Detroit Rising

Russell Industrial Center

2010-05-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

"If you haven't experienced Russell Industrial Center, then you haven't experienced Detroit." I happen to be one of those people, but not for long if I can help it. This is very, very cool. I'm super thrilled to know we have this, and in Detroit!

"The Illuminated Mural"

2010-04-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

"Everything around us at one point -- except for nature -- was a drawing, someone's concept. (We're teaching them to) create their own surroundings," -Katie Craig, Artist

Katie is one of the artists who created the mural on the building you can see here. Model D has an article that I found interesting on it too.

(THANK YOU FOR INTRODUCING ME TO THIS MURAL SARA. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!)

Fresh

2010-04-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well look at that:

Four years ago, coming to Wayne State was a disappointment. Detroit was not a place I ever saw myself living. Today, it's the only place I want to be. Over the last four years, I've been blessed with opportunities, at school and around the city, which have shaped me into the person I've become: someone with a passion for Detroit, hopeful for its rebirth.
- Joshua McKamie

The New Big3

2010-04-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

In a great article in Sunday's Detroit Free Press, called The time is now for Midtown to rise, I read about the vital role universities and their medical centers play right now in the economy of the nation's big cities and our very own Detroit. U3 Ventures, an urban consulting firm, has been recruited to work with the city's big 3 (WSU, DMC and Henry Ford Health) collaborative effort to attract young professionals to Midtown. In a promising statement Mike Duggan, president of the DMC, informs:

...all three entities have made major commitments on their own: the DMC's new owner, Vanguard Health, promises to invest $850 million in Detroit; Henry Ford plans a $1-billion upgrade and expansion of its campus, and Wayne State has built thousands of units of student housing.

B A T T E R Y (thinking Metallica)

2010-04-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Wonder how the lithium-ion battery will shape the future of Michigan's auto industry?

the ReStore

2010-04-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

You can save 30 - 75% off regular prices on building materials and household items at the Habitat Detroit ReStore. Anyone been there yet? I plan and think it will be worth the trip myself.

EV

2010-04-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

The only thing cooler about the electrical vehicle is that Detroit has the facilities and the engineers to lead the nation in this growing industry (and re-employ the jobless). The only thing as cool as that is the one step closer we'll be to self-sufficiency. And the only thing cooler than that is getting our troops outta dodge already. It's not a secret the Middle East sits on the world's oil reserves. No energy = no money. Our entire economy depends on it - via the invention of the AUTOMOBILE. Okay one more really cool thing I must mention: Not having to pump gas! (especially in freezing cold weather). yella people, come onnnnnnnnnn, yella!

Freecycle

2010-04-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

We have one right here in Detroit.

Incentives

2010-04-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

The only thing cooler than wind energy is that it's being produced in Michigan. The incentives and resources to do business in Michigan make me wonder why so seemingly few local people are taking advantage of the opportunities being presented in this revolutionary moment. Take a look at the news feed to the right called Michigan Economic Development. I'm teeming with ideas. There's so much I would do... so, so much.

Property Property Property

2010-04-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

For those who have the means to invest, we envy you. For those who have the means to invest but don't, we encourage you. For those who have the means to invest and do, we salute you.

Greener Grasses

2010-04-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Model D - love it! I'm not alone, I'm not alone...

"We'll still be industrious," predicts Maggie DeSantis, Futures Task Force chair and president of the Warren Conner Development Coalition. "It's just a matter of what kind of industry. We can re-industrialize with green industry. We can repurpose vacant land to be productive."

This whole article sums what I've been able to perceive, predict and understand without having read or hearing about what is indeed taking place. It's encouragingly affirming and exciting to me.

I know I mentioned this before but if you haven't yet, this document is a must read for persons in need of ideas on how to participate in and/or would like to be informed on the future of Detroit.

The Circle of Art

2010-04-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

My thoughts exactly. It's so good to discover like mindedness. You may get an idea of the circle of art in an earlier post titled Crack is Wack.

