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Open air spring evening at Corktown's Mercury Bar - Photo Marvin Shaouni
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Inc. staff writer chooses Detroit over Silicon Valley

Inc. Tuesday, May 21, 2013
It's nice to see Detroit and Silicon Valley used in the same sentence. It seems to happening a lot more of late, thanks to goings-on at the Madison Building in particular.

An excerpt from Inc.:

When tech entrepreneur Bob Marsh is on the phone with a prospective client and they ask him where LevelEleven is headquartered, he doesn't hesitate to declare: "Detroit."

"You can hear the smile in their voice on the phone," he says, "They say, 'Wow. It's so cool to hear that.'"

We think it's cool, too. Now let's fill up two or three more downtown towers with techie entrepreneurial nerds and make sure the scene continues to grow.

Read more here.

Cadillac Square getting ready for summer market

Detroit News Tuesday, May 21, 2013
There is more shopping possible in downtown now than in recent memory. We like the pop-up to permanent vibe on Woodward and we like the use of Cadillac Square, just east of Campus Martius, for more retail this summer.

An excerpt from the Detroit News:

The retail market, simply called "The Market," will take place every fourth Friday and Saturday in June, July and August. According to the Campus Martius website, it will "feature an area dedicated to dynamic retailers, artists, designers, crafters, vintage/antique dealers, craft-prepared food products, and distinctive apparel.

Nice. We'll meet you downtown next month. More here.

Bloomberg: Startups providing entrepreneurial spark in Detroit, NOLA

BloombergBusinessWeek Tuesday, April 30, 2013
It may be an old story for us to read about techie entrepreneurs setting up shop in old U.S. cities like Detroit. But it's still some sort of validation when Bloomberg News picks up the ball and runs with it.

An excerpt:

While the bulk of venture capital dollars go to Silicon Valley and New England, cities little heralded for their tech scenes have been successfully coaxing technology entrepreneurs to set up shop in recent years. That includes Detroit, New Orleans and St. Louis, where municipal and private initiatives are attracting newbies and natives returning from the coasts.

Read more here.

Who doesn't like Founders beer? Vote for your fave style in Pure Michigan promotion

Michigan.org Tuesday, April 30, 2013
With the craft beer craze continuing to sweep Michigan and summer approaching, Pure Michigan and Founders Brewing Co. have teamed up to give fans and craft beer enthusiasts a chance to pick a Founders beer style that best represents Pure Michigan. 

The beer chosen by fans will be featured in the Founders tap room in downtown Grand Rapids throughout July as part of Michigan Craft Beer Month.

Running through Friday, May 3, fans can vote between the following three beer styles – Vanilla Stout, Apple Ale and Wheat IPA. To vote, go here. Individuals 21 and over can vote once a day for the duration of the contest and the winning beer will be announced in May. 

Home to more than 100 breweries, Michigan is fifth in the nation for the number of breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs. Michigan’s craft brewers are also part of a close knit community, promoting all that the Great Beer State has to offer.

Let's get growing: Pot & Box pops up at D:hive

D:hive Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Hey, gardeners and other flora lovers, Pot & Box: Detroit, which is planning on opening a permanent location in Corktown later this year, will be in residence at downtown's D:hive from May through July this summer.

Join the celebration this Thursday, May 2 for a ribbon cutting promptly at 6:15 p.m. with cans of champagne (P&B's signature shop drink at the Ann Arbor location), pizza from Supino, and other treats.

D:hive is at 1253 Woodward Ave., Detroit.

Get more info here.

World beat: Dan Gilbert's downtown makeover gets play in London media

Guardian UK Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Sure, we hear about another new purchase by Dan Gilbert's real estate team every other week or so, but what's not to like about a major league redevelopment project that aims to turn downtown Detroit into one of the country's most liveable neighborhoods?  

Even the Brit journos are noticing. Another good sign. An excerpt:

His Bedrock property management company owns 22 buildings with more than 3m square feet in the city. He's attracting big names back into the city. Gilbert convinced Chrysler to take office space downtown and renamed a building after the car firm; he recently toured the city with Microsoft's Steve Ballmer. He's effectively created a business campus in the heart of a city some had written off as dead. A death that had been a long time coming.

Blimey, how dramatic. Read more here.

Fast Company: How social entrepreneurship is rebuilding Detroit

Fast Company Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Fast Company jumps into the early 21st century Detroit narrative, complex and ever-changing as it is to us here on the ground, in this feature published this week.

An excerpt: 

But the city's depression -- and the depressed real estate prices that came with it -- created opportunities. And opportunity lures entrepreneurs. The startup types, like Paffendorf. And the ones with lots of money, like Dan Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, the third-largest mortgage provider in the country; he moved 1,700 employees downtown in 2010, giving him 7,000 employees there and making him Detroit's third-largest landowner (trailing only the city and General Motors). With slicked-back hair and a perpetual poker face, Gilbert has just gotten started on his plan to transform the area.

More to dig into here.

Register here for Pure Michigan Entrepreneurship Challenge

Michigan Corps Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Individuals and teams will have until April 10 -- next Wednesday -- to submit an initial application as a New Idea or Emerging Company for the Pure Michigan Entrepreneurship Challenge.

Applicants will then get access to coaches and special events to support the preparation of their final submission before a deadline of May 20.

All you need to get started is right here.

Curbed: Gilbert group to develop two residential towers on Hudson's site?

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, March 26, 2013
It's hard not to get excited when the words "two residential towers" and "downtown Detroit" are used in the same sentence. This may or may not happen the way it appears in this little piece in Curbed Detroit, but it sounds incredibly reasonable and possible.

An excerpt:

Bedrock head honcho Jim Ketai dropped the name Grand Circuit Park in a reference to Gilbert's real estate "target area" along Woodward...sorry,Webward Avenue. That wasn't the only interesting tidbit: Ketai also mentions plans for the Hudson's site involving two residential towers.

Go here to read on.

Toledo Blade: Entrepreneurship key to Detroit recovery

Toledo Blade Tuesday, March 26, 2013
It's nice to see our Ohio friends to the immediate south in Toledo taking a deep dive into contemporary Detroit, interviewing enterprising people like Torya Blanchard, Josh Linkner, Shawn Geller (of Quikly), Kurt Metzger and others. Solid reporting, without pulling punches.

Check it out here.

WSJ: Detroit App builder Glyph gets national attention

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Nestled in downtown's Ford Building, the year-old startup and its team of seven people launched its iPhone app last fall and is working on an Android version. The company raised $500,000 in angel funding in 2012 and plans to close a Series A round of investments in 2013.

Now this, a nicely-timed mention in the Wall Street Journal:

With a partner, (Mike Vichich) launched Glyph at the App Store in November, after attracting $500,000 in seed capital from local investors earlier in the year: "I'm by no means a developer now, but at least I can speak the language," he says.

Read more here.

Gilbert gets extension on developing Hudson's site

Detroit News Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Billionaire and savvy downtown investor Dan Gilbert received an extension until June 30, 2016 to develop plans for the site of the former Hudson's flaghip department store on Woodward, between Gratiot and Grand River. Gilbert has launched an international design competition for the site and plans a mixed used project made up of commercial, residential and parking.  

An excerpt:

The city-controlled site has been vacant since the city demolished the flagship store for the J.L. Hudson Co. in 1998. The vacant Woodward block sits atop an underground parking structure, with infrastructure already in place to have a building constructed above it.

More from the Detroit News here.

Get to know the makers rebuilding Detroit by hand

Co.Design Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Shinola, OmniCorp Detroit, Ponyride, the Detroit Creative Corridor Center and other havens for the doers and changemakers literally reconstructing Detroit are profiled in part II this story (with video) by Matt Haber. Good stuff. Well done.

Catch up to part I then take a look at part II here.

Real print, authentic graphics gone wild in Detroit

Detroit News Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Those of us who grew up in print media are thrilled to see the return of the letterpress and real, non-virtual graphic design in a physical form. Like what's being produced in Eastern Maket at Signal-Return and Salt & Cedar, or 44FortyFour Studio in the Green Garage, or at Ponyride's Stukenborg Press.

An excerpt from the Detroit News: 

The first new letterpress to set up in Detroit was Signal-Return in Eastern Market, a combination print shop and retail store founded in November 2011 by a group associated with Team Detroit, the Dearborn-based ad agency. Team Detroit chief creative officer Toby Barlow says the memory of letterpress is still deeply embedded in advertising's DNA.

"I've been in advertising 20 years," Barlow says, "and have seen the transition from mechanical marketing to the digital age of marketing. To remind us of our roots, Signal-Return seemed like a good idea. The passion of the craftsman is something I think advertising really needs to hold onto."

Read more here.

Sign up for Detroit Mobile City February conference

Detroit Mobile City Tuesday, January 15, 2013
This one day event is at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel, Feb. 2. It includes four tracks of instruction and learning: Intro to iOS, iOS Design, Advanced Programming and User Engagement.

For more info -- including how to apply, and the complete schedule -- go here.

Why Stik moved back from Silicon Valley to Detroit

TechCrunch Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Launched two years ago from the Bay Area, Stik attempts to create a recommended list of service professionals online through a user’s social graph.

But as the founders discovered, Silicon Valley is not an easy place to grow a long-term business. After two years of trudging through the Valley, the four person company packed its bags this summer and headed back to the founders’ hometown of Detroit.

Read on here.
 

MSHDA and placemaking add to 'prosperity agenda'

Economics of Place Tuesday, December 04, 2012
This month’s edition of the Prosperity Agenda radio show focuses on placemaking efforts in Michigan and the impact some of these projects have on working toward a more vibrant state. The show also includes a conversation with new MSHDA (Michigan State Housing Development Authority) Executive Director Scott Woosley. Woosley discusses Michigan’s efforts to promote affordable housing, revitalize some of the struggling communities and attract new investment to the state.

The November showed aired Nov. 26 and you can listen to it anytime here or by subscribing to the free iTunes podcast. Our own Claire Nelson, publisher of Model D, co-hosts this broadcast. In addition to Woosley, other guests are Luke Forrest, the Michigan Municipal League’s Project Coordinator for the Center for 21st Century Communities; and Ed Dalheim of the MarCom Awards. 

For more go here.

Former Freep publisher on boards at Digerati

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Crain's Business reports that former Detroit Free Press Publisher David Hunke, who retired in September as chairman of USA Today, has joined Detroit-based software firm Digerati Inc. as its chief strategy officer.

An excerpt:

Hunke will offer the young company, founded in 2001, experience, CEO Brian Balasia said in a release.

"Strategically, I want to see if I can help them figure out how to line various business opportunities together," Hunke said. "I think Brian and I are going to do a lot of traveling and talking to partners on a national scale about what we can help with."

Hunke retired from USA Today in September after holding the position of chairman for six months. He had been president and publisher since April 2009.

Read the entire story here.

Dandelion strategist says TechTown needs to stake emerging technologies

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Last week in an op/ed piece in HuffPost Detroit, Philadelphia transplant Jason Lorimer delivered some insolicited counsel to TechTown in how to maximaize its impact on the local tech and research scenes.

An excerpt:  In my opinion, TechTown should stake their flag in emerging technology, like cleantech, alternative energy, medical devices and life sciences. This is the place you come if you have potentially transformative technology on the brain, small or large, ready for market or at the tinkering stage. There exists in Michigan tens of thousands of mostly disparate folks engaged, at varying levels, in new and interesting technologies. TechTown can give them a home.

Read on here.

Veronika Scott of UIX get capital love from Washington Post

Washington Post Tuesday, November 27, 2012
One of the early heroines of our own Urban Innovation Exchange project, Veronika Scott, is getting some much-deserved national love her for her nonprofit the Empowerment Plan, which employs homeless women to make coats for the homeless.

An excerpt from the Washington Post:

Scott, now 23, was a student at College for Creative Studies in Detroit when she launched her project by working on a class assignment with this direction: "Design to fill a need."

Scott spent months at a Michigan shelter getting to know the homeless. While there, she began working on a design for a coat prototype for the homeless that weighed 20 pounds and took 80 hours to make, earning her the nickname of the "crazy coat lady."

But Scott streamlined her design. She now employs homeless women to work in a formerly abandoned warehouse where they use donated materials and equipment from General Motors and Carhartt to make warm convertible coats for the homeless. Scott expects that her nonprofit, The Empowerment Plan, will produce 800 coats by year's end.

"She's changing the world, one coat at a time," Kennedy said at the ceremony inside the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Read more here.

American heritage brand being created in Detroit

coDesign Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Shinola is getting a lot of local attention for its manufacturing versatility, which includes watch and bicycle assembly. Now comes a well-deserved national nod in coDesign.

An excerpt:

As they’ve started putting their manufacturing operation in place, Shinola has proven not only to be a familiar name but also a reminder of how products can benefit from the stories behind them.

After looking at a number of cities, the team decided to establish the company in Detroit, the former manufacturing powerhouse and something of an American throwback itself. It’s a tidy fit that, like the Shinola name, Detroit too is in the early stages of a 21st-century reinvention.

Read more here.

Linkner in Forbes: In Detroit, business can stand on shoulders of giants

Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Writing in Forbes, former ePrize founder and CEO and local entrepreneurial guru Josh Linkner takes it to the Silicon Valley's over-inflated bubble and shouts out the virtues of growing a company in Detroit.
 
Excerpt:
 
While there have been no shortage of successful start-ups in Silicon Valley, I argue that many of those ventures succeeded in spite of their location. For me, this 'best place' logic makes no sense. In the Bay Area, there is more competition for everything -- talent, funding, office space, resources, etc. When you’re swimming in a vast ocean filled with other startups, you need herculean accomplishments to stand out any more than the next guy. Every single day. Good luck with that.

Read the entire story here.

Open City: Sharing success from business to business

MLive.com Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Last week's Open City gathering featured several Detroit prime small business movers, including Dave Mancini of Supino Pizzaria. MLive reported Mancini said spent years looking for the right location to open his restaurant. Once he did open he had to find people just as committed and he was to making it a success.

Read more of what was said at Open City here.

Forbes weighs in on 'Another Detroit is Happening'

Forbes Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Freelancer Tamara Warren attended a recent Corktown summit and penned this stylish report for Forbes.

An excerpt: Detroit is a fascinating backdrop as a metaphor for America -- its hidden cultural gems, its industrial revolution legacy, the fortitude of diligent business owners and its stark and vivid displays of neglect. But what made this visiting group different was the caliber of insight offered by the attendees whose list of accomplishments is nothing short of outstanding.

Well said. Read on here.

Detroit Bus Co., other DIY startups get love from Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Yup, we check through the virtual editions of Popular Mechanics now and then, looking for Detroit content. And here it is! A nice piece on DIY startups, our speciality.

An Excerpt: In 2012, that prevailing philosophy led Inc. magazine to dub Detroit Startup City. It earned the name because of the proliferation of small-business incubators. Among these was TechShop, a national network of member-based workshops. It was another iteration of a model created by TechTown at Detroit's Wayne State University in 2003. 

Read more here.

Dan Gilbert's entrepreneurial mission gets noticed

MedCity News Tuesday, September 25, 2012
We've written plenty, and so have others in Detroit, about Dan Gilbert's voracious appetite for vertical downtown properties. It's nice when others notice, like MedCity News, based in Cleveland (he has several holdings there as well, including the Cavaliers NBA franchise).

Read the Q&A here.

Curbed digs for news at Transformation Detroit event

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, September 18, 2012
We don't care what anyone says we love seeing Curbed Detroit breaking stories no one else does, like this piece that includes a few juicy teasers about what is happening and when in Corktown (or is that Corktown Shores?):

Take a look here.

Hatch semifinalist Vegan Soul talks food biz with HuffPost

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, September 18, 2012
May the best women and men win Hatch Detroit's $50,000 in seed money to support business startups in Detroit. And read all about how four finalists will be selected this Wednesday in Jon Zemke's news story here.

HuffPost Detroit has a tasty profile on one of the contenders, Vegan Soul. Read about them here.

Josh Linkner: Investing in Detroit good as gold

Forbes Tuesday, September 11, 2012
One of the things we love about Josh Linkner is he's never afraid to punctuate his thoughts in a way everyone can understand -- like comparing Detroit real estate to precious metals, gold in particular.

It's all here in a piece Linkner penned for Forbes, no less.

An excerpt:

Within a five-block radius from the downtown Detroit epicenter, you can buy a vacant building. Yes, building. My business partner Dan Gilbert has purchased approximately 3 million square feet of commercial property in the heart of downtown Detroit over the last few years through his firm, Bedrock Real Estate Services.

Read on here.

Rumors fly sky high about Yamasaki architectural gem

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, September 11, 2012
We have absolutely no problem admitting we love the work of former Detroiter, the notable Japanese-American architect Minoru Yamasaki, who among other gems, designed what is now known as One Woodward. Crain's Detroit Business is reporting this tantalizing rumor. What rumor?

Read more here,

Hatch Detroit picks 10 semi-finalists

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Hatch Detroit has announced the top 10 semi-finalists for the 2012 Comerica Hatch Detroit contest.

This year’s competition brought in more than 250 business plan submissions, representing a 25 percent increase over last year’s contest.

Drum roll, please. Here they are:

Detroit River Sports – Kayak rentals to city-goers, offering tours through the canal districts of Belle Isle, Downtown and other parts of the city. 

Detroit Vegan Soul Café – Vegan food with a soul twist, currently operating as a catering and food delivery business, looking to open a store in Midtown.

La Feria – A wine bar featuring authentic Spanish tapas in a relaxed yet upbeat setting, looking to open in Midtown.

Motor City Design – A custom denim specialty retail store featuring Made in Michigan products where customers can watch garments be made right in the store, looking to open Downtown.

Pho da Nang – A Vietnamese restaurant based in Clawson looking to open another location in Midtown.

Rock City Pies – A handmade pie company specializing in unique combinations such as Salty Apple Carmel Pie and Blueberry-Custard Pie, looking to open in Midtown.

Tashmoo Biergarten – Based on the biergartens in Germany, operating as a pop-up in West Village, looking to open a permanent space in the neighborhood.

The Collective Tap – High-end beer retailer offering classes and food parings, looking to open Downtown. 

Vividbraille Studio Boutique – Fuses high-end fashion and design with USA manufacturing in a retail setting, offering customers some of the finest Made in the USA fashion goods, currently operating in Chicago and looking to expand to Detroit.  

Whip Hand Cosmetics – A cosmetic company, currently operating online, looking to open its manufacturing and retail facility Downtown.

HuffPost Detroit's Kate Abbey-Lambertz wraps some good narrative around this announcement here.

Detroit music biz subject of Crain's series

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, September 11, 2012
We take the business of Detroit music seriously here and devoted much of our July speaker series to that topic. This series of stories in Crains Detroit simply nails many of our concerns. Our kudos. Highly recommended reading.

Start here.

