Job sprawl

Interesting article in today's News about how the average distance of jobs in our area from the city center is much higher than normal. Not surprising, but still interesting.

"More than three-fourths of jobs in Metro Detroit are farther than 10 miles from the heart of the city, deepening the economic and social divide between Detroit and its suburbs. "

"In most metro regions, the study found, about 45 percent of all jobs are at least 10 miles from their downtowns. "

"The problem is especially acute in Detroit, which lacks a regional mass transit system and where only 1 out of 3 residents has access to a car.

Shayneece Batson of Detroit is a perfect example. Batson had to quit her job at a Troy grocery store because the co-worker and fellow Detroiter who gave her a ride quit. "

Here is the link: http://detnews.com/article/20090406/BIZ/904060353/1001/Detroit+area+tops+in+job+sprawl

Friday Adventures: DEGC & UM Detroit Center

Final Four partying for some, apartment hunting for others... It was a busy Friday afternoon in the city of Detroit. After dropping Atiya back off to SmithGroup, I enjoyed my Tim Hortons lunch in the beautiful lobby of the Guardian Building. While there, I thought to visit another one of the building's clients: the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (http://www.degc.org/).

DEGC: Simply put, I would like nothing more than to be a volunteer researcher for the DEGC as they are the organization most responsible for retaining and attracting new businesses to Detroit. I was able to speak with a DEGC employee and I expressed my interest to her. Her response: "If you did my job for free, I would lose my job." So much for taking any help they can get. Folks, the reality in the city is that we have to break down some barriers, and apparently fear is one of them. That said, I will e-mail the HR lady at the DEGC this week in hopes of becoming a part-time intern of sorts.

Next stop: University of Michigan Detroit Center. http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2009-03-31/viewpoint-semester-detroit-uplifts-students-and-city. This is a spot on Woodward where UM houses all of its Detroit operations (outreach, services, collaborations, recruiting, etc.). I specifically wanted to see what my alma mater was doing with regards to urban planning in the city. As it turns out, there is a full-time faculty member who works there, Eric Dueweke, and I will soon contact him to learn more.

The Message: We must stop waiting to contact the right organizations and find out what's out there. I urge you all to go knock on doors and tell us what you find. Some will be good, some won't. But we need to know what is behind each door to make the sum of the parts better. Stay tuned.

Potential partners and organizations to work with

I think we should keep a running list of groups in the Detroit area that we can work with. Just list the group and their purpose or mission. We can update it as we find new potential partners.

• Cityscape Detroit (http://www.cityscapedetroit.org/): Cityscape Detroit is a nonprofit group devoted to good urban planning, urban design, historic preservation, architecture, investment, green spaces, mass transit, interesting streetscapes, pedestrianism, human scale development, urbanism, and the "built environment" in Detroit.
• City Year Detroit (http://www.cityyear.org/detroit.aspx): City Year Detroit is a nonprofit where participants devote a year to tutor and mentor students in Detroit; it might be a good partner for the educational aspect of what you want to/should pursue; they design after school programs for the kids to help keep them off the streets and interested in learning (City Year Corps members make a difference in schools by: Improving student attendance; Improving academic performance; Reducing incidences of violence; Improving the learning environment; Improving the commitment to volunteering and helping others; Enhancing the ability to connect and work with diverse group )
• ...

Experience Detroit - visitor guide

Interestingly, I am doing some Detroit-specific activities at work these days, so I came across an interesting site I thought I would share: http://experiencedetroit.com/.

Experience Detroit seems to be a pretty comprehensive visitor guide covering the key topics and regional highlights. Certainly, it would be a good place for newcomers to Detroit to see what there is to do and experience in the Metro area.

Bright flight - College grads leaving town

Interesting article in today's News(and a good follow up to yesterday's exodus article), talking about how too many Michigan grads are leaving the state.

"There are more recent MSU grads in Chicago than in any other metro area -- including any community in Michigan. While the Windy City has always been a destination for Spartan grads, the number going there -- and other vibrant urban centers such as Minneapolis and New York -- is growing.

The number leaving the state has doubled since 2001, from 24 percent to 49 percent, according to a school survey. "

53 percent of native Michigan Wolverine graduates left town in 2008 - including my brother!

Here is the link:
http://detnews.com/article/20090403/METRO/904030378/Half+of+university+grads+flee+Michigan

Farming in the City

Todays Free Press had an article about farming in the city (http://freep.com/article/20090402/BUSINESS04/904020370/Vacant+Detroit+land+eyed+as+urban+farming+hot+spot).



This is what I'm talking about! I wouldn't mind working with this guy, although I probably prefer smaller farms to major commercial enterprises.

Please see highlights below:

"Detroit could become a center of locally grown food and put large swaths of vacant land back on tax rolls under a proposal to create the city's first large commercial farm."

"Detroit already is home to hundreds of smaller community gardens. But Hantz's proposal is the first to envision large-scale commercial farming."

"With an estimated 40 square miles of vacant parcels, Detroit offers many sites where, in theory, a big farm operation might work."

"Land assemblage remains a key question. Hantz owns several parcels in the city, but the vast majority of the acreage he needs for his project is still either owned by private parties or is tax-foreclosed land owned by the city, county and state. "

Michigan exodus article

Interesting article in today's News about the mass exodus of people from Michigan. We are getting fewer, poorer, and less educated.

Here is a map from the article that shows where Michiganians end up:


Here is the link: http://detnews.com/article/20090402/METRO/904020403/Leaving+Michigan+Behind++Eight-year+population+exodus+staggers+state

I've also pasted the highlights below:

"People are leaving Michigan at a staggering rate. About 109,000 more people left Michigan last year than moved in. It is one of the worst rates in the nation, quadruple the loss of just eight years ago. The state loses a family every 12 minutes, and the families who are leaving -- young, well-educated high-income earners -- are the people the state desperately needs to rebuild."

