Raymond Lozano, April 22, 2024

Title

Raymond Lozano, April 22, 2024

Description

In this interview, Raymond Lozano shares how climate change has impacted his community and how his community works to effect positive change. He also briefly discusses the post-Covid world.

Publisher

Detroit Historical Society

Date

4/22/24

Rights

Detroit Historical Society

Language

en-US

Narrator/Interviewee's Name

Raymond Lozano

Brief Biography

Raymond Lozano is a lifelong Detroiter who has been engaged with climate change activism since the 1970s and is currently working on the board for Mexican town in Detroit to see the neighborhood develops in positive ways.

Interviewer's Name

Kevin Hawthorne

Interview Length

47:49

Transcription

Kevin Hawthorne: All right, let's test out the volume.

Raymond Lozano: One. Two. Three.

KH: One. Two. Three. Okay, this is Kevin with the Historical Museum for the oral history project. And I am here with.

RL: Raymond Lozano. R A Y M O N D L O Z A N O, executive director of the Mexican Town Community Development Corporation. Lifelong Detroiter.

KH: All right. Excellent. And today, we're going to be talking about some of the effects of climate change and Covid on the city of Detroit. Obviously that's a pretty big topic. But so over the last seven years, Mexican town and southwest Detroit have been in the shadow of two major projects the Gordie Howe Bridge and the Michigan Central Station. How have these impacted Mexicantown and how has that impacted the residents?

RL: Yeah well both are enacting major changes in the community and, and housing and, the environment actually to some of the different ways that I probably can even relate to the, train station was dormant since 1983, I believe, is when they shut it down and, you know, it was historically and comfortably the route for many people coming and going since, even southwest Detroit. But Detroit itself was an immigrant destination because of the automotive industry, the steel interests industry. And, as I've been told, Detroit in the 1950s had over 2 million households, population of over 2 million folks. And so it, drew a lot of people from all over the world. And the train station was very vibrant until, you know, the transportation modes changed and the economy changed and things began to get sped out. You know, other than in other cities other than Detroit. So the closing in the 80s left it sadly very, empty and in a lot of disrepair. I understand it, it had basements full of water for many, many years. And, and, a lot of, people that do, cave exploration were doing building exploration there. I've seen the videos. So, for it to be purchased and revived again is remarkable. It's looking great. It's going to function as a destination in its own with a hotel and Ford motor has has been major in terms of, the mission of that building and surrounding buildings for technology and EV vehicles. So it's, it's changed. Corktown has changed. Southwest Detroit. I've been in that area working or living and, you know, houses barely could sell for over $20,000. And now $200,000 $300,000 price tags and some of the frame houses in the area is just amazing. And so we've, definitely had, major changes in southwest Detroit in relatively short time. The Gordie Howe Bridge, of course, is monumental, that, there's been a lot of concern and a lot of history in and around the Ambassador Bridge. And the Ambassador Bridge is 80 plus years old and privately owned, the only privately owned bridge and, international bridge in, in the United States. And so, and people were concerned about the encroachment into the neighborhoods as the needs of the bridge got larger and larger with the trucking industry. And so now with the Gordie Howe Bridge, it's going to create an alternate route for trucks and passengers. And, also take it directly from the expressways in Detroit to the expressways of Canada. And, and the fact that Canada, you know, funded the, the Gordie Howe is, really monumental itself. So, you know, two major projects, of course, that just don't. Two major projects that just don't, don't stop in terms of the impact of the southwest Detroit.

KH: Right. You mentioned a hotel being built. Are there any other major developments being started because of the bridge?

RL: Because of the bridge. I believe there may be something, in and around Del Rey, the Del Rey. The community has been basically, eliminated, over the years. Del Rey stopped being a Hungarian neighborhood and, you know, a steel industry neighborhood. And, little by little, the housing disappeared and the industries that were major polluters, I think, into the river, into the air, were cleaned up and moved and, and so Del Rey stopped becoming, a destination of its own. And so with the Gordie Howe, there was, major land purchases. And, thankfully, some of the residents that were left were part of the Detroit Land Bank program, where you could exchange one house for another if you wanted to move. Still stay in Detroit and move to another neighborhood. But if you look at Del Rey, it's basically been cleared of of housing and businesses. And, the, one thing I found out is when the Gordie Howe was, trying to do its customs plaza. Federal government demands a certain amount of, space of acreage. And I heard it was something like, 140 745 acres needed just for the customs plaza. So that also was a big footprint in terms of removing households and businesses from the Del Rey area. So it's it's going to be a major, beautiful, international bridge. But but, you know, it was major impact in terms of the loss of residents and businesses.