Successful entrepreneurs just want to have fun

Fast Company Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Despite a snarky lead-in by writer Jude Stewart ("Detroit the Dinosaur hardly feels like the right place to investigate pockets of American innovation") - Hey Jude, don't make it (sound so) bad - this was still nice to see last week in Fast Company:

In a converted theater in downtown Detroit, Detroit Labs is a testament to the city’s resilient spirit of invention. The one-year-old startup designs and builds mobile applications, including Domino’s ordering app, which accounts for $150 million in annualized revenue, and the Chevy Game Time app, which dominated the Super Bowl last January, outranking Angry Birds for a time in the iTunes app store. Since turning a profit (in year one), Detroit Labs has activated phase two of its business plan: letting its developers work one day a week on totally independent projects. That’s right. Employees get paid to futz around.

Read on here.

Tampa book arts blog send up some love to Eastern Market's Signal-Return

Tampa Book Art Studio Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Nice to see some attention given to one of our favorite innovative small businesses, Signal-Return. This by way of a Tampa blog.

An excerpt:

Ryan Schirmang, director of the storefront operation in Detroit’s Eastern Market helped launch Signal-Return as a project manager for Team Detroit, the international advertising and marketing firm. Team Detroit established the print studio as a way to bring traditional and modern techniques of printing to the community, and to provide a workspace for artists and designers to produce unique prints for retail clients.

Read the rest of the piece here.

Core77 blogger hits Detroit, swoons over people and place

Core77 Tuesday, July 31, 2012
We were trolling for Detroit media love when we chanced upon this beauty of a blog. Not much more introduction needed.

An excerpt:

True to form, DC3 introduced me to Peggy Brennan, co-founder of the Green Garage. The converted Model T showroom serves as a demonstration of down-to-earth sustainability (no pun intended), as well as a business incubator (everyone incubates these days) and an advisor on integrating sustainable practices for any interested member of the community. Brennan and her husband, along with 200 volunteers, spent two years designing how to best renovate the showroom and looked to the Passivhaus for inspiration. With 19-inches of insulation and triple-glazed windows, the Green Garage only costs $300 to heat for a year.

Read the entire travelog here.

Vice: Phil Cooley one of "most interesting men" in U.S.

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 24, 2012
We love Vice, we love Phil Cooley. It makes sense the two would get along so famously.

An exceprt:

"We always felt that in order to have a healthy, long-term sustainable buisness we need a healthy community surrounding us," Cooley said. "So I was able to then use the monies we made from Slows, to hopefully help others in the community. We started working in public spaces, helping other small businesses get open, just because I could."

Read on and watch the video here.

Workshops, other activities heating up at Signal-Return

Signal Return Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Signal-Return, the self-described "hive for dynamic visual production" in Eastern Market that is "a multi-use center for fine art, design, craft and literary arts" is zooming forward with workshops and other special events this summer and fall.

Go here to get more info on what's happening at Signal-Return.

Canadian investor creates bicycle manufacturing center

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 17, 2012
There are a lot of bikes out there, but how many are "Made in Detroit?" Not many, probably. Not yet, anyway.

But here they come, thanks to Zak Pashak, who moved down here to cycling utopia from Western Canada to open a bicycle manufacturing center.

An excerpt from HuffPost Detroit:

His target customers are people who aren't hardcore cyclists but are still interested in bikes.The model he plans on producing in Detroit will be a lightweight steel three-speed with a tire that's thicker than those used for racing bikes. The bike will come in one color -- black-- and sell for a little under $500.

Black, yes. We'll take (at least) one. See the rest of the story here.

Corktown gets front page love in the News

Detroit News Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Nice to see a major feature on one of our neighborhood gems -- Corktown -- in one of the Detroit dailies. So what if we were there first -- about seven years and a month or two earlier. But who's bragging? Love the deep(ish) dive and the awesome quotes. Kudos.

An excerpt:

Among the new business owners are Jason Yates and Deveri Gifford, who opened a breakfast spot, the Brooklyn Street Local.
The Canadian couple chose Corktown after staying at Hostel Detroit and realizing the neighborhood was "the perfect spot" for their restaurant.

Fellow business owners have been overwhelmingly supportive.

"It's a collaborative effort, rather than competitive," Yates said. "It's fun because we're all doing this at the same time."

Read on here.

Transcontinental interplanetary neighborhood bicycle dude

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 10, 2012
When a guy named Mars hit town, suddenly things got down to earth in the Detroit neighborhood just east of Palmer Park. That's where he fixes up and gives away bikes to kids in the community. We read all about it in HuffPost Detroit. 

An excerpt:

"I owned my own business. I was making plenty of money. I had all my needs met," he told The Huffington Post.

However, that way of living didn't feel right to (Mars) Symons. He learned of an intentional community movement in Detroit called Fireweed Universe City, after meeting a psychedelic trance DJ who had become involved with the group. Symons decided to bike to the Motor City to check it out.

Read the rest of the story here.

Recovery Park goal includes indoor urban ag, horse stables, neighborhood employment

The Hub Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Gary Wozniak sees himself as a food systems developer and a job creator. And no, he's not running for president but rather looking to redevelop a 3-square-mile area on Detroit's East Side into self-sustaining farms with their own production and distribution systems. Ambitious enough, we think.

An excerpt from The Hub:

Recovery Park started as leaders from SHAR (Self Help Addiction Rehabilitation) were looking to create jobs for people with barriers to employment. Looking at the talent pool and the physical resources Detroit abundantly has--land, road infrastructure, access to fresh water--the natural conclusion was urban farming and food system development.

The difference between Recovery Park and other urban farming/ urban redevelopment programs is in both size and scale. While most community farming produces few jobs that are often dependent on grant funding, Recovery Park’s model aims toward something more self-sustainable.

"We’re taking a look more at commercial indoor agriculture so that the jobs are year round," Wozniak says. "We can get three, maybe four, growing seasons working indoors."

Intriguing stuff, yes? Read more here.

"Sharp" Eastern Market FC shirts available with a click

Etsy Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Fans of the Eastern Market Futbol Club will love this, limited edition T-Shirts with some cool design work. All others, this is what you need to know: the product is "actually made in Detroit" and have some serious edge. Fantastic. Get them while they're hot.

Find them here.

NYT gets a glimpse of Midtown's Green Garage

New York Times Tuesday, June 26, 2012
We know that the Green Garage is a different kind of incubator, as the New York Times headline writer says. But we like this bit even more.

An excerpt:

(Tom) Brennan says he believes that traditional incubator and accelerator programs extrude entrepreneurs through a mechanized, one-size-fits-all process, sometimes spurring founders to charge ahead without first finding clarity on what they want to do, or why. Instead of focusing on acceleration, he’s working to build a start-up culture that’s a rough analogue of the slow-food movement: intimate, deliberate, unhurried. It’s an organic approach he knows won’t be for everyone.

Read on here.

Detroit "digital revolution" gets video attention from NBC cable

MSNBC Tuesday, June 26, 2012
It's somehow gratifying to see and hear, on a national cable TV broadcast, that there are so many young, tech-savvy workers employed downtown that there is not enough places for them to live. Well, let's fix that. More residential construction and reconstruction, please.

Let's go to the video here.

Allied Media Conference gets tactical this weekend

Allied Media Conference Tuesday, June 26, 2012
We visited Allied Media Projects earlier this spring and came away mighty impressed. We also came away with this impressive story by Matt Piper. AMP's annual summer conference is this weekend. It's packed with serious fun. That's what we're talking about. 

Get all you need to know here and go.

Roasting Plant offering "world's freshest coffee," coming to downtown's First National

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, May 15, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/09/the-roasting-plant-opens-detroit-location-new-york-city-coffee-shop-first-national-building_n_1504237.html?ref=detroit

Decades-long "expressionist continuum" exhibits at N'Nambdi Center for Contemporary Art

Detroit News Tuesday, May 15, 2012
In the 1960s and early 1970s the neighborhood now called Midtown and then called the Cass Corridor, was more than just kicking out the jams musically.

The art scene was also humming, building a foundation for the Detroit visual scene today.

The Detroit News captures it all in this review of a new show at the N'Nambdi Center for Contemporary Art. Read it here.

That buzz you're hearing is coming from Corktown's Beehive

Detroit News Tuesday, May 15, 2012
In 2011, Chris Handyside penned this great piece on Detroit's Beehive Recordings and its founder Steve Nawara.

Here's another, by Detroit News' columnist Donna Tarek. An excerpt:

(Nawara) wants to expand the hive's reach to record Detroit's Latin, Middle Eastern, Polish music to be an accurate representation of the sounds of the city. He already has recorded Finlay's sister Tamara singing the Russian folk songs she grew up with.

In Nawara's concept, the "record" or MP3 is not the product, it's an advertisement for the product, which is the musician, his/her concerts, merchandise, and publishing rights.

"Music wants to be free," Nawara says. "The natural state of music is free. You play it; it enters the atmosphere. That's it."

Love it. Read on here.

Register now for Detroit Urban Economic Forum

White House Urban Economic Forum Tuesday, May 08, 2012
The White House Business Council, in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration, invites you to participate in an urban economic forum designed specifically to address the needs of urban entrepreneurs in the Detroit area.

The Detroit Urban Economic Forum is May 17, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at Cobo Convention Center, 1 Washington Blvd., in downtown Detroit. It's free but space is limited. Register here.

HuffPost: Hatch Detroit gets Comerica sponsorship

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The winning applicant, Joe Posch, plans to set up his classic bachelor-pad-themed store Hugh in Midtown Detroit. Posch, who owned high-end furniture and home wares store Mezzanine several years ago and then launched Hugh twice as a pop-up operation, said he had planned to open the new store regardless of the competition's results. Next fall, Hugh will open in the Auburn, a mixed-use building now under construction at the intersection of Cass Avenue and Canfield Street.

here.

ValleytoDetroit.com luring Yahoo techies to downtown

TechCrunch Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Hello, laid-off Yahoo engineers and other tech pros looking for the next big thing, which, as we know, is a million little things. It seems many of those "little things" are adding up and multiplying quickly in the lower Woodward Corridor. And at the M@dison Building in Grand Circus Park in particular.

TechCrunch reports on attempts to woo the best and the brightest to the D. We stand behind that call to digital arms. Read on
here.

Gilbert scores again, this time with $500K residential building on Washington Blvd

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, April 10, 2012
We never get tired of Dan Gilbert (or anyone else -- c'mon anyone else, step up and put down some cash on Detroit real estate) buying downtown properties. This time it's a residential building on Washington Blvd. that you've seen a million times but never guessed at its endless possibilities. Get the lowdown in Crain's here.

Richard Florida weighs in on what downtown Twitter presence means for Detroit

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Take a look inside Startup News to get our own Jon Zemke's take on Twitter coming to Detroit here.

But before you go, take a look at what Richard Florida has to say in this op/ed from Atlantic Cities. 

An excerpt:

Now with his development company, Rock Ventures, (Dan Gilbert) owns nine buildings downtown and has attracted 40 companies to those buildings all in a very short time. Twitter is, by far, his most high profile catch.

Read more here.
 

Dime building welcomes Chrysler suits to downtown digs

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Though Chrysler nor Quicken Loans people are commenting, sources tell Detroit Free Press columnist Tom Walsh that the Auburn Hills-based automaker is moving up to 70 people to offices in the Dime Building downtown.

That's great news for the Woodward Corridor. Keep 'em coming and read more about it here.

Freep's John Gallagher takes a deeper dive into downtown and Midtown

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 03, 2012
When John Gallagher of the Free Press talks, we listen. When he writes it, we read it. Like this timely push back at those who suggest that all the metrics don't add up to success for downtown and Midtown.

An excerpt:  

Yet at a casual glance, the downtown and Midtown markets appear to be booming. Rental apartment buildings are filled to capacity and running waiting lists. Downtown's newest hotels, including the Westin Book Cadillac and Doubletree Fort Shelby, enjoy healthy occupancy rates well above the local average.

There's more. Read on here.

'Awesome' launches, starts spending money to reward talent

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 03, 2012
The Detroit Journal was awarded $1,000 last week by the Awesome News Task Force Detroit at a party at the Virgil H. Carr Cultural Arts Center in downtown Detroit. Awesome also celebrated its launch at the same time.

Where did we find this awesome news? In Kate Abbey-Lambertz piece in HuffPost Detroit, that's where.

Midtown garage opens its fabulous house of green

Facebook Tuesday, March 27, 2012
For all of you who have marveled at the transformation of a historic Midtown automotive facility to a cutting edge model for sustainability and all things green, here's your chance to see up close and personal.

The Green Garage has an open house this Thursday, March 29, 3-8 p.m. And you're invited! Go here for details.

Atlantic Cities takes notice of Detroit Bus Co.

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, March 20, 2012
If it's about transportation and it's in Detroit, we're all over it lately. Not to mention, we're always on the hunt for stories on transit region-wide, statewide and, well, all over the planet. So long as it presents solutions to a plethora of issues back home.

Like this story we found in Atlantic Cities. Read about the Detroit Bus Company here.

Corktown innovators get 'buzzed' on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe'

MSNBC Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The top of our Monday morning is given a rousing head start whenever Detroit doers get their due in the national media. This time during a caffeinated discussion on how innovation is changing the social landscape and putting juice into the economy in Michigan and Ohio. With a special focus on what's happening in Corktown, around the intersection of Michigan and 14th St. and beyond.

We've got video. Watch it here.

Empowering Detroit's powerless with design

New York Times Tuesday, March 06, 2012
We're always happy to dig up press on Veronika Scott, who was featured in our recent IdeaLab speaker series in Ann Arbor. This time the words attached to her good deeds come courtesy of the New York Times. Here's an excerpt: 

Having graduated this past December, Ms. Scott has now founded the Empowerment Plan, a nonprofit company, where she is training and paying recently homeless women to produce the coats for those living on the streets. Already they have made 275 coats -- 100 of which have been given to homeless people in Detroit and two of which Ms. Scott gave to Occupy Wall Street supporters she met while visiting New York this winter.

Read the rest of it here.

Citizen Effect making connections via social networks

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Earlier this year, Dan Morrison of Citizen Effect introduced himself in Model D. Now read up on his group's progress in HuffPost Detroit. An excerpt:

So what did all this work on Twitter get us? A good but not ridiculous list of 831 Twitter followers? Actually, a hell of a lot more than that. First, a launch week that made it feel like we were a much larger operation than we are (which has its ups and downs). We had two articles in the Detroit Free Press, air time on WDET, a feature on Model D, two invitations to blog on Huffington Post Detroit, blog posts on Positive Detroit, Xconomy, Detroit Half Full, The Detroit Hub, and others. Most important, social media allowed us to get physical. Over 200 people came out for our happy hour and nearly 200 people inquired about how to be a Citizen Philanthropist for Detroit4Detroit. Not bad for a few social media hacks.

Read the rest of the story here.

Twitter event on placemaking draws crowd on the web

Economics of Place Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Buzzing around the web with frequent stops at the Economics of Place has its rewards. Look what we found this time: a pretty high-level panel on placemaking that took place on Twitter. An excerpt:

Panelists Nate Berg from The Atlantic Cities, Diana Lind from Next American City, Ethan Kent (who was sitting in for Kathy Madden) from the Project for Public Spaces, and Dan Gilmartin from the Michigan Municipal League offered some tangible best practices and placemaking examples, as well as some insight into how placemaking can become an entirely new mindset and approach for economic development.

That's just a bit of it. Read more here.

Pewabic Pottery ages well, hits 109 mark this Saturday

Pewabic Pottery Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Looked what dropped in our laps just as we were going to digital press on Monday: an invite to an anniversary celebration at historic Pewabic Pottery, which turns 109 years young this Saturday, March 10.

There will a special birthday party event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The public is invited to attend the free celebration, which will feature complimentary guided tours, demonstrations, birthday cake, refreshments and hourly door prize giveaways.
 
Guided tours will begin at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. and will feature a first look at the nonprofit’s new history tour plaques, which were purchased through funding from the Michigan Humanities Council and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. In addition, guests will have a chance to see the pottery’s recently restored 105-year-old historic chimney.

For more info go here.

Brooklyn is so last year; now Detroit might be the new Austin

Culturemap Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Guess what? There is a new round of urban hipster-centric comparisons that includes Detroit in the conversation. This time the standard of cool is Austin, not Brooklyn, and cities like Asheville, Chattanooga, Burlington and, of course, Detroit are in on the chase. Or so says Culturemap.

It's not horrible. Read it here.

Bizarre Foods' five top moments in Detroit

Travel Channel Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Andrew Zimmern came to Detroit for a recent episode of Bizarre Foods, which airs on the Travel Channel. He visited some of our best soul kitchens, hung out with the Mower Gang, had ghost pepper pizza on Bangladesh Avenue and went to Dearborn to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

That guy puts some crazy stuff in his mouth. Check out the results here.

Public Enemy lined up as Movement headliner

Resident Advisor Tuesday, February 21, 2012
For its seventh year producing the Movement Festival, Paxahau has plucked a diverse cast of headliners: including Chicago house icon Lil Louis on Saturday, May 26, rap legends Public Enemy on Sunday, May 27 (in their debut appearance at the festival) and Detroit native Jeff Mills, performing under an old moniker, The Wizard, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28.

Check out the first round of announcements, listed on Resident Advisor, here. There will be more to come.

Curbed checks out Detroit Soup's two-year anniversary bash

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Nice to see Curbed Detroit's Sarah Cox (who authors Model D's 'Imported to Detroit' series) getting out on the town and reporting from some of the city's most unique party spaces. Like this one in the former Jam Handy building on East Grand Blvd, which hosted the recent two-year anniversary of Detroit Soup. Take it away, Sarah:  

"Detroit's totally cornered the market on that unfinished, do-we-even-have-a-permit-to-be-here look for big events. And we love it! Why wait til renovations are done to show off a structure? Hell, most places look best stripped down (we love these brick walls!), so bring on the space heaters." She even waxes for half a sentence on our own Next Big Thing event last October at the David Whitney Building.

Read the whole piece here.

What, it's Paczki Day already?

Hamtramck Review Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Yup, as you read this, if you are reading on the day we publish, it is indeed Paczki Day, Detroit's version of Mardri Gras. This pre-Lenten celebration is also known as Fat Tuesday, the last day for Catholics to go nuts before trimming their diets for about six weeks (ending on Easter Sunday).

Hamtramck, whose population was once overwhelmingly Polish Catholic, is party central for Paczki Day. We recommend you just hit the town running, get a few dozen berry-filled paczki at local bakeries like New Palace and New Martha Washington or at markets like Srodek's, Bozek's, Stan's or Polish Market. Then find a party at just about any bar in town; or hip retailers like Detroit Threads and Lo & Behold, which will be rolling out DJs and bands. 

Behold this, from the Hamtramck Review. 

Model D publisher Claire Nelson takes on prosperity agenda on WJR

Michigan Municipal League Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Michigan Prosperity Agenda is a monthly radio show that challenges listeners to help make Michigan a better place to live, work and play by creating vibrant local communities.

