tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.comments2022-11-21T03:57:52.128-05:00Fixing DetroitCitizen Syedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-62894256607906332292015-10-01T08:40:25.828-04:002015-10-01T08:40:25.828-04:00Dear Admin your word selection describe that you h...Dear Admin your word selection describe that you have worked a lot for it good job dear checkout best source for <a href="http://www.dtwmetrocabs.com/" rel="nofollow">Detroit airport taxi</a> service in Metropolitan Michigan areasi believe i can flyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00504957703858232528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-52925394878964514872015-01-27T13:14:34.257-05:002015-01-27T13:14:34.257-05:00I am happy after finding your blog.it is good for ...I am happy after finding your blog.it is good for me and for other and gives info about Michigan airports.i would be happy to share this information with my fiend because they are from other state date on have much information about Michigan and <a href="http://www.dtwtaxiandsedan.com/" title="Metro Airport Taxi" rel="nofollow">Metro Airport Taxi</a><br /> service greennnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18032434318130971658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-56377579728892628482014-11-20T07:36:19.749-05:002014-11-20T07:36:19.749-05:00attractive info about Detroit Airport . Great info...attractive info about Detroit Airport . Great info and calculation <a title="Detroit Taxi" href="http://mymetrotaxi.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Detroit Taxi</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04197546190386157755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-88540582047490169522014-09-10T02:32:31.545-04:002014-09-10T02:32:31.545-04:00Your article about is math of Michigan its very in...Your article about is math of Michigan its very informativea <a title="Detroit Airport Taxi" href="http://www.prlog.org/12369005-detroit-metro-airport-taxi-cars-transportation.html" rel="nofollow">Detroit Airport Taxi</a><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03544883400197280907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-11122988802535913412014-08-23T01:33:18.807-04:002014-08-23T01:33:18.807-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.greennnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18032434318130971658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-72481306258272935192014-08-20T02:09:59.259-04:002014-08-20T02:09:59.259-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.greennnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18032434318130971658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-10279818456977102392013-11-26T06:10:31.417-05:002013-11-26T06:10:31.417-05:00math for Michigan info in this blog is really crow...math for Michigan info in this blog is really crowded dtw airport allot of traffic in detroit.<a href="http://www.dtwairporttaxi.com/" rel="nofollow"> dtw airport taxi </a> provide luxury sedan service.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14801822442790692675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-41580929297991518772012-08-23T14:43:26.614-04:002012-08-23T14:43:26.614-04:00What will be the energy cost once all the lights a...What will be the energy cost once all the lights are repaired in Detroit? I'm wondering if the city is ready to sustain an increase in the electric bill, especially if the new lights are not all LED. I know the city of Ann Arbor has already swapped a large number of standard, fully-functioning street lights to LED in a phased approach, so I'm guessing AA is actually saving money by doing this on its electric bill as each new light goes up (ignoring the initial capital expense to purchase and install them). Could there be additional savings locked up in Detroit's electric bill as well?Razihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16789082869998464121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-6190191960757471992011-06-19T21:54:00.629-04:002011-06-19T21:54:00.629-04:00The best thing about these types of companies is t...The best thing about these types of companies is the reduced startup-costs. But I also see a major negative: if you're not the first to provide a solution, you're essentially out. In other words, I think we'll reach a critical mass of these types of jobs. Right now, elsewhere in the world, I think we're already approaching that point and so I'm not sure if this is essentially pursuing a dead end.<br /><br />Also, Ann Arbor has setup such an incubator in the Google building. I'm pretty sure it is run by Tech Transfer at U of M and possibly Center for Entrepreneurship in the College of Engineering. Maybe even SPARK is involved.<br /><br />Finally, my last point about this is that the required talent isn't necessarily college-level. Picking up a programming book and signing up for a (typically free) developer account with companies like Apple or Google/Android and you can easily see that high schoolers can join in the success, as they already have. So maybe providing tutorial/getting started courses at these incubators like you would find at a community college would be a another way to get people involved and stick around in the area.Razihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16789082869998464121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-82332493482913329992009-06-30T19:04:02.418-04:002009-06-30T19:04:02.418-04:00This has been a problem, especially groceries. It ...This has been a problem, especially groceries. It is amazing that there are no full scale supermarkets in the City, and there hasn't been since Farmer Jack went out of business a couple of years ago. There have been a couple of notable grocery stores that started and went out of business in the past year. Now, there is talk that Meijer's may come to 8 mile and Woodward. Also, an abandoned Farmer Jack on Jefferson might be reopened as a nonprofit market. There is even talk of Eastern Market opening an outlet in the Compuware Building. I hope these initiatives work out. <br /><br />Here is a related link in today's Free Press: http://freep.com/article/20090630/BUSINESS06/906300333/Grassroots+grocery+aims+to+fill+niche+in+city<br /><br />"Two Detroit grocery stores that opened with much fanfare last year are closed now, but there is hope for one in the works."