KH: Where those residents and businesses able to find places elsewhere to go or they just kind of, kind of displaced and weren't able to recover. Were they able to recover?

RL: I don't know for for a fact. I just know there were programs available where you could swap, your house that was going to be, purchased and destroyed. For the Gordie Howe. And you could move to another neighborhood through, through a program. It was a swap program. Hopefully there were some resources available. So people got were able to better their, you know, have it habitat.

KH: Yes. And, air pollution has been a problem for southwest Detroit, due to the traffic from the Ambassador Bridge. Are you worried it will get worse with the second bridge?

RL: It may alleviate some of the the problem. The the ambassador bridge. If you ever look on its peak times, it has, trucks idling, in and around the staging area around the bridge on the American side. And I imagine it's also on the Canadian side. But if you look at the trucks that are lined up across the Ambassador Bridge, were with, you know, less than a mile from the border and right at the, exit ramp of the bridge, and you we feel the effects because the, the soot and the diesel, from the diesel fuel and the, you know, the smoke itself, although it's not, is it's just you can see the pollution in the, the diesel fuel does have some acidic quality. And so things get pitted. Things don't last as long. People do have asthma in southwest Detroit has been, you know, histories of and studies of all the asthma that's been in and around the, southwest Detroit area, from the industries that have come and gone and from the traffic.

KH: Is there anything you would like to be seen implemented that you think could try to combat those effects?

RL: Yeah. I don't know how you, you know, basically, everything is a result of business and trade. And so, you know, the, this borders, one of the busiest international borders. Between the Canada and eventually to to Mexico to, you know, so, you know, it's a good thing for businesses, good thing for the economy. It's a good thing for Detroit. But, you know, the the downsides are the traffic and the pollution in the air and in the water and, and such. So it's a constant fight.

KH: It's a constant flux.

RL: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

KH: So getting a little bit more in depth with your history. How long, have you, worked in the Detroit area/ived there? I know, you might I think you said, you know, tipping the hand a little bit in our last interview that, you no longer live in the city of Detroit proper, but you work in the city of Detroit. And how long have you worked there?

RL: Oh, I still living in the, in Detroit. My wife and I are in the Boston Edison. Oh, sorry.

KH: Sorry. Madison. At its mean, you no longer live in the southwest. Southwest? Yeah. My apologies. Yeah, yeah.

RL: Yeah, I left, southwest when I finished high school, and now I was drafted into the Army, and so I, left southwest at that time, and, after that I got married and lived in various locations, but, it's, I've been fortunate, you know, the jobs that I had, allowed me to work in southwest Detroit because of the Latino community and, my ability to converse, I mean, conversate in Spanish. So my, my jobs, 25 years with DTE energy, trying to make sure that the, the customer in the corporation, you know, was able to, to live and work peacefully. So I interceded and a lot of, a lot of that, economy in and around southwest, your trade, but also in the downriver in the western Wayne communities.

KH: Looking, between Boston Eddison and the southwest area, especially Mexican town. Do you notice a major difference in terms of like, environmental issues or climate change issues that arised in the past couple of years?

RL: Well, I, I just see the differences in neighborhoods in terms of the people's ability to, you know, deal with, the economy or the lack of, of economy. You know, I, Boston Edison is a pretty upscale community. Southwest Detroit, like I said, for many, many years, it's, it was a great welcoming community. And all the different ethnicities got along and did, celebrated their, their cultures and their, their history. But it was a poor community, you know, and so with the changes, the income level, you know, has has drastically changed. And, I saw something that, when we were working on a recent proposal that said there's less poverty in and around the, 48216 zip code in southwest Detroit than there is in our Boston Edison for 48202. So the economy is is changing rapidly, and it's going to change even more so when Ford brings in 3000 young employees into the train station. You know, and that changes the, the environment, too, you know, the I used to for many, many years, you'd see a lot of stray dogs and cats and, you know, the you rarely see that anymore. People are, rescuing pets. And, you know, every couple you see has a little dog or imagine their cats in their household. So it's, different. Yeah.

