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City Year parties at Fountain Bistro to raise funds

City Year Tuesday, May 14, 2013
City Year Detroit is partnering with Fountain Bistro to host a fund raiser for the Detroit corps. The party is next Thursday, May 23, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.

There will be live music, strolling hors d'oeuvres, beer and wine, champagne and a chance to learn about this organization that uses volunteers to make a positive impact on schools and kids in Detroit.

The event is $50. You can register here. Fountain Bistro is inside Campus Martius, 800 Woodward Ave., downtown Detroit.
 

Belle Isle Conservancy president answers questions about future of city park

Bridge Michigan Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Belle Isle Conservancy is like Switzerland. It will work for the greater good of the island park with nearly everyone who comes to the table.

An excerpt from this Q&A with the group's president Michele Hodges:

It’s important to be open to options and find the model that is going to work best for the city of Detroit. Certainly, one of the models is the Central Park Conservancy (in New York). When they started out in the 1980s, Central Park was in far worse condition than Belle Isle. And they found one project, their Dairy Barn, which was their starting point, and look where they’ve come since then.

They've come a long way, indeed. Read on and watch the video here.

National Bike to Work day gathering at BCBS

Blue Cross Blue Shield Tuesday, May 14, 2013
On Friday May 17, celebrate national Bike to Work Day in downtown Detroit by riding to a gathering of likeminded cyclists. Food and limited giveaways will be available.

 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will host a morning reception 7 - 9 a.m. in the outdoor courtyard of its downtown Detroit Tower headquarters. 

Though registration is not required to ride, BCBS would like to know if you're coming. Go here to sign up.

Listen up: Greening of Detroit Grandmount-Rosedale project on WDET

WDET Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Browsing the usual suspects for awesome stuff that happened in the past week, we came upon this, a sweet report on WDET on Greening of Detroit doing a planting in Northwest Detroit.

An excerpt:

Dozens of volunteers joined WDET and the Greening of Detroit to plant trees on Saturday in the Grandmont-Rosedale neighborhood. The nonprofit has planted more than 80,000 trees in the city since it first put "roots" down in 1989. WDET’s Pat Batcheller spoke with the Greening of Detroit’s Dean Hay and Trish Hubbell. With all the things Detroit needs, they explain how trees fit into that and how they improve life in the city.

To listen to the broadcast hit the link at the top of this page. 

Detroit is finalist for Summer X Games

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, May 07, 2013
It's official, reports HuffPost Detroit, Detroit impressed ESPN enough to be named a finalist last week for the Summer X Games beginning in 2014.

An excerpt:

ESPN announced the competing cities had been narrowed down to Detroit, Chicago, Austin, Texas and Charlotte, N.C. Organizers Kevin Krease and Garret Koehler, with the support of city administration, business leaders and other stakeholders, submitted their official bid for the project in early April. Good work, guys.

More here.

Detroit 2020: Midtown rolling with momentum

Detroit 2020 Tuesday, May 07, 2013
It was nice to see Channel 7's Detroit 2020 focus on the recent successes of Midtown and, in particular, the dedicated vision and leadership of Midtown Inc. president Sue Mosey.

An excerpt: It takes a quick pace to keep up with Sue Mosey.

She’s the dynamo leading the redevelopment of Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood. "It’s taken a very long time to get to the point where acceleration is moving very quickly, but I think we’ve reached that point now," Mosey says.

Read on and watch the segment here.

Detroit Archdiocese relocates to Capitol Park

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, May 07, 2013
There are a couple of promising developments in one move here: Capitol Park gets an anchor tenant in the Archdiocese of Detroit; and its vacated properties -- most spectacular among them the gorgeous Chancery bilding on Washington Blvd, adjacent to St. Aloysius church -- are being put on the market. The Freep got the story first but Curbed got the pictures.

Take a look here.

Richard Florida: Redevelop neighborhoods for true urban prosperity

Urbanland Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Sure, another day, another verbal transmission from Professor Florida. This piece has some of the usual Detroit suspects: Gilbert, Slows, the 7.2 data. But it also reprises an old creative class chestnut that actually answers the urbanist's chicken or the egg question: what comes first talent or capital?

An excerpt: 

I have long believed that talent attracts capital far more effectively and consistently than capital attracts talent. The most creative individuals want to live in places that protect personal freedoms, prize diversity, and offer an abundance of cultural opportunities. A city that wants to attract creators must offer a fertile breeding ground for new ideas and innovations.

Recent college graduates are flocking to Brooklyn not merely because of employment opportunities, but because it is where some of the most exciting things in the world are happening--in music, art, design, food, shops, technology, and green industry. Economists may not say it this way, but the truth of the matter is: being cool counts. When people can find inspiration in a community that also offers great parks, safe streets, and extensive mass transit, they vote with their feet.

We haven't used the word "cool" in a while. Feels, uhm, a bit nostalgic. Read more here.


Bloomberg: Startups providing entrepreneurial spark in Detroit, NOLA

BloombergBusinessWeek Tuesday, April 30, 2013
It may be an old story for us to read about techie entrepreneurs setting up shop in old U.S. cities like Detroit. But it's still some sort of validation when Bloomberg News picks up the ball and runs with it.

An excerpt:

While the bulk of venture capital dollars go to Silicon Valley and New England, cities little heralded for their tech scenes have been successfully coaxing technology entrepreneurs to set up shop in recent years. That includes Detroit, New Orleans and St. Louis, where municipal and private initiatives are attracting newbies and natives returning from the coasts.

Read more here.

Listen to Model D publisher Claire Nelson co-host 'Prosperity Agenda'

Michigan Municipal League Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Here at Model D, we never tire of listening to Claire Nelson talk about the city she loves. You can do the same by clicking on the link below, which leads you to the 'Presperity Agenda," an hour-long radio program hosted by Dan Gilmartin, CEO of the Michigan Municipal League (the League). The show is sponsored by the League and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA).

