The restoration of the Globe Trading Company building in the East Riverfront District of Detroit took another step forward recently when the State of Michigan recommended it be placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
The basketballing businessman Dave Bing beats the incumbent policy man Ken Cockrel Jr. Bing will only serve seven months until the next election in May (in which he will seek re-election) and Cockrel goes back to being Detroit city council president, relieving Monica Conyers of her duties, although he could run again in May. Follow all of that?Excerpt:"In the 42 years that I've been here, I still dream. I dream that this city can be what it was before I even got here." He added: "If you've got the right values system, regardless of how poor you are or what kind of background you come from, you can succeed. That's what I want to make the people here understand." Read the entire article here.
Let the wonks figure out what the young and the restless humans want from their city. What about their best friends? We go to some of the city's top pooches to get the word on the street about the best dog-friendly patios, favorite spots for a nice stroll with their owners, and what the city needs to do better to meet the needs of the four-footed set.
We continue our quest for Detroit tweets that are insightful, informative, or just plain funny ... So, it'd be great to list them all, but we can't. With that said, here are a few we found in the past week:@surmeet: Gonna have the best night ever this friday. Graduating on saturday. Europe monday. Jus got an aparment in detroit. Life is kraaazeeeee.Welcome to the neighborhood, @surmeet. And thanks for choosing Detroit.@angiekarr: Willie nelson, hundreds of new friends, every cowboy hat in #detroit crammed into hart plaza.So Detroit's Hoedown was this past weekend. In case you missed it Kevin Costner's band was there (if you book it, he will come).@youngdetroiter: @modeld The translation of the Spanish tweet: There's something about (the song) "Put Your Hands Up for Detroit" that makes me like it.We'd like to thank @youngdetroiter for translating last week's Spanish tweet mystery. We couldn't have done it without you.But, the winning tweet, the one that takes that cake is this:@jamilaishere: Monica Conyers is up in the Detroit Fish Market lookin a hot ass mess! Shouldn't she be tryin to get her stuff out the office? For real?!!!@jamilaishere's tweet is a reminder to do your best to not look like a hot mess when going into the Detroit Fish Market.Keep reading. Keep tweeting.Please follow us on Twitter here.
Join riders for an 18-mile ride (or a 5-mile family option) through the city to benefit the Colin Hubbell Memorial Fund and to remember one of Detroit's biggest advocates. The event, sponsored by Wheelhouse Detroit, takes place on June 20. For more information about the ride go here.Also, as promised at the Model D speaker series last week, here are some links to other great biking sites in Detroit:Back Alley Bikes and The Hub in MidtownTour de Troit ride in SeptemberMichigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, which has a great trail finder
Want more Roast? Check out the Detroit hot spot with Model D TV in this week's video clip.
Better schools are key to helping to attract families to the city, the Detroit News says.Excerpt:Hotels, rail systems, stadiums, even public housing cannot refill Detroit's neighborhoods if families see no future for their children south of Eight Mile. Infrastructure crumbles in time. An educated child grows, prospers and bears another generation of educated citizens. That's why Congress and the Obama administration should create a federally-funded pilot program for private and charter schools in Detroit. Funding of perhaps $5,000 per student could go to any Detroit child attending a school within city limits. The federal involvement would overcome the state constitutional ban on government funding for K-12 private schools and the cap on charter schools. The location requirement would help build neighborhood schools and redevelop neighborhoods. Read the entire article here.
When the Iron Chef invites you for a cocktail, it's wise to say yes. We find out what celebrity chef and now Detroit restaurateur Michael Symon likes in his cocktail glass at his new Book Cadillac restaurant, Roast.
Thirteen people tell CNN why they love Detroit.Excerpt from what Leor Barak had to say:Why I love Detroit: We have a lot of challenges here, but people are taking advantage of what we have. I think alternative land use is going to be a big part our future. People are using open spaces for urban farming, greenways and tree farms right in the middle of the city. It shows how we can use what we have and make something that's not only new, but also beautiful and useful. This city has a lot to give.Read the entire article here.
The architecturally stunning Guardian Building turns 80.Excerpt:The Guardian Building, downtown Detroit's art deco "Cathedral of Finance," is celebrating its 80th birthday this year. Forty stories of architectural delirium, the orange brick pile at Griswold and Congress streets opened in the heady days just before the 1929 stock market crash.Yet the optimism surrounding its inauguration was short-lived. Just 11 months later, the financial company that built it -- the Union Trust -- would go down in flames, after the stubbornness of one Henry Ford scuttled a government rescue package.Of Detroit's three great art deco skyscrapers from the late '20s, architect Wirt Rowland's Guardian is neither the tallest -- that falls to the Penobscot Building, also by Rowland -- nor as well-known as Albert Kahn's Fisher Building.The Guardian, however, trumps its more subdued cousins in sheer visual extravagance, from the exterior brick color -- matched to one of Rowland's drawing pencils -- to the visual riot of Pewabic and Rookwood tile both outside and in. Take the stairs up to the five-story upper lobby, passing through an "altar screen" topped by a Tiffany clock, and you can't help feeling that you've entered some glittering cathedral. Read the entire article here.
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