KH: So that's excellent. But, in terms of like, like have you noticed, like obviously with Boston Edison being a more upscale area, do are they usually more prepared for some of the more adverse effects of climate change, like, for storms, do you think you see areas in Boston, Houston are usually better prepared for that or less affected by things like, you know, the extreme heats, the extreme storms?

RL: Yeah. I, you know, in and when you live in kind of upscale neighborhoods, there's more trees and, you know, it's more manicured and but with more trees comes outages. We used to lose power. And on our neighborhood, you know, 4 or 5 times every winter. And so I know, having had been associated with DTE energy, the, the, extensive tree cutting programs that they've, undertaken over the last couple of decades, has minimized the outages. The branches are cut away from the wires, and the trees don't fall on the wires and the ice storms. And so, you know, that kind of thing is necessary adjustment to. And if, you know, I don't know where things are going now with, the winters being warmer, maybe we won't have to worry about. Outages as much, but. Yeah, it's it's hopefully, all of this is just temporary, and. Yeah.

KH: Unfortunately, I think we've seen a decline of outages in the winter, but I feel like we've seen a big uptake in, like, how bad storms are getting in the summer causing power outages. Sure. So that's definitely a give and take I would say.

RL: Yeah. No, you're right on. It's you know, when you look at the news, you know, the storms remind me of that movie The Day After tomorrow where things, change so rapidly in the storms and much more massive that, the impact is greater and not what folks have been used to.

KH: Especially in the areas of, southwest Detroit that you've seen, which, how many, like, what are the effects of climate change? You see in, in particular in the Mexican town and southwest area?

RL: Yeah, well, you know, the only things I can really relate to, because climate, climate change is over more of an extensive period than I've been on the earth here. But but just as a little kid, I remember, the river used to freeze solid. You know, when you're so close to the river, you you spend time down there, you know, fishing as a child and you just going to see the water and, and the freighters and and the like. And so, I'm just amazed that the river never freezes over anymore. Yeah, I know part of it might be the shipping channels, but but also, I think the temperature differences, the water has got to be much, much warmer. And it's not through the pollution either that, the steel mills and the factories that used to line the it's, you know, the impact of climate, weather changes. Yeah.

KH: It's actually it's, have, how the storms especially you talk about that. Not as wealthy as an area. How has the storm been affecting Mexican town versus, like other areas of Detroit, that maybe have a bit more infrastructure to stand on? How like the flooding and the storms as it been bad in that area? Have you noticed?

RL: Yeah. Just a few years ago, with that, rainstorm where everybody got flooded in different neighborhoods, it was impacted southwest Detroit considerably. In fact, FEMA still around trying to I think this next month or two is the deadline for the moneys that as a result of that, that, rainstorm. And I went to our building on that Saturday and was able to see the in the street. One of the manhole covers was, had a water spout of 12 to 15ft high. I took a picture of it, too. And so fortunately our building just had minor puddling. But other people around us had major flooding and damage.

KH: Yes. So you said your building only got, like, minor flooding in yours?

RL: Yeah.

KH: Just puddles.

RL: Yeah. The stuff came up from the sewers and and but luckily. Yeah, there must be something unique about our, with our ability to hold the water and not let it flood, but lots of damage that from people I knew and other businesses and organizations. Yeah.

KH: Has, there have been any other, effects of climate change that have affected your business?

RL: Trying to think if- Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know what? Weather changes. It's hard to differentiate between climate change and the weather changes. You know, the weather from year to year can be different. The amount of the lack of snow that we've had is certainly economically good for us because less shoveling, less, you know, having to have the snow plows out and less salt, you know, the salt in the water and the damage that it does to the concrete. The one thing I notice that there were some programs for, you know, putting together swales, you know, businesses and, you know, organizations have begun to deal with, you know, the rainwater, by creating swales in different areas. And so, you know, people are learning to adapt to, to the changes and learning the effective methods to combat, the problems as a result.

KH: Excellent. So how long-Just for the record, how long have you. I know you've said you've worked with DTE for a while, but, with your current work. How long have you been there?

