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.

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

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

Charter Reform Spells Change for Detroit

They say good things take time, and this will. Revising the city's charter could spell great things for Detroit. But what type of change will come of it, and who will make those decisions? Voters, a lot of that is up to you.