This month's show aired on News/Talk 760 WJR and was co-hosted by executive director and CEO of the Michigan Municipal League Dan Gilmartin and our own Claire Nelson, publisher of Model D. Part of the discussion was on Nelson's recent More Sexiness in the City piece.

Find the show archived here.

Urban Times calls for city solutions to help citizens across the globe

Urban Times Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Self-described Optimistic Forward Thinking Online Magazine Urban Times got it so right when it generated this original response to smart cities. There's a lot of good info to be gleaned from this piece by Sascha Haselmayer for anyone interested in solutions to urban issues impacting every global citizen. Hear that Detroiters?

Check it out here.

Detroit has an app for that

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Retaining talent is one of the reasons Nathan Hughes started Detroit Labs, which employs more than 15 people at its M@dison Building HQ downtown. 

This hub of online creativity is part of the growing App Economy, including some nice growth spurts coming out of Detroit, and is featured in this story in HuffPost Detroit. Read it here.

Detroit City Futbol organizers buy semi-pro club

Detroit News Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Two years ago, Sean Mann started a city soccer league -- the Detroit City Futbol League -- which drew 1,000 spectators to some games on Belle in the summer of 2011. That success has led 31-year-old Mann and partners Dave Dwaihy, Todd Kropp, Ben Steffans and Alex Wright to buy the rights to form a semi-professional soccer team representing Detroit.

Read all about it here.

Eastern Market reinventing itself with more than food

Detroit News Tuesday, February 07, 2012
The Detroit News reports: "A $3.9 million upgrade has begun of Eastern Market's Shed 5, which is the heart of the market's plant and flower business. The upgrades will include a commercial-grade kitchen aimed at upstart local food producers.

"Among the entrants in the farmer's market area are a self-described hacker space, a letterpress storefront and an art gallery. Plans are under way to build a community kitchen aimed at small-scale food entrepreneurs, and construction of a 40,000-square-foot fish farm inside a former city sewage facility may begin soon."

More, we say, more, more, more. Read the rest of the article here.

Black Male Engagement (BME) winners announced

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Ten black men in Detroit -- and 10 more in Philadelphia -- are receiving grants valued at $5,000 to $40,000 for community projects as part of the Black Male Engagement (BME) program launched last August by the Knight and Open Society foundations.

Detroit's leadership award winners include a mentor, a lawyer, former prisoners who now teach literacy and media skills, an LGBT rights activist, entrepreneurs, and one comeback kid. That's a strong list. 

Read the whole story here.

'9 Businesses' highlights indie Detroit entrepreneurship

Vimeo Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Screened last week at Eastern Market's Signal Return, the short film 9 Businesses aims to give a taste of how small business energy can help catalyze, revitalize and inspire neighborhood life.

Need some inspiration? Watch this.

Business models with impact

GOOD Tuesday, January 31, 2012
We've made it a habit to check out what's cooking at GOOD magazine on a daily basis. Every Friday, GOOD gives some space over to a budding entrepreneurial leader with vision to present a 1-minute video.

Ahmad Ahskar is founder and chief operating officer of the Hult Global Case Challenge, an international competition that pits teams of business school students against one in another to develop social enterprise solutions to the world's most pressing problems.

Check out the video here.

'After the Factory' film contrasts Detroit with Polish city

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Documentary filmmaker Philip Lauri and cinematographer Steven Oliver got a chance to mix with creative filmmakers from a world-renowned film school -- which produced Andrej Wajda, Roman Polanski and many others -- and with the aid of producers and translators, the filmmakers launched a month-long cinematic investigation of Lodz, Poland.

The result is After the Factory, a tale of two cities an ocean apart but sharing a number of characteristics.

The film screens at the Detroit Film Theatre Feb. 2. Read all about the project here.

What is the Detroit brand? Experiencing people and place

Forbes Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Independent filmmaker Erik Proulx spent nearly two years traveling to Detroit to film Lemonade: Detroit, trying to find stories of reinvention that accurately reflect its brand. A brand, he says he could have never fully grasped without the first hand experience of being there.

Experience was the teacher for Proulx, as it is for us all.  

He writes all about it for Forbes, no less. Great stuff. Read about it here.

AIA: Detroit part of "New Big Three" for practicing architects

American Institute of Architects Tuesday, January 24, 2012
In the voluminous, intriguing scholarly piece, writer Wellington Reiter describes Detroit, New Orleans and Phoenix as U.S. cities "that have visited the frontlines of the future and are reporting back to the rest of the us, a bit wobbly and worse for wear, but still standing and in some respects, regaining their footing."

The rest of his paper is even better. Read it here.

Bethany Shorb's 'ties that don't suck' make Etsy's list of 1,000 handmade sellers

Handmadeology Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Etsy, as many of you know, is an international marketplace made up of a community of artists, thinkers, doers, makers, sellers, buyers and collectors.

So it's none too shabby when you're biz places 20th out of 1,000, as did Bethany Shorb and her Cyberoptix line of ties. Look for her moniker, Toybreaker, hit it and check out Shorb's fab collection of hand-printed wearables, all produced in a studio on Techno Boulevard (that's Gratiot, on the southern edge of Eastern Market).

Michigan Municipal League touts economic importance of immigrants

MIchigan Municipal League Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A new report by the Immigration Policy Center shows Michigan's immigrant population growing, excelling educationally and contributing to the state's economy.

Using the latest census data, the report shows that in 2010, immigrants made up 6 percent of the state's population or 587,747 persons. This compares to 1990 when the figure was 3.8 percent.

Follow Model D's coverage of this topic in the pages of Model D in the coming months and read more about the Immigration  Policy Center report here.

Photography beyond the 'poetic inconsequence' of ruin porn

Design Observer Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Dave Jordano was a student of photography at the College for Creative Studies in the early 1970s. Following the example of his photography heroes -- Walker Evans, Robert Frank and others -- he set out back then to photograph his city.

He came recently back to "re-photograph" the city. The result is an overall picture of Detroit that connects decades 40 years apart.

Take a look at the entire piece here.

BBC reports: Space for growth in Detroit

BBC Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Sure, you may have heard much of this before -- that the city is underserved by national food chains, the manufacturing base has collapsed and population has been on a decades-long decline -- but it does feel kinda good to get the BBC to weigh in on urban farming, Eastern Market, the importance of Whole Foods entering the marketplace and, of course, the creative possibilities of having incredible amounts of space as an asset.

Read it all here.

'Work, Reimagined': Detroit producer pens a piece for Yes! Magazine

Yes! Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Independent radio producer Zac Rosen takes a dive into Detroit's creative communities and comes up with some blueprints for the changing nature of work. COLORS--Detroit, On the Rise bakery and the Boggs Educational Center are part of "a revolution of values," he writes. Nicely put.

Read the whole story here.

Giddy up: Pony Ride nurtures creative life in Corktown

Vimeo Tuesday, January 10, 2012
You heard? A group of outside the box investors, including Phil Cooley of Slows, purchased an 80-year-old factory on the corner of Vermont and Porter streets last spring and created a community empowerment project that enables artist and social innovators to get massive amounts of space at an affordable price. You probably did, since we ran this story about the Corktown incubator in November.

But that's OK, because it looks even better in this video clip. Roll the tape and check it out here.

Kickstart Kresge grant winner Steve Hughes' 'Stupor' project with Matthew Barney

Kickstarter Tuesday, January 10, 2012
When writer-builder Steve Hughes met art world maverick Matthew Barney a few years back on a Detroit film set, who knew the two would hit it off and one day collaborate on a book project as part of Hughes' elegantly wasted 'Stupor' series? It's a match made in, well, some stinking, cinematic barroom in a town that is equal parts Hamtramck (where Hughes lives and gets plenty of inspiration) and Boise, Idaho, where Barney spent his formative years.

We don't really know, it's just a guess on our part. But we're eager to see the finished product, to be called Washed in Dirt. Help support it here. Then listen to WDET-FM's Rob St. Mary talk to Hughes here.

DC3 helps grow collective voice for Detroit creatives

Detroit Creative Corridor Center Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Speakers Bureau is an initiative by the Detroit Creative Corridor Center to help establish a voice for Detroit’s creative community. This collective voice is that of many people and businesses who demonstrate forward progress in the city.

All of these individual entities have worked with or work alongside the DC3 in Detroit. Maybe they’ve participated in the Creative Ventures Program or consulted with the DC3 staff on a location for their business. Whatever the case, this is the story of Detroit’s forward movements through our lens. Read all about it here.

HuffPo Detroit rounds up Dan Gilbert's greatest hits of 2011

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Most of us have followed the multiple stories of Quicken Loans founder/chairman Dan Gilbert buying up Detroit skyscrapers in the lower Woodward corridor. His newish company, Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC, manages the properties.

And there are hints of more to come. While we wait, HuffPost Detroit editor Simone Landon maps out Gilbert's real estate scores -- purchased for a cool, cumulative $50 million -- here.

Knight Foundation's BME reinforces good works of Detroit's African American men

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Knight's Black Male Engagement program is rolling forward in Detroit and Philadelphia. Since BME launched, over 1,000 African American men have shared their stories. It offers a chance for community leaders to talk about their projects and connect with others doing similar work in Detroit.

One of the participants is Curtis Lipscomb of KICK, and organization that supports LGBT African Americans. In his BME video, Lipscomb says he's worked with over 3,000 people in nearly 20 years of service. 

See the KICK video and read the entire story here.

HuffPost Detroit's top 11 tech startups for 2011

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Our friends at HuffPost Detroit are ending the year with some best of lists and roundups just like we are. This week, a list of the 11 top tech startups is making the rounds around the webs.

Check it out here.

Detroit Revitalization fellows announced

Wayne State University Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The Detroit Revitalization Fellows Program is a partnership between Wayne State University, the Kresge Foundation, Hudson-Webber Foundation and the Skillman Foundation that brings together talented professionals in Detroit. They will participate in a program combining two years of full-time employment with executive development-style education, networking opportunities and professional coaching and mentoring.

See the list of fellows here. We'll follow this story as it develops.

Sign up for future media economy workshops

Detroit Future Media Tuesday, December 13, 2011
These workshops are 20-week training sessions for Detroiters interested in building Detroit’s media economy by creating grassroots media, and community cultural production. The workshops offer intensive trainings on video, graphics, and web design with a focus on education, entrepreneurship and media-based community organizing.

Hey, sign us up. You do the same here.

Bizdom chief calls Detroit "entrepreneurial field of dreams"

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Dan Izzo zeroes in on a topic near and dear to our hearts: young and hungry thinkers, doers, builders and makers finding opportunities to do business in Detroit 2.0. Some of them have no ties to the city but come ready to plant their vision in this fertile place, says the Training and Launch Chief for downtown's Bizdom U.

The piece first appeared in HuffPost Detroit. Read it here, get inspired.

Wheelhouse pops up at Compuware HQ downtown

Detroit Regional News Hub Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Co-owners Karen Gage and Kelli Kavanaugh say they have always wanted to operate their Wheelhouse Detroit bike shop year round. The next best thing is a pop up shop in a great location. And it doesn't come much better than the Compuware Building, across from downtown's Campus Martius.

It's now open through Christmas Eve. Get all the info you need to go shopping here.

Getting physical: 'Thrive' putting print journalism in hands of homeless

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 13, 2011
We're big fans of Delphia Simmons and her stewardship of street newspaper Thrive. And not only because Model D is happy to be supplying some of the content for the paper distributed by homeless Detroiters.

This story caught our eye in HuffPost Detroit.

Excerpt:

Simmons' hard work to get the project up and running attracted the notice of Kiva, a nonprofit organization that uses the Internet and its worldwide microfinance network to issue loans that help alleviate poverty. Kiva learned about Simmons' project from Margarita Barry, a Detroit entrepreneur who helped set up the organization's local branch.

Read the rest of the story here.

Progressive landscape for social entrepreneurship: it's here

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Have a killer project that, no matter how great, fails to get the city's attention?

You're not alone, says writer-activist Achille Bianchi in HuffPost Detroit. "This is why so many grass-roots and socially progressive movements and organizations thrive and continue to thrive in Detroit," he writes. "Their invention, innovation and efficiency spawns from a certain type of need that only specialized tools can fix." We like how that sounds.

Read the rest of Bianchi's piece here.

Curbed Detroit new architecture critic issues challenge to status quo

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Cheers, Curbed Detroit, for jumping into our moribund media marketplace and fearlessly mixing it up with business owners, designers, realtors, rabbis, Patti Smith fans and now the preservationist community. We didn't know we needed you until we needed you.

Welcome new architecture critic Kelly Ellsworth, who challenges all who love Detroit buildings to not only be passionate -- but proactive and effective.  

Let the arguments begin here.

Signal-Return letterprint store unwraps for Eastern Market holiday shopping

Signal-Return Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Detroit's new letterprint shop, Signal-Return, opens its doors to the public Dec. 2. The Eastern Market storefront will sell hand-printed stationary, books, posters and more; sourced from independent producers across the world and right here in the D. Local artists include Bryan Baker, Susan Goethel Campbell, I.T.U., Leon Johnson, Don Kilpatrick III, Emily Linn, and Megan O'Connell.

Kicking off the new store, Leon Johnson will head a workshop introducing bookbinding and letterprinting for 10 artists from Friday, Dec. 2 thru Sunday, Dec. 4. And on Jan. 4, the writer and artist Alison Knowles will exhibit her array of books, poems and scores; as well as her recent experiments and manipulations with cyanotypes and prints.

Signal-Return will be open for good, from Wed.- Sat, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1345 Division St. in Eastern Market. Join their group on Facebook to keep abreast of all the updates -- and happy shopping this holiday season.

Video: Phil Cooley's Pony Ride incubator hits the ground running

Detroit Make It Here Tuesday, November 29, 2011
A dance group, a furniture-maker and an old-school typesetter from New York City -- they're all the newest tenants of Phil Cooley's Pony Ride, the Vermont St. space he bought for $100,000 with the idea of hatching an incubator for creators and innovators in Corktown.

Check out this video to hear Cooley talk about the 30,000 sq. ft. building -- and the community they're building inside.

Excerpt:

But perhaps the most interesting aspect is watching this patchwork group of entrepreneurs pitch in to restore the building, a microcosm of what could potentially save the city.

Click here to watch.

Upstart Boat Magazine creates Detroit issue

The Guardian UK Tuesday, November 29, 2011
It was a lazy month for London ad agency owners Davey and Erin Spens. The pair, fascinated by magazines and travel, took an unusual vacation -- renting an office in Sarajevo, bringing their two coworkers along to pen a magazine offering readers a true glimpse of the formerly war-torn city.

After some help from writer Dave Eggers, who introduced the first issue of Boat Magazine with one of his short stories, the pair are at it again. They came to Detroit to produce their second issue -- a $12 "antidote to lazy journalism," printed on beautiful matte paper, with an article from Jeffrey Eugenides and interviews with Ben Wallace, Alex Winston and Jessica Hernandez.

We found one excerpt, a photo essay on Detroit food, in The Guardian:

We headed down there on a Saturday morning to find a bustling area filled with vegetable stalls, and thousands of people from all over Detroit and the surrounding states shopping for produce for home or business. The must-haves are the ribs from Berts, but we were as taken by the market across the freeway, with its walls painted in murals of meat, fish and cheese, which are sold inside.

Buy it here.

Xconomy makes the Detroit-Silicon Valley comparison

Xconomy Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Locally-based social entrepreneurs are repositioning the nation's geographic emphasis on Silicon Valley, attracting a business incubator at Wayne State, a venture capital fund based out of U of M, and the attention of tech wizards and venture capitalists on the West Coast.

At the Blackstone LaunchPad incubator at Wayne State, a diverse group of student entrepreneurs are being trained in running a business -- but locating those future companies in Metro Detroit is part of the program. And they're inspired by young social entrepreneurs like EnGarde Detroit's Bobby Smith and Veronika Scott of the Empowerment Plan to do more than just pay the bills.

Smith says his long-term goal is to help transform Detroit into the "Silicon Valley of social entrepreneurship. Detroit is the perfect place for it -- Detroit created the middle class. People here are not afraid of hard work," he says.

Read more here.

Record amount of diners swarm fall Detroit Restaurant Week

Detroit Restaurant Week Tuesday, November 15, 2011
There's just no stopping Detroit Restaurant Week.

Event producers Paxahau reported that the 10-evening dining promotion lured 36,046 gourmands to 21 restaurants across the city of Detroit, an 18.4 percent increase over 2010. It's the second-largest tally ever for the $28 prix fixe dining bonanza, which has counted 150,000 customers since launching five years ago.


"We are pleased the enthusiasm Metro Detroiters have for Detroit Restaurant Week has continued to grow over the years," said Jason Huvaere, Director of Detroit Restaurant Week. "It has been a terrific way for our community to experience the tremendous fine dining restaurants Detroit has to offer. With each campaign we hope we’re developing a new crop of customers who will frequent the restaurants all year long."

Stay tuned for the announcement for a Spring 2012 Detroit Restaurant Week date and more here.

Peering into Detroit's future through its alleys

Detroit Idea Factory Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Across Midtown, a new appreciation for the humble alleyway is resulting in creative re-adaptations as entryways, pedestrian corridors and outdoor spaces all their own.

The Detroit Idea Factory examines three varied uses for the alley around Midtown. Outside Motor City Brewing Works, the Canfield Green Alley beautifully connects Second Ave. and Canfield without sacrificing the tenets of sustainability. Over in the Sugar Hill Arts District, new restaurant Seva will open an outdoor patio in the alley, dismissing the typical exterior seating outside of the storefront. And Hatch finalists Alley Wine say they hope to open their future vino bar in a Cass Corridor alley.

Excerpt:

The master plan for Sugar Hill links up walkable alleys with the Midtown Loop, a pedestrian greenway. The culture of a walking city is part of our history, and our urban bones still support it. The intricate network of alleyways and narrow sidestreets are waiting to happen.

Are alleys the next big thing? Click here for more.

Detroit: a test case in the role of art in a city's revival

Grist Magazine Tuesday, November 08, 2011
In Kansas, a battle between Governor Sam Brownback and the National Endowment for the Arts has resulted in the NEA pulling all arts funding for the state, according to Grist. In Detroit, partnerships between major institutions and artistic-minded entrepreneurs have launched partnerships like the FAB lab, which offers metalworkers, mixed-media artists, woodworkers and digital fabricators the (often expensive) tools and space needed to practice their craft. Which seems like a growth strategy?

Excerpt:

"Detroit has always been a place where things have been made," says Alex Feldman, one of the project's creators, who works on economic development strategies with the company U3 Ventures. "That tradition is still alive here. But it's starting to shift in a small way to a more (artistic) culture of manufacturing and creation."

Tap into the scene here.