RL: I've been there six years. They hired me, even though I retired, because I grew up in the area, and I know a lot of folks and the the board members asked if I was actually on the board and stepped off and became, and then, an employee, a contractor. So, it's been six years. And, you know, I was basically asked to run the nonprofit, which was pretty dormant. And then the, their the for profit, you know, runs the buildings and collects the rents and does the maintenance. So we do that also. And so it's, it's challenging, but it's, I'm honored that I get to work in my neighborhood where I grew up.

KH: Excellent. Where? Around in the Mexican town area. Is it located?

RL: It's on 21st Street in Bagley. Historically, that was, you know, the route where the, Baker, the Bagley and the different names throughout the years, the Baker Street trolley would take people from downtown Cadillac Square, all the way to the Ford Rouge plant. You know, the busses still go in that direction. Wind up in, in in front of the old, Dearborn City Hall. And so, the, you know, that route was, you know, the route where all the immigrants that lived in and around the city and definitely in southwest Detroit, went to the factories that were predominantly in southwest Detroit. So.

KH: So with your, nonprofit, I know you are trying to uplift a lot of just a lot of the businesses and residents of Mexican town, which is incredible. How do you feel is combating climate change-You feel like an important thing for you guys? I know, obviously, primarily you want to support the, businesses. But do you believe supporting climate change is also an important part of your work?

RL: Sure. Personally, we do. You know, we we enacted our own recycling program for the buildings. We contacted the city, and they had an excellent, program. That's a lot less expensive than some of the commercial things out there. And, we have the, you know, recycling bins. Everything that we can will be recycled in both of our buildings and in and around the area. Also, we work with the local neighborhood, the Hubbard Richard Residents Association. This will be the second year or third year that we're doing a shred event, in our parking lot. The Hubbard Richard residents organize, get supporters from the local businesses, and they bring in a truck that, will take and shred the documents. And it it's good for two reasons. I mean, it handles, you know, the paper waste and effectively and efficiently. And it's also good for people that have confidential stuff that want to, you know, get rid of it and they don't have to pay for it. And so, you know, the shred event and we've had, you know, the Humane Society and of course, Gleaners was in our neighborhood for many, many years. And, you know, those programs, you know, a people that have low incomes and, you know, don't have resources. And in effect, that's affecting, you know, climate and weather, too, because people are more, able to deal with their own situations when they have resources available through the community.

KH: Yeah. Have you seen any other, just local community groups start in the, area that are just trying to combat climate change, like whether it be to try and get more access to things like solar panels.

RL: I haven't seen a lot of solar panel activity. We're looking into that ourselves. We have a court for our building, for a solar array, and I've been looking into trying to do the EV charging stations, but, you don't see a lot of it yet. I understand that their city has been trying to incentivize the, you know, solar panels for building, roofs. But, you know, you don't see it, you know, a lot of it around, which is which is sad. I mean, then, you know, it's so efficient and it's able to cut your costs and definitely helps the environment. The one thing I do notice is, the, LED lights, a lot of businesses and, homes and people have really taken onto LED lights and much more cheaper and much more efficient, less heat. So, but it'd be great to be able to see some kind of incentivized program that would allow people to do solar. We're looking at it for our own home. I have a ten by 20 foot flat roof on the back of our home, and if I could get some solar panels at a good cost, we will definitely do it.

KH: So you'd like to see, like you said, the city has has some incentives, but you'd like to see maybe a bigger program for that.

RL: Oh sure, sure. I mean, if there were a way to really get, you know, it's like in our area when you, when you do, things, you know, you get you used to get tax credits through the state and federal tax credits through the federal government. And if there were federal programs and state programs. Yeah. You know, business itself isn't doing things as quickly, as inefficiently as they should, but good government certainly can play a role. And, you know, it, less costs. Ultimately less and you have more efficiency.

KH: Is there anything you'd like your, your organization does to, like, directly help with climate change?

