Detroit’s new free student bus program is getting more teenagers downtown. But Gabriela Santiago-Romero is worried about what happens when they get there.
MICHIGAN—Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero is calling on the city to create more welcoming spaces for local teenagers downtown after several residents raised concerns over how young people were treated by police during Opening Day weekend.
The concerns centered on the city’s new “Ride to Rise” program, which launched this month and allows students ages 5-18 to board any Detroit Department of Transportation bus, any time, seven days a week, for free. But with the way some teenagers are targeted by police officers when they arrive downtown, Detroiters—and their elected officials—are growing concerned.
Jennifer Onwenu set the tone during public comment at a Public Health and Safety subcommittee meeting on Monday. She said drunk adults were welcomed downtown last weekend while young people, as usual, were “shunned, arrested, and disrespected.”
“We do not want to create a downtown that is exclusionary to Detroit youth,” she said.
At least several teenagers were detained by police over the weekend following reports of “dozens of teens” crowding downtown Detroit during the Detroit Tigers’ home opener on Friday.
Three other Detroiters raised concerns about the issue during the meeting on Monday.
Santiago-Romero’s response was unambiguous.
“Downtown does become a place for adults to come and drink,” she said. “And we need to make sure that we have a welcoming place and inviting space for young people as well.”
Campus Martius is largely roped off to anyone under 21, Santiago-Romero said. Hart Plaza sits underused. Councilman Denzel McCampbell said the shopping malls, arcades, and skate parks that once gave Detroit teenagers somewhere to land have largely disappeared from the city.
“We need to increase more opportunities for young people,” he said. “I look forward to the conversation with the administration on what more we can do not only to give our young people more things to do, but also to make sure that we’re not penalizing them (for being downtown).”
It’s unclear how many teenagers were detained or arrested by the Detroit Police Department downtown over the weekend. But City Council members agreed that it was far too many.
“Quite frankly, I think this is going to be another cultural shift that we all need—embracing our young people downtown,” Santiago-Romero said following the public comment period.
Council members don’t necessarily think the answer is more cops on the streets, either.
It might be putt-putt.
“I see young people going up and down the waterfront in Chicago all the time,” Santiago-Romero added. “I’m thinking about ours and our Hart Plaza. What if we activate those places with putt putt the way that I’ve seen them there? Something for all of us to do.”
Santiago-Romero said that after budget deliberations are over, she wants Mayor Mary Sheffield’s administration in front of the City Council with a concrete summer plan for teens. She’s also calling for more de-escalation training for police officers.
And she wants Hart Plaza treated as a genuine gathering space—not an afterthought.
“We need a space where you’re not roped off for being young and you can still be a young person and have fun,” Santiago-Romero said. “We will figure this out. We will work on this.”
Want to weigh in? Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero is the chair of the City Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee. Email her at councilmembergabriela@detroitmi.gov.
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