<br /><br />"Detroit has a host of successful independent grocery stores, but some neighborhoods are underserved. Wilson said that a survey taken at a community meeting about the store in May found that some people were driving more than 30 miles to do their grocery shopping."<br /><br />" "A 45,000-square-foot store in the suburbs with a breakeven of $300,000 in sales a week will often need $400,000 in sales to break even in the urban setting, due to these other cost issues," Gorland said."<br /><br />"Cindy Warner, owner of Zaccaro's, said she would advise the coalition to set up the store as a nonprofit and use it to train people in nutrition, food preparation and grocery operations. "That could help keep their labor costs down," she said. Another idea is to join a co-op to gain purchasing power, she said. Warner said she wishes them luck. "The only failure is in not trying," she said."Citizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-59186555832132833412009-05-28T23:38:00.565-04:002009-05-28T23:38:00.565-04:00I don't love Detroit... yet. But it's growing on m...I don't love Detroit... yet. But it's growing on me fast.Atiya Mohiuddinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13780707271720954754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-18680602517269456262009-05-18T18:58:00.000-04:002009-05-18T18:58:00.000-04:00I love Detroit because it brought all of us here. ...I love Detroit because it brought all of us here. Without Detroit, we are not who we are. The mettle, the soul, the spirit of the city are a part of each and every one of us. Hard not to love that, hard not to do everything in your power to protect, preserve, and grow that spirit.Syed Mohiuddinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05536371340909476419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-64076380092775952352009-04-28T10:59:00.000-04:002009-04-28T10:59:00.000-04:00Actually apparently that was wrong: http://www.ur....Actually apparently that was wrong: http://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Apr27_09/21.php<br /><br />Coleman, Wilbanks: No plan to privatize U-M<br /><br />By Laurel Thomas Gnagey<br /><br />A recent article in Time magazine claiming that U-M is among several public universities considering privatization in the face of budget pressures is incorrect, university leaders say. In fact, President Mary Sue Coleman sent the magazine’s editorial staff a response indicating that the article not only is wrong in its statement about privatization but also in its portrayal of the university’s budget situation.<br /><br />“Amy Sullivan’s piece suggesting that the University of Michigan is being forced to privatize (April 23) came as quite a surprise to me as President. No such discussions are under way, nor are they being considered,” Coleman wrote to Time.<br /><br />“Due to careful management, we are in better financial shape than many of our peers, both public and private. It is true that we have worked to boost revenues from other sources as the state’s financial support has declined, but what defines a public institution goes far beyond its funding sources.<br /><br />“U-M has an ingrained culture of serving the state and the nation through excellence in education and research, nurtured over nearly 200 years of history. It is our birthright, and one we treasure.”<br /><br />The Time article and one that followed in the Chronicle of Higher Education appear to have taken their cues from a preliminary report of a nine-member Commission on Government Efficiency issued in October, says Vice President for Government Relations Cynthia Wilbanks.<br /><br />The commission, charged by the Legislature with identifying ways to make state government more efficient issued a preliminary list of ways the state could shave costs in corrections, state personnel, community health/Medicaid, and K-12 and higher education. The list of possible higher education cuts included eliminating Michigan Promise Grants, consolidating universities in a particular region and privatizing U-M. <br /><br />“There has been no serious discussion around privatizing the university. As I have said before, it is a provocative idea but not very realistic,” Wilbanks says. “Further, it would take more than a recommendation from the commission. There would have to be legislative and citizen involvement in a decision like this that involves a constitutional change.” Wilbanks expects such a proposal would meet considerable resistance from a public that has a great deal of pride in one of the state’s flagship universities.<br /><br />Wilbanks stresses that the commission was asked to look at all areas of government and leave no stone unturned in identifying potential cuts, but that the report is by no means final.<br /><br />“For the last seven years, as state support has been reduced, higher education has been at the forefront of identifying more efficiencies,” Wilbanks says.<br /><br />Coleman and Provost Teresa Sullivan have met with a number of campus groups recently to explain the university’s budget and highlight efforts over the past several years to cut costs in the face of reduced state support.