MiVote posts short videos of the 17 candidates running for the Charter Commission this November. The web site, co-sponsored by Detroit Public TV and UM Dearborn, also features short videos of Detroit City Council candidates.See all the videos here.
This week, tweeters seemed to be discussing cars and traveling; what else can you expect from the Motor City?For example, @brianpop definitely felt the need for speed: I had almost forgotten the unbridled joy of cruising Detroit freeways at 90+mph with near impunity.We must say that we don't condone that and think that's a bit reckless (not to mention against the law).So, perhaps it’s that kind of behavior that prompted this statement from @kendall: I love you Detroit but I have to say, your driving scares me a bit.And @ProwlerAK has just given up completely: Funny.... I'm from Detroit but I can't stand cars. I don't care If I never drive again.Motion was also on @stuartschorr’s mind, but instead of traveling in Detroit, he was traveling away: Will miss Detroit, a great town, vastly underated.We’ll miss you, too, Stuart.@creativemuffin was also leaving Detroit this week and his parting words give us our Tweet of the Week: Worst thing about Detroit....leaving itKinda gives you goosebumps, eh?On a more serious note, another topic among tweeters was former Detroit sportscaster Ernie Harwell, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Many took to Twitter to share memories and express well wishes about the man many consider to be the voice of baseball. @MattMyftiu seemed to put the news in perspective: Very sad news about Ernie Harwell, a true Detroit icon, having a year or less to live ... His voice will live on forever, thoughUntil next time, follow Model D’s tweets and keep readin' and tweetin'.Compiled by Model D intern Ilissa Gilmore.
What's next for Detroit in the next ten years? What ideas, projects and places will help create the Detroit of the future? Crain's Detroit Business sifts through it all and finds what could possibly reinvent the city.Read the entire piece here.A few other noteworthy pieces to check out:Read about how midtown's Green Garage owners are looking to build incubator for sustainable technology here.Could Detroit be the friendliest city in the nation? Here's a piece on how that might happen here.Crain's touches base with GLUE and their campaign "I will stay if..." Read about their efforts and what people are saying about staying here.
Detroit and businessman John Hantz wants to commit $30 million to his urban farm idea in Detroit, which would be the largest of its kind.Excerpt:By this time next year, he says, some of that land could be transformed, becoming the first phase of Hantz Farms L.L.C., an ambitious commercial farming operation that Hantz says can turn a profit.“We have to move as a city from knowing why everything won't work to knowing why it will work,” he said. “At some point, we have to step into the fire.” Hantz has been buying property on Detroit's east side, and plans to open shop with a 77-acre, noncontiguous farm growing food, trees and energy products — provided a few key pieces fall into place. “We're down from a couple of hundred things that have to happen to a few things,” he said. Hantz says he plans to commit $30 million over the next 10 years to bring the farm to fruition, with the end goal of 5,000 acres, said Hantz Farms Senior Vice President Matt Allen. Costs have averaged roughly $3,000 an acre, Allen said.Read the entire article here.
Baltimore urban planning blogger writes about how America shouldn't turn its back on the city that helped build it.Excerpt: Detroit was a great American industrial jewel that we are allowing to crumble like the ruins in Rome. The only catch is that Detroit has not been deserted. Among these industrial ruins is the nation's 11th largest city where over 900,000 people reside. Our nation's forgotten major city is still larger then the cosmopolitan cities of San Fransisco, Boston, Seattle and Washington D.C. While we can never bring Detroit back to what it was 50 years ago, we can still transform the city from a once great industrial city into a great historical city and not watch city turn into a ruin from a far.Read the entire post here.
Another media source looks at Detroit and its agrarian potential.Excerpt:One sustainable solution is for Detroit to grow their own food. There is plentiful open land, fertile soil, ample water and a willing workforce. A recent study by a student at Michigan State University indicates that Detroit has enough vacant land to grow 76 percent of the vegetables and 42 percent of the fruits consumed by city residents. The acres of abandoned buildings and property lots make Detroit a hotbed for community gardens and large-scale urban agriculture....Detroit may be in the best position to become the world’s first 100 percent food self-sufficient city…talk about sustainability! Imagine America’s once prosperous, industrial Detroit as the first modern American city where agriculture, not automobiles, is the most vital industry. Mark Dowie, an investigative historian, eloquently portrayed a vision of Detroit in his article, Food Among the Ruins, as one where growing in the city are “chard and tomatoes on vacant lots, orchards on former school grounds, mushrooms in open basements, fish in abandoned factories, hydroponics in bankrupt department stores, livestock grazing on former golf courses, high rise farms in old hotels and waving wheat where cars were once test-driven.”Read the entire article here.
Once again, it's late summer in Detroit. The weather's getting cooler, days are getting shorter, and a lot of us are like @kevgould, who is: wondering if summer days in detroit are over. Not sure, but it seems a little early to pack up the summer wardrobe just yet, especially with Labor Day's barbeques and baseball games just around the corner. @jdfj said: I want to go to the Detroit Tigers game this afternoon, but have too much to do. I need an enabler. It sounds you should talk to tweeter @angeloguarnieri: Omg omg omg I found the best Detroit Tigers movie ever in the $5 bin at Walmart!!! It's about the world series they won....so excited!! OMG! OMG! We're glad you're so excited about the Tigers, Angelo. When you're done watching the DVD you should get out and see a game in real life.Additionally, these tweeters reminded us how beautiful Detroit can be in the late summer light... @KathleenGuevara: Watching the day get lighter in Detroit. Twilight is one of my favorite times of day. @Oh_Jetaime: I am enjoying this sunny day... :D Downtown Detroit is so pretty as it sparkles in the sunlight! @3kelemart: Everything in Detroit is so beautiful, I loved the old buildings!!! And last but not least, our city's tweeters continue to remind us that you have to listen, not look, to find some of the best things about the city... @ronnyventura: Detroit Techno is The Sweetest Sound On Earth Be sure to follow Model D for all our updates and news about the city. Until next week... keep readin', keep tweetin'.
Next American City asked Model D to map out a Detroiter's day in the city. We tracked community development star, businesswoman and bike enthusiast Karen Gage. Read the story, which also appears in this month's NAC magazine.
It's hard to say what people anticipate more as summer comes to a close -- the return of college football or Open City. The choice is obvs, people. So to kick off the season right, we're collaborating on a Model D Speaker Series/Open City night Sept. 15. Sorry, no cornhole.
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