, 2020August 10, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments black lives matter, chicago, gun control, gun violence, looting, protest, riot

As Chicago struggles with an epidemic of gun violence, one Gold Coast resident is worried that a looting spree last night on the Magnificent Mile will be used as a pretext for violent crackdowns on the Black Lives Matter movement. This is clearly unrelated to Black Lives Matter. But are not both the looting and the civil rights movement loud referenda on the current state of class relations in America?

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