Detroit has long espoused the idea that its urban core could be designed in such a way as to allow the integration of affluent, working class, and low income people within a few blocks of each other. Immediately east of Lafayette Park reside people whose household incomes are lower than Lafayette Park, but the 1960s modern feel of the area offers a seamless flow to the historic Villages. Here, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elmwood, and other residential communities offer quality urban living with the same proximity to Eastern Market, downtown, and the riverfront as those in Lafayette Park. Mini-street malls support the needs of residents, from video rentals and fast food outlets to Walgreen’s and CVS drug stores. Close to East Jefferson’s retail strip, yet a few streets removed from the hustle bustle. Looking beyond this corner of the Near Eastside, north to 1-94 and east to McClellan, you have an area that is being redefined and redeveloped by grassroots organization trying to preserve what hasn’t been lost and build a new community in its place. To understand the Near Eastside, however, one needs to examine its local assets: schools, churches, neighborhoods, and parks.
A busload of people came from the other side of the state to check out high-octane activity that included ArtX, Rust Belt to Artist Belt conference and Detroit Restaurant Week. Did our colleagues from sister pub Rapid Growth have fun? Did they ever.
Earthwork's Patrick Crouch is a busy guy, serving on food policy councils and collaborating with other players in Detroit's growing agricultural networks and projects. But not too busy to write about developments here getting attention around the world. Welcome aboard, friend.
Former Model D managing photographer Dave Krieger has been busy working on one film set after the other the past few years. He makes an appeal to the governor and the state legislature to keep the cameras rolling.
This month's event at the Boll Family YMCA downtown was a big hit. News editor Ashley Woods and intern Veronica Grandison were there to take it all in.
Gritty futurists Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope are picking up speed -- and fellow travelers and builders -- in their art-meets-neighborhood reinvention project on the Detroit-Hamtramck border. Kelli B. Kavanaugh reports on what's next in the aftermath of worldwide pub for their famous "$100 House."
Who better to agitate and navigate Detroit's transition from past manufacturing titan to a future of endless creative endeavor then members of a neo-utopian research team from the Netherlands? Writer Dennis Archambault sees ideas turn to action before his eyes in this report.
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