<br /><br />Sullivan has reported on numerous steps the administration has taken that have allowed U-M to trim $135 million in spending from the general fund budget and to increase revenue from gifts and other sources.<br /><br />Today, Coleman sent all members of the community an e-mail saying U-M is not immune from the economic downturn and is making adjustments to its budget in response, but is not resorting to some of the harsher steps peer institutions have had to face.Razihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16789082869998464121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-74895187318952361662009-04-26T12:29:00.000-04:002009-04-26T12:29:00.000-04:00this is somewhat irrelevant as bing is likely not ...this is somewhat irrelevant as bing is likely not going to win the election :(. <br /><br />but interesting idea, nonetheless.Syed Mohiuddinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05536371340909476419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-49281055931583132772009-04-24T18:07:00.000-04:002009-04-24T18:07:00.000-04:00Friday, April 24, 2009
Kresge landmark may get mix...Friday, April 24, 2009<br />Kresge landmark may get mix of shops<br />His goal is to lure retailers to downtown Detroit site<br />Jaclyn Trop / The Detroit News<br />For decades, downtown shoppers could walk into the Kresge Building at Woodward Avenue and State Street and buy a variety of goods, from hats and window shades to bath brushes and hair nets.<br /><br />That one-stop shopping experience has long disappeared from downtown Detroit, except for a few national drug stores. But a Detroit developer hopes to return the historic building to some of its former retail glory: this time as a mini-mall with a mix of national retailers and local boutiques to be called the Shops at Kresge.<br /><br />"The odds for me to be successful are probably 10 percent," said Dennis Kefallinos, who also is the developer behind Russell Industrial Bazaar, an Albert Kahn-designed former factory complex turned into a small business incubator and marketplace.<br /><br />"But I'm committed to Detroit. I think Detroit has a lot of potential."<br /><br />Kefallinos envisions 120 retailers in 40,000 square feet of space that once housed the original S.S. Kresge 5 & 10, the forerunner of Kmart Corp. Plans call for specialty retailers on the first floor and clothing boutiques one level up. There is space in the basement for a grocer or other large retailer, according to Eric Novack, leasing manager.<br /><br />The mall will open when 15 retailers commit to the project -- with a June target date. Most retail space measures between 120 and 400 square feet and will rent from about $600 to $1,000 a month, he said.<br /><br />So far, Novack said, six tenants have signed: a chocolatier, shoe store, clothing boutique, sports memorabilia shop, purse store and Mediterranean café. Kefallinos' company, Dionysia Properties, has opened two ground-floor eateries, Woodward South restaurant and 5 and 10 bar, across from where Kresge's original cafeteria stood.<br /><br />"People are looking for a destination spot," Kefallinos said. "Everybody knows Kresge's."<br /><br />Kefallinos has owned the building, where S.S. Kresge launched his business in 1899, for about 10 years.<br /><br />Local retail experts doubt the project could attract national chains.<br /><br />"The market for a vibrant downtown shopping district is just not there," said Ed Nakfoor, a Birmingham-based retail consultant. "I just don't really see it becoming this thriving marketplace."<br /><br />Jim Bieri, president of Bieri Co., a Detroit-based retail brokerage and consulting firm, said the project is better suited to artists and smaller boutique retailers trying to enter the Detroit market. With low rents and a straightforward setup, the Shops at Kresge could be a good starting point for aspiring entrepreneurs, he said.<br /><br />A Web site advertising the downtown project, shopkresge.com, says the center will "offer stunning and countless boutiques that stock only the finest of gifts and other products or services."<br /><br />Kefallinos said the mini-mall will be open daily and feature more upscale shopping than the Russell Industrial Bazaar, which opened in October and houses boutiques, eateries and artist space off I-75. He said he did not know the cost of the Kresge project. Tiffany Lake is moving her designer footwear boutique from the Russell Bazaar to the Kresge Building because she likes the idea of bringing a "higher-end mall to the city." Her shoes range in price from $85 to $500.<br /><br />She said she hopes the Woodward Avenue storefront draws a strong weekday work crowd and downtown passersby.<br /><br />jtrop@detnews.com (313) 222-2300Citizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-24472300744747417642009-04-24T18:03:00.000-04:002009-04-24T18:03:00.000-04:00Detroit's youth: We'll leave if we have to...Detroit's youth: We'll leave if we have to<br />If young Detroiters can't find jobs, an exodus could be in the works. But a few say they'll stay and deal with what comes.<br />By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer<br />Last Updated: April 24, 2009: 12:10 PM ET<br />DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- Isaiah Brooks expects to graduate soon from Focus: HOPE, a non-profit machinist school in Detroit, where his hopes of getting a job are fading along with the local auto industry.<br /><br />Machinists are the backbone of automaking, but Brooks might have to leave town to find a job, like many other young people in this city.