RL: I mean, you know, if we could, you know, what surprised me is, today, and actually, Saturday was, Earth Day weekend, and so I'm surprised at how quiet it was. You know, years ago when I was in college and we were celebrating, you know, beginnings of Earth days, it was much more dramatic, much more impactful, much more call to action. I know a lot of things are going on. I saw today in the news that there's a marine mammals protection program that's done all over the world. And, you know, I know there's a lot of effort that's quietly going on, and there's a lot that even happens in neighborhoods. But, it should be promoted more by organizations like ourselves. But if you don't really know what's going on and you don't have the resources to promote it, it's, it's too quiet. One of the things that I've mentioned is that when I was I served six years on the community advisory board to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and I love the fact that the three countries work together, and they still do, and they each have resources to commit some dollars to, to projects for each of the countries. And, some of these are very experimental. When I first saw, you know, the the fish farms that have, fish and, you know, plants growing and as a result of these, tanks of water and, you know, the dry toilets in different countries and, you know, the projects that I'd see out there were tremendous. And it was mostly done through, through young children. And so, a nonprofit so really can play a role that, you know, we're so busy just trying to stay alive and, you know, with very few resources. So. Absolutely, it's not easy. Yeah.

KH: What is the, response that you've seen from the community in terms of, you know, trying to implement, more green or people seem like that's something they want in general, or are they a little bit more apathetic to it and more like, I'm just trying to, like, live day to day?

RL: Yeah. You know, it's all based on your discretionary dollars, really, you know. You know. You know, I remember once at, watching the, the fireworks display and, you know, the July, you know, event that goes on in the Detroit River. And there was some folks sitting on the river and they were eating and drinking, and, somebody happened to throw a bottle into the river. And I remember this one woman on this big cabin cruiser cruising by, and she was yelling at the person, "Don't pollute out the river." You know, totally oblivious to the fact that her big cabin cruiser with all the fuel is.

KH: Probably causing much more.

RL: Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's it's I don't think, it's apathy. I think it's ignorance.

KH: Yes.

RL: We don't know. Enough.

KH: It is obviously a big issue. It feels like there's still so much like people still like, what is it? Climate change. It's a global warming. Know, like, the terms are still so confusing to so many people. Sure. But overall, do you see people having a positive view of trying to be more conscious?

RL: Yeah, yeah, I do see it. You know, people will, you know, and like yesterday I was working and, young men took his plastic water bottle. It was just a regular commercial bottle. And he kept refilling it, you know, instead of taking another bottle of you know, even though he got one bottle, you know, that was, bottled water. He kept refilling it so he didn't have to use more plastic. And, you know, the recycling, I, you know, I notice folks that I'm in and around that they purposely recycle stuff deliberately, making sure that it doesn't. So if individuals did their own, you know, I imagine it'd be a major impact if they knew what to do. You know, in the thing to, you know, the I noticed, just recently with the, you know, when, when we had our event with the, I'm black in the name of the where, where the moon, overshadowed.

KH: The Solar eclipse.

RL: Yeah, it was the moon eclipse, actually, wasn't it? I think.

KH: It it might have been. I remember it was a eclipse. I remember, yeah, in here in Michigan, we like it was like, oh, got kind of dark for a couple minutes, and then it was gone. But, yes. The eclipse.

RL: Yeah. The one thing I notice when those things happen is that the whole world is paying attention. And I wish that they were. You know, some way. Not a scary way, but, you know, a purposeful way that the whole world could be attentive to, you know, the needs of the earth.

KH: No, exactly.

RL: So I, you know, you feel it because everybody's in tune with at that moment. But it is it, you know, is there a way to do that short of aliens coming in and attacking?

KH: So you've talked about having, looking into getting solar panels for not only your home, but, also for the company. Is there any other, like, things you would, like, you know, green infrastructure that you'd like to see implemented throughout the city?

RL: Well, I'm anxious to see what, Ford Motor is going to do on Michigan Avenue with the, the paved highway that it's going to automatically charge EVs. I hear positive things and negative things about that. And I saw when the last snowstorm that we had, and I guess the conversely, it happens when it's very hot that the EVs have 20 to 40% reduction in their ability to maintain, you know, battery power and and charging, you know, takes a long time at some of the EV stations. And so. You know, there's no easy answers. But, you know, at least folks are trying. You know, it's a shame that EVs cost so much to, you know, to initially deal with.

KH: So, yeah, I think that is often a thing that is, forgotten about when we talk about how we should, you know, be using solar panels, using electric cars is we forget that to especially many people who live in an area like southwest Detroit, those things are, like out of reach entirely. They're out of reach for even people who are a little bit wealthier, like so a lot of EV and solar panels are, like, incredibly inaccessible and incredibly expensive.

