Downtown Detroit

Song, video celebrates all Detroit has to offer

A couple put together a video celebrating the city's gems. It has a country twang, but we're not talking about John Rich's "Shuttin' Detroit Down." That's for the birds.Check the video out here.

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.

New DDOT bus signs now more informative

Detroit Department of Transportation has unveiled new signage that will give bus riders what they so desperately need -- more information.Excerpt:Over the next four months, Detroiters will see new, larger, color-coded city bus signs that contain route information installed throughout the city, a Detroit Department of Transportation official announced today.The new signs are 50% larger and have the route number, the name, a color relative to the route and the phone number to the DDOT scheduling information center.Passengers will be able to call the number from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and talk with a customer service representative or call outside the hours and receive automated route information.The first sign was installed today on southbound Woodward north of the Woodlawn Cemetery entrance.Read the entire article here.

Tweet of the Week: What’s a ‘hot dog burger van’? And congrats to the ’09s

The word on the Tweet (ha ha ha) was and continues to be Tiger Stadium. It's staying up, it's coming down, some kids think it needs to stay, some kids want to bring it down. Regardless of your position, it's going to be sad to see a giant vacant lot on "The Corner." But, let's not dwell too much. For crying out loud we have to find a Tweet of the Week... So, wading through the Stanley Cup smack talk, more GM news, and, like I said above, Tiger Stadium talk, here are a few runners-up that piqued my interest. @TheMsKellyJo: Fun fact: in 1980 the city of Detroit presented suddam [sic] Hussein a key to the city It's true... here's a Detnews article. I guess we all make mistakes, right? @pstenser: Just landed in Detroit, does the weather take cues from the economy here? No, @pstenser, the weather doesn't. That's scientifically impossible. Just ask Chuck Gaidica. He knows. @WendyLAnderson: Detroit sports make me really proud of this city! Right on, Wendy. Keep rooting for the home team. @EatingDetroit: There is a lot to love in our great city #Detroit. Add family & friends to some affectionately prepared food = *good life* It's true. And it's good to be reminded that we have a lot to be thankful for here -- especially if you're lucky enough to have loved ones nearby. @colutd1937: detroit only has a hot dog burger van Really? ONLY a hot dog burger van? Where exactly IS this van? And what is a "hot dog burger?" Is this where EatingDetroit gets that affectionately -- prepared food? @appstory: #Detroit: Delighted by new Eastern Market Community Garden next to our building. Kudos to Eastern Market Corporation and landlord Bob Heide. Kudos to ALL our community gardeners in town (and we like the one appstory's talking about next to the FD Lofts). Thanks for keeping Detroit green and growing. Congrats to these runners-up, but the winner is this little ditty: @LoveLaTia: wishes I was in Detroit to see my '09s graduate from Cass today! That's really sweet, LaTia. We wish you were here too. After all, we should all be congratulating Detroit's '09 graduates. They deserve some serious respect for their hard work and recognition as the future movers and shakers of the city. Keep up the good work, graduates. Tweets compiled by Model D intern Rachel Harkai.

Youngstown offers some thought on how to shrink correctly

Youngstown is losing population like most cities in the post-industrial Midwest. Yet, they're trying to curb it by consolidating the population and "turning off" parts of the city. Maybe a solution for Detroit? Or something like it?Excerpt:A handful of other Rust Belt cities from Flint, Mich., to Buffalo, N.Y., have considered similar plans. Youngstown’s experience underscores the difficulties of urban engineering on such a massive scale, as the promise of renewal collides with the sacrifices needed to make it work. The effort is groundbreaking, in many respects. “The mantra of cities has always been, ‘We need to revitalize, to grow bigger,’ [but Youngstown] is saying, ‘Chances are we’re not going to get that population back, certainly not in the short term and maybe not ever,’ ” says Jennifer Vey, a fellow in the metropolitan policy program at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C. “Youngstown plans to shrink its footprint and ask, ‘How can we best use our resources to produce a healthier, smaller city?’ ” Mr. Peyko, editor of The Metro Monthly, a local paper, says that the idea was “psychologically challenging” at first. “But once I [accepted it], it opened up all these possibilities for making change,” he says.Read the entire article here.

More talk of the Hantz Group Detroit farm

Detroit businessman John Hantz is looking to create a 70-acre urban farm. While plans haven't been laid down yet, talk is still moving forward.Excerpt:Matt Allen, Senior Vice President of Hantz Farms and former spokesperson for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, says the vision for the farm is inspired by socio-economic challenges specific to Detroit and the devastation which has left its mark.“Our generation has lived to see what a post-industrial city can go through,” said Allen during a recent interview. “But one thing that Detroit has that other cities don’t have is an abundance of land. There’s no other city in the world that could support what we’re proposing.”Allen says that this vision can be accomplished within a modest-scale, corporate model while addressing the economic realities of residents on the ground. The farm will be staffed and operated by Detroiters, potentially providing a source of hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs.Read the entire article here.

LISC accepting nominations for CDC of the year