Downtown Detroit

Ex-TV anchor becomes Detroit’s 1st openly gay council candidate

Former TV-anchor Charles Pugh is the first openly gay candidate to run for city council. Excerpt:"I think there will be people who grumble about it and some people who may stray away from voting for me because of that, but I think Detroiters already know me. I believe Detroiters are open-minded, hardworking people who really do accept people who are different."I'm focused on bringing a level of class and dignity and respect for the job that Detroiters want." Read the entire article here.

‘Home Is More Than Our House’: WDET’s coverage of facing Detroit’s mortgage crisis

WDET and Model D have partnered to focus on Detroit's foreclosure crisis and different ways people and neighborhoods are dealing with the issue. This week WDET reporter Zak Rosen will produce a piece on the citizens on the North End of Detroit are teaming up with the Greening of Detroit to reclaim 134 abandoned lots. Look for his work on the WDET "Home is more than a house" blog here. Next week Model D will take a look at how realtors are selling homes in Detroit to Detroiters.

NYT blogger: They came to work in the Promised Land of Detroit

A Detroit community activist leader remembers Detroit, contemplates its future.Excerpt:My theory about the Detroit gene pool is this: Everywhere in the country and in the world, people left their beloved homelands to try their luck in this cold, faraway place where all you had to do was be willing to work. Whether one came from the segregated South, post-revolutionary Mexico, Europe, Kentucky or the Virginia mines, everyone who came here was ready to work. And there was plenty of work to go around.This was an amazing place, a Promised Land, where with nothing but hard work — not political connections, not silver-spoon wealth — one could buy a house, a car, even two, raise a family and take vacations. Anyone could earn an honest day’s pay. The union contract protected every worker from the tyranny of nepotism, favoritism, racism, sexism, and every other evil -ism that has ravaged society since the beginning of time. Of course it was not perfect, but it was a lot better than it would have been without the Battle of the Overpass, the Flint Sit Down, the Ford Hunger March, and countless other battles our parents and grandparents told us as bedtime stories.Read the entire article here.

Clean Downtown, 2-1-1 On the Go get $1.69M grant

Comprehensive planning for E. Jefferson corridor improvements begins

Model D Radio: Coventry-Detroit Connections, Part I

Michigan’s economy is rooted in the last century. So for clues on how to modernize, we travel to an even older industrialized place that's seen the auto industry disappear. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus reports from the English Midlands.

Emerging 200 program trains entrepreneurs; Detroit is one of the cities

The government program, Emerging 200, trains entrepreneurs in an urban environment and Detroit is participating. Excerpt:"We know that small business can play a role in economic recovery," said Jack Bienko, the SBA's deputy director for entrepreneurship education.Each participating E200 business must be headquartered in an inner city, generate $400,000 or more in annual revenue, and be at least three years old. The group's business owners attend classes every other week, which are hosted by officials from local SBA branches or by partner organizations such as chambers of commerce. On the off weeks, the attendees gather for peer-group sessions, at which smaller groups of four or five participants collaborate on class homework and discuss the ups and downs that their businesses face.At the end of the six-month program, E200 participants walk away with a written, three-year growth plan - a helpful document to have handy for entrepreneurs looking for business loans or investors.Read the entire article here.

GM says it’s keeping its Detroit address

GM decides to stay and the Warren  Mayor Jim Fouts isn't all that happy about it. Says he hopes they aren't staying out of political correctness. Maybe it's about saving a city, Jimmy.Excerpt:General Motors will not abandon its headquarters in Detroit's Renaissance Center as part of its restructuring.President Barack Obama told Michigan's senior members of Congress during a call Sunday night that GM will remain in the RenCen, despite enticements from the city of Warren to move there, a congressional aide briefed on the matter said.Obama called it a "GM business decision," the aide said.Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said his main focus has always been GM's survival. GM would have "saved millions and millions" by moving its headquarters to the Tech Center in lower-tax Warren, Fouts said Sunday night.The mayor said he hopes the decision to remain in Detroit wasn't for the sake of "political correctness," to protect the city's image. "My mantra has been it's not about the image," he said. "It's about saving jobs and saving GM." Read the entire article here.

ARISE Detroit! holds third annual Neighborhoods Day, sign up ends June 30

The third annual ARISE Detroit! Neighborhoods Day takes place Aug. 1 and will allow the neighborhoods from Downtown to Midtown, from the East Side to the West Side, to flaunt what they've been doing to improve their quality of life. Sign up ends June 30 to participate. ARISE Detroit! invites you and your neighborhood to become part of Detroit's newest tradition. For more information and to sign up, visit ARISE Detroit! on the web here or call (313) 921-1955.