Downtown Detroit

Colin Hubbell Memorial Bike Ride set for June 20

Old and Green: Detroit Innovators and Renovators Give Buildings Sustainable Overhauls

Old doesn't mean it can't be green. Many notable buildings and historic rehab projects are taking old spaces and putting in innovative, sustainable systems in them -- from City Hall to the Green Garage.

Motor City Pizza Party: Downtown Pie Makers Go Gourmet

Detroit is and has long been a pizza town -- nobody does Sicilian style like we do. Ah, but now there's a new crop of gourmet pizza places in the city, challenging and surprising our tastebuds. We brave this new world, for you. Tough job, we know.

Pardon Our Dust But We’ve Been Improving

Streetscape improvements made over the last four years in downtown Detroit have been enthusiastically embraced by pedestrian crowds, and more will be coming later this year. Support from the federal government's economic stimulus package will enhance plans that were already in place for significant projects near lower Woodward and Greektown.

Dequindre (duh-QUIN’-der) Cut gets attention from outside Michigan

The Infrastructurist, a web site about rebuilding America's infrastructure, picks up on the ribbon cutting of the Dequindre Cut.Excerpt:In Motor City, land of disused structures, an overgrown old rail line has been excavated and turned into a spanking new bike thoroughfare. While, technically, it is more a “greenway” than a “freeway,” there are entrance and exit ramps and multiple lanes separated by yellow lines. (Perhaps to make disused auto executives feel comfortable riding on it, now that they have plenty of free time to explore their community?) The ribbon cutting ceremony, which took place yesterday, fell conveniently into National Bike Week. Though in recent weeks the path had already been seeing some action from pedestrians, stroller-pushing parents and, um, “graffiti artists” according to the Detroit Free Press. So the great battle of use vs. abuse is now underway.Read the entire article here.A cute excerpt from a Chicago Tribune article offering the phonetic spelling of Dequindre:The $3.25 million Dequindre (duh-QUIN'-der) Cut Greenway officially opened Thursday after two years of construction. Read the entire article here.

Preservation for Economic Development

The restoration of the Globe Trading Company building in the East Riverfront District of Detroit took another step forward recently when the State of Michigan recommended it be placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Bing defeats Cockrel, national media takes notice

The basketballing businessman Dave Bing beats the incumbent policy man Ken Cockrel Jr. Bing will only serve seven months until the next election in May (in which he will seek re-election) and Cockrel goes back to being Detroit city council president, relieving Monica Conyers of her duties, although he could run again in May. Follow all of that?Excerpt:"In the 42 years that I've been here, I still dream. I dream that this city can be what it was before I even got here." He added: "If you've got the right values system, regardless of how poor you are or what kind of background you come from, you can succeed. That's what I want to make the people here understand." Read the entire article here.

Dogs of Detroit: Proud Pooches Bark About Their Hometown

Let the wonks figure out what the young and the restless humans want from their city. What about their best friends? We go to some of the city's top pooches to get the word on the street about the best dog-friendly patios, favorite spots for a nice stroll with their owners, and what the city needs to do better to meet the needs of the four-footed set.

Tweet of the Week

We continue our quest for Detroit tweets that are insightful, informative, or just plain funny ... So, it'd be great to list them all, but we can't. With that said, here are a few we found in the past week:@surmeet: Gonna have the best night ever this friday. Graduating on saturday. Europe monday. Jus got an aparment in detroit. Life is kraaazeeeee.Welcome to the neighborhood, @surmeet. And thanks for choosing Detroit.@angiekarr: Willie nelson, hundreds of new friends, every cowboy hat in #detroit crammed into hart plaza.So Detroit's Hoedown was this past weekend. In case you missed it Kevin Costner's band was there (if you book it, he will come).@youngdetroiter: @modeld The translation of the Spanish tweet: There's something about (the song) "Put Your Hands Up for Detroit" that makes me like it.We'd like to thank @youngdetroiter for translating last week's Spanish tweet mystery. We couldn't have done it without you.But, the winning tweet, the one that takes that cake is this:@jamilaishere: Monica Conyers is up in the Detroit Fish Market lookin a hot ass mess! Shouldn't she be tryin to get her stuff out the office? For real?!!!@jamilaishere's tweet is a reminder to do your best to not look like a hot mess when going into the Detroit Fish Market.Keep reading. Keep tweeting.Please follow us on Twitter here.