"You can't do these things anywhere else. People with ideas are coming here; there is hope in the people that come here. … There is possibility in Detroit." - Diederick Kraaijeveld, Artist

Agitate Contemplate Participate Innovate

2010-04-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Community Development Advocates of Detroit is an organization largely involved in shaping the city's future. The CDAD created a document that will serve as a framework for the decisions that need to be made. "This helps provide information for communities to use in planning their future. Take the issue of downsizing the city. We don't like it, but we know it's going to happen. It's important that people are engaged in the process and benefit from it. There is a future for every part of the city," says Sandra Yu.

What an exciting time and place to be! We have the knowledge and wherewithal to take back the community. I've been thinking about it lately and yearning for the kind that must have existed and still do in parts of the country and world. Communities where people depend on and work with each other have necessity in common with the industrialized form comprising modern society and soliciting its participants. I'm certainly a product of the latter. I've been shaped to live independently - or rather indirectly dependent. But I have the sense to recognize and the sensibility to feel the loss of the more direct dependency that is very much conducive to overall well-being. It's most certainly feasible to create communities that nourish without giving up the conveniences we cherish. I'm hoping and plan to do what I can to see to it with the construction of the website.

"Crack is Wack"

2010-03-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

...Read a billboard along the FDR highway in Manhattan. Drugs, the people that use and evidently abuse them don't come as a surprise perhaps because I lived in New York City for most of the past ten years. Having recently relocated to Michigan and living in metro Detroit, now, I feel as though I'm discovering the city for the first time although I lived the first twenty years of my life here. One of the advantages the time away has given me is the perspective I hope you'll find being documented here through the use of my words and the people whom I find sharing it. Because the majority of people I've reconnected with and meet here have a terribly negative outlook on Detroit.

But to me it's like a house well-built yet rundown. I'm curious to know about its history, the memories created within the walls and the times it has seen. Appreciating the character, I see the need for improvement and imagine the restoration. I see the arts and sports keeping kids in school, off the streets and out of drugs. I see new industries creating jobs. I see a stabilized economy and affordable urban housing attracting artists from other parts of the country. The inevitable cultural revival the latter brings will elevate Detroit to its former status and beyond - culturally and economically. Because the pulse of the artistic community draws people to its center. Businesses begin to thrive, the scenery gets pretty and the value of property goes up. I've seen it happen firsthand in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Unwavered

2010-03-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

editor's letter

I LOVE DETROIT... And although my love has been branded a dying city by national newspaper headlines over the past year, I believe she is simply misunderstood. Where some may see a defeated and dispersing labor force, I see a region retooling itself for the future. Where some see only a city bedeviled by decay and public corruption, I see established business, professional and civic leaders who maintain a steadfast commitment to the region, and a new crew of committed community leaders, entrepreneurs, artists and visionaries stepping up to the challenges. I can not ignore the dilapidated and decimated patches that once were city neighborhoods, and new developments across the region that are stalled, unfinished, foreclosed and otherwise uninhabited. But I also see builders and developers with bold plans biding their time as best they can until the job and credit crunches ease... The greater Detroit I know and love is still very much alive and filled with incredible talent, rich culture and fierce determination to succeed.

-Rian English Ambassador Magazine January/February 2010

Image Within an Image

2010-03-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

How do you change Detroit's image?

It's personal. It's about touching people, it's about communicating with people, it's about being honest with people - good, bad, or different. You've got to let people know what's really happening. and a lot of folks obviously lost confidence in the leadership here in the city. And that's not something that's easy to overcome, but I think I bring a certain amount of honesty, a certain amount of credibitlity. All those things help, but it's going to take time. -Dave Bing

movers and shakers

2010-03-28T10:48:00.001-07:00

“Boundaries mean nothing to her. She just believes in what she’s supposed to do to help her fellow man..."

In a sea of endless complainers and pessimists, it seems the only like-minded individuals I meet are in magazines. In the current issue of the Detroit Hour I discovered such a person in the article titled A Bright Outlook. Her name is Doreen Hermelin, and like me she understands the transforming and empowering role of education. In the article she says, "I think education changes the world. When you educate enough people in the community, you change the whole environment of the community.”

Hour Detroit : A Bright Outlook [www.hourdetroit.com]

2010-03-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

Daniela has sent you a link to an article from Hour Detroit.

http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/March-2010/A-Bright-Outlook/

A Bright Outlook