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By Chrystal Blair
November 6, 2024
The mayor of Dearborn has adopted a “health-in-all-policies” approach, a pledge to prioritize health, environmental justice and climate action in city decisions.
Abdullah Hammoud, mayor of Dearborn, announced the initiative with other city officials at an event hosted by the group Elected Officials to Protect America. With funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Dearborn is updating ordinances, zoning and permits to make the “greenest” choices easier for all.
Hammoud noted severe weather left nearly two-thirds of Dearborn homes underwater just a few years ago.
“Over the last 10 years, the City of Dearborn has had several flooding events; three,” Hammoud pointed out. “We are taking all the proactive steps that we must to help prevent flooding from happening in the future.”
Hammoud earned national recognition with a Mayors Climate Protection Award at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, making Dearborn one of six large cities honored.
Ashley Flintoff, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Rouge, a group working to clean up the Rouge River, said choices made about chemical use, stormwater runoff and natural habitat loss mainly affect communities of color.
“Causing flooding and sewage backups in residential basements,” Flintoff observed. “This creates direct mental and physical health consequences for residents, particularly those in the hardest-hit neighborhoods, like the South End.”
David Mustonen, communications director for Dearborn Public Schools, said after concerns about kids’ exposure to diesel fumes at bus stops, the school district is replacing diesel buses, using more than $7 million in federal funding.
“With the purchase of 18 electric school buses, we look forward for these buses arriving and being delivered to the district soon, so that we can put them into service and remove 18 diesel buses,” Mustonen explained.
The Inflation Reduction Act offers communities incentives and grants to cover upfront costs for other “green” projects, including solar power.