RL: Yeah. Yeah, I, you know, I marvel at the technology. I've seen some solar panels that are just paper thin and almost and, you know, you can just kind of stick them to a surface and, you know, that would, you know, be tremendous. Because now if you have to buy a panel and build a, you know, a structure to support it and bolted together, you know, but then, you know, the average person doesn't really know how to take the, the household electrical system and make, a solar panel system merge and come into play, you know, so that you don't electrocute yourself. And so you don't send the electricity back to DTE, but you use it for your own household. So, it's not easy now. It's still pretty complicated.

KH: Not easy is definitely a good way to put it. It feels very difficult. But in closing, for the climate change section, I have, just two final questions is what would you say to someone who believes climate change is an issue? Like, what should we be doing?

RL: Well, you know, think about how it is affecting you, you know. You know, physically, your family. You know, what doing. You know, just think about things have like how they've changed over the years. And, you know, think about in terms of how it's costing you. You know, it's going to impact you one way or another. You know, in food prices, you know, your lifestyle, your ability to interact with the rest of the world. And so, like I say, if we had some way to. Convince people, you know, like we did initially with earth day years ago, you know. You know, get everybody in tune to the issue that, you know, the earth needs some attention. I just wish we could promote that more and actually do something about it.

KH: Yeah. So you're saying you were there for, like. Because I believe the first Earth Day was in the 1970s. So you're around back when, you know, people were like, kind of almost the start of a big push for an environmental movement, really. You know, in the 60s and 70s, I feel like really takes off in the 70s. Seeing how it was in the 70s versus now. Do you think it has gotten better in terms of people's awareness, or do you think it's about the same or worse?

RL: I think it's about the same. Like I say, I didn't notice very much this past weekend for, you know, like we did, we we actually had student, you know, groups huddling together in, in and around the school. And, you know, folks, you know, brainstorming on what could be done. And, you know, lots of opportunity to learn about the issue. And, it doesn't seem to be collectively that way and that I miss the fact that it's not being promoted. And you know, that you can actually see tangible things so that people have hope and they can maybe imitate and mimic those activities for their own benefit and for the rest of us, too. So. I'd say it's, flattened out, which is, you know, bad for for the Earth.

KH: Yes. But hopefully, with, you know, implementation of more green projects like that, you and your org are, trying to encourage. Hopefully we can encourage a few more people.

RL: You know, there is a group I failed to mention that's called the Southwest Detroit Environmental Project. And so, you know, there are people actively doing things, but, you know, just like any other nonprofit, their resources are limited.

KH: Limited, yeah. What are some of the things you've noticed them doing?

RL: Well, you know, a lot of physical cleanup. You know, when I worked for DTE energy, they called me and they asked me if we could, you know, clean up our properties. And, you know, you know, I know they they deal a lot with the Ambassador Bridge throughout the years. And, there were the, piles of of I can't remember what the product was, that big piles of stuff about some kind of ash. Or Coke or something that was just out there in the wind. And so, right now there's a big effort in terms of stopping the, hazardous waste from traveling on the Ambassador Bridge. Because it's not equipped to really deal with an emergency should it happen. But as I understand, the Gordie Howe Bridge has actually been built to combat, you know, all different kinds of emergencies, hazardous waste and fires and the like. And, and I notice that the Gordie Howe bridges, both of its pillars, are on land. So there's no, chance of any, you know, container ships hitting, hitting the, the footings.

KH: Things that are on everyone's mind after that news story.

RL: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. And, you know, I understand some of the bridge there were bridges affected in Florida years ago and new laws were enacted. But, you know, you're seeing the bridges still haven't been adapted to change.

KH: All right. So, moving on from, the climate change questions, which thank you so much. We are now going to talk a little bit about, the big C Covid. You know, which we, you know, people like, say, are we living in the post Covid world? And, you know, it's hard to say because, you know, technically it is still ongoing. But obviously we are through the very worst of it. But I want to ask you some questions about just the impact. Like, how did Covid impact the development of the Plaza de Norte de.

