We finally get to see the fruits of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain's much buzzed about visit to Detroit and Hamtramck. The show first aired Monday, July 28, but repeats (shocking, we know) routinely, including another airing July 30 at 11 p.m. on the Travel Channel. Set the DVR and enjoy. His blog about his visit can be found here.
So vacation is behind us and we're back with the Tweet of the Week. So, what do you have to say?You should listen to your mother @miel_dulce, always listen to your mother.@miel_dulce: my mom said to stay in detroit, im totally thinking about it...We don't know where you are, but we wish you were still in Detroit, too. You can always come back.@Bizemisty: I wish I was still in Detroit. I hate this place.Congratulations Earthworks Urban Farm. Keep up the good work. And thanks @AshleySFlintoff for the heads up.@AshleySFlintoff: Congrats to Earthworks Urban Farm - Detroit's 1st Certified Organic Farm! Check out their work at www.cskdetroit.org/earthworksExactly @dlexus2001, don't forget about us, whoever you are.@dlexus2001: dont' forget bout detroitAnd finally, the winner, for our first week back from vacation Tweet of the Week is: @flamingowojack: Just got back from John K. King Used Bookstore in downtown Detroit. I'm there every week, but I find "new" stuff every time I go there...True that, @flamingowojack. True that.Keep reading. Keep tweeting. And see you next week.Follow us on Twitter here.
WDET 101.9 FM reporters Rob St. Mary and Zak Rosen continue their coverage this week in their "Home is More Than Our 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 the collaborate effort to stabilize Boston-Edison with median-income families, which in turn stabilizes the surrounding areas. Also, check out the great piece he did on Habitat for Hamtramck here. Rob St. Mary offers a story on finding help for the Jewish community in Metro Detroit. For more on the series, check out their blog: wdetmortgagecrisis.com
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.
When the banks won't answer the door, the smallest of small businesses can go knocking on the doors of Detroit's microloan programs, which are changing the face of the city one coffee shop or high tech start up at a time.
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.
Richard Florida is that creative class guy. Some agree with him, some don't. Wherever you fall on Florida, he does make some good points in his piece in the Atlantic that Detroit should pay attention to.Excerpt:The most successful shrinking strategies, like Pittsburgh's, are not top-down affairs driven by all-knowing governments, but organic, bottom-up, community-based efforts. While Pittsburgh government and business leadership pressed for large-scale urban renewal - stadium-building, convention centers, and more far-fetched schemes for local mag-lev trains - its real turnaround was driven by organic, bottom-up initiatives. Community groups, local foundations, and non-profits - not city hall or business-led economic development groups - were the driving forces behind neighborhood stabilization and redevelopment, university-based economic development, water-front revitalization, park improvements, and green building among others. This kind of bottom-up process takes considerable time and perseverance. In Pittsburgh's case, it took the better part of a generation to achieve stability and the potential for longer-term revival. All of which brings us back to a big question: What about people versus place strategies? I agree with Glaeser: people must be the priority. Especially in tough economic times, public investment should flow toward people. Early childhood investments, as James Heckman has shown, are the most important, longest-running and highest-paying investments we make.Read the entire article here.
The Hamtramck ice cream trucks are just one of the many reasons this 2.2 square-mile city is such an interesting little place.Excerpt:But that hardly matters, because it's so delightful to listen to "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" again and again that such trifles as needing to pull one's car out would hardly matter. Besides, you get a better look at the truck, appreciating its hand-painted charm. No two are alike, and there are even a few old New York City-area Mr. Softee trucks in the fleet, all creatively decorated and patched up like it's Havana. Watch long enough, and you may even see an unusual ice cream motorcycle putter along — complete with sidecar and rear-mounted freezer case. You'll certainly be tempted to snap a photo or record the delicate warble of the prerecorded ditty, if you can hear it clearly. Sometimes it will be drowned out by motor noise, as all of the trucks seem to use the very latest in loud-engine technology to keep the ice cream cool. Once the vehicle stops, the driver and the excited young children begin their gentle negotiations. You might worry that the driver will cut off the music or switch the coolers over to battery power for a couple minutes, but, thankfully, he's sure to keep everything running, not wanting to spoil anybody's pleasure. Over the din, you'll often hear at least one of the children ask, "Hey, you won't make a deal?" over and over again before the calorie-jitney finally buzzes off.Read the entire article here.
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