Nelson co-hosted a recent episode. Check it out here.

Let's get growing: Pot & Box pops up at D:hive

D:hive Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Hey, gardeners and other flora lovers, Pot & Box: Detroit, which is planning on opening a permanent location in Corktown later this year, will be in residence at downtown's D:hive from May through July this summer.

Join the celebration this Thursday, May 2 for a ribbon cutting promptly at 6:15 p.m. with cans of champagne (P&B's signature shop drink at the Ann Arbor location), pizza from Supino, and other treats.

D:hive is at 1253 Woodward Ave., Detroit.

Get more info here.

NYT: Late artist Mike Kelley's mobile homestead coming to MOCAD

New York Times Tuesday, April 23, 2013
We were saddened to hear of the death of Los Angeles-based Mike Kelley, an artist with Detroit roots. Kelley had been working with the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit on his mobile homestead project for several years prior to his passing.

We've been following the project, still in the works with a launch planned this spring, as has the New York Times.

An excerpt:

The New York The house is a faithful replica of the suburban Detroit childhood home of the artist Mike Kelley, who shepherded the details of its creation up to the final days of his life in January 2012, when he committed suicide at his home in South Pasadena, Calif. Kelley was one of the most influential artists of the last several decades. And though he made his name in the Los Angeles art world, much of the look and feel of his art came from his working-class, Irish Catholic upbringing here, in a city whose affliction he seemed to embody.

Read on here.

World beat: Dan Gilbert's downtown makeover gets play in London media

Guardian UK Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Sure, we hear about another new purchase by Dan Gilbert's real estate team every other week or so, but what's not to like about a major league redevelopment project that aims to turn downtown Detroit into one of the country's most liveable neighborhoods?  

Even the Brit journos are noticing. Another good sign. An excerpt:

His Bedrock property management company owns 22 buildings with more than 3m square feet in the city. He's attracting big names back into the city. Gilbert convinced Chrysler to take office space downtown and renamed a building after the car firm; he recently toured the city with Microsoft's Steve Ballmer. He's effectively created a business campus in the heart of a city some had written off as dead. A death that had been a long time coming.

Blimey, how dramatic. Read more here.

Feds give final approval to 3.3-mile M-1 rail

M-1 Rail Tuesday, April 23, 2013
On Monday, the 3.3-mile circulating streetcar along Woodward Avenue received clearance to proceed from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Also, M-1 Rail President and CEO Matthew P. Cullen welcomed eight new members to the nonprofit’s board of directors and introduced Jeni Norman as Chief Financial Officer.
 
The FTA has completed the environmental clearance for the Woodward Avenue Streetcar Project. With the issuance of the Amended Record of Decision (ROD), the project is allowed to move forward to the next phases of design, right of way acquisition and construction. This is the last approval step under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. 

Now that the process for approval of the Amended ROD has been completed, the M-1 Rail organization continues to strengthen its team with the hiring of a chief financial officer and by electing eight new members to its board of directors. These announcements come about two weeks after hiring a chief administrative officer and director of governmental & community affairs.

Deadline for Knight Arts Challenge is April 22

Culture Source Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The Knight Arts Challenge Detroit, a $9 million initiative to draw the best and most innovative ideas out of local organizations and individuals, wants you to engage and enrich the community through the arts.  

No idea is too large or too small, as long as it follows three basic rules:

• Your idea is about the arts.
• Your project takes place in or benefits Detroit.
• You find other funding to match Knight Foundation’s grant.

The Knight Arts Challenge Detroit has a simple, 150-word application process. All you need to know is here.

NYT goes deep into Gilbert's private reclamation of downtown

New York Times Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Not one page, not two, not three "People my age, we would hear from our parents and grandparents who were raised in Detroit about how great this city was, from 1900 to the 60s," Mr. Gilbert said. "But none of us had any memory of that. And it wasn’t until my late 20s and early 30s, when I started traveling for business, to places like New York City and Los Angeles, that I realized how much we were missing. As I started visiting these great American cities, it hit me -- man, how did we blow this so badly?"

Yes, the Mr. Gilbert talking is downtown Detroit redevelopment specialist Dan Gilbert. There is a lot in this New York Times profile you already know, and some things you probably did not.

Read more here.

HuffPost Detroit: WSU looking for Midtown mixed use proposals

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Huffington Post editor Ashley Woods reports in a recent edition of the online mag that Wayne State University has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for new mixed-use residential and retail apartment buildings in Midtown, as part of its second phase of the South University Village District. 

An excerpt:

Much like the Auburn, Wayne State is calling for a development that boasts energy-efficient features, bike storage and common spaces for resident in a pedestrian-friendly setting. It must also provide some parking for residents, with additional spaces made available by a WSU parking facility on Forest Avenue.

Much more here.

Fast Company: How social entrepreneurship is rebuilding Detroit

Fast Company Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Fast Company jumps into the early 21st century Detroit narrative, complex and ever-changing as it is to us here on the ground, in this feature published this week.

An excerpt: 

But the city's depression -- and the depressed real estate prices that came with it -- created opportunities. And opportunity lures entrepreneurs. The startup types, like Paffendorf. And the ones with lots of money, like Dan Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, the third-largest mortgage provider in the country; he moved 1,700 employees downtown in 2010, giving him 7,000 employees there and making him Detroit's third-largest landowner (trailing only the city and General Motors). With slicked-back hair and a perpetual poker face, Gilbert has just gotten started on his plan to transform the area.

More to dig into here.

Can't take the Detroit music out of Ben Blackwell

Dust and Grooves Tuesday, April 09, 2013
Cousin to Jack White, drummer for the Dirtbombs, boy-musical-wonder Ben Blackwell says he moved to Nashville for music biz reasons (editor's rant: another reason we need to build a sustainable music industry here) but left his heart in Detroit.