Signal-Return and AIGA host first letterprint workshop

AIGA Detroit Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Signal-Return, Detroit's first retail store dedicated to fhe fine art of letterprint press, will host its premier workshop, with a holiday theme, on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 10-11. Hosted with AIGA Detroit, the Holiday Style workshop will offer only 12 registrants the opportunity to produce holiday-themed cards on vintage equipment with custom envelopes and paper. The workshop will focus on hand-compositing movable wood and metal type, locking-up, and printing.

The cost is $180 for AIGA members and $220 for the rest of us.

Find out more here.

Downtown GAR building gets a makeover

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Downtown Detroit's castle, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Hall at Cass and Grand River Avenue, will be renovated into creative offices for Mindfield, according to the Freep.

After purchasing the GAR building from the City of Detroit for $220,000, developers Tom and David Carleton and Sean Emery said they hope to open in 2013 after a $2 to $3 million renovation. In addition to offices for Mindfield, a boutique media production firm with offices on Library St., the building will include retail and restaurant space, as well as a Civil War memorial to honor the building's history.

Excerpt:

Designed by architect Julius Hess in the castle-like Romanesque style popular in the day, the GAR Building was built in 1899 as a meeting hall for Union Army veterans. As those veterans died off, the building took on other uses, but closed more than 30 years ago.

Find out more here.

Pop-up stores offer new solutions to recession

Detroit News Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Pop-up retail is spreading throughout Metro Detroit (other than the annual Halloween shops, we're going to give the credit to Joe Posch's Hugh for this one). The Somerset Collection's CityLoft luxury shopping experience downtown will extend weekend shopping hours through December for the holiday shopping season. The article also caught up with 71 Pop's Margarita Barry, who offered a convincing argument for many entrepreneurs to scout the market by opening temporary retail.

Excerpt:

"It's a good chance for me to learn whether I really want to run a brick-and-mortar business," Barry said. "What are the price points that work? What does the community want? The pop up idea is offering me a great chance to learn."

Find out more here.

Imagination Station outpost skirts demolition -- for now

Detroit News Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Tensions between city officials and artists over building demolitions are at heart in this article chronicling the Imagination Station's continued work to save a blighted Corktown property near the Michigan Central Depot from demolition.

The home in question featured an installation by artist Catie Newell, which was deconstructed for Grand Rapids' annual Art Prize competition (it won a juried award). The city's given Imagination Station more time to create a plan to fix the property before it's scheduled for demolition.

Excerpt:

DeBruyn was among the group of community activists who bought the Imagination Station homes on 14th Street, next to Roosevelt Park, at the request of the Wayne County Nuisance Abatement Program. They paid $500 apiece, plus back taxes. "So much of the art inspired in this town is inspired by the blight," DeBruyn said. "We are part of the movement that's trying to do something positive about it."

Get more here.

New Children's Chamber of Commerce to focus on Detroit kids

PNC Foundation Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thanks to a $50,000 grant from PNC Financial Services' PNC Foundation, First Children's Finance will launch the Michigan Children's Chamber of Commerce, designed to strengthen early-child care centers across the state --with a focus on Detroit, Inkster and Pontiac.

It's been a rough couple years for the early-care industry. Since 2009, Wayne County lost at least 60 licensed centers for child care, contributing to a loss of over 1,400 slots for young kids in Southeastern Michigan. As a result, over 70 percent of state subsidy dollars in Michigan are paid to unlicensed guardians caring for kids.

"Low-quality care in the first few years of life can have a long-lasting impact on a child's learning and behavior," said Skillman Foundation President & CEO Carol Goss. "Quality care helps a child to develop a strong mind, body and spirit through a variety of experiences."

Business members of the Michigan Children's Chamber can receive small business mentoring and financial support. The Chamber will conduct 200 clinics in 2012 to help existing businesses overcome specific business issues to stay on their feet and keep their doors open.

Find out more here.

LiveWorkDetroit hooks up college grads with big-city opportunities

Pure Michigan Tuesday, October 18, 2011
LiveWorkDetroit! showcases Detroit as the place for Michigan's college graduates and young professionals to live and work. The group says Detroit is one of the hottest and hippest places in the country (thank you, we appreciate that) and LiveWorkDetroit! gives participants the opportunity to see it in person and to hear it directly from employers eager to hire the best and brightest.

LiveWorkDetroit will take place Oct. 21, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Ave., in Midtown Detroit.

There is a $15 registration at www.michiganadvantage.org/LWD. Click here to check out the event flyer.

Honor + Folly bed and breakfast -- coming soon

Designtripper Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Detroit's newest bed-and-breakfast will offer guests a dose of original style along with their pillow and key.

Meghan McEwen, founder of the amazingly cool DesignTripper blog, posted a few thoughts on her latest venture, Honor + Folly, which will bring the inn concept to Corktown's Michigan Ave.

Writes McEwen, "I’ve been so inspired by all the people and places I’ve been writing about for the past year, I’ve decided to join ‘em. I don’t have photos yet ... and you’ll have to bear with me while I paint, stock, source, sand furniture, adorn walls, make beds, knit pillows and hang a shingle."

While details are limited, McEwen tells us Honor + Folly will feature cooking classes and lotsa cool furnishings from local designers. It will open to guests in mid-November.

Click here to read McEwen's post, and keep tuning into Model D for more Honor + Folly.

Brightmoor student woodworkers carve out a future

Michigan Citizen Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Want a sign Brightmoor is turning around? An after-school program sponsored by Detroit Community High School is now a neighborhood business, employing five local students in the age-old art of hand-crafted woodworking.

The Brightmoor Woodworkers have installed five signs around the neighborhood, created in the Community High School's woodshop. They don't use power tools -- just chisels, stencils, mallets and clamps. Each sign typically takes a week to build and costs $10 a letter. The signs are appearing in front of local businesses and decorate a few of the 30 community gardens that have sprouted in Brightmoor.

Detroit Community High School founder Bart Eddy says the Woodworkers' teaches what he calls "curbside entrepreneurship," and hopes to expand the program.

Excerpt:

"This has provided an important service for the community," he told the Michigan Citizen. "We can now teach any kid in the neighborhood, using the proper tools, and they can start their own sign-making business."

The sign points here.

Bing means business on banking in Detroit

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Mayor Dave Bing is rewarding banks who invest locally with his business -- and closing accounts at banks that he feels aren't making enough home and small business loans in the city.

Crain's reports that the city of Detroit, which pays $1 million in banking fees annually on $1 billion in investments, has streamlined its accounts since 2009, winnowing almost 300 accounts at 13 banks to 156 at 11 institutions in the city. He says his team is also compiling a database to track small-business and mortgage lending within the city limits.

Excerpt:

"I can't tell you I'm satisfied with any of them just yet until I collect all of this data, until I analyze that," he said. "That's going to be somewhere in the next 30 to 60 days, and we're going to be meeting with all of those banks."

Read more here.

10 start-up semi-finalists "Hatched," voting now open

Hatch Detroit Tuesday, October 04, 2011
A Midtown wine bar, a Woodbridge "gypsy den" serving fine teas and a bakeshop with a big heart -- these are just three of the 10 semi-finalist businesses announced in the Hatch Detroit entrepreneurial contest, which will award $50,000 and mentoring to Detroit's favorite idea for new retail.

Voting's now open to the public -- two rounds will narrow down the pool of semi-finalists to the "Hatch Off" finale, where the budding entrepreneurs will be given five minutes to make their best pitches to a team of judges.

Head to the Hatch Detroit page to cast your votes for the top four -- and come back the next day (you can vote once every 24 hours). Best of luck to all! Detroit could use all 10 of these these fresh ideas for local biz -- and 10 more after that.

Know This! takes a tour of Detroit's creativity

YouTube Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Know This! took a tour through Detroit, catching up with 71 Pop's Margarita Barry, Detroitbigfdeal's Tunde Wey and Bureau of Urban Living owner Claire Nelson along the way. The host says they're hearing a lot of new concepts in the city, "because people are really innovating, people are really connecting and they're bringing a lot of creative ideas to revitalize the city." Hear, hear.

Check the video out here.

TEDx Detroit delivers passion, comedy, drama

TEDxDetroit Tuesday, October 04, 2011
TEDxDetroit bills itself as an idea-generating conference from innovators, doers and thinkers in the Metro Detroit region. Last week's annual conference, held at the Max M. Fisher Center, had it all -- comedy, musings on physics, tap-dancing, human drama and great ideas. Detroiter Matt Dibble told us that the Detroit of tomorrow is almost here today; En Garde Detroit's Bobby Smith uses fencing to help save city kids; Veronika Scott's art project became an in-demand coat that saves lives; Randal Charlton spoke of the failures and tragedies that dogged him before he was appointed head of Tech Town. All these stories and more available online -- click here to find out what you missed.

Next Urban Chef contest chops off at Eastern Market

Eastern Market Corporation Tuesday, September 27, 2011
This year's MI Apple Gala, a benefit for Eastern Market, will offer patrons a new twist -- the chance to witness the city's first Next Urban Chef competition. It's all taking place Oct. 14 at Shed 3 in the market (click here for tickets).

Recycle Here!'s Matthew Naimi says the live cook-off will raise awareness of Detroit's "food shed," the local fresh food system extending through Ontario, southeast Michigan and northern Ohio (of which Eastern Market is the hub). Supino Pizzeria owner Dave Mancini will face-off against Phil Jones, the former executive chef at Lola's and incoming chef at Colors Detroit. The two chefs will be supported by a team of non-professional Detroiters both young and old, including several DPS students mentored as cooking assistants.

"This is as much about the chefs as it is about the youth that are involved," Naimi says. "We really are trying to show youth in the city of Detroit, especially, that there are careers in the food system -- from cooking and fine dining to producing food, processing food or growing food. It's all part of our food shed."

Here's how it works. Each team will receive an ingredient box of produce, meats, grains and spices (all from food shed producers). They'll have an hour to produce a unique meal, judged on the merits of innovation, creativity, taste and presentation.

The Next Urban Chef contest is just the beginning of a series, Naimi says. He says Mancini and Jones' community work made them natural choices for the first head-to-head challenge. "Dave has helped a lot of the small food groups get started with his kitchen, and by being a very giving person," he says. "And Phil Jones did a lot of work with the Food Policy Council. And his work with the Colors kitchen lends itself to working with youth and others."

Bite into more here.

Neighborhood Mother to raise $3000 for NoCo renovation

Detroit Big F Deal Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Local social entrepreneur Tunde Wey's website, DetroitBigFDeal.com, operates like a Motor City blend of Kickstarter and Groupon. Similar to Kickstarter, DetroitBigFDeal highlights local projects in need of support, using social media to fund the drive for contributions. Like Groupon, anyone who buys gets discounts and gift certificates to neighboring businesses (among them Thistle Coffee Shop, Union Street and Cliff Bell's). While giving is its own reward, it need not be the only one.

The website's newest project, Neighborhood Mother, will try to raise $3000 to renovate a recently-abandoned home near Spaulding Court in North Corktown. Longtime resident Angie Johnson, now 70 years old, single-handedly took care of her block while working two jobs and raising kids alone. Laid off, she can no longer afford to keep up her home. The project, led by Steve Schmidt, Jon Koller and Jeff DeBruyn, will use the money to get Johnson's residence market-ready and rented.

Excerpt:

"This provides Angie much needed (rental) income, allowing her to live with some measure of financial security and the dignity befitting her contribution to the community. A new tenant also increases neighborhood density, growing a community where even one more person means an added layer of support and safety. This is a community-initiated response to the severe challenges of blight, population decline and social care for the elderly ..."

Check out the video and give what you got here.

Claire Nelson talks design, collaboration, and Detroit's changing spirit

Detroit Unspun Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Claire Nelson is more than just the owner of Midtown's Bureau of Urban Living (and a helpful friend of Model D) -- call her Midtown's quintessential good neighbor. Co-founder of the Open City forum on small business entrepreneurship, she's headed more projects than we could count, and it's rare to find a Midtown biz owner who hasn't benefited from her counsel.

Click here to read the Detroit Unspun blog's revealing chat with Nelson, who came to Detroit with a background in urban planning. As she says, opening a business in Detroit isn't exactly DIY -- it's DIO (do it ourselves). That passion for creating community in lieu of competition might be Nelson's greatest gift to Midtown.

Excerpt:

"Over the last four years, we’ve seen dozens of Open City participants open their doors -- Wheelhouse Detroit, Supino Pizzeria, Curl Up & Dye, Leopold’s Books, City Bird, Good People Popcorn, City Living Detroit, 71 POP -- with more on the way. Even better, all of these businesses have paid it forward, helping mentor and support other new businesses around them. A lot of people talk about the DIY spirit in Detroit, but I think it’s really more "DIO" -- ourselves, plural, together."

Get the spirit here.

Detroit's first Food Truck Stop gears up in Shed 2

Eastern Market Corporation Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Call it a drag race for gourmands. Celebrating the birth of the food truck craze in the Motor City, Eastern Market is opening its doors to six SE Mich food trucks in Shed 2. Hailing from Lansing, Ann Arbor, Oakland County and the good old D, foodies will be able to taste a range of four-wheeled cuisines -- from Asian-inspired fare to tacos and coffee and crepes.

Experience Detroit's first truck stop meet-up and witness entrepreneurship in action on Sept. 27 from 4 to 8 p.m.

Hungry for more? Check out the Facebook page.

Ruin porn, dreamers and you -- a meditation on Detroit's future

The Awl Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Adhering to the axiom that art is meant to be controversial (nay, even prescriptive), a recent essay from NYC-based website The Awl attempts to justify "ruin porn" -- a new term for the practice of capturing cities in destruction that's become shorthand for a culture of photography in the D. This bitter, often sarcastic piece won't be for everyone, but it's the latest attempt to justify the competing narratives for the city's present state and the shaping of its future.

Excerpt:

With so much of Detroit about to disappear, does this not provide us with an excellent opportunity to document that which we will not be able to document in the near future? Instead of decrying voyeurism, why not consider these photographs and stories a reminder that in America we actually do abandon our neighbors and let our cities die, time and time again.

You can find the essay here.

Downtown's Capitol Park neighborhood up for grabs

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, August 30, 2011
A transformation of Capitol Park, a historic neighborhood located on the near west side of Woodward in downtown, could begin by 2011's end.

The City of Detroit is asking for "high-quality, transformative" proposals to renovate three vacant commercial buildings along Griswold. RFP information is available on the DEGC website; proposals are due Oct. 14.

Excerpt:

The city has already remade the streetscape of the small wedge-shaped public park at the center of Capitol Park, so named because it was the site of Michigan's first state capitol building. That work included the relocation of the burial site and monument to Michigan's first governor, Stevens T. Mason, from one portion of the park to another.

More available here.

TEDxDetroit announces 2011 conference

TEDxDetroit Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Local catalysts, entrepreneurs and thinkers -- TEDxDetroit is looking for you.

The date's been confirmed for this annual conference on positive ideas and creativity, in which speakers are allotted just a few minutes to share their story. It's all going down Wednesday, Sept. 28, in Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.

Applications are required to attend, and a $26 donation provides admission and lunch.

Find out more here -- and click here to watch our favorite moment from TEDxDetroit 2010, a performance by the late-departed David Blair.

Good Girls go to the White House

MLive.com Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes owner Torya Blanchard was brutally honest when she was asked how to find start-up capital at a White House event celebrating young entrepreneurs this week -- cash in your 401(k).

Blanchard, along with ePrize founder Josh Linkner, represented Detroit at the White House's Champions of Change panel discussion last week. And true to those who know her, she was characteristically blunt about the realities of small business entrepreneurship.

Excerpt:

Her eyes wide open advocacy is indispensable if entrepreneurship is expected to boost Detroit's fortunes long-term. Otherwise, we'll end up with a bunch of disillusioned Pilates instructors ready to hang it up after six months. Whatever else, Torya Blanchard will be doing her thing long after fair weather boosters move on to the next fun thing to save Detroit. Ideally, when that new shiny silver bullet captures our collective attention like the squirrels we are, she won't be the last entrepreneur standing.

Read more here.

Downtown Detroit fights back

Washington Times Tuesday, August 23, 2011
There's plenty good going on in Detroit right now, summarized in a recent article from the Washington Times. Whole Foods, the Live Midtown housing incentives and recent population growth in young professionals, well-covered, all receive their due. What's new is an interview with Nate Forbes, managing partner of Troy's Somerset Collection, which has opened the CityLoft retail venture in the downtown Woodward corridor. Forbes touts both the city's public-private partnerships and current leaders for creating an atmosphere that supports new businesses and entrepreneurs.

Excerpt:

"Of course Detroit has a lot of geography — it's a large city. There's no telling how long it will take, but you have to start off in small chunks. You have a lot of businesses moving to the area that will spawn other investments — hotels, retail, restaurants. It's one block at a time, but when you go down there now, you feel a renewed energy."

More to read here.

Fast Company takes a bite of Detroit SOUP

Tuesday, August 23, 2011
What can a shared meal of soup teach us about brand loyalty and market growth? Plenty. At Detroit SOUP, a monthly shared dinner where participants pay $5 to hear new ideas from the community before voting funds to the crowd favorite, democracy and community concern are the buzzwords. A new article from Fast Company calls SOUP an example for companies, not just concerned citizens; noting the co-creativity spawned by having the right guests to dinner, so to speak, is the future of crowdsourcing.

Excerpt:

Back in Michigan, Detroit SOUP co-founder Kate Daughdrill is putting these principles into practice: "We're figuring out how to engage civically, how to be engaged citizens," she explains. "We've been excited to create this practical experience in democracy. Brands that embrace this mindset will experience deeper engagement, richer collaboration on innovation opportunities and the gratification of shared value creation.

Sample the article here.

New doc: Detroit in Overdrive

The Discovery Channel Tuesday, August 09, 2011
The Discovery Channel's new miniseries, Detroit in Overdrive, appearing on Planet Green, digs in deep. While familiar faces like Motor City Denim's Joe Faris and Kid Rock get their due, this vid searches out the "tangible faces behind those big buildings" for the three-part special, which originally aired Aug. 4. That means Maria's Comida, the Sphinx Organization and CCS student and designer Veronika Scott are among the long list of the city's community members and do-gooders sharing the spotlight with Detroit's superstars. We like it.

Excerpt:

The Russell Industrial center functions as a community space for artists, craftspeople, and small businesses. Edith Floyd stands up for what she believes in by building an urban garden where abandoned houses once stood. Last, Kristyn Koth and Malik Muqaribu feed Detroiters in their 1956 Airstream, the Pink Flamingo, bringing fresh organic food to Detroiters in a unique mobile food truck, spearheading a local food movement.

Find out more about Detroit in Overdrive here.

Detroit is the new ... Detroit!

7STOPS Magazine Tuesday, August 09, 2011
We're still trying to track down the origin of the Detroit-Brooklyn comparison. Perhaps it was Patti Smith's urging for punk kids to live the true rock & roll lifestyle, or a recent NYT article comparing Detroit's nightlife and entrepreneurs to that of a burgeoning Brooklyn. While the analogy's gained steam outside our borders, this new essay posits a new sort of regrowth in Detroit -- one based as much on building community as building cool.

