DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – As Detroit prepares to host the National Football League Draft in just over a year, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is calling for greater clean up efforts on behalf of the city.  

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Currently, the Michigan Department of Transportation is responsible for keeping areas next to freeways cleaned and mowed, but the mayor is asking it to allow Detroit to take the reins.  He has previously made mention about how he cannot stand the overgrown grass and trash according to the Detroit News.   

“If I’m going to get the blame, I might as well have the responsibility,” Duggan said last week.  “We’ll do a lot to beautify those freeways.”   

Currently, MDOT works in conjunction with private companies to help cut the grass and pick up trash.  But last fall, the agency let its mowing and litter contracts with two private companies expire and will soon enter into a three-year agreement this spring with Detroit, paying the city $650,000 per year to handle the maintenance work, MDOT spokesman Jeff Cranson said. 

The city will be required to cut the grass twice a season and pick up trash twice a year, but the mayor and his staff hope to double the number of times they can do both services. 

Detroit has never hosted the NFL draft, and the 2023 draft will take place in Kansas City, with the 2025 draft host location under discussion.  While the cleanup is partially motivated by the event, it isn’t everything according to the mayor’s staff. 

“It’s not just for the NFL Draft. This is to make the city look better in general,” the mayor’s group executive for services and infrastructure, Brad Dick said. “We’ve been talking about this for actually quite some time now about moving forward and making the city look better.”

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Within the past few years, Detroit has planted 2 million daffodil bulbs along boulevard medians, and have added a pop of yellow color to the city streets.  City officials are planning to add more daffodil gardens to the earthen sides of freeways as part of the cleanup effort according to Brad Dick.   

The city of Detroit also will seek bids from private companies for the freeway mowing and litter cleanup, he said.