Dust and Grooves caught up with Ben, and his records, in the mid-south for this great Q&A with some fab pics. An excerpt: 

Q: Tell me more how your passion for vinyl has affected your life.

A: For years touring with the Dirtbombs most of the money I made was just spent on records. I was living with my mom and I had nothing else to really worry about finance-wise. I was extremely lucky. My wife Malissa is very similar to me in her appreciation for vinyl and often says the only difference between our record collections is that she’s listened to all of her records! I’ve been very lucky (or discerning?) that almost all of my jobs have been tangentially connected to vinyl…working at Car City Records (store) in St. Clair Shores, Archer Record Pressing (plant) in Detroit or Third Man or Cass (labels).

More cool Detroit music talk here.

Freep's Gallagher: Nonprofit oversight leads to Detroit improvements

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 09, 2013
In his new book, Revolution Detroit: Strategies for Urban Reinvention, John Gallagher goes into detail how cities are entering into partnerships with conservancies, foundations and nonprofits to offer better services for the public.

He writes about it in this piece in the Detroit Free Press. An excerpt: 

As emergency manager Kevyn Orr begins his work in Detroit, he may find one of the best ways to reshape city government is a practice already under way.

That practice is the spinning off of pieces of municipal governance to a series of quasi-public conservancies, public authorities and similar nonprofit bodies that are professionally managed. 

Read on here.

See our Q&A with Gallagher in today's Model D.

Ride It Sculpture Skate Park gets $30K from Tony Hawk

NPR Tuesday, April 09, 2013
More love, all of it deserved, for Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope's Power House project, which includes a skate park at the corner of Davison and Klinger St. 

Now the world’s most famous skateboarder, Tony Hawk, is supporting this unique Ride It Sculpture Park, a non-profit and community-based skate-boarding project. It is receiving a $30-thousand dollar grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation. Well done.

Pete Whitley is the foundation’s programs director. He says Ride It is unlike any skate park he’s ever seen. Listen up: he tells WDET's Travis Wright how Tony Hawk went from kink flips to philanthropy.

UK mag FACT tips Detroit dance producer 'brilliant up-and-comer'

FACT Tuesday, April 09, 2013
In more Detroit music news (keep making it, kids, and we'll keep finding it and reporting on it), a new electronic producer is getting some props from overseas.

An excerpt from the UK mag, FACT:

Manuel 'MGUN' Gonzalez hasn’t exactly sprung out of nowhere -- he collaborated with Wild Oats boss Kyle Hall as NSNT PRJCT back in 2010, released the fine The Upstairs Apt EP on Semtek’s great Don’t Be Afraid label, and returned to Wild Oats for the Harmnear 12. His real critical payday, though, came with this year’s genuinely exceptional The Near Future EP for The Trilogy Tapes -- a motley collection of bruised trance, brooding L.I.E.S-ready techno and looped psych in the vein of early Gaslamp Killer.

Yeah, man, that's what we're talking about. Read on here.  

MOCAD hires new director with local roots

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Elysia Borowy-Reeder, 39, is the new executive director of Detroit’s Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, better known as MOCAD. She’ll take over the job, vacant since November 2011 when former director Luis Croquer left to take a job in Seattle, next week.

An excerpt:

Borowy-Reeder, who grew up in metro Detroit and East Lansing, has a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from Antioch College and master’s degrees in art education and art history from Michigan State University.

She recalls how childhood visits to the Detroit Institute of Arts helped inspire her love for her chosen field. “You’d be on the floor of the Diego Rivera mural room drawing. ... That’s what got me hooked on museums,” she says.

Read more here.

Opportunity Detroit behind downtown retail plan

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 02, 2013
For a roundup of all the exciting downtown redevelopment and retail growth news that was announced last week, see Nicole Rupersburg's Dev News piece here.

For a closer look at Dan Gilbert's Opportunity Detroit initiative, including Papa Joe's opening in the First National Building, check out Ashley Woods' story in HuffPost Detroit.

An excerpt:

Sidewalk cafes and basketball courts. Free wi-fi in Campus Martius Park. Food trucks and outdoor art installations. Parking garages emblazoned with the work of world-famous graffiti sprayers. An accessible waterfront and surf lounge (even Dan Gilbert himself was befuddled by that idea). Opportunity Detroit's brand of populist city placemaking creates interlocking activities, distractions and opportunities for lingering, daydreaming and visiting. It's a chance to make Detroit's downtown itself the star attraction, luring residents and visitors alike.

Very nice. Read more here.

Motown's fab Funk Brothers get star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, March 26, 2013
This is the kind of news Detroit music fans, at home and around the world, want to hear. We were happy to catch up to it this weekend.

An excerpt:

Thirteen members of the Motown studio band -- all but three of them deceased -- were named as official star honorees by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler.

"The Funk Brothers were a closed club -- we suffered together, we laughed together, we argued together, and we made hit records together," percussionist Ashford said during a brief speech. "We didn’t make hit records for white people. We didn’t make hit records for black people. We made hit records for everybody on the planet, and that’s the excellence we strived for."

Willis choked up as he remembered his fellow players.

Read the rest of the story here.

Curbed: Gilbert group to develop two residential towers on Hudson's site?

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, March 26, 2013
It's hard not to get excited when the words "two residential towers" and "downtown Detroit" are used in the same sentence. This may or may not happen the way it appears in this little piece in Curbed Detroit, but it sounds incredibly reasonable and possible.

An excerpt:

Bedrock head honcho Jim Ketai dropped the name Grand Circuit Park in a reference to Gilbert's real estate "target area" along Woodward...sorry,Webward Avenue. That wasn't the only interesting tidbit: Ketai also mentions plans for the Hudson's site involving two residential towers.

