Volunteers for Riverside

By Joel Thurtell

STILL SQUATTIN' -- The area between the chain-link fence and the Ambassador Bridge is part of Detroit's public Riverside Park still occupied by Manuel "Matty" Moroun. Joel Thurtell photo.

Volunteer workers are needed to make improvements on Detroit’s Riverside Park.

Matty Moroun’s fence — declared illegal by a Detroit judge — still surrounds part of the city’s Riverside Park, but the billionaire’s squatting won’t stop people from renovating a softball diamond in a section of the park that is not occupied by Matty, who owns the adjacent Ambassador Bridge.

Work will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 1 on the ball field at 24th Street a block south of East Jefferson. The city’s Recreation Department meanwhile plans to organize a clean-up from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, according to recreation director Alicia Minter.

Plenty of work to do.

“The Peoples Softball League will play at Riverside every Friday night,” said community organizer Joe Rashid.   “So far clean-up materials were donated by Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision.  The materials to resurface the field and parking lot came from Edward C. Levy Company.”

More volunteer workers are needed, according to Rashid.

“Every little bit helps — shovels, people, we will take whatever we can get!” said Rashid.

“I am hearing we may have DFD (Detroit Fire Department), Rec Department and other support at the park on Saturday, so it is coming together nicely,” Rashid said.

“Plus I got the materials secured to resurface the field,” he added.

“So far, it is mainly focused on the softball diamond, as that will take a good amount of time and energy to get in playable shape,” Rashid said in an e-mail.

STILL LOCKED -- Padlock on Detroit's Riverside Park boat launch closed by Matty Moroun for fake security reasons. Joel Thurtell photo.

Moroun closed the boat launch a few years ago for phony security reasons, placing padlocks on the gates along with a bogus “Homeland Security” warning sign. He also fenced off an area of the park near the ball field that once had basketball hoops and trees. His fake “Homeland Security” signs still hang from the chain-link fence a judge has ordered him to remove. Inside the fenced area where shade trees once stood, he stores materials for the second bridge he started to build without permits from either Canadian or U.S. authorities.

Drop me a line at joelthurtell@gmail.com