Downtown Detroit

Freep says Bing shouldn’t waste time to start ‘right-sizing’ the city

Despite Detroit's economic shortfalls, this Freep editorial says Detroit Mayor Dave Bing needs to think about right-sizing the city now rather than later.Excerpt:Bing must set in motion some long-term fixes, or Detroit will lurch from crisis to crisis. At the very least, he should order the city’s planning department to begin studying neighborhood population and economic development trends over the next 25 years. That information will be needed before the city revises the master plan. The city’s fiscal emergency gives the mayor and city a teachable moment — a telling example of why this process is necessary. Urban experts like John Mogk of Wayne State University have pressed the issue of consolidating population for more than a decade, and most city leaders now understand that it is necessary.Youngstown, Ohio, a smaller city with similar problems, has given Detroit, and the entire nation, a blueprint for how a city can creatively downsize by consolidating neighborhoods and creating parks and greenways.Right-sizing Detroit will take years. The city must start the process now if it wants to sustain a quality-of-life that will stabilize its population and tax base and avoid continual fiscal emergencies.Read the entire article here.

Detroit’s Real Talk: Radio Show Has a Mission to Create a Movement

Ken "Blanks" Harrell had this idea for a show: Bring Detroiters together on air in a positive way to talk about ideas, people, arts and business. He didn't want to just entertain, he wanted to start something bigger, a movement to change the city.

A look at deconstruction and how Detroit’s abandoned structures could be reused

Deconstruction may be a key to recycling and reusing the derelict, abandoned, and condemned houses in Detroit.Excerpt:In an effort to revive its most historic neighborhoods, Wayne County is deconstructing these decayed homes and recycling the materials. Sponsored by Wayne Country, Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit and the Architectural Salvage Warehouse, the deconstruction is already underway as crews have already torn down two homes in the last month. Jeff Woods, deconstruction manager for Saginaw Habitat for Humanity tells The Detroit News that he hopes to deconstruct about 100 homes each year. The project calls on volunteers in order to bind together a community that has seen its fair share of destruction. The deconstruction trend has been catching on as homeowners have found a way to reduce construction waste and benefit the environment by decreasing the need for virgin material. An added bonus: There can be monetary benefits to deconstruction as well.Read the entire article here.

The Detroit News looks at the Dequindre Cut a gallery of graffiti

The Dequindre Cut is a gallery of graffiti and urban culture.Excerpt:The Cut is a trench under the streets of the former Black Bottom neighborhood now known as Lafayette Park and runs between Orleans and St. Aubin streets. It's a defunct railroad line that ran from the Detroit River warehouse district north through Eastern Market and out to the suburbs. A one-mile stretch recently opened as the Dequindre Cut Greenway, a spur off the River Walk, open from Woodbridge on the south to Gratiot on the north, and is attracting bicyclists, rollerbladers and walkers to its level roadway.Since the greenway opened, underpass walls and arches, long hidden beneath the streets, have become exposed -- and with them the eye-stabbing colors and line of tags, throw-ups, and full-blown pieces and productions by the city's graffiti artists.While the greenway is a wonderful showcase for this underground art, ironically it threatens it's survival. While this ad hoc museum of hip hop culture is opening people's eyes to long hidden talent, it is also closing off the venue from the organic painting and repainting that is inherent in graffiti culture. See the slide show and read the entire article here.

Writer has hard time explaining why he loves Detroit, so he decided to move here

Travel writer David Landsel writes about falling in love with Detroit.Excerpt:How do you tell everyone how wonderful Detroit is, without them assuming you have completely lost your mind? Unable to solve this dilemma, I remember handing in a story that told readers precisely nothing. Nearly a decade later, I find it difficult to communicate just why I love the city. It’s not for lack of trying. Whenever anyone will listen, particularly these days, with Detroit’s troubles all over the news, I chew their ear off. Do they know about the Detroit Institute of Arts, with its stunning Diego Rivera murals? What about the beautiful summers, or Saturdays in the historic Eastern Market district? How about that Michigan beer, that Detroit-style pizza, the annual electronic music festival on the Detroit River. What about the nearby Great Lakes? Yes, the nightlife really is that interesting. And all within an hour’s flight of New York. And did I mention that the locals are half-crazy but mostly harmless, and always amusing to talk to?Read the entire article here.

Right-sizing Detroit could be key to survival, revival, renewal

The city still acts as if it has nearly two million people sometimes... but it's less than half that. The consensus is, among urban planners, that the city needs to shrink to survive and renew itself.Excerpt:Urban planners insist -- and Detroit's political leaders are beginning to acknowledge -- that the city cannot continue to function as if nearly 2 million people still live there. That tax base is long gone, taking with it the money required to maintain city services and a crumbling infrastructure."Detroit once had 1.8 million people, and it's not likely that that number is going to come back in the next two to three decades -- if ever," said Dan Kildee, Genesee County treasurer and a national advocate for downsizing initiatives.Read the entire article here.

Quicken still plan to build new in 2013

Quicken Loans' plans to build new weren't squashed with their move to the Compuware building... just delayed.Excerpt:Quicken Loans hopes to begin construction on a new downtown headquarters in mid-2013 and spend $192 million on it, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. said today in an analysis of the project.As announced this month, Quicken will first move some 1,700 employees into leased space in the Compuware Building. But the MEDC analysis shows that Quicken has not abandoned the goal of building its own headquarters, a goal first announced in late 2007.Quicken had to shelve plans for a new headquarters of its own because of the economic recession. But the MEDC analysis showed the plans are only delayed, not dead.Read the entire article here.

Tweet of the Week: Detroit’s B-Day love

Let’s start off this edition of Tweet of the Week by taking the time to recognize that July 24 was Detroit’s birthday, as it was founded in 1701.Many of us may have forgotten, but luckily, @this_girl_c was there to remind us: HAPPY 308th BIRTHDAY DETROIT ....ilovemycity :)And according to @nhlcyclesophist, the city has old and modern qualities: Ah, Detroit. All the late-19th century charm....but with more grafitti and airplanes!this_girl_c wasn’t the only one to declare their love for the city, as @JustJackie313 offered this confession in this week’s best tweet: im in love with DetroitWhat’s so great about this statement is how simple and to the point it is; she doesn’t just love Detroit, she’s in love with Detroit. It’s committed and dedicated people like her that the city needs.However, if you ask @Radix89, he’d probably say Detroit needs something a little more…exotic: anyone in detroit know any shamans? I'm done with traditional doctors. Hacks can't write a legible sentence.Not sure if a shaman would really work. Doctors, by law, aren't really allowed to be hacks... but it's still funny.Others in Detroit are enjoying what the city has to offer. @jengoldberg took some time to take in the sights at the DIA: Walking my feet off at the Detroit Institute of Arts.@robbieizar preferred to spend his time outside: just spent a day farming...in detroit...with goats, rabbits, chickens and ducks.Wow, that sounds exciting; just hope the weather didn’t affect the whole experience (or the smell) too much…Until next time, check out Model D’s updates on Twitter; keep readin' and tweetin'.Tweet of the Week compiled by Model D intern Ilissa Gilmore.

Capitol Park improvements to begin now that Rosa Parks Terminal operational