Go here to read on.

Toledo Blade: Entrepreneurship key to Detroit recovery

Toledo Blade Tuesday, March 26, 2013
It's nice to see our Ohio friends to the immediate south in Toledo taking a deep dive into contemporary Detroit, interviewing enterprising people like Torya Blanchard, Josh Linkner, Shawn Geller (of Quikly), Kurt Metzger and others. Solid reporting, without pulling punches.

Check it out here.

A modest tax proposal from LOVELAND Technologies

WhyDon'tWeOwnThis.com Tuesday, March 19, 2013
One of the most enterprising social innovators in town, Jerry Paffendorf, has come up with a relatively simple idea to collect outstanding property taxes in Detroit.

Here's an exerpt of the plan: 

Detroit, which is undergoing a financial emergency, has a humungous, outsized, world-record-setting problem collecting property taxes, with nearly half-a-billion dollars outstanding and approximately 70,000 properties facing tax foreclosure. A lot of people don’t pay their taxes because they find the whole process scary, intimidating, and confusing. We can change this in 30 days using the twin super powers of the internet and simple design, if given the chance.

There is plenty more, including charts here.

Soul of the city: Detroit School of Music emerges

Detroit Unspun Tuesday, March 19, 2013
We've heard good things about the newish (established in summer 2012) Detroit School of Music from our friends at D:hive and from an appearance on Channel 7's Detroit 20/20. Now a little more love from Detroit Unspun.

An excerpt:

The school is located in what was formerly the Malcolm X Academy, in a building that used to be a part of the public school system. Even though the system has left it, the outside of the School of Music reverberated with the hum of progress and potential that so many buildings in the area give off.

Music is important. I bet you didn’t know that individuals who study music demonstrate higher abilities in nearly all academic areas, a decrease in aggression and violent behavior, lower likelihood of abusing drugs and alcohol, and a lower instance of developing Alzheimer’s or other degenerative mental disorders. In short, music isn’t just about what your ears, but about your mind and soul.

Sounds good, yes? Read on here.

DC3's Matt Clayson reacts to Campbell Ewald move downtown

Detroit Creative Corridor Center Tuesday, March 12, 2013
When we heard that Campbell Ewald was making its move downtown from Warren, we couldn't wait to ask an expert for a proper Detroit reaction. Turns out one of the city's top talent watchers, Matt Clayson, was answering the questions before they were asked. An excerpt from the Detroit Creative Corridor Center site: 

Detroit’s colleges and universities are pumping out qualified advertising students at a competitive rate. On average, they award approximately 523.2 degrees in advertising related fields per year. To put this into context: Detroit’s colleges and universities award 10.9 degrees in advertising related fields per year per 100,000 residents, on par with New York’s 11.7 degrees per 100,000 residents, Chicago’s 12.0 degrees per 100,000 residents and San Francisco’s 7.2 degrees per 100,000 residents. To add another fun caveat: this data does not include advertising and communication arts powerhouses University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

Read more here.

Video: CCS partners with Shinola on design project

College for Creative Studies Tuesday, March 12, 2013
We've been marveling at how quickly Shinola has captured the imagination of the Detroit public. The College for Creative Studies has been doing more than that. The art and design school is partnering with the watch and bicyle maker on a research project. 

An excerpt:

Research projects are highly conceptual and allow students the opportunity to participate in creative, research-based assignments within real-world design parameters. Our corporate partners commit design and technical staff to students by providing guidance, expertise and feedback. Organizations financially sponsor conceptual design projects for CCS students and encourage inventive and unique design concepts. The corporate sponsors typically work with teams of CCS undergraduate juniors and seniors or graduate students and are supervised by CCS faculty to pursue new directions in design for their products. CCS’ corporate partners are continuing to expand and diversify their relationships with the College. 

Read more about it here.

WSJ: Detroit App builder Glyph gets national attention

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Nestled in downtown's Ford Building, the year-old startup and its team of seven people launched its iPhone app last fall and is working on an Android version. The company raised $500,000 in angel funding in 2012 and plans to close a Series A round of investments in 2013.

Now this, a nicely-timed mention in the Wall Street Journal:

With a partner, (Mike Vichich) launched Glyph at the App Store in November, after attracting $500,000 in seed capital from local investors earlier in the year: "I'm by no means a developer now, but at least I can speak the language," he says.

Read more here.

NYT weighs in on public-private Detroit divide

New York Times Tuesday, March 12, 2013
A bit of a reality check from the latest report on Detroit by the New York Times, this piece examines the differences between what's happening in the private vs. public sectors.  

An exerpt:

For all the talk of a private sector renaissance, demographers say that much of the economic growth remains mostly around the downtown and Midtown sections, a small fraction of a vast 139-square-mile city that is otherwise wrestling with vacant homes, empty blocks, darkened streetlights, crime fears and overburdened police officers. While businesses have returned to Detroit, some others have left, and this city’s most essential problem, its swiftly dipping population, demographers say, has yet to reverse itself.

More here

HuffPost Detroit: "The unknown going forward"

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Dig in and stay with this poetic blog entry in HuffPost Detroit by Nancy Kotting.

An excerpt: 

Detroit is not broken. It has simply blown beyond conventional definition. It does not need to be 'fixed' by attempts to make it something it has already been. Detroit does not need to be re-tooled into some economically acceptable form that can continue to contribute to a long dead paradigm. Detroit needs to be recognized for what it is: a place where courageous, creative people can actively participate in the unknown going forward, carving the trail ahead.

Well said, Nancy. Read the rest here.