RL: Well, you know, when Covid hit. I worked every day through it. You know, we, we had very little activity. The state offices were closed, but, the state's, welcome center bathrooms were kept open, and and so we kept our building open. We kept the bathrooms open. And those are used for, you know, public safety personnel, the city of Detroit workers. You know, a lot of folks that, you know, their jobs continued and, you know, kept the city and kept the businesses going, despite the dangers. And, you know, they couldn't use public restrooms and gas stations or, you know, restaurants, you know, and so that kind of thing was vital in terms of just having southwest Detroit and Detroit itself, you know, working and keeping up during the, the pandemic. You know, I would just hear about, you know, the businesses, you know, they were suffering. Thankfully, there were the Arpa dollars, the dollars that were out there to give to folks to maintain their businesses and organizations. Well, you know, the economy was floundering and the restaurants in particular, they they had carryout if they could do it. But, you know, very few employees and some of them incentivized, I saw the one that was giving out toilet paper at the same time because of those shortages. And if you bought a carryout. So, you know, what's marvelous to see is people adapt, you know, to change the they're able to sustain. And you have to.

KH: Yeah, obviously, like as you were saying, restaurants were hit the hardest. And, that's incredible that you said some of them were able to, like, be able to do the carry out and be able to survive. But unfortunately, I know there were a lot of were there any permanent closures of any, you know, kind of mainstays of Mexican town?

RL: Yeah, I saw a couple change and, and close. I haven't really done an inventory, but I'm sure there's, you know, real good handful of it. It's estimated that the in three zip codes of southwest Detroit, there's over 50 restaurants and taquerias and taco trucks. And so, I've seen a few shuttered businesses. Yeah, it's a good idea. I mean, you know, I should go out there and try to figure out how many closed, but but yeah, no, it was impactful. And yeah, we were talking about it this weekend that, you know, people if you don't remember, you know, it was dangerously, a dangerous environment. Yeah. People, you know, didn't know where they were, you know, able to get sick.

KH: And yeah, I remember there is for a second before the, science came out that you couldn't get it through surfaces. People were, like, wearing latex gloves everywhere they went. Yeah, it was, definitely very paranoid time, you know? Did. So you talked about getting some, help from the government. Did the city direct, give any direct, help to, the MCDC or just, southwest Detroit business owners in general?

RL: Yeah. You know, we were able to you had to apply for it. You had to prove, you know, the impact. And so we were able to get one through the, our culture source, funding, group. We got one from the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, and that was another one that came through the state. So we were able to get some resources, you know, because we were not getting any revenue at all. There was just no nothing going on. And, you know, you couldn't. We had three cultural events that were staged and they all were canceled. So usually when we have an event, you know, we have folks come in, some donations come in and we're able to, you know, get, more promotional value out of the stuff that we do. And, and none of that was going on. So, you know, effectively, everything was closed. So no. Thankfully I understand some of those dollars are still available. And, you know, they've really been a, you know, godsend for folks.

KH: Absolutely. And you were mentioning some businesses who are giving help, like giving free toilet paper out with like, take out orders. Were there any other businesses that went above and beyond during the pandemic that you'd like to spotlight?

RL: Wow. That's a good question. Yeah. I don't know if I can answer that.

KH: I. Do you think, like it was you just saw the whole community try to come together? That it's kind of hard to spotlight one one business or one community member?

RL: Exactly. I mean, you know, you just see the spirit of people. You know, they a lot of them are family run businesses. And it's their survival was their family's survival. And so they figured out ways despite the risk. And, you know, especially if it's food, people needed food one way or another. And, you know, they're adapted to the changing. I'm trying to think of. There are other businesses that you know. You know, the city, thankfully, you know, was giving out the, shields and the masks and the gloves, and, you know, a lot of that benefited the businesses because, you know, you just couldn't buy it. And the such shortages of it. Initially, I noticed one of the the Detroit Bus Company, which is located in Cork Town, switched over from I don't know how they did it, but they were producing, you know, the, the sanitizer, chemical. So it went from one business to another.

KH: Adapting to Covid. Did it inspire you to try and engage the community in different ways? Like, obviously it forced us all to be creative.

RL: Well, you know, excuse me. The, the one thing that comes to mind is that, you know, November, first and second, November 2nd and third in and around those those dates, the day of the dead Día de Muertos the day when you pay homage to the, you know, your ancestors, the folks that you we stood on their shoulders, the folks that built the community and such. It's a very Latin American custom. And so it's highly celebrated. And so, you know, the fact that we were also, you know, losing people in the community, it was commemorating, you know, current folks that that didn't survive. And so, you know, I think that outward display of recognition of those people and, you know, the building it into the cultural context of the Latino community, I think that that awareness has grown even more, and it's become a real mainstay. The Dia does its own, a friend does exhibit, and they've been doing it for years. And, I think it's been, you know, a good centerpiece for, for to remark about what Covid did to everybody. So.