<br /><br />"You got to go where the money is," he said during a question and answer session with his classmates at Focus: HOPE. Brooks, 19, is thinking of moving back to his native state of Texas to work as an auto mechanic with his father.<br /><br />"You can't sit around and wait for an opportunity to happen," he noted. The other students in his class nodded in agreement.<br /><br />Kenneth Rupert, 19, another machinist-in-training at Focus: HOPE and a former intern for Ford Motor Co., (F, Fortune 500) said he would stay in Detroit if he could find a good job, following in the footsteps of his late grandfather and his uncle, who once worked for the auto industry.<br /><br />But Rupert said he is feeling the pull of other regions, with stronger job markets. "It's looking like most of the jobs are down South, and most of my family is from South Carolina," he said.<br /><br />Focus: HOPE was founded in 1981 to provide free training and education to aspiring machinists and engineers, and to feed the workforce of the auto industry, which no longer seems to want them.<br /><br />"We're finding that the jobs in the auto industry are not there," said Beverly Triplett, job placement supervisor for Focus: Hope. Job placement for program graduates fell to 64% last year, from 85% in 2007, she said. "It's challenging, because you have to make something out of nothing."<br /><br />Detroit's biggest private employer, General Motors (GM, Fortune 500), plans to reduce its worldwide work force by 37,000 hourly workers and 10,000 salaried workers by the end of the year. The company wouldn't say how many reductions are slated for Motor City, but the impact is inevitable. GM employs some 36,700 workers in Southeast Michigan, out of a worldwide workforce of 243,000.<br /><br />That's pretty bad news for an already-depressed job market. As of February, the Detroit-Warren-Livonia area was suffering from a 13.6% unemployment rate, the highest of any major metropolitan area in the U.S., according to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.<br /><br />Improvise, adapt, overcome<br />Triplett said that Focus: HOPE and its students, including teenagers training for their first jobs and laid-off line workers looking for a career change, are retooling their training to other fields that need machinists and engineers.<br /><br />Triplett is trying to place three of the school's students at Glass & Mirror Craft in Wixom, which makes products used in architecture and interior design, and is some 40 miles away from Detroit.<br /><br />Other new fields include refurbishing parts for military equipment and precision manufacturing for the medical industry.<br /><br />Frederick Dunbar, a married 23-year-old with two children, used to make parts for the auto industry at Mac-Mold Base, Inc. in nearby Romeo. When his 12-hour days dwindled to six hours, he decided to pursue an associate's degree in manufacturing engineering technology at Focus: HOPE. Now, he's learning how to use laser technology to refurbish submarine parts for the Navy. He said he has no intention of returning to the auto industry, and would leave Detroit if a good job beckoned.<br /><br />"I'm looking at NASA, the Department of Defense, maybe civil engineering," said Dunbar. "Definitely, I feel more secure pursuing a government job. I'm compelled to go wherever my job takes me."<br /><br />Should I stay or should I go?<br />Residents' willingness to just pick up and go doesn't bode well for Detroit's economy. But it doesn't have to be that way, according to Alan Clark, 24, who's studying engineering manufacturing at Focus: HOPE. Clark just accepted an engineering job in Detroit at the Pepsi Bottling Group.<br /><br />"Just because I live in Detroit, I don't have to go to the automotive industry," he said. "The same concepts you use to make a car, believe or not, are the same concepts and principles you use to make a bottle of Pepsi."<br /><br />College and high school students interviewed by CNNMoney.com offered a wide variety of responses as to whether they would stay in Michigan, with its 12.6% statewide unemployment rate, the highest in the nation.<br /><br />Alexandra Ritson of Grand Rapids, a 21-year-old senior in the English and Spanish programs at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said she had accepted a teaching job in Arizona. Considering the Detroit Public Schools' plan to lay off 600 teachers due to its deficit and declining student population, she didn't see much point in getting certified in her home state. "It's one of the hardest states to get a teaching job in the country," she said.<br /><br />Others see opportunities at home. Samantha Staley, a 22-year-old from Flushing is a senior at Detroit-based Wayne State University, where she's studying pre-medicine and mechanical engineering. Staley said there are plenty of local jobs for doctors, and she has no intention of leaving.<br /><br />"I'm an optimist," she said. "I see things hopefully turning around. Detroit has a bad rap. But living down here, I actually love Detroit. There's a pride among the people who live here. The feeling is that we know what it's like to struggle, but we can overcome."<br /><br />Despite Detroit's bad rap, aspiring architect Dyamond Logan, 15, also wants to stay. Through her involvement with the Better Detroit Youth Movement, a non-profit mentoring organization for young people, Logan said she can learn a lesson from a community that has seen better times.<br /><br />"Challenge and turmoil are a necessity for growth," she said.<br /><br />The Better Detroit Youth Movement generally meets in a hair salon owned by co-founder Harlan Bivens, but it had to move to a temporary location in a restaurant after the business was burglarized, its front window smashed in and boarded up, but that failed to stop him.