Read excerpt from John Gallagher's 'Revolution Detroit - Strategies for Urban Reinvention'

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, March 12, 2013
In his new book, the Freep's John Gallagher looks at steps taken by medical and educational leadership in Cleveland to improve public safety with strategies that come out of the private sector. Interesting solution to a growing problem not just in the rustbelt but all over the country.

An excerpt: 

That's the truth in so many towns. Perhaps the time has come to stop looking at groups like UCI as a backstop for weak or nonexistent city services and more as a model for a new way of governing urban places. These hyper-local, government-like bodies might be combined with regional entities -- some of which may not even exist yet -- to provide flexible, efficient delivery of services. Ronayne, for one, is already thinking along these lines:

"The new construct is less federal-state-local and more neighborhood-regional-global. I would envision a day when we're given the rights to tamp potholes and maintain basic infrastructure, to plow streets. ... (Y)ou're going to see groups like ours grow in municipal services. Now, some people argue that (by) providing the service, you're giving the city an out. I don't, as a former chief of staff, look at it that way. I look at it as somebody's got to get the job done, and however it can get done most economically and efficiently, let's do it."

Read on here.

Gilbert gets extension on developing Hudson's site

Detroit News Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Billionaire and savvy downtown investor Dan Gilbert received an extension until June 30, 2016 to develop plans for the site of the former Hudson's flaghip department store on Woodward, between Gratiot and Grand River. Gilbert has launched an international design competition for the site and plans a mixed used project made up of commercial, residential and parking.  

An excerpt:

The city-controlled site has been vacant since the city demolished the flagship store for the J.L. Hudson Co. in 1998. The vacant Woodward block sits atop an underground parking structure, with infrastructure already in place to have a building constructed above it.

More from the Detroit News here.

Camp Detroit calling for entries for Movement installations

Camp Detroit Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Here you go, artists and artisans: a message from the Community Arts Moving Projects (aka CAMP) people to let you know they are now accepting proposals for projects to be displayed at this year's Movement Festival, held during Memorial Day weekend.

An excerpt:

We believe that the continued progress of Detroit may be augmented through the exhibition of the region’s exemplary creative talent on the global stage. The CAMP (Community Arts Moving Projects) program aims to facilitate this by giving Detroit artists, makers and thinkers the opportunity to create beautiful and inspired projects that will be displayed at Detroit’s Movement Electronic Music Festival before they are relocated into our neighborhoods.

We are challenging creators to make pieces that will reflect the heart and future of Detroit while taking advantage of the unique resources available to the city.

Read more here.

Whole Foods opening Midtown store in June

Whole Foods Market Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Yes, we knew it was coming. It is still impressive to note that Whole Food Market is opening its first Detroit store, at Mack Avenue and John R, on time.

An excerpt:

(WFM), the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket, will open a 21,650-square-foot store in Detroit, on Wednesday, June 5 at 9 a.m. The much-anticipated store will add to the vibrant, growing food scene in Detroit. The store joins more than 345 other Whole Foods Market stores in North America and the United Kingdom.

More here.

HuffPost Detroit: North End Photographer lives father's legacy

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Many of us knew Ameen Howrani, a pioneering photographer whose studio on E. Grand Blvd. was (and still is) a beacon of creativity. He died in 2010, but his son Ara was there to take over this unique Detroit family business.

An excerpt: 

Ara Howrani had some big shoes to fill. After a stint in Los Angeles, the young photographer and videographer returned home in 2005 to take over Howrani Studios in the North End neighborhood of the city, carrying on the studio's legacy with a style that is truly his own.

Read more here.

Richard Florida reacts to 7.2 greater downtown study

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, February 26, 2013
In a piece last week in Atlantic Cities, Richard Florida tackles the recently released 7.2 study that shows greater downtown to be better educated and more diverse than the city at large. There is much complexity to this finding, such that we plan on following what it all means in a variety of ways in the near future.

Here's an excerpt from Florida's story:

The Greater Downtown corridor has a population of 36,550 people or 5,076 people per square mile. It might not be not downtown Manhattan, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, or Philadelphia, but it compares favorably to other Midwest city-centers, like downtown Minneapolis, with 3.4 square miles and 28,811 people; downtown Pittsburgh at 1.3 square miles and 4,064 people; and downtown Cleveland at 3.2 square miles and 9,523 people. Of these downtowns, only Minneapolis has greater density than Greater Downtown Detroit.

Read more here.

'Sugar Man' wins best doc feature Oscar

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 26, 2013
It was a huge favorite to win an Academy Award so, no, we weren't surprised to see Searching for Sugar Man come away with the Oscar for best documentary feature. And, no, were't entirely surprised when the subject of the film, Detroiter Sixto Rodriguez, didn't attend the spectacle.

Good stuff all round, summarized in this excerpt from a piece in HuffPost Detroit:

The film was the leader of a strong pack of nominees. The documentary focused on the search for Sixto Rodriguez, a failed singer-songwriter from the 1970s who was an unexpected hit in South Africa. Directed by Malik Bendjelloul, Searching for Sugar Man was an audience award winner at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and won Best Documentary from BAFTA and the Producers Guild of America.

Read the rest of the story in HuffPost Detroit here.




The News: Detroit Soup stays hot

Detroit News Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Always nice when our friends at Detroit Soup get some media love from near and far, this time from the Detroit News.

An excerpt: 

These days philanthropy is being fueled by regular folks funding local projects they feel a passion for. And their modest contributions really add up for projects that may need only a few hundred (or thousand) dollars to get off the ground. 

Doing this online via sites like IndieGoGo or Kickstarter is easy enough, but what if you'd like to feel more personally involved or would like to meet face to face with the artist/educator/entrepreneur who will use your money?

Detroiter Amy Kaherl has an answer: Check out Detroit Soup.

Read the rest of the story here.

