Two hundred Jefferson-Chalmers residents take to the canals in protest

More than 200 Jefferson-Chalmers residents filled the neighborhood's historic canals this past weekend, launching kayaks, canoes, and motorboats in a flotilla protest that stretched across the east side waterway network. The message was simple: keep the canals open.

The demonstration came in response to a city plan that would direct a $20 million federal grant toward addressing chronic flooding in Jefferson-Chalmers, a neighborhood that sits along the Detroit River and has been inside a FEMA floodplain since 2021. While the city has not formally committed to closing the canals, residents say that option remains on the table, and the prospect has been enough to push hundreds to the water.

Signs reading "no canal closures" have appeared across the neighborhood in recent weeks. Yard after yard, block after block, the same message.

"Having sitting water in the canal raises so many issues, plus it's gonna drop property value down," said resident Blake Grannum-Wesson. "I know I have faith that you guys can come up with a better idea. I know you guys can do better," Grannum-Wesson said. "And we have all voted and hired you in to come up with a more creative idea that doesn't hurt our neighborhood."

The flooding in Jefferson-Chalmers is real. The neighborhood sits on low-lying land that was once a swamp, threaded with canals that connect to the Detroit River. During high water years, river water overtops the canal banks and runs into streets and homes. FEMA redrew the area's flood maps, and the new map, adopted in October 2021, placed 96 percent of neighborhood parcels inside a Special Flood Hazard Area, raising insurance rates and creating barriers for commercial development.

This fight has played out before. In 2022, the community rallied against an earlier canal closure proposal and prevailed. Overwhelming opposition at a packed town hall stopped the city from moving forward with the closure. A 2022 Army Corps of Engineers study had proposed sea walls as one option that could address the flooding without closing the canals, and remove Jefferson-Chalmers from FEMA's floodplain designation entirely. That plan has since returned under the umbrella of the $20 million grant.

The city says it will proceed in phases: hiring a project manager first to engage with residents, then conducting a feasibility study to weigh options for both flood mitigation and floodplain removal.

Residents are not opposed to the city spending money on flooding. They want it spent on sea walls.

Earlier this year, a $1 million state-funded residential seawall program launched in Jefferson-Chalmers to help low-income waterfront homeowners repair and replace deteriorating walls. A 2025 survey found roughly 70 percent of the neighborhood's canal-front properties had sea walls in fair or poor condition. The program targets 15 to 20 properties.

Jefferson-Chalmers, sometimes called the Venice of Detroit, includes communities along Fox Creek, Harbor Island, and Klenk Island. For many residents, the canals are not a feature of the neighborhood. They are the neighborhood itself.