Like neighbors across the street, people in Detroit’s ring suburbs and those on the inner edge of the city are getting to know one-another. Of course, 8 Mile Road is not a neighborhood street. It represents decades of economic and racial division in metropolitan Detroit.
Recently, however, those on either side of what is also known as “Baseline Road” are finding commonality. Just examining the statistics in the area immediate north and south of 8 Mile in Warren would suggest that the neighborhoods are, aside from their racial make-up, demographically identical:
• 29 percent of the households on both sides are family residences.
• 71 percent of the homes are owner-occupied on the north side, 67 percent to the south; 29 percent are rentals north, 33 percent south.
• 21 percent of the people on both sides have a high school diploma; 5.5 percent have a college degree.
“As neighbors we would appear from the statistics very similar,” says Maria Zardis, grant coordinator with the Macomb County Department of Planning and Economic Development. The biggest difference along the Warren/Detroit border is that the community to the north is predominantly white, and the neighborhood to the south is predominantly black.
In recent years, Detroit’s first-ring suburbs have found that economic disinvestment and changing social demographics have made their communities seem more like extensions of Detroit than part of their sprawling counties.
Unlike Warren, Ferndale is more racially diverse. 40 percent of Ferndale schools are African American, says Tom Barwin, Ferndale city manager. “Over the years, citizens of this community have gotten beyond some of the preconceived notions that we’ve had between the races. … If you’re doing business on Livernois or in our central business district, you’ll know it’s very mixed, probably 50/50 most of the time.”
Together with Warren and 21 other ring suburbs, Ferndale established the Michigan Suburbs Alliance. Barwin says the partnership is meant “to find common ground with Detroiters and begin to set the stage for sustainable development and ensure that our core inner city and its ring suburbs can regenerate and become magnets of opportunity.”
Cooperation among all people in the region, regardless of race, is essential to that goal, he says.
“This region is self-segregating, still – not as much on race as it used to be. … That’s a very unhealthy way for us to move into the future. There are a lot of social costs associated with that behavior. Frankly, it’s self-defeating and destructive.”
Ferndale and the NorthStar community development corporation in Detroit are one of seven groups selected by the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), of Detroit, to discuss opportunities to collaborate. LISC is using financial incentives to encourage organizations on both sides of Detroit’s borders to plan a collective future. As in any form of diplomacy, that involves establishment of trust and a common agenda.
“Relationships transform over time,” says Regina Strong, NorthStar vice president and chief operating officer. “There is an opportunity for common experience. … There are lessons to be learned on both sides.
“If you could only blur that border a little bit.”
Trust is at the heart of diplomacy and requires time and commitment.
“You cannot erase years and years of separation,” says Pat Bosch, executive director of the Nortown community development corporation. Warren and Center Line in Macomb Counties and a host of partners in Detroit have been funded by LISC to implement the “V-8 Gateway Collaborative.”
“It is going to require patience, more building of trust,” says Bosch. “I see this as a sign of hope, as opposed to a sign of frustration. Whether we use concepts like the greenway or we use celebrations of diversity, or ways of improving our shopping areas or housing opportunities – those are economic spin-offs that will have a direct impact on property values, desirability and viability of place. This is a wonderful opportunity – like no other time in history.”
These types of collaborations involve often strong-willed leaders who come to negotiations with self-interest and personal attitudes. However, such things have not proved to be a barrier with V-8, Zardis says. “We didn’t all have to like each other all of the time. It wasn’t like we were completely without conflict or heated discussion. But we got past that, reminding ourselves we had this common goal.”
NorthStar and Nortown were established in Detroit by struggling businesses, institutions, and neighborhood organizations to stem blight and redevelop their communities. Each has seen the transition of their bordering suburban areas, yet has looked inward to solve their problems, using the few resources available to them. People on the Detroit side are accustomed crossing the border to get goods and services they need. The challenge is getting their suburban neighbors to do the same.
Barwin concurs, serving as a role model by sending his four boys to the University of Detroit Jesuit High School on Six Mile Road. “I’m one of those rare suburbanites who sent their kids to school in Detroit. …We want to highlight those assets along Livernois.”
Barwin and Strong envision building off the cultural assets of University of Detroit Mercy and Marygrove College, as well as the art galleries on both sides of 8 Mile, to create a cultural corridor along Livernois.
The V-8 plan proposes physical revitalization of the business corridor through façade improvement, signage and creation of a “gateway” improvement at the Van Dyke/8 Mile intersection. Other improvements include establishment of a Van Dyke Business District Association and social initiatives.
“In my mind if you constantly separate people, they will never come together,” says Bosch. “They won’t understand each other or appreciate each other. However, if we create shopping opportunities or create celebrations or create time where we can just come together and have a casual good time … if we all work together for the good of the region, as opposed to separation economics, all of a sudden we will realize that the person across the street is just like me.”
Previously, Bosch says, “it was Detroit worrying about Detroit, and Warren worrying about Warren. Now we’re able to look at a whole geographic area. … We’re starting to think of connectors, rather than isolationism.”
Bosch and Zardis agree that they may not have even be talking today without the financial incentives offered by LISC, which has awarded $485,000 in grants to three project areas on the border of Detroit.
“The color of money unites people as opposed to other colors that, to date, have separated us,” says Bosch.
At a program sponsored by LISC last November, Zardis was matched with others from the Nortown area. At that point, she realized that the partnership made sense. “We, independently, were looking to do the same thing. On that day, we realized that we shared a common vision.
“Those who are entrenched and have really examined the issues on both sides of the boulevard – we’re beyond that. We have so much in common. … Had it not been for Detroit LISC, we never would have recognized that.”
One of the ways to encourage cross-pollination of people is through greenways for cyclists and walkers. The V-8 plan would eventually connect the Connor Creek greenway, extending form 8 Mile to the Detroit River, to a proposed greenway in Macomb County. Ferndale has similar plans for a greenway with its Detroit neighbors.
Developing these border regions as one entity could lead to what people in Cleveland call “edge communities,” communities committed to creating seamless linkages between city and suburb. In doing so, their commonality will define a unique sense of place within a greater region.
“Rather than look at 8 Mile as a separation line, we now look at it as a gateway to regional development,” says Bosch. “This is the first time we’ve been able to have planning on a greater level than just one neighborhood. We’re actually uniting part of Southeast Michigan.”
The V-8 Gateway Collaborative will hold a public meeting to share information with district residents and businesses about what they can expect to see happen in the coming year.
The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29 at St. John Health Center Conner Creek Village, 4777 E. Outer Drive in Detroit. Call (586) 427-4300 or (313) 891-7709 for more information.
Photos:
Gateway into Detroit
East side Detroit Neighborhood
Warren Neighborhood
Ferndale School
Univeristy of Detroit Jesuit High School
All Photos Copyright Dave Krieger