Excerpt:

And while this most recent wave of media attention is refreshing considering the post-apocalyptic alternative, to suggest that Detroit is the new Brooklyn misses the point entirely. Detroit will never be what Brooklyn is. But at the risk of sounding like the girl who didn't get asked to prom telling us that she "didn't really want to go anyhow," I don't think that the people that make Detroit exciting are looking to recreate Brooklyn; they're looking to revitalize the city they love. They aren't attracted to an anonymous blank slate, but to joining a community committed to doing good in a big city.

Here's to doing it our way. Read more here.

Thrive Detroit makes "budding micropreneurs" of city's homeless

Kiva Detroit Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Give a hungry man a dollar, and it won't go far. Employ a homeless person as a self-starting entrepreneur selling newspapers on the streets for a dollar, and there's potential to change a life.

One of Kiva Detroit's crowdsourcing ventures is Delphia Simmons' Thrive Detroit, which aims to help the less fortunate by giving them the chance to work for a living. The city's homeless and vulnerably-housed can apply for jobs selling papers, while learning basic money management skills and launching their own business.

Check out the website here, and keep your eyes peeled for Thrive's streetwise salespeople this fall.

Young Broke & Beautiful: The new IFC series gets wild in the D

Independent Film Channel Tuesday, August 02, 2011
"Young, Broke & Beautiful" -- there's no way a TV show aiming for that demographic could pass up a night in our fair city. This intrepid series from the Independent Film Channel spotlights indie culture and creators across the nation. Their hour-long travelogue on the D makes friends with plenty of our favorite people and places, from the Imagination Station and DJ Kyle Hall to late-night parties and Coneys (natch).

Excerpt:

Stuart will pull the Scion into the most beautiful, broken down parking lot in the world. There's no doubt that all these YBB's will know where the dopest, most off the chain, unsanctioned warehouse party is happening, and Stuart will find himself closing down the night, partying with his people.

IFC will rerun the Detroit episode all week, beginning Tuesday at 6 p.m. Find out more about the channel's tour Detroit here.

Go (Mid)west, young man -- Detroit, the new frontier

YES! Magazine Tuesday, July 26, 2011
A century and a half ago, adventurers, dreamers and gamblers alike headed west to seek freedom and fortune. A new article in YES! Magazine hails Detroit as the new American frontier for the modern-day visionary. Urban agriculture, cheap land, yes -- Detroit has these things, and more. But, author Aaron M. Renn notes, the city's relatively lax attitude avoids a pattern of interference, which often hampers development in stronger cities. And that's birthed a community of "self-determinants," working together to create something closer to utopia out of the ruins.

Excerpt:

Whether this trend really pumps life back into Detroit remains to be seen. But it has done one essential thing: it has created an aspirational narrative of success in Detroit that other Americans might imagine themselves being a part of. If that starts to attract people in sufficient numbers to reverse core city population decline, Detroit could be at the start of the long road back.

Say yes. Read more here.

Detroit-Brooklyn discussion expands on NPR

National Public Radio Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Is Detroit poised to become the next, gulp, Brooklyn (by that, we guess they mean a welcoming environment for creatives and cutting-edge entrepreneurs)? NPR"s Tell Me More interviewed Detroit native and 71 Pop founder Margarita Barry and new Midtown resident Scott Harrison, the director of patron engagement at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Their message to Michel Martin listeners? While Detroit's problems are oft-covered and obvious, the quality of living in neighborhoods like Midtown is comparable, at least, to that found in any other cosmopolitan American city -- at a fraction of the cost.

Excerpt:

So, I mean, I think within a 15 to 20 minute walk of where I live, I can find just anything, whether it's food, whether it's culture, whether it's entertainment, whether it's shopping. You know, we don't have the big box stores. If I need a Target, sure, I've got to get in the car and drive, but, I mean for day to day, six out of seven days of the week I'm sufficient and content just in my area.

Listen to the story here.

Downtown Detroit: a steal of a deal

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Taking advantage of a decade low point in price-per-square-foot costs, Dan Gilbert has purchased four downtown skyscrapers this year, amassing nearly two million square feet of building space near his Quicken Loans headquarters. The Wall Street Journal calls Dan Gilbert's real estate spree the "Deal of the Week." Will Gilbert's plan to fill these empty high-rises with his own employees and thousands of young people broaden efforts to repopulate downtown? We have a hunch it will.

Excerpt:

Real-estate brokers bet Mr. Gilbert won't follow the path of other opportunistic buyers who have taken advantage of low prices to cut rents, continuing what some see as a downward spiral of Detroit property values. Rather, Jim Ketai, who co-founded Bedrock last year with Mr. Gilbert, says he expects the company to invest millions of dollars into modernizing the buildings.

Read what else WSJ has to say here.

With a shout-out from CBS Evening News, 71 Pop gears for opening

CBS Evening News Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Margarita Barry's 71 Pop retail shop hasn't even opened yet, but this young entrepreneur was one of the local faces credited with igniting the city's entrepreneurial turnaround in a recent national story from CBS Evening News. These DIY business launchers are positive signs of a renaissance brewing (hey, we've been saying that all along).

Out of all the creative businesses opening their doors in the 313, 71 Pop's idea is one of our favorites. Located in the 71 Garfield building in the up-and-coming Sugar Hill Arts District, 71 Pop will feature a rotating cast of emerging homegrown designers. 71 Pop takes charge of the nuts-and-bolts of running the retail operation, giving artists a chance to do what they do best -- design. The grand opening is set for Saturday, July 30 at 2 p.m.

Get hip to the 71 Pop concept here, or find out more about the event on Facebook. Click here to watch the video.

Knight Foundation, NEA to fund Detroit's new concepts for arts journalism

Knight Foundation Tuesday, July 19, 2011
While cultural institutions work to attract new audiences, two of the nation's most illustrious foundations are looking for the newest models for arts journalism in the 21st century.

The Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge will seek new models and ideas for sustaining arts journalism in the 21st century in eight cities across America, including Detroit. Up to $100,000 is available for each project; first round winners will receive $20,000 to develop an action plan for new models that can be replicated in another cities.

Excerpt:

"No idea is too unusual," Scholl said. "Embedding a nonprofit reporter in a for-profit news organization? Creating a new collective to share professional work? Asking the community to decide which arts stories are best and put up the money to cover those? Have better ideas that never would have occurred to us on our own?  Fill out the application form, and send them in. The best ideas may well be the ones that stretch our thinking."

Find out more here.

Windsor Star calls Detroit a creative "mecca"

Windsor Star Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Cyclists, can-do spirit and a hip youth culture -- all reasons why the Windsor Star pegged Detroit as the latest American city to undergo a massive transformation from decrepit to desirable in recent years. In particular, the city's wave of new entrepreneurs speaks to a new post-industrial mindset in the ersatz Motor City.

While Detroit once attracted new residents with the promise of a comfortable factory gig, it's now seen as the new destination for creatives hungry to build their own dream jobs.

Excerpt:

Very few of the many new businesses sprouting up are getting outright government grants or tax breaks, said DC3 director Matt Clayson. But micro-loans, venture capital investment, mentoring, cheap work spaces, tools and equipment and help with market exposure are among the resources made available to just about anyone with a viable idea.

Philip Cooley, the owner of the wildly successful Corktown restaurant Slows Bar BQ, said Detroit was once a city that relied on large companies employing a large workforce in big factories. "How complacent we became, and we fell apart as a result," said Cooley, a 33-year-old business school dropout.

Find out what else our neighbors to the north (or to the south, in the case of Windsor) have to say about us here.

Vacation buzz: our favorite links from the past two weeks

New York Times Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Model D took a break last week to celebrate the holiday, but a city like Detroit never sleeps. If you're just back from Up North or the beach, here are a few of our can't-miss links to catch up on what went down over Fourth of July weekend.

The New York Times sang the praises of the city's young and entrepreneurial dreamers, writing, "These days the word "movement" is often heard to describe the influx of socially aware hipsters and artists now roaming the streets of Detroit. Not unlike Berlin, which was revitalized in the 1990s by young artists migrating there for the cheap studio space, Detroit may have this new generation of what city leaders are calling "creatives" to thank if it comes through its transition from a one-industry (town)." Are we becoming a Midwestern TriBeCa? Read more here.
Or, wait a minute: aren't we already the next Brooklyn? Check that out down the page.

Microfinancing Detroit: Kiva Detroit, a partnership between Michigan Corps, the Knight Foundation, San Fran-based Kiva.org and microlender Accion USA, together raised over $11,000 in just three hours to help fund five start-up businesses in the city. The site allows supporters to pledge loans for as little as $25. Click here for details.

Will a battle for designing the Detroit of the future derail the momentum of the present? The Wall Street Journal writes of a rift between the City of Detroit and the Kresge Foundation that could have serious implications for arguably the two most important initiatives of 2011. "Kresge stopped funding Detroit Works at the start of the year after disagreements with City Hall over the role of outside consultants. The foundation also is rethinking its support for the rail line amid a separate spat with city officials." Say it isn't so. Read the rest of the story is here.

Here's one bright spot: Amidst a gloomy June economic report, BNET reports Detroit continues to hire both white and blue-collar workers, calling the domestic auto industry a "micro-recovery." We're sure glad to hear it, though we'd rather be cycling in the city. More information here.

Why Forbes named Detroit a best place to do business

Forbes Tuesday, July 12, 2011
When Forbes put Detroit on the cover of its recent issue profiling the best places to do business, Detroit bureau chief Joann Muller called it an "unorthodox" decision. But Muller gets it right in this column, noting that the abundance of skilled workers, cheap real estate and revamped business tax structure all point to a tagline we rather like: "land of opportunity."

Excerpt:

Still, there are plenty of  "green shoots" that shouldn't be ignored. While families with young children especially were fleeing the city at a rapid rate, the number of college-educated people under 35 living within 3 miles of downtown grew by fifty-nine percent. And the manufacturing industry is adding jobs at a rapid clip, contrary to what's happening in other industries.

Read more, and watch some local leaders talk about doing business in the D, here.

Is Detroit the new Brooklyn?

PBS Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Well, they're finally getting it. While we think Detroit's laid-back vibe puts it in a class of its own, the rest of the country is finally getting hip to our scene. The question at PBS Need to Know: Is Detroit the new Brooklyn? We'd say we've got our own identity to keep building, but thanks for the compliment.

Excerpt:

There are restaurateurs and entrepreneurs of all stripes living alongside environmentalists and urban farmers.  The city, according to the Times, seems like "a giant candy store for young college graduates wanting to be their own bosses." One woman said that there's a cool party just about every evening.

Read the rest of the story here.

Head to Eastern Market for new Tuesday shopping days

Eastern Market Corporation Tuesday, July 12, 2011
More fresh food and fun awaits during a new day of shopping at Eastern Market. From July 12 through Sept. 27, Shed 2 of the open-air marketplace will be open to the public -- a great way stock up on eats while avoiding the Saturday crowds. Stop by every Tuesday this summer from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Shed 2 is located at the corner of Russell and Winder streets.

Excerpt:

"Detroit Eastern Market Tuesdays" will feature a sampling our historic Saturday Market experience though the inclusion of farmers, flowers, produce dealers, specialty products, and prepared-food vendors. In addition, "Tuesdays" will be a weekly community celebration including special events highlighting the agricultural, social, culinary, and artistic treasures of our city, region, and state.

Find out more here.

Video: Chronicling Detroit's two-wheeled transformation

Vimeo Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Set to smooth hip-hop beats, this 13-minute doc called "Detroit Bike City" celebrates our city's ever-growing trend toward two wheels. From bike clubs like the East Side Riders to tricked-out rides and kids learning about bikes at The Hub, this video is a beauty. Filmed and produced by Alex Gallegos.

Watch the doc here.

The future of Cass Avenue, a struggle between commercial growth and gardens

MLive.com Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Mlive's Jeff Wattrick produced an in-depth commentary on the fate of the two Cass Corridor land parcels sold to Midtown doggie daycare Canine to Five. The land's been informally used by Birdtown Gardens for urban gardening.

As Wattrick writes, this was about more than just one garden -- it's bound to be a guiding case for City Council as Detroit attempts to rectify its interests in urban agriculture with the needs of local entrepreneurs like Canine's Liz Blondy. And while Wattrick supports the desires of urban agriculture, he warns that, without entrepreneurs, gardening alone won't save the city.

Excerpt:

Still, Detroit has 60,000 vacant city-owned parcels. Even if gardening doesn't help make Detroit "look like Chicago," to quote Councilman Ken Cockrel, it is an exponentially better use for vacant land than ad hoc tire dumps or shooting galleries for dopeheads. Even the densest of cities, say Manhattan, find small pockets for green space. In other words, there is plenty of room for Detroit to be a real city while accommodating reasonable urban gardening.

Read the whole article here.

Detroit, save the bagels!

Detroit Institute of Bagels Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Imagine a city with nary a bagel bakery to its name.

That shouldn't be too difficult. Detroit, for all its charms, lacks even one brick-and-mortar bagel shop within the city limits. The Detroit Institute of Bagels is hoping to change that. Boiled and baked, their line of spheroid starches offer more than just sesame and salt for choices. Rumor has it these dough punchers craft a bacon cheddar bagel and cherry chocolate chunk confection, among other flavors.

But the Detroit Institute of Bagels is looking for dough (bad pun) to purchase an oven to combat the 'bagel deserts" grown rampant in the Motor City. Want to name a bagel or take a cooking class? Hey, how 'bout free bagels for life? Join the cause!

Excerpt:

The DIB will increase the livability of the city, attract more residents, bring in dollars from neighboring suburbs, employ city residents and put Detroit on the map in the bagel world. This bagel shop could more than double the population of Detroit (see graph), through offering a staple and sign of any growing community -- the bagel.  And the small-batch varieties available at the DIB will increase visitors coming to the city, which in turn increases foot traffic, which decreases crime, which makes Detroit that much better of a place to live!

Hungry? Put your money where your mouth is and join the campaign.

Green Garage to expand by summer's end

MyFOXDetroit Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Between five and eight environmentally-focused companies will move into Tom and Peggy Noonan's Green Garage in Midtown, which will roll open its doors to offer Detroit a sustainable center for going green. The couple, who purchased the warehouse with retirement money, have transformed the vacant building into an almost completely efficient building (think rain water catching systems, solar panel energy and more). A team of entrepreneurs working out of the Garage are also doing business by the same ethos.

One company moving into the Green Garage is building furniture -- but this isn't your ordinary hand-crafted stuff.

Excerpt:

Their merchandise will be made from wood and other materials they gather from abandoned homes in Detroit. The entrepreneur plans to purchase the materials from the rightful owners, such as the city or a bank. To make the furniture more meaningful, the owner plans to engrave the house address that the materials came from right onto the furniture. He also plans to include a brief history of the home the material came from so the owner of the furniture can own a small piece of Detroit's history.

Check out the story and slideshow here.

NY Post profiles the "new Detroit cool"

New York Post Tuesday, June 14, 2011
When no less an authority on cool than the NY Post devotes a feature to how cool it is to hang in Corktown, you know we're doing something right. Detroit's own Nicole Rupersburg captures the wave of entrepreneurial spirit washing over Michigan Ave., spotlighting new businesses-to-be like The Sugar House Bar, Astro Coffee and the Detroit Institute of Bagels. We also dug the article's "where to stay" travel guide, which tells it like it really is. Take this profile of the neighborhood's MGM Grand Casino & Hotel:

Excerpt:

The immensely appealing, Tony Chi-designed spa alone makes this one of the best city hotels in the Midwest; an exclusive feel and masculine, expensively-decorated rooms -- nicer than at many an MGM-owned hotel in Vegas -- help matters greatly, as does the presence of two fine restaurants overseen by Michael Mina. You should know, though, that this hotel doesn't feel like it's in Detroit. This may be a plus for some. We were first-timers once, don't worry. We get it. No judgments.

Get some more cool here.

Third annual Hubbell Bike Ride nears

Colin Hubbell Fund Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Detroit developer and passionate Midtown cheerleader Colin Hubbell passed away three years ago, but his memory lives on. Hundreds of Hubbell's friends will celebrate his spirit via two wheels on June 18, when his family hosts the Third Annual Hubbell Fund Midtown Bike Ride. Two routes of eight and 25 miles are available for this family-friendly outing, while all funds raised benefit the Colin Hubbell Foundation, housed by UCCA Midtown, which supports the renewal of Detroit.

Registration is $25 or $20 for those under 12 and includes lunch, music and a scavenger hunt. The ride begins at 8:30 a.m. at Traffic Jam & Snug (511 W. Canfield). For more information, click here; and then watch one of our favorite Model D TV episodes on Colin's projects here. And, another beauty here.

Crowdsourcing Detroit's next retail venture

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, June 07, 2011
A new contest will utilize Facebook and Twitter to "hatch" Detroit's next retail venture -- and the crowd favorite will take home $50,000 to launch their idea.

Hatch Detroit is looking for the D's next coffeeshop, art gallery, record store or clothing atelier. Beginning July 1, hatchdetroit.com will accept submissions from potential business owners. The Hatch team, Nick Gorga and Ted Balowski (both Metro Detroiters) will then narrow the field through multi-stage voting. While they're applying for 501(c)3 status to accept donations and sponsorships toward the prize money, they say they're prepared to fund Detroit's fan favorite to open its doors.

Excerpt:

Voting will narrow the 16 ideas to eight. The eight will post videos describing why they love Detroit, what they see for the future and how their business will help the city. Through the same online process, the eight will be narrowed to four ideas. The four finalists will get in front of a panel of local and national judges yet to be assembled. Each will give a five-minute pitch, followed by a question-and-answer session.The process will be live at a public event and streamed online.

Read the rest of the article, or visit the website to start hatchin'.

In defense of Detroit's corner markets

Rustwire.net Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Much has been made of Detroit's status as a "food desert," an assertion based almost solely, as the USDA admits, on the proximity of big box supermarkets doing over $2 million in annual sales in urban areas. But in Cleveland, as well as Detroit, the phenomenon of the corner store -- where one can find everything from peanut butter to produce -- is a valid and unappreciated source of food for many residents.

Even the Honey Bee got a shout out in this ode to the neighborhood market. And, more importantly, the author takes the USDA to task for exaggerated statistics that blatantly ignore our grocers serving it up in the 'hood.

Excerpt:

One of the two studies cited by the USDA [PDF] showed that depending on which definitions are employed, between 17 and 87 percent of New Orleans is a food desert. To say that food sellers who do more than $2 million in business provide fresh food and those who sell less do not is a rough estimate to say the least. In fact, in my experience, it's false. According to the locator, I live right on the border of a USDA-defined "food desert." The thing is, I've never had better access to food in my life.

Make sure to check out Detroit's newest grocery store, Lafayette Foods, which opens June 6. And get a helping of the article here.

