(gentle music) - [Bryce] Riverside Park sits in Southwest Detroit, right along the city's river.

The city has been renovating the park since 2020, adding a skate park, additional biking and walking trails, plus an art installation that was added this year.

- To have it invested in and transformed is great because it was pretty, pretty nondescript.

You know, it's just fabulous to have our community be able to come here, and its close proximity.

- [Bryce] This is Deb Sumner, a longtime resident of the Hubbard Farms neighborhood in Southwest Detroit.

She says the park renovations are great.

There's just one drawback.

The park sits right next to multiple industries that threaten the natural beauty that residents enjoy.

The Ambassador Bridge Company and Hercules Concrete are among the companies adjacent to the park.

When residents have complained about air pollution and trucks driving through neighborhoods into nearby companies, Sumner said they are usually ignored.

- Was like talking, you know, to a brick wall.

So I'm like, "I'm done."

- [Bryce] Raquel Garcia is the executive director for Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, a nonprofit working to improve air quality and the economy in Southwest Detroit.

We sat down with Garcia at the Detroit Wayne County Port Authority building.

She says there's nothing preventing these businesses from being near the park and the surrounding neighborhood.

- They're not doing anything that they, you know, can be fined for.

- Garcia wants more community members to voice their opinions during city meetings.

What about the relationship between the residents and the businesses directly?

So absent city council meetings or city meetings, how do you get residents who have these concerns a seat at the table with the businesses so both of them can kind of to a common understanding?

- For us, and for lots of partner groups, that work with business, we're constantly in relationship with them, having conversations, trying to find out who is the decider.

- Garcia said the relationship between residents and businesses is important, as is the relationship between businesses and city officials.

City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero represents District 6, which includes Riverside Park and the rest of Southwest Detroit.

Could you talk to me a little bit about that juxtaposition of this natural resource, this neighborhood resource, with these businesses that are right up against its borders?

- It's interesting, right?

Because we want parks, we want green spaces, we also want jobs.

We want a thriving economy.

We wanna make sure that we have those opportunities here as well.

So when we have a park like Riverside Park, and just to your right, you have industry, it really begs the question of, who are we prioritizing and how are we holding both truths?

- Garcia says one difficulty is getting the businesses to come to the table to speak with residents before issues arise.

When they do come to the table, what have those conversations typically been like?

- Usually it's contentious, you know, they want a permit, they want to do something, they want to grow or add something.

And the residents are asking, you know, "Please, no more industry in my backyard, please, no more trucks, please, the noise."

- [Bryce] Some businesses in the area have been better about responding to resident feedback.

One such business, Santiago-Romero says, is the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

The WDBA is currently building the Gordie Howe International Bridge to the west of Riverside Park.

Santiago-Romero says the company has taken the time to listen to residents and city officials.

- They continue to update me on where they're at with their community benefits, with the funds.

They continue to ask us for inputs on how to utilize that money.

- Heather Grondin is the Vice President of Corporate Affairs and External Relations with WDBA.

What are some of the specific ways you do keep that dialogue open with residents and business leaders?

- We have quarterly public meetings on both sides of the border as an opportunity for us to be able to present and update what's going on with the project, but at the same time to hear people's questions, hear what concerns that we have.

- [Bryce] Grondin said good relationships are key to any successful infrastructure project.

- To recognize that we are part of this community.

And by being part of that community, means integrating ourselves, talking, having relationships with the businesses, with community members, with elected officials, and again, keeping that dialogue open.

- [Bryce] While WDBA was praised for working to address residents' needs, the Ambassador Bridge Company was criticized by some for not meeting the needs of residents.

The Ambassador Bridge is owned by Matthew Moroun.

- Frankly, it's been a lot of tussling with the Morouns who I need to be working closely with.

They have a lot of parcels, a lot of business in my district, and I am trying so desperately to work well with them.

But it is incredibly disappointing when my residents are asking for maybe just a little bit more buffer space between your wall and the literal sidewalk people have to walk through in their neighborhoods.

(child screams) - [Bryce] The Ambassador Bridge Company did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but Sumner has what she calls a simple solution for the businesses who want to build near city neighborhoods.

- We've got bright and, you know, just really passionate, intelligent people in the neighborhoods.

We can advise them, but we have to be listened to.

We can't be dismissed.