<br /><br />"We have to be the lions in the jungle, versus lions in the cave," said Bivens, who believes it doesn't matter where his work is done, so long as it's out in the community.<br /><br />Dyamond Logan understands that she may need to leave that community to begin a career as an architect somewhere else, but she intends to return one day.<br /><br />"In Detroit, I would like to pursue my dreams," she said. "Detroit, as a whole, is our foundation, and you have to help with your foundation." <br /><br />First Published: April 24, 2009: 4:07 AM ETCitizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-39986955406864080842009-04-24T17:55:00.000-04:002009-04-24T17:55:00.000-04:00A related opportunity at the state level, as found...A related opportunity at the state level, as found on the Model D website: <br /><br />April 21, 2009<br /><br />State land bank going green, offering vacant lots up as community gardens <br />The State of Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority is making its inventory of nearly 7,000 vacant lots statewide -- 6,000 in Detroit alone -- available as community gardens via its Garden for Growth program.<br /><br />"Our goals, in addition to finding productive uses for these vacant plots, is to support the Governor's Urban Food Initiative," says Carrie Lewand-Monroe, the Michigan Land Bank's executive director. "We're hoping to help allow folks in urban areas to access fresh, healthy food."<br /><br />The way it works is that any community member can apply to garden a lot in the Michigan Land Bank for $50 for one year. At that point, participants are able to put in an application to purchase the land. <br /><br />This lease-first approach is considered a "best practice" for programs of this type for two reasons: It allows time for the garden to be established and it keeps it tax-free for the first year. The Land Bank is willing to flexible with lease terms; it is working with The Greening of Detroit on five parcels that will be leased for five years.<br /><br />Any kind of garden is eligible: native plants, flowers and vegetables -- even a park, says Lewand-Monroe. All gardeners will be connected with the Greening of Detroit's Garden Resource Program for classes and planting material.<br /><br />Lewand-Monroe explains why 7,000 of the Michigan Land Bank's 8,000 properties are vacant lots: because they are all foreclosed properties that date back to 1999, which was when tax laws changed. "There aren't as many structures as the county would have," she says.<br /><br />They also administer a Side Lot program for vacant lots that are adjacent to occupied residences. To search for a property, use the Land Bank's web site Search for Property feature. The application for the Garden for Growth program is also available on the site.<br /><br />Source: Carrie Lewand-Monroe, Michigan Land Bank<br />Writer: Kelli B. KavanaughCitizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-14787398641010913842009-04-24T17:54:00.000-04:002009-04-24T17:54:00.000-04:00Friday, April 24, 2009
Urban gardeners nurture nat...Friday, April 24, 2009<br />Urban gardeners nurture nature in Detroit<br />Budding efforts add green to the city's palette<br />David Josar / The Detroit News<br />Detroit -- Mark Covington didn't know when he lost his job as an environmental clean-up specialist he would become one of the city's most celebrated urban gardeners.<br /><br />The 37-year-old grew up with his grandmother and mother near Van Dyke and Georgia in a neighborhood that, despite some new housing, is dotted with abandoned homes and rubble piles. With the extra time of being unemployed last year, he decided to clean up the trash-strewn corner lot. His enthusiasm was infectious and with the help of neighbors, they began raising, tomatoes, greens, spinach and whatever else they could plant.<br /><br />"I'm not sure how much we grew because everyone can come by to pick what they need," said Covington.<br /><br />Today the Georgia Community Garden, which was featured last month in Time magazine and has its own Web site, http://georgiastreetgarden.blogspot.com, includes 15 raised beds for vegetables and a small fruit orchard. The group also plans to host weekly concerts, beginning in June, in the garden.<br /><br />Detroit's urban gardening movement has sprouted from a loose network of like-minded individuals in the 1990s to what many consider a national example of how a struggling, decaying city can foster community while improving neighborhoods.<br /><br />"Something has really taken hold," said Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, an outspoken advocate of getting vacant land into the hands of gardeners. "It is attracting everyone. City residents. Suburban residents. Everyone is coming together."<br /><br />The trend is so popular that a new garden where Detroit residents and restaurants can rent parcels sold out before construction was completed this spring.<br /><br />"For a lot of people there is such an interest in taking care of their own food," said Annmarie Borucki, fundraising manager for the University Cultural Center Association, which created the plot-rental site known as the North Cass Community Garden. "There is an interest in the therapeutic affects of gardening."<br /><br />Borucki estimates the group will have spent $80,000 to transform the site of a former gas station into a vegetable and fruit-producing oasis for about 90 people. A 4-foot by 8-foot plot rents for $25 a season.<br /><br />In another proposal, entrepreneur and city resident John Hantz plans to bring commercial farming back to Detroit, a challenge since zoning laws ban raising crops and livestock for profit.<br /><br />Hantz Farms, according to a proposal being given to city leaders, would be the world's largest urban farm and begin with 70 acres near Eastern Market that would include direct-to-market crops, a Christmas tree farm and hardwood timber for harvest.