Update from Mayor Fouts on Warren Sanitation Efforts – Lawn Mowing

Great union* employees at Sanitation & DPW makes Warren the best in the Metro area! We are the only city in this area that is still picking up everything including compost. All other surrounding cities are NOT picking up compost. What’s next for these cities? Recycling? Garbage? These surrounding cities also have private sanitation services and we do not! In Warren we invested NINE MILLION DOLLARS on new one man mechanized sanitation trucks and garbage cans. These adhere to social distancing and are safer for the workers since they don’t have to touch the trash. So while trash pick up in other cities is languishing Warren is completing the job.

My priority is always to serve and protect our citizens and that’s why I also will NOT ticket people for lawn cutting and edging. That’s an essential service and without that service we would have tall weeds, rats, mice, and mosquitoes. Our neighborhoods would become blighted and blight begets blight**. Warren has one of the largest populations of senior citizens and they depend upon a lawn service as do many people with various special needs due to injury and illness. I admire and commend Governor Whitmer’s effort to keep us safe but prohibiting grass cutting is one that I must respectfully disagree with.

However, I urge Warren residents to try to get by without lawn cutting until it is absolutely necessary. At least for the next few weeks. The Governor’s office responded to my lawn cutting question by saying: “No, EXCEPT IF THE SERVICE IS NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN AND IMPROVE THE SAFETY, SANITATION, AND ESSENTIAL OPERATIONS OF A RESIDENCE.” My interpretation of this quote is that yes lawn cutting is an essential service! I do strongly support the Governor’s efforts to keep us safe by social distancing.
*Only unionized sanitation city in the metro area with the exception of Grosse Pointe.

**That’s why we will not be ticketing lawn services for grass cutting and edging. However, this does not mean we will not ticket for other services.

Office 586-574-4520, Cell 586-481-0545, Home 586-573-8058.