DETROIT – A group of protestors and elected officials gathered to protest a proposed concrete crushing operation in Detroit’s Core City neighborhood over health concerns.
The property is zoned commercial and is bordered by I-96. Elanor Parnell lives just a few blocks away from the site and she does not want the proposed concrete crushing operation to start up there.
Parnell and the protestors want the property owner, Murray Wikol, to clean up the land. Protestors said he does not have the proper permits for the site.
“What I think they were probably referring to is our request for a concrete crushing permit and we are going before the BZA to get that permit,” Wikol said. “We are willing to potentially not do concrete crushing there and that’s news today.”
Wikol said his team has cleared tons of illegal dumping off the site and put up a fence to stop any more dumping. He said the concrete that would be crushed there would go back into fixing the roads.
Wikol is asking for a meeting with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and is open to the city relocating the concrete to another area.
“I want to set the record straight, we have not done ourselves C&M or our operator Mid-Michigan Recycling, any crushing there. We have not done any dumping there,” Wikol said.
Detroit filed a lawsuit against the owner last week looking to have the site cleared.