"But a Detroit News analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Internal Revenue Service data reveals that every day, Michigan gets less populated, less educated, and poorer because of outmigration."

"Since 2001, migration has cost Michigan 465,000 people, the equivalent of the combined populations of Grand Rapids, Warren and Sterling Heights -- the state's second-, third- and fourth-largest cities."


"Those leaving Michigan are the people the state most needs to keep -- young and college-educated. The state suffered a net loss to migration of 18,000 adults with a bachelor's degree or higher in 2007 alone."

"In simplest terms, those with the skills to leave Michigan are doing so; high-skilled people from other states who once might have moved to Michigan are choosing to go elsewhere."


"As Michigan loses population and other states gain, the state is likely to lose more congressional seats, resulting in less clout in Congress. Electoral votes -- based on congressional seats -- probably will decline, giving Michigan less influence in presidential elections when votes are reallocated in 2010."

"The pattern used to be that people would move away from Michigan and then move back," Metzger said. "Now, people are moving and then drawing the rest of their (extended) family with them."

"When you lose people in their 20s, in five years, you won't have their kids entering school; in 20 years, you won't have their kids entering the work force," Grimes said. "It puts you in a downward spiral."

How do you see yourself fixing Detroit?

Critical to this dialogue on fixing Detroit is defining both the role of each individual player and of the group. To that end, the purpose of this post is very simple: to get responses from everyone in the "comments" section on three core questions:

I) What approach do you think this group should take (faith-based, secular, narrow, broad, etc.)?
A.
B.

II) What are your personal objectives in Detroit (build communities, solve hunger, etc.)?
A.
B.

III) What are you willing to do and get involved in?
A.
B.
C.

Detroit Architecture

I stumbled upon this while on Slate.com today and was amazed at a few of the buildings. This really has nothing to do with fixing Detroit ... just helps visualize the problem.

http://www.slate.com/id/2213696/

Background start

While I am sure there are some good books about Detroit out there, frankly, none come to mind immediately, probably because I cannot remember reading a book about the city's background. What I learned has come from living here, reading the local papers, listening to Michigan Radio, or the internet. It would probably be more comprehensive to get some books from the Detroit Public Library (get the library card anyways, by all means), but I think it makes more sense to start online.

For one, I believe Wikipedia has a lot to say about Detroit. Not only is there a Crime in Detroit article that we discussed the other day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Detroit), but the main article is also good (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit) and has a lot of interesting sources at the bottom). There are several sub-articles as well (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Detroit,_Michigan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Metro_Detroit) about topics such as the History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Detroit), Architecture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Detroit), Neighborhoods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Detroit), Culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Detroit), Tourism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_metropolitan_Detroit), Sports (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_metropolitan_Detroit), Economy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_metropolitan_Detroit), Demographics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Detroit), Schools (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Public_Schools), and Government (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Detroit) of Detroit. You can click to other relevant topics, like the auto industry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry), as well.

going to the library tonight...

the websites nauman posted are an excellent starting point. since i didn’t grow up around here, i think i need a deeper grounding in detroit history, so i plan on picking up some research material. might as well get a membership to the detroit public library while i’m at it. any suggestions for books on the city’s cultural/economic/political background?

Scoping: Detroit's size

One of the hurdles that must be overcome in fixing Detroit is the sheer size of the city. The image below, from a Free Press article and the University of Detroit, illustrates the crux of the issue:
Basically, too few people paying too little in taxes to support infrastructure and services over too large an area. It results in a vicious cycle.

This Free Press special does a good job explaining what parts of the city are in good shape and can be built upon and where improvement is most needed: http://media.freep.com/drivingdetroit/drivingmap.html

purpose of the blog

thanks, nauman, for starting this blog.

if i may add -- this blog is not official or public. it's not a "blog" so much as a forum... we just need a central place to hash out ideas for the sake of efficiency before we start to meet in person, and a forum beats an email thread.

next couple steps:

1) get a critical mass of core members on the contributor list.

2) post our individual opinions on the approach our group should take towards fixing detroit.

3) post how much we each anticipate being able to contribute (say in hours/week) or how we'd like to contribute (going to meetings, writing, doing research, lobbying city leaders, pursuing businesses, planting trees, whatever).

aamir's on the list. waiting on misbah and farayha, who will be working at downtown law firms starting in september.

if there's anyone else who it would make sense to add to the group, don't hesitate to bring up his/her name.

in the meantime, i'm brushing up on my knowledge of the city. feel free to share resources!

atiya

Structure

Many people want to make Detroit a better place. However, there is so much wrong with the city that part of the challenge is figuring out where to start. Just about any volunteer work or social justice project or activism could help improve our city, but critical thinking and smart planning will help us get more results for the same effort.

The people behind this blog want to help Detroit make a better place. We want people to live in the city. We want businesses to locate here. We want clean, safe streets. We want well run schools. We want a green, sustainable environment. We want nice parks, top-notch restaurants, and other amenities. We want adequate public services. These things will not happen overnight. They will not happen without effort, time, and money. That is okay, because most importantly, we want to make a difference.

Before we start any projects in a haphazard fashion, we will increase our knowledge and understanding of Detroit's problems. We will also try and identify what revitalization projects are already underway or being planned. We will create posts related to Detroit's problems and current solutions in the initial phase of this blog. Later, we will define how we will help and plan from there.

So, welcome to the blog. We hope you find some interesting material here and learn a bit about the city. We also hope that you too will become energized to help fix Detroit. If you would like to contribute, please let us know - we, and Detroit, could use all the help we can get!