<br /><br />"This will be revolutionary for the city," said Matt Allen, senior vice president of Hantz Farms. "This will attract tourists. It will create jobs."<br /><br />City approval, particularly in getting the wide swatch of vacant land into the possession of Hantz Farms, is still needed.<br /><br />A spokesman for Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said the city is exploring changes to city ordinances that could restore commercial farming in Detroit. The spokesman, Daniel Cherrin, said the mayor also has started a program that would speed up making vacant lots available to gardeners.<br /><br />Converting the city's vacant lots into food-growing enterprises could provide unemployed residents with supplemental income, reduce food transportation costs and give urban dwellers more fresh produce options.<br /><br />By some estimates, urban farmers could gross $10,000 to $15,000 a year on a one-acre plot or less, depending on their skill level. That figure, however, doesn't include costs for labor, taxes, insurance and equipment.<br /><br />"I don't think we're going to see 1,000-acre farms in Detroit," said Susan Smalley, director of the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University. "But I do think it's possible to grow intensively on a couple acres in Detroit and get a pretty good return on your investment."<br /><br />Leading the effort in the city is a network of nonprofit groups, spearheaded by The Greening of Detroit, a group founded in 1989 to replace thousands of blighted trees in the city, and Earthworks Urban Farm, a collaboration with the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.<br /><br />Last year, Earthworks, located by the Mount Elliot Cemetery, raised 3 tons of food and 900 pounds of honey.<br /><br />Another proponent is the Ferguson Academy for Young Women, a Detroit public school near the intersection of I-75 and I-96 that has a small working farm. Teachers incorporate the raising of goats, chickens and crops into classroom assignments. Educational institutions are exempt from the zoning rules that apply to businesses and residents.<br /><br />The cornerstone for many Detroit gardeners is the Detroit Agricultural Network, a partnership between The Greening of Detroit, Earthworks Capuchin Soup Kitchen and Michigan State University Extension, which through its Detroit Garden Resource Program provides families and community gardeners with low-cost seeds, compost and classes. The cost for a family is $10.<br /><br />Community leaders point to anecdotal evidence that interest and shovels-in-the-ground projects are up:<br /><br />• A recent seminar at the Ferguson Academy on raising chickens in your backyard -- which began with a disclaimer that the practice is illegal in Detroit -- had more than 100 attendees.<br /><br />• An annual tour of the city's urban gardens begun in the late 1990s has grown from a handful of people to an event that draws more than 600 who ride in chartered buses.<br /><br />• In 2007, The Detroit Garden Resource Program helped 340 individuals and groups with their gardens. In 2008, that tally jumped 45 percent with the group providing resources to 169 community gardens, 40 school gardens and 359 family gardens.<br /><br />• And what can be an indicator of a growing trend, Garden Resource members sold their crops last year at six local farmers' markets and six local restaurants, grossing $14,668.<br /><br />Covington expresses amazement at how his tiny idea seems to have spurred a neighborhood movement.<br /><br />"I've seen a change in the neighborhood, too," he said. "People ... come together. We are making a difference."<br /><br />djosar@detnews.com Christina Rogers contributed to this report.Citizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-61385075947746510772009-04-24T17:45:00.000-04:002009-04-24T17:45:00.000-04:00I saw that today, too - very sad, and scary!I saw that today, too - very sad, and scary!Citizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-15572781825009855202009-04-22T18:58:00.000-04:002009-04-22T18:58:00.000-04:00A rather bleak, related article in today's Free Pr...A rather bleak, related article in today's Free Press:<br /><br />April 21, 2009<br /><br /><br />A vision of the next Michigan<br /><br />By Ron Dzwonkowski<br />Free Press Associate Editor <br /><br />Job losses in Michigan during 2009 will reach 239,000 or, if you need some perspective, about twice the entire population of Flint. That's according to a revised forecast from University of Michigan economists as detailed today in a report from Lansing's Gongwer News Service.<br /><br />This picture is twice as bad as the one painted just six months ago by the U-M Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics -- and 50,000 more lost jobs than state officials were told in January to expect during the year. These losses will be on top of the more than 600,000 Michigan already has lost since 2000. Put another way, by the end of 2009, Michigan will have lost more jobs since 2000 than four states had people in 2000.<br /><br /><br />Oh, there will be some job gains, too. Gov. Jennifer Granholm was in Manistee on Monday to help launch a new wind turbine factory that will employ 120 people. Glad to see it, but there aren't nearly enough such jobs being created to offset the mega-losses as the auto industry shrinks and restructures. <br /><br /><br />These are permanent, too, not layoffs or cyclical adjustments. And with them will go a lot of retail spending, plus sales and income taxes. Next come lost property taxes as homes and buildings are left vacant. All these revenues sustain the state, local governments and public schools.