Project Green Light celebrates 100

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Another business owner in the City of Detroit has become a Project Green Light participant.

Eddie Aboona is co-owner of Seaway Marketplace located on West Chicago and Fitzpatrick.

He and his family have been in business for 30 years.

They believe their business and customers will be much safer by joining Project Green Light.

"We're really trying to find ways, creative ways to ensure the safety of our customers, partner up with the city, with the police department, to make the neighborhoods safer."

Project Green Light started a year ago with only eight gas stations in Detroit, but now that program has expanded to 100 locations including restaurants, party stores, and more gas stations.

The camera systems at each of the locations are connected directly to Detroit Police Headquarters, meaning officers are alerted of a crime in progress. That can lead to a quicker response and put more criminals behind bars.

"We're going to figure this out. We're going to make safety the number one priority here in the City of Detroit," said Gabe Leland, Detroit City Councilman.

According to city officials, a recent study shows the original eight Project Green Light stations continue to see a nearly 40% reduction in violent crime.

Newer locations have seen roughly a 20% decrease in violence compared to a year before.

"This city remains much too violent. While the crime rate is coming down, it's not coming down nearly fast enough and we have to do a lot more," said Mike Duggan, Detroit Mayor.

The Mayor and Chief of Police appear to be on the same page knowing more needs to be done, but this may very well be a big step in fighting crime in our city.

"We still have work to do. We're seeing a steady decline, but certainly not fast enough. But when you think about the Green Light partnership - I will tell you - this might be one of the single recent innovations in law enforcement moving forward that we will be talking about 10 or 15 years from now."

The cost for businesses to take part is roughly $5,000. DTE Energy is offering rebates up to seven thousand dollars for business owners who take part in the program.