Metro Jacksonville.com finds Detroit's Villages impressive

Metro Jacksonville Tuesday, February 26, 2013
So nice to see observers from distant lands (sure, northern Florida qualifies) come up to one of Detroit's historic neighborhoods and see the simple, elegant beauty of the place. Well done, Metro Jacksonville.com, well done.

An excerpt:

Indian Village is a historic neighborhood located on Detroit's east side and is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The district has a number of architecturally significant homes built in the early 20th century. A number of the houses have been substantially restored, and most others well kept up.

Many of the homes were built by prominent architects such as Albert Kahn, Louis Kamper and William Stratton for some of the area's most prominent citizens such as Edsel Ford. Many of the homes are very large, with some over 12,000 square feet. Many have a carriage house, with some of those being larger than an average suburban home. Some of the houses also have large amounts of Pewabic Pottery tiles. The neighborhood contains many historic homes including the automotive entrepreneur Henry Leland, founder of Lincoln and Cadillac, who resided on Seminole Street.

And there's more. Read on here.

Get to know the makers rebuilding Detroit by hand

Co.Design Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Shinola, OmniCorp Detroit, Ponyride, the Detroit Creative Corridor Center and other havens for the doers and changemakers literally reconstructing Detroit are profiled in part II this story (with video) by Matt Haber. Good stuff. Well done.

Catch up to part I then take a look at part II here.

MOCAD renovation winning awards even before construction begins

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Great news from the Museum of Contempory Art Detroit last week about MOCAD's upcoming redesign by Rice+Lipka Architects and urban design/landscape architects James Corner Field Operations.

This excerpt from HuffPost Detroit:

The design won the Architectural Review's 2013 Future Project award in the "Old and New" category.

The judges hailed the MOCAD design as "an inspirational project that combines past and present in a well resolved and convincing manner. It creates new space for new creativity in a post-industrial city."

The two firms will work to make the interior more energy-efficient. They'll also reconfigure exhibit, event and storage area. Exterior changes will also create a brand-new outdoor event space.

Read more here.

Study: Greater downtown growing in wealth, diversity

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, February 19, 2013
A report published today and to be shared with investors, developers and city planners, found that greater downtown residents are wealthier than Detroiters at large, but less affluent than the average for the full populations of cities such as Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, which some see as prime examples of successful urban rebirth.

John Gallagher of the Freep has the scoop. An excerpt:

(Data Driven Detroit's Kurt) Metzger pointed out that things are changing so rapidly in the areas that the report may already be slightly dated. For example, gains from the Live Downtown and Live Midtown incentive programs that have bought hundreds of new residents who work for participating businesses into the area in the last two years are not fully captured in this report.

Read the rest of the story (and the full report) here.


CCS photo show features Detroit entertainment icons

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Fashion photographer Jenny Risher, who graduated from College for Creative Studies in the late 1990s, has a show up now at CCS of her pictures of Detroit popular culture figures. It will be up there until March 2, before moving to the Detroit Historical Museum in July.

An excerpt:

Risher started working on the project in 2010. Talking to her friend and model Veronica Webb, who hails from Detroit, Risher started thinking about the many famous and interesting individuals who come from the city.

"I said to her, wouldn't it be cool if someone did a book of all the amazing people who have came out of Detroit," Risher said. "For three months the idea just kept bugging me and I couldn't let it go so I thought I would make a list of all the people I would love to photograph from the area and reach out to them, reach out to five and if they said no, leave it, but all those five said yes."

It snowballed from there. From Eminem to Lee Iacocca, Risher was pleased to see how many of the illustrious Detroiters agreed to participate in her project.

Read more here.

Revitalization program looking for a few more good young men and women

Wayne State University Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The Detroit Revitalization Fellows Program is looking for a few more good men and women to help advance the renewal of Detroit and build upon the ongoing success of its 2011-13 cohort. In 2011, 650 young professionals from across the country applied for 29 opportunities to move to Detroit and work for a variety of local organizations. Those fellows have made significant contributions to their employers, and the vast majority plans to remain in Detroit when their two-year commitments end in August.

Wayne State University, which administers the program, is now accepting applications for the next class of fellows, who will begin their assignments in August 2013. The deadline to apply is March 1. Both fellows and employers are encouraged to apply. Additional information, eligibility requirements and the application form can be found at here.

The Detroit Revitalization Fellows Program seeks to build capacity for key organizations focused on the revitalization of Detroit, provide leadership development and training for fellows working in these organizations, and develop a network that fosters inter-agency connections and organizational collaboration.

The Kresge Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Hudson-Webber Foundation, the Skillman Foundation, the DTE Energy Foundation and Wayne State University have funded the program.

In addition to two years of full-time employment in a job that can enhance Detroit, fellows are assigned a mentor and a professional coach, take three study trips around the country, and meet monthly to learn more about leadership, urban planning, community and economic development, and residential and commercial real estate development.

Organizations are encouraged to apply to participate in the Detroit Revitalization Fellows as employers. Fellows will be placed in organizations that contribute to the revitalization of the city, with a focus on:
  • Real estate finance and development
  • Community and economic development
  • Land use planning/implementation of the Detroit Future City Strategic Framework
  • Workforce development
Employers receive a stipend to pay for a portion of a fellow's salary.

The Detroit Revitalization Fellows Program is modeled after the successful Rockefeller Foundation Redevelopment Fellowships launched in 2007 in New Orleans. That program, administered by the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania, enabled key redevelopment organizations in New Orleans to recruit qualified professionals from across the country to work on the rebuilding process there.

For more info on the program go here.

Detroit River dip raises money for Special Olympics

Mode Shift Move Together Tuesday, February 12, 2013
A sure cure for the winter doldrums, the Detroit Polar Plunge at Milliken State Park will involve 500 or so brave "plungers" who consentingly jump into the Detroit River -- a frigid 30 degrees Fahrenheit or so -- all in the name of a good cause.