<br /><br />It seems logical, too, since people go where the work is, that Michigan will lose population for a third straight year in 2009, probably not enough to drop from the top 10 states in the next census but enough to lose more clout in Congress as other parts of the nation keep slowly growing.<br /><br /><br />And who will be going? Young, educated people hunting for a career and the younger among the hordes of former auto workers, those with much of their work-life left. So the "next Michigan," in the near term, will be an older, smaller state with less income and tax revenue.<br /><br /><br />Now, there may be -- indeed we hope there is -- a "next Michigan" in a generation or so that is still a smaller place but also better-educated and home to loads more small and mid-size employers, nimble, entrepreneurial companies that focus on biotechnology, engineering, advanced manufacturing, alternative energy and other emerging sectors.<br /><br />But that's not the Michigan immediately in our headlights. The immediate next Michigan is a shrinking place -- as measured in people and money -- where change is being dictated by the economy. We didn't get out in front of it, so now we must react to it. For government, state and local, that's meant cutting, cutting, cutting and fighting, fighting, fighting over where to do it. That's not the same as making wholesale adjustments for a new reality, the dreaded "restructuring" now being forced on the auto industry.<br /><br /><br />It's time, though. The circumstances are indisputable. Government in this state was built for "the last Michigan," not the immediate next one or the one we hope will emerge from the wreckage. <br /><br /><br />My guess, though, is that the state will use a combination of cuts and federal stimulus money to patch things together for yet another year or two and leave the longer-term thinking to the leadership to be elected in 2010. It's the wrong course as the Citizens Research Council pointed out in a State Budget Note this morning:<br /><br /><br />"The State has been operating with a structural deficit, a deficit that will not be eliminated by a more buoyant economy,'" the respected CRC said. "... It has met the constitutional balanced budget requirement principally by using nonrecurring sources of income totaling over $8 billion ... and has not solved the basic structural problem. Federal stimulus dollars ... will provide the State with $7 billion, which will help in the short run, but which may make more difficult the resolution of the structural deficit."<br /><br /><br />The CRC notes that the stimulus money "will mask the size of the cuts necessary to deal with the structural deficit" and will create a revenue "cliff" when the money is gone.<br /><br /><br />This fiscal situation should at least get the public thinking about one possibility: Passing a proposal that will be on the 2010 ballot to call a convention to write a new state Constitution. Let the current officeholders deal with today while a new group meets to draw up a framework that will better serve the Michigan of tomorrow, in terms of government, education, regulation and taxation. Our 1963 Constitution fills nearly 60 pages in the Michigan Manual and has been amended about 30 times. It's due for an overhaul, just like the state it is supposed to serve.Citizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-5714622323307339722009-04-22T18:56:00.000-04:002009-04-22T18:56:00.000-04:00I'll have to try and go to thisI'll have to try and go to thisCitizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-14307828939104619292009-04-22T18:56:00.000-04:002009-04-22T18:56:00.000-04:00I saw this article too. I think downsizing is cert...I saw this article too. I think downsizing is certainly the right idea. They can take those largely vacant areas and consolidate them into parks, orchards, or farms. This is happening in Detroit, too. It would be nice if this could be organized. A better solution would be to offer free housing to people who move to these cities, but I think having nice, large parks would be cool too. Certainly, allowing empty buildings to remain and become vandalized is no solution.Citizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-86491390979969105532009-04-22T18:53:00.000-04:002009-04-22T18:53:00.000-04:00By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: April 21, 2009
FL...By DAVID STREITFELD<br />Published: April 21, 2009 <br /><br />FLINT, Mich. — Dozens of proposals have been floated over the years to slow this city’s endless decline. Now another idea is gaining support: speed it up.<br /><br />Instead of waiting for houses to become abandoned and then pulling them down, local leaders are talking about demolishing entire blocks and even whole neighborhoods.<br /><br />The population would be condensed into a few viable areas. So would stores and services. A city built to manufacture cars would be returned in large measure to the forest primeval.<br /><br />“Decline in Flint is like gravity, a fact of life,” said Dan Kildee, the Genesee County treasurer and chief spokesman for the movement to shrink Flint. “We need to control it instead of letting it control us.”<br /><br />The recession in Flint, as in many old-line manufacturing cities, is quickly making a bad situation worse. Firefighters and police officers are being laid off as the city struggles with a $15 million budget deficit. Many public schools are likely to be closed.