FARMINGTON HILLS — Farmington Hills resident, Linda Solomon tells 7 Action News she had to cancel her family’s Thanksgiving gathering due to a cement barricade put in front of her house by the city.
“You can see it’s about four feet wide, you can’t step over it safely,” said Solomon.
Solomon says there’s been construction on their street recently, but Tuesday afternoon was the first time she heard there would be a barricade when a city engineer knocked on her door to tell her.
She says she replied, “How do we get in and out?! It’s Thanksgiving!”
Less than 24 hours later on Wednesday, the barricade was laid down.
Solomon lives in her home with her husband and her 94-year-old mother who she says can definitely not get past the barricade.
“The city doesn’t respond to any emails, or phone calls,” said Solomon. “I called everyone Wednesday morning… I emailed the mayor.”
With no path for the Solomons to come and go neighbors began to show up at the family home on Thanksgiving to check in on them.
One neighbor who did not want to be named told 7 Action News they were considering suing the city of Farmington Hills.
Another frustrated neighbor, TriDeep Aggrawal, told 7 he received an email about upcoming construction on November 4th but it was misleading.
An excerpt from the email given to 7 Action News said, “Road removals are expected to begin on Monday, November 7, 2022 – weather permitting. Be aware that there may be additional traffic delays and limited access. The contractor will be removing the road in sections, starting at the cul-de-sac, and moving north. This may require us to close off access to your driveway for a few hours. If this occurs, we will ask you to park nearby, and we will have a golf cart available to bring you up to your homes. Please keep traffic on the road to a minimum.”
Looking at Solomon’s driveway, Aggrawal said, “There’s no way you can enter or exit your house at all, this is ridiculous.”
7 Action News reached out to the Farmington Hills City Manager’s Office and Public Relations but did not hear back.
“Why would they do this to a family on Thanksgiving? Knowing they cannot work today, we wouldn’t expect them to work on the holiday,” said Solomon.
Solomon posted about the barricade on the NextDoor app where 84 people replied, many offering to come remove the barricade themselves for her.
“So that’s really the true meaning of Thanksgiving. A stranger offering to help,” said Solomon.
This holiday season, neighbors say they just want to be listened to.
“It seems like somebody makes these decisions without any communication or without looking at what will happen to the residents,” said Aggrawal.
“Of course it’s disappointing,” said Solomon. “You want to celebrate this important holiday with those you love to say thank you, but we can’t do that.”