The Feb. 16 event will benefit Special Olympics Michigan, which hopes to raise $200,000 at the Detroit event and more than $1 million across the state of Michigan at 28 Polar Plunge events.

We endorse it for all able bodied, and fearless, Detroit ladies and gentlemen.

More info here.

HuffPost Detroit: Mapping new tools for land reuse

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 05, 2013
We have supported the restlessly energetic endeavors of Jerry Paffendorf ever since he moved to Detroit a few years and joined (nay, helped start) the local social innovation revolution.

HuffPost Detroit has also taken notice, like this piece last week on an update to Paffendorf's website.

An excerpt:  

Loveland Technologies, the firm that mapped the city of Detroit's foreclosure crisis in stunning detail as thousands of land parcels were auctioned off by Wayne County, introduced a sophisticated update to the WhyDon'tWeOwnThis? website on Friday.

WDWOT 2.0 is the result of four months of development, design time, "soul-searching and talking," said Loveland's founder, Jerry Paffendorf.

See more here.

Hostel Detroit edgy art tour gets noticed by Michigan Public Radio

Michigan Radio Tuesday, January 29, 2013
We found this dandy report on the Michigan Radio site, and thought "it's about time that Hostel Detroit and its general manager, Michel Soucisse, some more love.

An excerpt:

One of (Soucisse's) guests is Chloe Dietz, a student who goes to school in Portland, Oregon who grew up in Brooklyn, Michigan. She’s on a cross country tour by train. Another guest is Jonathan Dowdall who is an artist from Canada.
Dowdall says Detroit’s art scene drew him to the city.

“Detroit has always had a mythical presence in my mind and I’ve always imagined it a certain way. I really wanted to come here and see on the ground what it was like, in particular street art,” Dowdall says.

Our first stop on the trip is an outdoor street art project on the East Side of Detroit called the Heidelberg project created by artist Tyree Guyton.

Read on here.

Real print, authentic graphics gone wild in Detroit

Detroit News Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Those of us who grew up in print media are thrilled to see the return of the letterpress and real, non-virtual graphic design in a physical form. Like what's being produced in Eastern Maket at Signal-Return and Salt & Cedar, or 44FortyFour Studio in the Green Garage, or at Ponyride's Stukenborg Press.

An excerpt from the Detroit News: 

The first new letterpress to set up in Detroit was Signal-Return in Eastern Market, a combination print shop and retail store founded in November 2011 by a group associated with Team Detroit, the Dearborn-based ad agency. Team Detroit chief creative officer Toby Barlow says the memory of letterpress is still deeply embedded in advertising's DNA.

"I've been in advertising 20 years," Barlow says, "and have seen the transition from mechanical marketing to the digital age of marketing. To remind us of our roots, Signal-Return seemed like a good idea. The passion of the craftsman is something I think advertising really needs to hold onto."

Read more here.

Next City talks to Francis Grunow about Detroit DIY and more

Next City Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Model D contributor Francis Grunow, a consultant with the New Solutions Group, recently took part in a Q&A with Next City, talking about the book Detroit City is the Place to Be. 

An excerpt: 

Francis Grunow: The place to start with discussing (the book) is the idea that people and policymakers in Detroit are looking for something prescriptive. Detroit’s problems are so big that it’s really hard to put your mind around them. I get why (author Binelli) sort of punts, but it also bothered me. I think the city and its people are used to being told what our problems are, and I think there is a tendency to feel like these problems have a single answer.

Right on, tiger. Go get 'em.

Read on here.

Batch nano-brewers looking for some startup cash

Indiegogo.com Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Late in 2012, we featured a news item on an intriguing business idea in Corktown -- the city's first nano-brewery. Like most cool indie commercial projects, it could use some seed money.

An excerpt: 

Turns out, opening a brewery is pretty effing expensive. And while banks are tripping over themselves to lend money to startups like this, we thought we'd take our efforts right to the people: our friends, family, and community.

We feel you. Read more here.

Pot & Box coming to former Michigan Avenue gas station

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Social entrepreneurial whiz kid Andy Didorosi, founder of the Detroit Bus Company, has a dandy new renant for a foreclosed gas station he bought at auction. It's Lisa Waud, an Ann Arbor-based biz whiz in the process of relocation to Detroit. Sounds like a groovy collab in the works. 

Excerpt:

Lisa's goal is to get Pot & Box open near the end of the year, though patrons looking for a taste of what's to come are very much in luck. She's teaming up with Andy to host venders from all across Detroit for a Valentine's Day Market at the gas station. Pot & Box will be selling flowers (Lisa mentions an old ice cream truck she's repurposing for the task) while merchants like City Bird will set up under a giant tent out front.

Read more in Curbed Detroit here.

Freep turns focus to indie shops Hugh, Nora, Detroit Mercantile

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, January 22, 2013
It's always nice to see smart, new businesses get a nod in the dailies. We were happy to see the Freep catch up to three of our faves last week. 

An excerpt:

Up this week? Three independent stores in Detroit.

Two are located in Midtown and the other is in Eastern Market.

Among them you can find Stormy Kromer wool hats, fabulous notecards and wrapping paper, cuff links made from Tiger baseballs, vintage Playboy magazines and barware, tablecloths and linens, and home accessories with a Scandinavian flair.

Read on here.

UK's Guardian checks out Detroit's tech boom

The Guardian Tuesday, January 15, 2013
We've been all over the growing companies', startup and gazelle scene centered around downtown's M@dison building. It's a thrill all the same to see it reported from afar, this time in the UK's Guardian.

An excerpt: 

"It is pretty exciting," said Jim Xiao, a financial analyst for Detroit Venture Partners, the driving force behind the M@dison and an investor in new tech firms in the city.