Spin a Movement bike tour with Wheelhouse Detroit

Wheelhouse Detroit Tuesday, May 24, 2011
A new bike tour dubbed 'Techno in the 313" offered through Wheelhouse Detroit will give Movement participants the opportunity to glimpse the biggest sites in Detroit's electronic music history next weekend.

The Packard Plant, the Underground Resistance Headquarters and The Music Institute are just a few of the landmarks riders will experience during the two tours, which take place Sunday, May 29 and Monday, May 30.

The two tours are capped at 15 riders each; so get your wheels spinning and book a spot at wheelhousedetroit.com. The Wheelhouse is also offering significant discounts to any rider with a Movement wristband.

Saveur savors Sugar House cocktail blog

Saveur Tuesday, May 24, 2011
"A serious booze blog."

That's how national foodie mag Saveur describes the blog for The Sugar House, the Corktown craft cocktail lounge opening its doors this summer on Michigan Avenue. The Sugar House blog cracked the list of "50 More Food Blogs You Should Be Reading." Clearly, if you haven't already, it's past time to bookmark their site. Warning: the watermelon martini will induce serious thirst pangs.

Check out the list here, and then imbibe some recipes from The Sugar House blog.

Detroit's journey from mean to green wins admiration from the Times

New York Times Tuesday, May 24, 2011
"The gardens are everywhere," writes food scribe Mark Bittman in a moving editorial in the New York Times Opinionator blog. His chronicle of a visit to our city describes Detroit's burgeoning food movement powered by the breadth of our residents' imagination -- and the belief that only we will turn this city around. Local food in public schools. The Peaches & Greens produce truck. And acres and acres of cultivated land, harvesting not only food, but a key to this city's future. If the journey is as important as the destination, Bittman concludes, Detroit's back-to-basics green revival is already a success story.

Excerpt:

As Jackie Victor, co-owner of the Avalon Bakery, an unofficial meeting place for the Detroit food movement, says to me, "Imagine a city, rebuilt block by block, with a gorgeous riverfront, world class museums and fantastic local food. Everyone who wants one has a quarter-acre garden, and every kid lives within bike distance of a farm."

Imagine. Read more here.

Detroit five crack Fortune's Inner City 100 list

Fortune Magazine Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Five Detroit companies cracked Fortune Magazine's Inner City 100 list, which recognizes the 100 fastest-growing businesses with an urban address across the nation.

The five Detroit area companies selected include:
• FutureNet Group - #8 on the list
• UltraLevel Systems - #28 on the list
• Micron Electrical Contracting - #79 on the list
• Ash Stevens - #81 on the list
• Tompkins Products- #90 on the list

Local leader FutureNet Group, helmed by Perry Mehta, received props from Fortune from its innovative business model, which provides large-scale computer access to 20,000 kids every day in India.

Excerpt:

After acquiring licenses to do business with local, state and federal governments, FutureNet's operations expanded to the Detroit area. They also began to offer, of all things, environmental and construction services. Air monitoring, road resurfacing, network support, asbestos and lead inspections are just a few of the diverse services FutureNet Group currently provides.

Check out the rest of the list here.

Crain's 20-somethings reshape the D's possibilities

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, May 10, 2011
One could call the 2011 class of Crain's "20 in their 20s" list up-and-comers, but we here at Model D would argue that they're already here. The list celebrates Metro Detroiters who may not have made a mint, but are giving this region something back through their hard work, dedication and entrepreneurial spirit. A special shout-out goes to our Crain's award winners with bigtime Detroit proper connections; among them Hostel Detroit's Emily Doerr, the Imagination Station's Jerry Paffendorf (who's quoted below), Amy Ruby of the Detroit Derby Girls and Jason Malone, who founded the Midnight Golf Program.

Excerpt:

"I think people want opportunities to engage with the city, and they're not offered them," he said. "I think people respond to something like that. ... One of the things we realized with our work, there are many, many things you can do in the world and it's very difficult to get people excited about them. ... You've got to present these things in such a way that they're fun and inviting; not to make light of problems, but there's a way to present things and be open for business that doesn't just focus on the dark parts."

Check the list out here.

Editorial: What North Carolina can learn from Midtown

The News & Observer Tuesday, May 03, 2011
North Carolina's Research Triangle is often described in national media as a triumph of large entities coming together to create a haven for educators and innovators. But the area's News & Observer writers note, as Durham announced a new initiative through the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network that will provide $3.6 million in targeted technical support to the region's growing entrepreneurial community, the Triangle would be wise to look to Midtown Detroit for guidance.

Midtown's "bold, comprehensive" plan, anchored by public and private entities, is now becoming a model for regions around the nation hoping to kick-start their market for high-tech jobs.

Excerpt:

The investments in turn are part of the Kresge Foundation's nine-part strategy to revitalize the city, ranging from fixing the city's education system and reforming health care to driving sustainability and creativity as signatures of the new economy. This comprehensive approach is also present in the mayor's Detroit Works Project and its ambitious agenda to responsibly restore, build out, and connect its most vibrant neighborhoods while connecting it with the broader region. Detroit's future is far from certain. But its all-hands on deck, well-capitalized, comprehensive approach to entrepreneurial growth is instructive.

Find out more about what North Carolina thinks we're doing right here.

What do Detroit and Lodz, Poland have in common? Fund this new film to find out

Detroit Lives!,Kickstarter,Kickstarter Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Detroit isn't the only industrial city challenged with remaking its identity. On the other side of the pond, Polish city Lodz was once the European leader in textile production -- until the fall of the USSR, when the city suffered massive depopulation. Now, Lodz joins Detroit as a city full of empty factories -- and even more potential.

Detroit Lives! wants to talk to urban planners, entrepreneurs and artists from both cities to jump-start the conversation on how former industrial giants can reshape themselves. Their Kickstarter won't fund their plane tickets (they already have those), but it will help pay for things like post-audio engineering, translation services and film festival fees.

Excerpt:

We've lined up interviews on both continents with top city officials, best-selling authors, and pioneering artists.  PLUS, the American Film Festival in Poland has already expressed interest in premiering the film (and we haven't even begun shooting)!

Wanna fund, or find out more? Click here.

SDBA honors the heroes, movers and shakers of Southwest

Southwest Detroit Business Association Tuesday, April 26, 2011
What do longtime activist and casino investor Jane Garcia, state representative Rashida Tlaib, and Slow's BBQ have in common? They are just a few of the honorees of this year's Community Investment Breakfast, sponsored by Southwest Detroit Business Association. The event, themed "The Detroit of the Future: Built One Community at a Time," will be emceed by Fox 2's Huel Perkins, and feature remarks from Dave Bing and Henry Ford Hospital's Dr. John Popovich. Belda Garza, The Ideal Group's Frank Venegas and the City of Detroit's Brad Dick will also be recognized for their leadership and support of the Southwest community.

The event will be held at The Display Group, located at 1700 West Fort Street. Tickets are $50. Visit the SDBA website to learn more, or click here to purchase tickets.

Xconomy: Buy stock in Michigan

Xconomy Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Maybe Silicon Valley or Boston seem more plausible, but editor-in-chief Robert Buderi writes, if he could, he'd buy stock in Detroit. And while the city isn't yet a commodity on the NYSE, he put his money where his mouth is: launching Xconomy Detroit, with the aid of the Kaufmann Foundation, to chronicle the city's entrepreneurial adventures and helping connect Michigan's thinkers with the rest of the country.

Excerpt:

We made trips to get to know the innovation community, hired a correspondent, formed a network of about 20 top advisors (called Xconomists), and launched last April 20. In early December, we held our first event--a networking evening to thank all those who have helped us get started in Michigan. And our first public event, which I will be coming out for, is coming up at TechTown on April 14. It is called Michigan 2031, and we have assembled an all-star cast from a variety of sectors to brainstorm about what Michigan's innovation scene will look like in 20 years--and how/where it can attain positions of national and world leadership in key sectors.

Find out more here.

Model D's Walter Wasacz visits WJR's "Destination 313"

Destination 313 Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Model D captain Walter Wasacz's vision of Detroit is sent to your online mailbox every Tuesday. He got the chance to elaborate on Detroit's development from the ground up during a recent broadcast of WJR's "Destination 313" radio show, hosted by Paul W. Smith and Quicken Loans VP Stephen Luigi Piazza.

Managing editor Wasacz joined a group of movers and shakers from many different worlds in Detroit, including President and CEO of Olympia Entertainment Tom Wilson, Friar Ray Stadmeyer from the On The Rise bakery, and Blue Cross Blue Shield VP Tricia Keith.

Not to stroke our ego, but Luigi Piazza tossed us some rather high praise.

Excerpt:

I really believe in the Model D magazine. It's a lot of feet-on-the-street stories, the stories that, again, Paul says don't get covered: the smaller stories. We had Tom Wilson on, and he was talking about the young kids that really and truly talk about all the different communities that are being established, all the different little restaurants that are there, the things that you can do in the city, that, at 70 miles an hour, we don't see driving around the expressway. You cover that, right on the street, down to the nitty-gritty.

Find out more about the show and listen to the podcast here.

HuffPo: Tech firms can learn from Motor City rock & roll

Huffington Post Tuesday, March 29, 2011
What do family-owned radio stations, the MC5 or concert crowds have to do with opening a technology biz? In an industry where creativity is king, professor Jason Schmitt writes that the next Silicon Valley start-ups or multinational software corporations could take a lesson from Detroit rock, which has maintained sell-out crowds and a gritty edge from one century to the next. Schmitt studied the Detroit music ecosystem for the better part of a decade and says our city, more than any other region, has maintained steady creative output and rightly earned the nation's fascination. Hey, Google -- if you want a lesson in maintaining relevance and credibility, listen up.

Excerpt:

Most new tech firms are hardly a blip on the longitudinal timeline of creative success. Inversely, Detroit rock music has employed and cultivated a solid stream of creative talent and cultural relevancy for six decades and running. In other words, the talent and creativity of this region continually replicates and maintains its inertia. Sure, other music regions have had 'flash in the pan' success and lots of correlating hits: a la Seattle. But the Detroit case is different. More complex. Continually creating without drying up -- and allowing creativity to flourish in opposition to the regional economic imperatives.

Rock on. Read the whole thing here.

Hack into Eastern Market's OmniCorp Detroit

Detroit News Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Hidden within a once-abandoned Eastern Market warehouse, a group of 20 techies, inventors and artists have assembled a DIY playhouse of future inventions, known around the city as OmniCorp Detroit. The Detroit News peeks inside this collaborative studio, part of a growing nationwide movement, where innovators are taking things apart, dreaming new designs and sharing their knowledge with other tinkerers around the D.

Excerpt:

"I was developing and gathering information to bring to Detroit," said Sturges, a former architecture student at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills. He moved to Detroit in 2009, found like-minded creatives and set up shop in a 3,200-square-foot warehouse space on Division Street. The operation runs completely on monthly membership dues, and its members -- 20 and growing -- include recreational metalsmiths, professional electric engineers and computer programmers.

Hack the rest of the story here.

Pack your bags: Hostel Detroit is almost here

Detroit 2020,Yahoo! News Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Set to open its doors in just a month, North Corktown's Hostel Detroit is the focus of a new video from WXYZ's Detroit 2020 project, which even got some viral love last week from Yahoo! News. HD board member (and Model D news editor) Ashley C. Woods was on hand to put "Detroit's welcome mat to the world" in the proper perspective.

Excerpt:

"We have one of the most dynamic music scenes in the entire world. We have phenomenal architecture. We have an amazing underground grass-roots art scene and there are people coming from all over the world because they're hearing about Detroit and they're sensing something new is here."

Check the video out here.

Local entrepreneurs launch city's extreme makeover in USA Today

USA Today Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A column in USA Today highlighted Detroit entrepreneurs like Phil Cooley, I Am Young Detroit's Margarita Barry and Mental Note's Thahn Tran as examples of the city's welcoming environment for potential small business owners and former auto workers (backed up by a study from the Kaufmann Foundation, which found the rate of adult entrepreneurship doubled in Michigan from 2006 to 2009). While the low cost of living and growing openness to start-ups and short-term contracts certainly bear a mention, we at Buzz liked the nod to our creative energy and down-home loyalty best. Well done!

Excerpt:

And finally, unlike in some more cut-throat cities, those who haven't fled Detroit are eager to see risk-takers succeed -- even another restaurant on the same block. "We're desperate for companionship," Cooley jokes. People buy local when they can and create two-hour lines outside Slows in nice weather. A civic spirit of us-against-the-world has neighbors turning vacant lots into urban farms and sculpture parks, and building a bike track next to a burned-out house.

Read the rest of the story here.

Rust Belt to Artist Belt conference connects the post-industrial dots

rustbelttoartistbelt.com Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The next challenge to fostering creative entrepreneurs involves creating a supply chain that connects artists and business owners to prototype engineers, manufacturers, textile producers and the like. Bringing all these agents together to build a sustainable creative economy in the Midwest is the subject at the Rust Belt to Artist Belt Conference III, a two-day meeting of regional minds that kicks off April 6 at the College for Creative Studies. Originally conceived by the Community Partnership of Arts and Culture in Cleveland, the diverse list of speakers includes local names like Jerry Paffendorf, Joel Peterson, Gina Reichert and Randal Charlton.

Excerpt:

Mid-west rust belt cities like Detroit are the perfect proving ground for this type of exploration, due to our creative culture, entrepreneurial commercial approach, and adaptable manufacturing base. To highlight this fact, the conference is looking for involvement from municipal leaders, neighborhood enthusiasts, community and economic development authorities and you! Please join us as we develop deeper strategies and discussions that will continue to cultivate and strengthen our creative ecosystem.

Early bird registration is available through March 21. Sign up or find out more here.

Motor City goes green in new video

YouTube Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Detroit once had the dubious honor of being the nation's largest city without a comprehensive recycling program. Thanks to the efforts of Recycle Here's Matthew Naimi and Steve Haworth, Detroit's made great steps in reducing waste and green education. A new video, "Shifting Gears: Going Green in the Motor City," follows Naimi and Haworth's newest venture, Green Safe Products, which provides recyclable and compostable cups, plates, cutlery and more to area restaurants like Avalon International Breads, the Woodbridge Pub and Mudgie's. And as many local restaurant owners point out, using environmentally-friendly products like Green Safe doesn't just make good green sense -- it's good business sense and marketing, too.

Excerpt:

"It's a great example of how zero waste can work really, really well, not only for the environment, but for the economy as well. It's all just part of giving back and being sustainable, which is a huge thing in Detroit right now."

Watch and learn here.

ePrize founder Josh Linkner's new book climbs the NYT charts

The New York Times Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Josh Linkner launched his fifth company, the venture capital firm Detroit Venture Partners. Along with business partners Dan Gilbert and Brian Hermelin, Josh is actively investing in early-stage technology companies looking to help rebuild the Detroit region through entrepreneurship.

The ePrize founder and chairman's new book, Disciplined Dreaming, a guide to fostering creativity in the workplace, recently hit #8 on the New York Times' business best seller list. Got a dream? We suggest you get in touch.

Check out the list here.

Michigan Koreans advocate choosing Detroit

Michigan Koreans Tuesday, March 01, 2011
This gem of a link comes from Sandra Yu, program manager at Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice. An MIT grad who chose to return to Detroit (and couldn't be happier about the decision), Yu authored eight reasons why the Korean population of Michigan should embrace Detroit, and then turned to some of her friends for their say. The article's printed in Korean, but scroll down to read what Yu, Sean Mann, Sheu-Jane Gallagher, Leor Barak, and other city dwellers have to say about what this town's given back to them.

Excerpt:

Detroit is the ideal city for the immigrant spirit. A century ago, Detroit was 33% foreign-born, mostly immigrants from Europe and the Middle East. During the Great Migration that spanned 55 years from 1915 to 1970, 6 million African Americans fleeing brutal conditions in the South migrated to Northern cities like Detroit searching for a better life and a fair chance for themselves and their children. Now, immigrants from Latin America make up the only growing demographic in the City of Detroit, and have created one of the densest, most vibrant districts in the city. Detroit is not a city that is kind to the lazy, the selfish, or those who feel entitled. It is a city for the entrepreneurial, the creative, the hardworking, the determined. If you are adventurous, engaged and committed, there is a community in Detroit that will embrace you, make you one of their own and give you a say, whether you are an artist, an activist, a farmer, an inventor, or an entrepreneur.

Read this collection of quotes and thoughts on choosing Detroit here.

From steel, artist Casey Westbook will forge Robocop

Grist Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Picture this, if you can: a ten-foot high steel apparatus, loaded with industrial coke, shooting fire and embers like a volcano while rivers of molten steel, hot enough to melt an automobile, flow out and harden. Imagine shaping those two tons of scrap iron into a work of art.

That's the skill sculptor and furnace-builder Casey Westbrook's honed; the one he'll use to turn the statue of Robocop from an internet meme to a real, tactile work for the public to see, with only a Kevlar suit for safety. And while it isn't his largest display yet (that would be the 25-ton spectacular he produced for artist and exhibition-creator Matthew Barney's Cremaster cycle), this behind-the-scenes peek at the artistry behind Robocop might convince some Detroiters that there's more to this statue than Hollywood dazzle and science fiction imagination.

Excerpt:

Once two tons of molten scrap iron has collected in massive cylinders at the bottom of the furnace, the artist will unplug them like a vintner hammering the bung out of a cask, and the metal will gush directly into the mold. It's likely Robocop will be cast upside-down, his outstretched arms reaching for the ground as if to brace his mass against a fall. A day or two later, once he's cooled, they'll knock off the mold with hammers and chisels and the world's greatest cop will thunder to earth like Han after he was frozen in Carbonite.

Find out more here.

Harvard prof: Make Detroit a haven for entrepreneurs

NYtimes.com Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Edward L. Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard, recently appeared on NYTimes.com to discuss his new book, "Triumph of the City." While Glaeser argues that education remains a city's best strategy for improving prosperity, he offers a few quick fixes our hometown leaders could take to heart as they continue to attract young, successful new citizens. What should the city of Detroit do immediately? Attract entrepreneurs, and then "get out of the way," Glaeser says.

Excerpt:

... Local restrictions, on everything from construction to taxicabs, need a good cleaning every few years, and I would urge every older city to set up a task force charged with making sure that their town is about the easiest place in the world to open a new start-up. Better rules don't just empower Detroit's existing entrepreneurs; they also attract other entrepreneurial people.

Read Professor Glaeser's other suggestions for Detroit here.

Detroit decked out: robot clothes and Motor City Denim

National Public Radio Tuesday, February 22, 2011
We always learn things listening to All Things Considered -- all the more fascinating when a story comes from our own backyard. Did you know robots wear clothing to keep out grime and dust in auto factories? Neither did we. But that's Mark D'Andreta's trade: he owns TD Industrial Clothing, which did 95 percent of its business outfitting the robots used to put cars together. Until the auto business crashed.

