Downtown Detroit

DPS student’s portrait of President Barack Obama gets her to D.C. for a second time

By Newsroom

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June 30, 2009

Detroit Public School student Tangela Frazier gets a second trip to Washington D.C. because of the portrait of President Barack Obama she painted.Excerpt:A Detroit student's portrait of President Barack Obama has earned her a second trip to Washington, D.C. The Detroit Public Schools district says Tangela Frazier's portrait is a winner in the 2009 Congressional Artistic Discovery Competition. The 17-year-old Pershing High School 11th grader and other winners will spend Wednesday in Washington. Their work will be judged again at a reception, with the winner receiving a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.Read the entire article here.

The political spirit of Detroit seems to be shifting

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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June 30, 2009

Detroit's political atmosphere is on a shift.Excerpt:There is a different atmosphere in Detroit these days, a city that not long ago seemed to be on another planet. Four years ago, the city was led by a "hip-hop" mayor famous for extravagant living, wild parties, and behaviour so outrageous that one out-of-town police force said it would no longer take responsibility for protecting him.Today, there is a new spirit of something like sobriety. After Kwame Kilpatrick went off to prison in October, there seemed to be a collective sign of relief. Suddenly, Detroiters seemed to want sane, competent, grown-up leadership. Dave Bing, a sports hero turned successful businessman, was elected to replace Kilpatrick.When he won a special election in May, most of the other major candidates bowed out of challenging the new mayor for the full four-year term that will be decided this November.Read the entire article here.

fDi Magazine names Detroit a city of the future

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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June 30, 2009

fDi Magazine, an investment mag produced by the Financial Times, released their cities of the future list and Detroit fell in at No. 10 for the largest cities of the future. Excerpt:fDi Magazine’s North American Cities of the Future 2009/10 shortlists, which took more than six months to research and involved the data collection of nearly 400 North American cities, ranks San Francisco, California, as the top large city of the future, followed closely by Austin, Texas. Of the large cities surveyed, San Luis Potosí in Mexico ranks top for cost effectiveness, while Charlotte, North Carolina, ranks top for FDI strategy according to the judging panel.Read the entire article here.

George W. Jackson: Brownfield Opportunities Driving Redevelopment of Key Neighborhoods

By Mariangela Pledl

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General

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June 24, 2009

For years, the building on Second Avenue just north of the Fisher Theatre and former General Motors headquarters was home to a CBS-affiliated radio and television station. When the commercial station left, Detroit's public television station moved in. Now, thanks to some help from brownfield tax incentives, redevelopment opportunities are presenting themselves.

Toronto web site talks Detroit’s return to light rail

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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June 23, 2009

Detroit's continued push toward light rapid transit seems to be in step with the mindset of the nation. Could a kind of streetcar renaissance begin right here in Detroit? Excerpt: The proposed site for the light rail line along Woodward Avenue was actually the route of Detroit’s last streetcar, which was removed in 1956 only to be replaced by diesel buses. That ended 93 years of streetcar service that at one point was operating over 2,800 vehicles. Detroit transit hit its peak annual ridership of 492 million rides in 1945. Sixty-five years later, that number is now reduced to less than one hundred million. In this context, Detroit’s renewed interest in rail-based public transportation follows a nationwide trend that is emblematic of what one American blogger has called ‘America’s Streetcar Renaissance.’ Read the entire article here.

Solar, hydrogen powered train through Detroit may be crazy but why not, says infrastructure blog

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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June 23, 2009

The Detroit MagLev train, powered by solar and hydrogen technologies, would connect Lansing, Detroit, and Ann Arbor. The Infrastructurist, an American infrastructure blog, says that on one hand it's a bit of a crazy idea, but on the other, why not.Excerpt:On one hand, it’s a solar- and hydrogen-powered levitating pod train being built to a half empty city. On the other hand… well, who isn’t rooting for stuff to happen Michigan at this point. If they can get someone to cough up $2.3 billion for this mad contraption, more power to them. People do seem to be treating the proposal–which would link Lansing, Detroit, and Ann Arbor–with some degree of seriousness though. The company behind it claims they have enough loot to build a prototype by next year and that if the state will grant easements for the tracks alongside three highway routes, then they can secure the rest of the funding. The plan apparently is to get it done with private capital (as the proposed Desert Xpress linking Vegas to West Coast meth capital Victorville would do).Read the entire article here.

Council by Districts initiative is vital to Detroit, Francis Grunow says in Freep

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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June 23, 2009

The Council by Districts initiative is vital to Detroit writes Detroit resident, WSU law student, and occasional Model D writer Francis Grunow in the Detroit Free Press.Excerpt:Which leads me back to the beginning -- we must also take the next clear step to help ensure that districts become reality. A coalition of groups known as Detroiters for City Council by Districts is pushing an important ballot initiative to place this question before voters in November.Passing this initiative is vital. It would serve as an insurance policy for the citizens of Detroit. There is no guarantee that the charter review process will result in council by districts. In fact, when the council-by-districts question was last considered as part of a charter review in 1993, it was turned down. A successful initiative will mean that the charter debate won't be about whether we need council districts, but how best to implement council districts.Read the entire article here.

Home Is More Than Our House: WDET continues its coverage of Detroit’s mortgage crisis

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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June 23, 2009

WDET 101.9 FM reporters Rob St. Mary and Zak Rosen continue their coverage this week in their "Home is More Than a House" series on how Detroiters are facing and fighting the foreclosure crisis.Listen to Detroit Today on WDET this week for their stories. The program airs from 1-3 p.m. weekdays on 101.9 FM.This week, Zak will be talking about how simple energy efficiency measures can save homeowners a good chunk of change in these troubled times, with tips from the WARM Training Center.Rob St. Mary offers story is on Moratorium Now!, the activist group that works on foreclosures. The group has been able to save several people from losing their houses.For more on the series, check out their blog: wdetmortgagecrisis.com

Selling Homes in Detroit: It’s About More Than Just the Benjamins

By Clare Pfeiffer Ramsey

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General

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June 23, 2009

Are out-of-state speculators the only people buying and dilapidated homes the only thing selling in Detroit? Are Detroit real estate agents' fortunes all but lost? Nope.

Garage rock ‘Godfather’ Jim Diamond talks Detroit, music, White Stripes

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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June 23, 2009

Considered the Garage Rock Godfather, Jim Diamond sits down for a Q & A with a Phoenix writer and talks Detroit music.Excerpt:UP: I'm pretty sure you're going to scoff at this question too, but I've always thought there's a certain energy in Detroit that produces great music of every type, and successful music . . . There are so many cities the size of Detroit -- I mean, you look at a city like Phoenix, it's a lot larger than Detroit -- that never put out that many successful acts.JD: Yeah, that's true. I always think it's, like, Detroit is really easy to live there, and it's kind of like there aren't a whole lot of rules and the rent isn't expensive, so people have time to screw around and play music, and it's pretty easy. And I've said this before a million times: People there always have a really good knowledge about musical history, for whatever reason. Like there are a lot of really big music fans. And no one's really concerned about making it there. I guess they have this really downtrodden spirit like, "Fuck this. We're not going to make it; let's make music." So once they get back and think they're not going to make it, that's when they probably make better music.Read the entire article here.