Protesters Heard: Grosse Pointe Park Blockade is Coming Down

The Grosse Pointe farmers market shed erected at the border of Grosse Pointe and Detroit caused Detroiters to protest. (Photo courtesy of the city of Grosse Pointe Park)

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Detroit Mayor Michael Duggan has signed an accord that eases tensions between residents of Grosse Pointe Park and Detroit after some residents said a farmers market shed erected at the border of the two cities was intended to keep Detroiters out.

Workers finished putting up stone traffic barriers and a wooden shed that houses the Grosse Pointe farmers market on Kercheval Avenue, creating a physical barrier that between predominantly black Detroit and predominantly white Grosse Pointe Park. Some critics saw the barrier as symbolic and malicious, intended as a racial separation, the Detroit Free Press reports.

“Im going to pray for Detroit and pray for Grosse Pointe and hope that we can do something together, not isolate ourselves,” Rev. Joel Wallace, a pastor at Abundant Faith Cathedral said.

Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park have agreed to redevelop their shared border, once a vibrant area full of businesses, but now desolate land littered with unattended buildings and lots.

“It became clear during this process that we all share the common goal of creating a safe and attractive environment that links our communities in a neighborly way,” Duggan said.

As a part of the agreement signed by Duggan, Kercheval will be reopened for vehicular traffic and a new location for the Grosse Pointe Park farmers market will be determined.

“The final concept is going to be a plaza, and it’s absolutely going to be welcoming to Detroiters,” Grosse Pointe Park Mayor Tem Greg Theokas said.

The current farmers market located between Detroit and Grosse Pointe will be removed by the end of the year.

Several abandoned buildings are scheduled for removal along Alter Road between Jefferson and Mack Avenue.