News from the City Government

• First 265,000 flowers now in bloom along medians and in parks across the city • 209,500 to be planted this fall; Crews expect to reach 1 million within three years

Citywide annual cleanup and beautification effort scheduled for May 5, 12 & 19 City also promotes recycling and launches pilot program to clean select number of alleys

Due to weather related issues, the Detroit Police Department 911 Call Center has been experiencing a larger than usual in-flow of calls, many of them for nonemergencies.To help police, fire and EMS staff respond as quickly as possible to emergencies, the city is reminding the public to reserve calls to 911 for police, fire and EMS emergencies only.Below are numbers that residents can call for various issues that do not require a police, fire or EMS response.Power outages and downed powerline'...

Consultants to work with residents to create child-centric development framework for the west side neighborhood Effort will put children first with planning and design based on improving youth opportunity

Detroit to purchase approximately 142 acres; Magic Plus, LLC to purchase approximately 16 acres, blending two visions to create jobs and provide commercial destinations for residents. City purchase will require Council approval.

* City Council approves Health Department Request for $1.25M in new funding * City forms first ever Interagency Lead Poisoning Prevention Task Force * Number of Detroit children with elevated blood lead levels down 88% over past 20 years

Eight construction winners awarded $164,700 in grants to improve exterior appearance $129,000 more in grants approved to assist 17 businesses with pre-construction design process 76 percent of all grant recipients are minority-owned businesses; 24 percent of total are women-owned businesses

10,000 at-risk affordable units to have low-income requirements extended 2,000 units of new affordable housing to be built Plan will be implemented over next five years

City crews will be on standby overnight, ready to salt and plow major roads once snow begins early Friday morning City has over 670 miles of major roads to clear Private contractors have been put on notice to anticipate their services will be utilized to plow the 1884 miles of residential streets City also reminds residents of emergency shelter locations

• 7 DDOT bus routes will see service changes and improvements • Route 21 Grand River will be extending further into Downtown Detroit providing service to major destinations such as Coleman A. Young Municipal Center and GM Renaissance Center