<br /><br />“A lot of people remember the past, when we were a successful city that others looked to as a model, and they hope. But you can’t base government policy on hope,” said Jim Ananich, president of the Flint City Council. “We have to do something drastic.” <br /><br />In searching for a way out, Flint is becoming a model for a different era. <br /><br />Planned shrinkage became a workable concept in Michigan a few years ago, when the state changed its laws regarding properties foreclosed for delinquent taxes. Before, these buildings and land tended to become mired in legal limbo, contributing to blight. Now they quickly become the domain of county land banks, giving communities a powerful tool for change. <br /><br />Indianapolis and Little Rock, Ark., have recently set up land banks, and other cities are in the process of doing so. “Shrinkage is moving from an idea to a fact,” said Karina Pallagst, director of the Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective Program at the University of California, Berkeley. “There’s finally the insight that some cities just don’t have a choice.”<br /><br />While the shrinkage debate has been simmering in Flint for several years, it suddenly gained prominence last month with a blunt comment by the acting mayor, Michael K. Brown, who talked at a Rotary Club lunch about “shutting down quadrants of the city.”<br /><br />Nothing will happen immediately, but Flint has begun updating its master plan, a complicated task last done in 1965. Then it was a prosperous city of 200,000 looking to grow to 350,000. It now has 110,000 people, about a third of whom live in poverty.<br /><br />Flint has about 75 neighborhoods spread out over 34 square miles. It will be a delicate process to decide which to favor, Mr. Kildee acknowledged from the driver’s seat of his Grand Cherokee.<br /><br />He will play a crucial role in those decisions. In addition to being the treasurer of Genesee County, whose largest city by far is Flint, Mr. Kildee is chief executive of the local land bank. In the last year, the county has acquired through tax foreclosure about 900 houses in the city, some of them in healthy neighborhoods. <br /><br />A block adjacent to downtown has the potential for renewal; it would make sense to fill in the vacant lots there, since it is a few steps from a University of Michigan campus.<br /><br />A short distance away, the scene is more problematic. Only a few houses remain on the street; the sidewalk is so tattered it barely exists. “When was the last time someone walked on that?” Mr. Kildee said. “Most rural communities don’t have sidewalks.”<br /><br />But what about the people who do live here and might want their sidewalk fixed rather than removed?<br /><br />“Not everyone’s going to win,” he said. “But now, everyone’s losing.”<br /><br />On many streets, the weekly garbage pickup finds only one bag of trash. If those stops could be eliminated, Mr. Kildee said, the city could save $100,000 a year — one of many savings that shrinkage could bring. <br /><br />Mr. Kildee was born in Flint in 1958. The house he lived in as a child has just been foreclosed on by the county, so he stopped to look. It is a little blue house with white trim, sad and derelict. So are two houses across the street.<br /><br />“If it’s going to look abandoned, let it be clean and green,” he said. “Create the new Flint forest — something people will choose to live near, rather than something that symbolizes failure.”<br /><br />Watching suspiciously from next door is Charlotte Kelly. Her house breaks the pattern: it is immaculate, all polished wood and fresh paint. When Ms. Kelly, a city worker, moved to the street in 2002, all the houses were occupied and the neighborhood seemed viable. <br /><br />These days, crime is brazen: two men recently stripped the siding off Mr. Kildee’s old house, “laughing like they were going to a picnic,” Ms. Kelly said. Down the street are many more abandoned houses, as well as a huge hand-painted sign that proclaims, “No prostitution zone.”<br /><br />“It saddens my heart,” she said. “I was born in Flint in 1955. I’ve seen it in the glory days, and every year it gets worse.”<br /><br />Mr. Kildee makes his pitch. Would she be interested in moving if the city offered her an equivalent or better house in a more stable and safer neighborhood?<br /><br />Despite her pride in her home, the calculation takes Ms. Kelly about a second. “Yes,” she said, “I would be willing.”Citizen Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03013842275076652609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-69141048910062770092009-04-21T01:43:00.000-04:002009-04-21T01:43:00.000-04:00Yes and no. Stimulus Money is available for inter...Yes and no. Stimulus Money is available for interstate fast speed train lines. So it is possible that a fast speed line will be created between Detroit and Chicago with stimulus money.<br /><br />Public Transport projects already in the works: <br />1. A rail from AA to Detroit w/ a stop at Metro Airport.<br />2. The Woodward Light Rail project - which they hope to complete by 2013/14. It's an above-ground train that will go from downtown all the way to the State Fairgrounds all the way up Woodward (w/ stops at the stadiums, DIA, DMC, Wayne State, etc.).Syed Mohiuddinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05536371340909476419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4289190081292830779.post-75652486862623210082009-04-20T20:57:00.000-04:002009-04-20T20:57:00.000-04:00related links:
1. This article is by Nolan Finle...related links: <br /><br />1. This article is by Nolan Finley of the News on the need for parental involvement: http://www.detnews.com/article/20090416/OPINION03/904160333<br /><br />2. This article is about Mr. Bobb's proposal for summer school: http://www.detnews.com/article/20090416/SCHOOLS/904160417/1026/schools/DPS+pumps+$52M+into+summer+schoolSyed Mohiuddinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05536371340909476419noreply@blogger.com