As sales plummeted, D'Andreta took stock of his assets: a skilled labor force that could make patterns and prototypes quickly, and a love for fashion inspired by his father, a tailor. And thanks to a new partnership with designer and Project Runway alum Joe Faris, the factory will soon be producing a premium line of denim that's Detroit-dreamt, designed and distributed.

Excerpt:

"The jean captures what Detroit is," Faris says. "We can dress up the jean all we want, but there is a production element of it. And that's where I felt like we could do this here."

At the factory where TD Industrial Coverings makes robot clothes, workers are making stiff, dark blue dress jeans inspired by the Motor City. The jeans will go on sale in March for $150 a pair at retail stores.

Read or listen to this story here.

Diverse (soup) city to fund community projects in Hamtramck

Diverse (soup) city Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Building on the success of microfinancing projects like Detroit Soup and Soup at Spalding, we hear there's another community soup dinner setting the table for guests in Hamtramck.

Hosted by Marie Pronko, owner of Hamtramck's Mex/Asian fusion restaurant Maria's Comida, Diverse (soup) city will also bring soup-lovers and do-gooders together for a collective meal to raise funds for creative projects in Hamtown.

Excerpt:

Tell your friends; SOUP is…a collaborative situation, a public dinner, a theatrical environment, a platform for performance, a local experiment in micro-funding, a relational hub connecting various creative communities, a forum for critical discussion, an opportunity to support creative people in Hamtramck.

The first Diverse (soup) city takes place Sunday, Feb. 20 at Maria's Comida, and will meet the third Sunday of the month thereafter. The cost is $7 for a big bowl of goodness -- and not just the kind you can spoon.

Send your micro-finance ideas here by the Friday before every dinner, and check out the website for more details.

Mad herbivore love for Traffic Jam and "Detroit Veg-Rock City"

vegyorkcity.com Tuesday, February 01, 2011
With the prevalence of ready-to-heat Morningstar veggie burgers on the market, finding a delicious meat-free hamburger can be a challenge. NYC veggie and vegan blogger Dan B. spent a few weeks in Detroit, and came away impressed with the metro area's offal-free offerings for the leaf-eaters among us. His inner-city salvation? Homemade veggie burgers at Midtown's Traffic Jam & Snug and Cass Cafe.

Excerpt:

The winner as it stands would be Traffic Jam & Snug in the Cass Corridor section of Detroit. The spicy lentil veggie burger is just amazing. I can't get enough of this sandwich, I have it almost every time I visit Michigan.

Find out which other Metro Detroit restaurants made the VegYorkCity list here.

HuffPo digs the CEO style of Quicken's Dan Gilbert

Huffington Post Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Huffington Post's Jason Schmitt visited downtown's Quicken Loans, where founder Dan Gilbert and CEO Bill Emerson are hard at work, he says, creating a brain trust of 4,000 thought leaders. A nice thought, you might say: but taking Quicken's 94% referral rating and ever-increasing profits into account, it's clear Gilbert's version for a different kind of company seems to be working.

Excerpt:

These two executives aren't penny pinching. Together, these leaders spoke for ten hours straight and utilized a staff of over 20 to keep things streamlined -- showing the priority and high expectations that are bestowed upon these new recruits. What other company has top executives that are willing to wipe a day off their calendar for the newbies--and also, what other companies have top executives who have that type of energy to command an audience on the edge of their chairs for that length of time? This isn't normal--but neither is having net revenue exceed net expenditures in 2011. The difference is working.

We at Buzz also thank the author for his introduction, which includes the hypothesis that Dan Gilbert proves Detroiters can actually be successful. That Henry Ford always was kind of a deadbeat.

Reader's Digest Canada creates a dream Detroit vacay

Reader's Digest Canada Tuesday, January 18, 2011
It's time to award some cool points to that cold country due north (other than Windsor) of the D. When Reader's Digest Canada set out to create their dream Detroit vacation, they went surprisingly deep, shouting out fave hometown attractions like Cafe D'Mongos, MOCAD, Russell Street Deli and the Dequindre Cut. Thanks to RD for giving credit to "idealistic citizens and entrepreneurs, downtown farmers, independent artists" who,  along with big-ticket investments, help make the city a seriously rad getaway destination.

Excerpt:

With a roughly 48,000-strong Hispanic and Latin American population, Detroit is home to awesome Latin food. Although there's local debate as to the parameters of "authentic" Mexicantown versus "the touristy part," both offer delicious options and great shopping. Google-Map and visit Taquiera El Ray, a family-friendly hole-in-the-wall that's short on style, but high on service and Guadalajara-style eats. For cheap and tasty tamales to go, check out Tamaleria Restaurant Nuevo Leon. 

The numerous neighbourhood supermercados make it easy to inexpensively equip your kitchen with a tortilla press and condiments so you can recreate that D-Town deliciousness at home.

See who else makes the list here.

Time's running out for BCBS's juiced-up Lemonade Detroit donations

Lemonade Detroit Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Donating to Lemonade Detroit does a body good. This film on hope in Detroit, well-documented on this site, seeks producers in order to edit and finish production. You can buy in to the tune of $1 a frame or $24 a second, which gets you your own producer cred on the universal database imdb.com. Why we're making such a big deal? Buy your frames through the end of the year, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Detroit will match your donation in full. You only have through Dec. 31 for your shot of Lemonade Detroit to pack twice as much punch.

Click here to donate to Lemonade Detroit.

Garden Court condo winner blogs her year in the D

My Year in Detroit Tuesday, December 07, 2010
When Brandi K. won a year of free rent at the Albert Kahn-designed Garden Court Condominiums, we're sure she was too busy gawking at the building's classic architecture to think of her future career as a blogger-ista.

But we're digging this new city girl's chronicle of 365 days in the D -- especially a recent birthday post highlighting her 22 favorite Detroiters (Tulani Rose's Sharon Pryer, music man Rencen Coolbeanz and a homeless gentleman named Larry made the list).

Excerpt:

I am insanely in love with Detroit for a myriad of reasons, but mostly, I love that Detroit is genuine. You may ask, "what would someone who wears belligerently huge afro wigs know about being genuine?" Well, to me, genuine means being honest about who you are and what you have to offer. I'm an afro wearing, art student who has never shaved her legs and loves walking down Woodward and hugging strangers. Detroit is an adventurous city with unpredictable weather, large potholes, bizarrely amazing people and a phenomenal culture. The city and I, both, have nothing to hide and a whole lot to share!

Read Brandi's blog here.

Stacy Mitchell loves Detroit entrepreneurs

MLive.com Tuesday, December 07, 2010
When it comes to small businesses, Stacy Mitchell's a believer. She's an independent retail advocate who authored Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses and the senior researcher at the Institute of Local Self-Reliance, which advocates for entrepreneurs. She was in town recently to meet some of our own local retailers, and left with a positive appreciation for Midtown and our own buy local movement.

Excerpt:

There are some things, Mitchell says, business owners can do to bolster their position. The first is to form an independent business alliance. She points a group in Austin, TX as a model.

Entrepreneurs should also try to own the spaces they occupy. That way, they can't be priced out of the very communities they helped revitalize. Michigan governments can also help by simply keeping their accounts with appropriate community banks, thus increasing the capital available for small business lending.

Read Jeff Wattrick's story (he's really been killing it of late) on Mitchell here.

Remembering inspirational Detroit music man Jim Shaw

Metro Times Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Any Detroit musician who had Jim Shaw in his corner knew two things: if Shaw liked the tunes, they were doing it right; and his support for the local melody-makers truly exemplified what it means to be a "fan." Model D managing editor Walter Wasacz's moving tribute to the man he called a "humble giant" on Detroit's music scene is a must-read.

Excerpt:

He had a knack for spotting talent. When no one thought anything was going on in the 1980s and early 1990s, Jim and his brother Steve Shaw begged to differ. That period of basement and garage incubation begat the Gories, Detroit Cobras, White Stripes, countless others — and brought worldwide attention to the "Detroit sound." But these guys were living and breathing it long before, and after, British journalists declared we were the "next Seattle."

Jim Shaw died Dec. 3 after a two-year battle with cancer. He's survived by his wife, Sandra Kramer. We extend our deepest sympathy -- and our gratitude for counting Shaw as one of our own. Read the tribute here.

Chain Chain Chained's Regina Pruss gets linked in N.E.E.T, HuffPo

N.E.E.T magazine,Huffington Post Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Chain Chain Chained, Regina Pruss's Motown-referencing line of antique and found jewelry, got some R-E-S-P-E-C-T this week from design influencers N.E.E.T magazine and the December issue of Chicago magazine, which was picked up by the Huffington Post.

Excerpt:

Detroit-based jewelry company chainedchainedchained makes simple, beautiful pieces that even the skeptical femme would appreciate. We love their pyrite feather earrings ($20) and simple, elegant fern ring ($16).

We're hoping for the "xoxo" dagger necklace ourselves this holiday season (hint, hint). Congrats, Gigi!

Check out chain chain chained on page 19 of N.E.E.T magazine or at the Huffington Post.

Video: Torya Blanchard, Huffington Post's fave Good Girl

Huffington Post Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Huffington Post's new video series on entrepreneurs who built their dreams during the recession found a real Detroit original for their first installment -- Francophile, fashionista and fearless crepe-maker Torya Blanchard. She turned a storefront window and a bowl of batter into Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes, a bustling Midtown cafe with another location on the way. And we learned something new: the "Good Girls" moniker is inspired by a motherly admonishment over a case of sticky fingers.

Excerpt:

As an adult, she took a job at a Detroit public school where she taught French for five years until her passion for Paris and its cuisine, sparked years before by her mother's slap on the wrist, finally bubbled to the surface. Blanchard quit her job in 2008 at the age of 31. She cashed out her 401(k) and, without any business or restaurant experience, used the $20,000 to open up a tiny creperie in downtown Detroit.

You'll have to watch the video to get the rest of this story. Voila!

'Tis the season to shop Detroit

MLive.com,Detroit News Tuesday, November 30, 2010
While it might be tempting to holiday-shop on Amazon, Detroit's ever-thriving tribe of independent retailers offer gifts that are ... you know, a little more thoughtful than magazine subscriptions or blenders. Our picks? Head over to two pop-up retailers with distinctive and original new wares to give your shopping season an injection of Motor City cool. In the Compuware building, Gifted: A Holiday Boutique is open only five Fridays, but its curated collection of presents from hip local stores like City Bird, Rags and Bureau of Urban Living make it a can't-miss one-stop-shop for busy buyers. Fans of Mad Men and perennial bachelors, rejoice: Joe Posch's pop-up Hugh shop will also reopen for the season.

Excerpt:

 "The theme this time is a 60s Scandinavian ski holiday, and I will have a stronger emphasis on vintage stuff, which was so popular last time it even caught me by surprise," says Posch. "The focus will be on good gifts and entertaining with style."

Hugh isn't just a store. It's also a life-lesson: Quality barware is essential. Buxom ski bunnies in delightfully tight sweaters will keep you warm at night, so long as you don't serve cocktails in red plastic cups.

You can read more about the Compuware pop-up store here, or check out these excellent Detroit suggestions for your holiday shopping.

Blue Cross Blue Shield drinks that Lemonade Detroit

Lemonade Detroit Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Upcoming doc "Lemonade Detroit" lets every believer get in on owning a piece of Mitten state movie madness. Buy in at the rate of $24 per frame (that's about a second), and Lemonade will list you as a producer on IMDB. To sweeten the deal, we got the skinny that Blue Cross Blue Shield is throwing their weight behind this independently produced film. The insurance giant will match any frame purchased for Lemonade Detroit through Dec. 31. Wanna be a producer? Now's the time.

Click here to read more or buy your share of "Lemonade Detroit."


More Quicken Loans employees move downtown

Detroit News Tuesday, November 16, 2010
After stating his commitment to moving another 2,000 employees  downtown, it seems Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert isn't wasting any time. The Detroit News confirms Quicken will purchase the Madison Building, which overlooks Grand Circus Park from Broadway near Witherell St. The Madison is also home to Angelina Italian Bistro -- but with 43,000 available square feet, there should be room for an army of Quicken employees.

Excerpt:

Quicken signed a five-year lease for four floors in the Compuware building in August to house 1,700 workers but still doesn't have enough space to bring all of its Michigan-based employees downtown. Quicken founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert said in August he wanted to move an additional 2,000 workers downtown. He said then that he hopes to attract more businesses downtown and create a technology hub that will help downtown's Woodward Avenue be known as "WEBward Avenue."

Read the whole scoop here.

Bickbot's Henry Balanon at forefront of Detroit tech wave

Detroit Make It Here Tuesday, November 16, 2010
When it comes to new media celebrities in the D, Bickbot owner Henry Balanon is at the top of every list. And by new media celebrity, we mean 5,000+ Twitter followers, choice speaking engagements at TEDxDetroit 2010 and #140conf, ChevySXSW roadtrip teammate and author of The Hungry Dudes food blog. Detroit Make It Here sat down with Henry for his views on how local tech gurus are changing the way people perceive the Motor City.

Excerpt:

New media is helping us celebrate Detroit with the rest of the world. I foresee a lot of new industries and startups coming from Detroit. People like social media professionals Chris Barger (General Motors), Dave Murray (re:group), Brandon Chesnutt (Identity PR), and Scott Monty (Ford) are spreading these vibes nationally at conferences. Our community is on a mission to raise Detroit from the ashes.

Henry shares his favorite Detroit hangout, Twitter advice and his biggest challenges here. You can also follow him at @balanon.

Peaches & Greens food truck slings fresh produce on the streets

National Public Radio Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Street by street, the mobile produce stand called Peaches & Greens brings fresh fruits and vegetables to Detroit residents more accustomed to living in what researchers call a "food desert." NPR's Michel Martin spoke to Peaches & Greens executive director Lisa Johanon about where she got the idea to build a brick-and-mortar produce shop and a roving truck in the city.

Excerpt:

I'm having to drive every week 10 miles away to get the kind of produce that I want to serve my family. And so I got to thinking, well, if this is my issue, it's got to be my neighbors' issue. And my neighbor may not have a car and makes it even more challenging for them. So, some people dream dreams that are, you know, world peace, we just dream the dream of having produce in our neighborhood.

Have you heard the Peaches & Greens song on your street? Listen to the story here.

Fortune Mag offers advice on remaking yourself in the Motor City

Fortune Magazine Tuesday, November 09, 2010
In this city, it's not just old buildings that can get second chances. With Michigan's unemployment rate hovering around 13%, Fortune interviewed five Detroiters who turned their layoffs into new livelihoods, creating opportunities in new industries and as entrepreneurs. Lessons learned from the D? Read on.

Excerpt:

In Detroit you will find a guy who creates a new twist on the lemonade-out-of-lemons bromide: building furniture from the remains of demolished houses. Here you will discover laid-off corporate executives opening up companies on their own, and assembly-line workers going back to school for nursing credentials. Here you will find blue-collar and white-collar workers catching the green wave.

"This city is a blank slate," says Detroit's Nicole Rupersburg, 29, who relaunched herself as a culinary tour guide after being laid off. "It's not a world of wealth and prestige and structure," she says. "Detroit is what you make of it, and here you are what you make of yourself."

Read more here.

One more Phil Cooley story

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Crain's erstwhile food writer Nathan Skid takes a stab at that New York Times article describing how Phil Cooley and Slow's helped create a foodie revolution in Detroit. He's not the only one, of course. We at Model D have sent hugs and kisses (and no doubt, customers) to the corner of Michigan and 14th for over five years and nothing will dissuade from doing more of the same. At the same time we send our consolation to all the deserving others who've not yet made it into the nation's, nay, the world's, most powerful daily.

Excerpt:

It seems like some folks are taking issue with Cooley and his restaurant's popularity instead of calling out the media, who write the same story over and over.

Since moving here in January 2008, I've learned just how small this big city is and how interconnected we are. Each success story should be a shared experience for the business owners, restaurateurs and residents.

Read Skid's blog here.

NPR's Michel Martin spotlights Detroit Fashion Week

National Public Radio Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Michel Martin, host of NPR's popular afternoon talk show Tell Me More, put the Detroit fashion scene on national airwaves last week, interviewing local designer Stefanie Dickey of Stef-N-Ty and Detroit Fashion Week founder Brian Heath.

Dickey previously owned and designed her thriving fashion business from New York, Chicago and Baltimore, so she and Martin (who owns several of her pieces) discussed how this city is attracting creatives from other major cities. But DFW's Heath summed up why Detroit's so fashion forward at this moment.

Excerpt:

Chicago has been a fashion hub for quite some time. I don't want to knock Chicago, but at the same time I think Michigan has so much more to offer now. Everyone looks at the economic situation across the country. And when you look at the designers who are actually presenting their lines, a lot of those designers are either presenting locally or they're looking for new locations to move to, and Michigan happens to be that single place. The designers here in Michigan have a great opportunity to make themselves the new faces -- the new businesses that the industry wants to look for and to pull them from here and push them back into New York.

Read the transcript or listen to the interview here.

When it comes to eating local, we put the money where our mouth is

The Atlantic Tuesday, November 02, 2010
The Atlantic is the latest national mag to jump on Detroit's local food movement for a story, but this week's attempt satisfied foodies across the city. We loved the shout-outs to Brother Nature, the Detroit Zymology Guild and Russell Street Deli, just to name a few, And hey, aren't those Model D photog Marvin Shaouni's pics from MOCAD's recent Home Slice event?

Excerpt:

In fact, the food offered by Detroit's hottest restaurateurs and food vendors at Home Slice, a recent benefit for Detroit's contemporary art museum, could probably have been found any food-conscious event in the country. But -- this being Detroit -- there was a unique twist: For the Motor City's food vanguard, "local" isn't measured in miles, but in city blocks.

Read and see more here.

CNN Money's life lessons learned from Detroiters

CNN Money Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Dealing with the economy has made many of us lay experts in personal finance and entrepreneurship these days. CNN Money seems to agree with us. This new article examines today's personal finance challenges through the lives of Detroiters starting their own businesses, buying a third house during the recession and jump-starting career-changes, with lessons readers from all over the world can take away.

Excerpt:

"In 2007 she entered a master's program in social justice at Detroit's Marygrove College. And today she has a job she loves: a contract position directing Weed & Seed, a crime-prevention and community-revitalization program in Hamtramck, a small city that's surrounded by Detroit. It hasn't been easy. She's taken a 25% pay cut and is paying for her own health insurance, all while shouldering $25,000 in student debt. "But reinventing yourself takes time," she acknowledges.

See what else CNN Money learned from Detroiters here.

Sue Mosey called "Midtown dynamo" in Detroit News piece

Detroit News Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Detroit News columnist Laura Berman celebrates the good works and deeds of Sue Mosey, the president of Midtown's University Cultural Center Association. Her universe extends from New Center to Brush Park, where she lights streetlights, builds sidewalks, guides new development projects and serves as a resource for new business owners. She's also earned a reputation as a fundraiser extraordinaire.