KH: It's beautiful, you've it's been able to kind of- you've been able to reengage with that. Yes. Even though it was caused by a very, you know, tragic event.

RL: Yeah. Yeah.

KH: So earlier we were talking about, with the development of the two big bridge projects that, some people were able to have their houses like, you know, they're able to do a house switch, like, well, there has to be just right there to be given money for it. But there are prices rising through in the area because of the projects. Have you seen anyone who has been priced out of the area or have you, have you noticed most people are able to stay.

RL: No I see major changes. You know, there's been a real shift in people that were residing in around southwest Detroit now and Lincoln Park. Melvin Dale. Yeah. You know, a lot of those are Latino residents. You know, the people that own properties, you know, benefit from a they have an opportunity to sell their house for many, many, many more times than it was originally priced at. And you move to a suburban community where the schools might be better. And and so that a major difference in the just recently I heard that Detroit has just recently turned the corner in terms of majority rental, city, way back when in the 50s, used to be majority owner household city. And so, I didn't realize that we were a major rental city. And that's turning the corner again. People are owning homes. And so, you know, when you rent, especially in southwest Detroit, that rents, tripled and so you can't sustain a rental, you know, where you're living it that when it's gone that high. And so it's, you know, it's not only southwest Detroit, but other areas had that really impact because housing all over Detroit, the housing I understand Detroit is one of the most expensive. I'm not sure why Detroit is that way, but it is. And so it's displacing a lot of people.

KH: Displacing a lot of people is. Yeah. Very unfortunate side effect of I feel like, just, how Detroit has become a little bit more of a hot place recently. And I think people are taking notice of that because for years, people are like, Detroit's a cheap place that you can go to. You can, like, start like a business there. And then a lot of those people have now caused, as a unfortunate result of they come to the city because it's cheap to start businesses and stuff like that. And then prices raise right off for everyone else who have lived here their whole lives.

RL: Yeah, yeah. No, you're right, right on with that. Because, you know, if you the timing is, is everything. If you've owned property and it's increased and you sell it, you benefit. But if you're just coming trying to pay that dollar or if you rent and then you can't afford it anymore.

KH: It can be very.

RL: Rough. Yeah. Yeah.

KH: To end on a more positive note, though, so you mentioned earlier that you had a couple programs that had to be canceled because of Covid. A lot of people did. But now that the pandemic has restarted. Which ones have you been able to do and which one is it been like your favorite event that you've been able to bring back after the, you know, aftermath of the worst of Covid?

RL: Well, we haven't been able to get them off the ground yet, but we're planning one. In September, we have a photographic exhibit of the life of Cesar Chavez, you know, a real hero in the Latino in the Mexican community, unionization of the grape growers and the great pickers. And so, we have been fortunate to have a woman, that has a good connection with the Ruther library and the, we were able to get images of his life, and then we've printed them and, framed them. And so in September, the weekend, the first weekend, the Hispanic Heritage Month, we're going to have those available, in our, in our gallery. We also have one that's, photographic, exhibit of the works of Lisa Lemonos a young woman that grew up in the community, an avid photographer for the Ford Motor Company and for the the Detroit Tigers. And she has early onset dementia. And so we want to take her works and exhibit them, so that, you know, the folks remember her, fondly because she's a, you know, a child of our community. So those are the two that we're trying to resurrect and get off the ground. And hopefully we can do something by May or June with with her photographs.

KH: But yeah. Well, that's a beautiful exhibit to bring back. And, I'm so glad you're going to be able to do that. Yes. And, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for coming for a second time. Hopefully there will not be a third. And hopefully this is, the interview. Thank you so much for your time.

RL: Oh, thank you, Kevin, and thanks to the Detroit Historical Society for this opportunity. Really appreciate it.

KH: Thank you.

RL: You too.

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“Raymond Lozano, April 22, 2024,” Detroit Historical Society Oral History Archive, accessed February 7, 2025, https://oralhistory.detroithistorical.org/items/show/999.

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