Excerpt:

Over two decades of political change, bankruptcies, market crashes and mayoral scandals, Mosey has kept sight of the ideas that animated her as a Wayne State University grad student: The vision of a city built for people -- walkable, diverse, connecting people and places -- has always been hers.

In Detroit, though, visionaries show up and disappear. Mosey has fixed her gaze, and energy, on a particular place over a sweep of time. Instead of making a fuss, she has gotten things done.

Read the column here.

New York Times serves up a Slow-cooked inferno

New York Times Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Hoo-dawg! A New York Time article lauding Slow's owner Phil Cooley ignited one spicy controversy on Detroit's Gourmet Underground listserv and in conversations with Detroit's foodie insiders this week.

Some food lovers took umbrage to the article's notion that Slow's inspired the Motor City's current generation of organic farmers, Third Wave coffee drinkers, home canners and the like. While everyone in the know seems to have their own opinion, we all seem to agree on two things: Phil, we love you and there's really no controlling what out-of-town journos parachuting into town left and right wish to write about us.

Excerpt:

As Slow's grew, the food scene in Detroit expanded around it. Gourmet Underground, started in the spring, quickly grew to over 100 members; they get together regularly for events like Bloody Mary-and-bacon tastings. An artisanal butcher has cropped up, and D.I.Y. projects like the Detroit Zymology Guild, a weekly canning session held in the back of an art gallery, thrive alongside food trucks and backyard organic farmers.

Read the NYT article here, and Metro Times Associate Editor Michael Jackman's equally delicious response.

Inc. weighs in with five reasons to start a business in Detroit

Inc. Magazine Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Open space, low rents, talented workers and a spirit of entrepreneurship —  your average venture capitalist might not immediately think of the Motor City. But a new guide from Inc. Magazine calls the Detroit landscape an "untapped territory for starting business on the cheap."

The article features local entrepreneurs Austin Black II and James Canning, and incubators Bizdom U and Tech Town. All in all, it's a must-read for any would-be Detroit business person.

Excerpt:

"The entrepreneurial spirit that exists in this region has been here forever," says David Egner, director of the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan. What organizations like his have done is shine a light back on would-be entrepreneurs and provide them the resources to start strong.

While returns remain modest, small ripples of new businesses have begun to pop up around the city's tri-county area. Ranging from high-tech battery-makers to downtown storefronts, these new businesses hope to grow into the impending wave of prosperity down the road."

Read more here.

GalaxE.Solutions lands in Detroit and starts hiring, says CNNMoney.com

CNNMoney.com Tuesday, October 12, 2010
New Jersey-based software company GalaxE has hired 40 people in Detroit and has openings for 100. GalaxE occupies three floors in a sparsely-occupied office building, paying $14 a square foot for space compared with $17.25 a square foot in Somerset, NJ.

A typical IT worker who receives $63,000 in salary in Detroit would earn more than $79,000 in Somerset, according to information provided by the company, reports CNNMoney.com.

Excerpt:

"I looked in Newark, I looked in Camden, I looked in Trenton, in Cleveland, in West Virginia," said founder/CEO Tim Bryan. "I chose Detroit, and I really love the place."

For Bryan, the implosion and restructuring of the U.S. auto industry translates into cheaply priced office space plus an abundance of information technology professionals who can't move to where the jobs are because the value of their houses is under water. His company, which employs 900 worldwide, is projected to more than double in size over the next five years.

Read the rest of the story here.

Nigerian pharmacists find opportunity on Detroit's West Side

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, October 12, 2010
An article in the Wall Street Journal turns a spotlight on 6,000 Nigerians now work as pharmacists in the United States, including a growing number operating businesses in Detroit.

Excerpt:

Nigerian-owned pharmacies in Detroit have a reputation for adapting to a challenging environment. Tony Akande's People Pharmacy on Schaefer Highway is slightly larger than a telephone booth.

It is inside a Plexiglas cube Mr. Akande built on a square of floor he leases from the liquor store that surrounds his pharmacy. A mile away on Greenfield Road, Phid Onwuzurike built his Ashton Natural Drugs inside a Marathon gas station and car wash.

Read more about the new wave of Nigerian pharmacists here.

Detroit rickshaws in full force

The Michigan Citizen Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Rickshaws are coming back thanks to a few local entrepreneurs.

Excerpt from the Michigan Citizen:

Thanks to two local entrepreneurs, potential sightseers can now add the rickshaw to the list of ways to traverse between downtown Detroit landmarks.

Terry L. Walker and Michael Rosemond began Detroit Rickshaw with the idea of broadening the city's transportation profile. They met at a 2004 city council hearing while preparing separate proposals to be the first rickshaw operators in the city. They quickly realized that their interest in rickshaws converged at a point which would benefit a partnership.

"We said, let's do it like other smart folks and do it together," Rosemond told the Michigan Citizen. "We both had done our research."

Read the entire article here.



NY Times on Bizdom U: Fostering entrepreneurs to revive Detroit

The New York Times Tuesday, June 29, 2010
We've documented Bizdom U quite well in our little publication. And here's another piece. This one, however, starts off with a pretty interesting story about a young entrepreneur from Detroit's east side.

Excerpt from the New York Times:

James Smith Moore, the son of a single mother on Detroit's east side, knows how to hustle.

He started a lizard-breeding business at age 15 and sold more than 500 hatchlings online for $15 to $80 apiece.

At 16, after local stores ran out of a certain popular Nike sneaker, he hired a manufacturer in China to supply him with knock-offs, which he sold for $80 to $200 a pair on his own Web site as well as eBay and other auction sites. Four months later, he received a cease-and-desist letter, but he had made a $14,000 profit, enough to buy his first car.

This bootstrapping spirit got Mr. Moore, now 21, accepted into Bizdom U, an intense boot camp for aspiring entrepreneurs who aim to start high-growth businesses in Detroit. Bizdom U is the brainchild of Dan Gilbert, a Motor City native who is founder and chairman of the online mortgage lender Quicken Loans. He also hopes to help revitalize his hometown.

Read the entire article here.

Latino businesses flourishing in Soutwest Detroit, on All Things Considered

NPR Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Southwest Detroit is arguably the city's strongest neighborhood. The rundown of Detroit's stat sheet may not be exactly sterling, but if you look into Southwest, and Mexicantown, you'll find flourishing small businesses.

Excerpt from NPR:

With a stratospheric unemployment rate and major job loss throughout Detroit, it seems there's no room for small businesses to thrive.

But despite the city's severe economic problems, it appears its Hispanic business community is flourishing.

Detroit's Latino population has more than doubled in the past 10 years. Mexicans came in droves during the 1990s and continue to trickle in. There are roughly 400,000 Latinos in Michigan; half of them live in Detroit. Many work in construction, landscaping and the service industry. But hundreds have opened food-related businesses.

Listen to the broadcast here.

BizdomU spins out PostEgram in Detroit

Metromode Tuesday, May 25, 2010
PostEgram, a BizdomU graduate, has set up shop in New Center's TechTown. The business turns your Facebook page into a scrapbook.

Excerpt from Metromode:

Facebook isn't just for young junkies. One of Detroit's newest start-ups is making it more accessible to older folks who want to be part of the conversation.

PostEgram helps turn a Facebook page into an automatic journal and scrapbook. The company has developed software that saves the posts and pictures of a Facebook user and creates a monthly newsletter that is mailed to the customer.

"You set it up once and it does it automatically," says Judy Davids, CEO of PostEgram. "You pay $4.99 a month and you get a monthly newsletter."

The idea for this month-old start-up came to Davids, an admitted Facebook addict, when she was explaining the social media site to her elderly mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law wanted to be part of the online conversation with her family and close friends, too, but wanted an easy way to reflect on the conversation and picture exchange. That set off the CFL over Davids' head.

Read the entire article here.

Q&A: Randal Charlton of TechTown, FastTrac

Metromode Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Metromode sits down with TechTown Executive Director Randal Charlton to discuss entrepreneurs, FastTrac, and what TechTown has to offer.

Excerpt from Metromode:

How does TechTown also help instill this sort of mindset into new investors who aren't used to the sometimes volatile world of investing in start-ups?

We have set up a First Step Fund which invests up to $50,000 at a time into our early stage companies. The rules of investment are much less rigorous than from other sources such as angel investors or venture capital companies or banks. The funds are made in the form of an unsecured loan which is interest-free for two years.

If you could ensure that those who attend this event leave with at least one idea or mindset, what would that be?

That even small steps count. As long as the day makes you think about how you can take charge of your future and it empowers you to recognize that you have more options than you might think, then the day will be a success. If you end up setting up a successful company, then it will be a smash hit success.

Read the entire article here.

Businessweek names Avalon one of top 100 inner city companies

Businessweek Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Their sea salt chocolate cookies are good. So is the cornbread and the peanut butter cookies. And, over on West Willis, they've helped to spark some retail synergy. So, why shouldn't Avalon International Breads receive the honor of being named one of the 100 Inner City companies from Businessweek? I guess it's a little more scientific than that, but the little bakery in Detroit's Midtown brought home recognition. This ranking is of the fastest-growing inner-city companies across the nation according to Businessweek.

Watch a video interview with owners Ann Perrault and Jackie Victor here.

Incubators like TechTown are the buzz among entrepreneurs, says the Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Business incubators like TechTown are helping entrepreneurs fulfill their dreams, or at least, their business plans. These incubators offer free or low cost resources, low rent, and an environment that is conducive to the entrepreneurial spirit.

Excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:

Purdue Research Foundation in West Lafayette, Ind., the Center for Emerging Technologies in St. Louis, TechTown in Detroit and the University of Toledo in Ohio are among those that have added new incubator programs or facilities in recent years to accommodate more early stage companies.

Driving the trend is largely high unemployment and a dearth of adequate financing in the current economy, says Mr. Kitts. But at the same time, some incubator programs have suffered budget cuts, he adds.

About 1,500 early stage companies are participating in 10-week business-training programs at TechTown, an incubator established in 2000 by Wayne State University, General Motors Co. and the Henry Ford Health System. Of those, about 80% are run by individuals who have been unemployed for six months or longer, says Randal Charlton, executive director. Located in Southeast Michigan, where unemployment is about 15%, the incubator is also home to 200 start-ups in industries ranging from energy and education to homeland security and logistics.

Read the entire article here.

New site on the block: Xconomy.com tracks Detroit's technology

Xconomy.com Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Xconomy.com covers innovation and has bureaus in Boston, San Diego, Seattle, and now Detroit. They're aiming to cover the innovative nature of this area. After all, we did give the world the car. So far they've done a few interesting pieces. Expecting good things from these nerds. JK Xconomy, it's just a joke.

Excerpt from Xconomy.com:

Welcome to Xconomy Detroit, a continuing chronicle of what this city is "becoming."

The word "Detroit" has always been immersed in meaning far beyond the physical borders of this great and tragic city. At one time, there was no need to define what one meant by the phrase "coming out of Detroit." It was synonymous with the very best of American ingenuity and progress. Time passes, and the D-word is almost an epithet.

Here's what I think: "Detroit" is a verb.

It is constantly in the process of doing, of becoming, of moving from one state of being to another. This is true despite what you may hear or read about Detroit's historic complacency as a one-industry town.

I have lived in Michigan most of my life. I know that Detroit is always seeking to become—even within the confines of its now-maligned "one industry." There is a great deal of "becoming" contained within the knowledge, talent, creativity, and sheer willpower of the late, great automotive industry.

Even back in the mid-'80s, when I went to school at Wayne State University in Detroit, there was talk of renaissance, a common buzzword in Detroit. But it has taken just about my entire adult life for me to actually see the seeds of true renaissance.

Read the entire article here.

Another piece from Xconomy.com about Detroit as America's laboratory of innovation is here.

Crain's Detroit Business' write up here.

And, for those journos out there, all three of you, here's a piece from Poynter about Xconomy.com's innovative journalism approach.

From Papermag: Detroit's Wheelhouse is putting the city on two wheels

Papermag Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Who needs an engine in the Motor City when you have two legs and two wheels. Biking culture in Detroit is growing thanks to places like Wheelhouse Detroit, on the Riverfront. They rent bikes, fix bikes, give tours, and love Detroit. What more could you ask for? Papermag, who last year listed Detroit's Funk Night as best party in America, drops in on the Wheelhouse.

Excerpt from Papermag:

Not every form of transportation in the Motor City requires an engine. Wheelhouse Detroit, a bicycle shop in downtown Detroit, that offers rentals, retail, and service. They also offer tours that help make little-known tourist gems more accessible in a city that is spread across many miles.

The monthly 15-mile Architecture Tour shows off the Albert Kahn, Louis Kamper and Frank Lloyd Wright buildings scattered around the city center while the Techno 313 Tour, planned for Memorial Day Weekend, is suited for Detroit music fans. In fall, the annual fund-raising ride l Tour de Troit will promote cycling and benefit local charities. 2000 riders participated last year.

Detroiters Kelli Kavanaugh and Karen Gage opened Wheelhouse two years ago and they emphasize the ecological practices of their business, including the t-shirts and sustainable water bottles they sell. "Our store is an opportunity to get to talk to people about road safety and spread the word that cars need to share the road with riders," said Gage, who also works as an urban planner in the city.

Read the entire article here.

Surprise, surprise: More articles about Detroit's urban agricultural

CBC Tuesday, March 23, 2010
CBC talks with the writer who did that Guernica Magazine piece about Detroit that shot around the world. With Mayor Dave Bing's right-sizing plan turning large swaths of land into fields, urban agriculture will be a likely candidate to fill the space.

Listen to the report from CBC here.

From the Detroit Free Press, writer John Gallagher asks if urban gardening could be Detroit's cash cow? With all the gardens now, and all the potential gardens coming in the future, as well as the much anticipated Hantz Group farm idea, all signs point to yes.

Excerpt from the Detroit Free Press:

The economic incentive is new. Urban growers have been active in Detroit for years, but almost all the food they produce is either donated to food banks, given away to neighbors or consumed by the growers themselves.

A network of growers sells produce at Eastern Market and other locations under the Grown in Detroit label, but the effort remains relatively small at this point.

To help local farmers create jobs and tax base, City Council action is key, because Detroit -- like many other cities -- does not recognize agriculture as a legal land use in its zoning code.

Read the entire article here.

Metro Times: Midtown is coming into its own

Metro Times Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Over the last decade Detroit's Midtown are has exploded along Cass Corridor. Most may remember it being vacant, empty, destination-less, but it isn't like that anymore. And with the expected light-rail project coming to Woodward, Midtown will continue to grow, and, more importantly, could grow faster.

Excerpt from the Metro Times:

This area known as Midtown — roughly between downtown and the New Center — has a growing energy and the promise of more if a planned rail project is installed along Woodward. With its independent businesses, continued investment from Wayne State and a new mind-set about walkability, rideability and marketability, the area is a unique and colorful section of Detroit. And the strip along Willis at Cass is becoming one of its most vibrant components.

"What we have now is a lot of bubbling up. It's like a brew," says Harriet Saperstein, a former city of Detroit planner and current chair of the Woodward Avenue Action Association, which works in Wayne and Oakland counties. "With lots of these bubbles, some of them are going to dissipate, but some may have more flavor and staying power."

Read the entire article here.


Supino owner blogs about Midtown retail density, pizza making, Otto von Bismarck in Metromode

Metromode Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Midtown is Detroit's shining example of density. There are shops and cafes and bars and stores one can pop in and out of along and off of Cass Avenue. Dave Mancini, owner of Eastern Market's Supino Pizzeria, blogs for Metromode about just that. Read further and you'll learn a little bit about opening a business in Detroit and why he puts an egg on one of his signature pizzas.

Excerpt from the blog on Metromode:

A couple of months ago on an unseasonably lovely Monday, I wandered into Curl Up & Dye on Cass north of Willis in Midtown (helping Detroiters look like Detroiters – awesome tagline from this fantastic little salon's Myspace page) for my semiannual haircut without an appointment (because that's sort of how I operate). I was told I would have a 45 minute wait. So how to entertain myself for a bit?

Then it occurred to me that this is one section in Detroit that has newly established the sort of 'walkable neighborhood – retail density' that we all get geeked about. Just around the block on Canfield I went to grab a beer at Motor City Brewing Works. On my way there, I passed two stores that, like my business, are closed on Mondays. But most days of the week, you can check out beautiful, locally crafted art and gifts and vintage clothes at City Bird, or fantastic design elements for your home, curated by the eminently tasteful Claire at the Bureau of Urban Living next door. I finished my beer and cruised around the block, past the Avalon Bakery (their bear claw pastries are the greatest) on to Goodwell's, a natural foods store par-excellence, and home to one of the tastiest avocado sandwiches you'll ever sink your teeth into. Now I'm a carnivore, but this is one vegan meal that can satisfy my people. I still had four minutes left as I walked by another anchor of this neighborhood, the Spiral Collective, and got back just in time to get a great haircut while listening to the owner drop the occasional f-bomb, one of the particular charms of this place.

Read the entire blog post here.



Detroit's Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes targets new shops

Metromode Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes started humbly in that little spot on John R. Then they opened a bigger spot in the Park Shelton in Midtown. And now? The crepe shop is looking to build on that by opening up a new location in Toledo, Ohio, a few other spots in Southeast Michigan, and maybe even one in Chicago.

Excerpt from Metromode:

Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes is opening up a new location in Toledo and building out a new space in Grosse Pointe. The Detroit-based creperie is also looking at opening in a few other spots in southeast Michigan and even other major metro areas in the Midwest, such as Chicago. This latest burst of expansion is expected to grow the company's payroll from eight people today to 24 by the end of the year.

Expanding in today's tight credit market is no easy feat for small businesses. Torya Blanchard, Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes' founder and owner, says she is accomplishing this by taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves to her. For instance, Blanchard says the Toledo location, which is near the University of Toledo, was formerly a café, making the expansion inexpensive.

"It's a lot of hard work and good luck," Blanchard says. "You need to keep your nose to the grindstone and make rational decisions."

Read the entire article here.


Avalon International Breads teams with AIDS Partnership Michigan for Valentine's Day love

Avalon International Breads Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Skip buying the box of candies and cards from CVS for your loved one this year. Instead, spend the cash at Avalon International Breads in Detroit's Midtown this Valentine's Day.

A portion of the proceeds from all of their chocolate-y goodness will go to the AIDS Partnership Michigan to help in their "endless pursuit of an end to AIDS." The chocolate-centric items will be available in gift packs and Valentine tins.

Check out Avalon on Sunday, Feb. 14, where ten percent of the proceeds on all retail will go directly to APM. Additionally, Avalon will be celebrating APM's 27th birthday with a giant browning birthday cake.

For more information visit AIDS Partnership Michigan, call Avalon at 313-832-0008, or email avalonbreads@sbcglobal.net.
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