Xiao, a 24-year-old who evaluates tech firms for DVP to finance, has trouble concealing his enthusiasm. He lives in one of the converted buildings nearby, socialises at the new downtown bars and has a keen sense of mission about tech's role in the city's future. "Where else in the country can you make an actual impact on a whole city when you are in your 20s?" he said.

Read more here.

Juxtapoz mag documents Power House project it helped finance

Juxtapoz Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Three years ago, California art mag Juxtapoz hooked up with the Power House Productions team in NoHam to re-do some homes in need on Moran St. This month's edition of the magazine includes a sweet overview of the project.

An excerpt:

Juxtapoz invited Swoon, Retna, Ben Wolf, Richard Colman, Monica Canilao, and Saelee Oh to paint and reimagine the residences.
 
Three years later, the neighborhood is beginning to take shape, and this past summer, the Ride It Sculpture Skate Park was built on four vacant commercial lots along East Davison Freeway, another creative endeavor that fuses art and community.

Lots more to see and read here.

Creative Capital awards Design 99 "emerging fields" grant

Creative Capital Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Creative Capital recently announced its 2013 project grants in the categories of Emerging Fields, Literature and the Performing Arts, representing a total of 46 funded projects by 66 artists hailing from 17 states and Puerto Rico.

Among the grantees were Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope of Design 99. Creative Capital’s investment in each project includes up to $50,000 in direct financial support (disbursed at key points over the life of each project), plus more than $40,000 in advisory services, making the total 2013 investment more than $4,140,000. Wow.

To check out Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert's project, go here.

Sign up for Detroit Mobile City February conference

Detroit Mobile City Tuesday, January 15, 2013
This one day event is at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel, Feb. 2. It includes four tracks of instruction and learning: Intro to iOS, iOS Design, Advanced Programming and User Engagement.

For more info -- including how to apply, and the complete schedule -- go here.

Modernism with a human face in Lafayette Park

Co.Design Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Nice to see the world re-discovering -- or discovering for the first time -- the simple residential charms of the Mies van der Rohe towers and townhomes. Fast Company's Co.Design noticed.

An excerpt:

Nestled in a leafy neighborhood adjacent to downtown, Lafayette Park is a collection of high rises and townhouses designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1962. As Detroit suffered the roller coaster of the 1970s and '80s, the community has remained conspicuously healthy and diverse--a mix of old and young, black and white, professional and creative. In short, it’s a holy grail of 20th-century Modern architecture.

Good stuff. Read on here.

Auto and brew Detroit history bus tours on tap

Show Me Detroit Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Motor City Brew Tours and Show Me Detroit Tours will partner to present four Detroit Automotive & Brewery History Tours on Saturday, Jan. 19 and 26, during the 2013 North American International Auto Show. Tours start at 11 a.m. and at 3 p.m.

The 3.5 hour bus tours will look at Detroit then and now, including Downtown and Midtown today, early brewing history, the Eastern Market, the Packard Plant, the Ford Piquette Plant, architect Albert Kahn’s work, and the brewery and dairy operations at the Traffic Jam & Snug Restaurant in Midtown.

According to Kim Rusinow and Pat Haller, Show Me Detroit Tours co-founders, interest is higher than ever in seeing and understanding Detroit’s rich history, as well as its current challenges and triumphs. It’s a tale of two cities as greater Downtown continues to attract new residents, workers, visitors and investors while many neighborhoods seek a viable 21st century reuse.

Steve Johnson, Motor City Brew Tours founder, noted that the tours will make a brief stop to view a video presentation at the Ford Piquette Plant -- the city’s most authentic automotive site and the birthplace of Henry Ford’s iconic Model T. Ticket sales will support restoration efforts at the Piquette Plant -- with $5 donated for every tour ticket purchased.

The $39.95 tour ticket price includes expert historical commentary, guided bus transportation, admission at the Ford Piquette Plant, and a brewery tour with sampling and light appetizers at the Traffic Jam & Snug. Tickets must be purchased in advance online. Tour guests must be 21 and over. Both tour companies offer gift certificates for gift-giving.

The tours will start and end in front of the Detroit Fire Department Headquarters Building directly across from Cobo Center at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Larned streets (250 W. Larned, Detroit).

Hart Plaza forest tops riverfront design ideas

Co.Design Tuesday, January 08, 2013
A "tiny forest" on the largely cemented shores of downtown Detroit, Hart plaza to be exact? We like it. It's the winning proposal in a design competition for ideas on how to maximize the Detroit riverfront.

An exerpt from co.design:
 
The idea is to create a space, separated visually from the city, that can facilitate interactions of all sizes. Small attractions can be interspersed throughout the woods, while an open space called the knoll is intended as a central meeting place for larger activities. "In our proposal," Yoon and Yoo explain, "the important idea we focus on is not the types of activities but the scales of them. Many small components of the forest, such as sculptures, trails, or small bridges will be able to hold small scale activities. On the other hand, the knoll, a big open space, will hold large scale activities, such as concerts, screenings, or theatrical performances with magnificent background of forest."

Read more here.

Detroit SOUP gets play on NBC Nightly News

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 08, 2013
We love Detroit SOUP and all it does to stimulate change in the city's cultural and entrepreneurial scene. We're thrilled the org was recently profiled on NBC Nightly News.

An excerpt from HuffPost Detroit:

"It's a chance to draw people together, share ideas over a simple meal like soup, salad and bread and hear how people really want to help continue to revitalize the city," Kaherl explained. "I love just being a connecting point for people."

Over the months, Detroit SOUP has supported an array of ideas, from Veronika Scott's Empowerment Plan, which produce coats-turned-sleeping-bags and supports the homeless, to a high school group's screen printing project.

Read on here.

Hey artists: Deadline is this Friday, Feb. 1 for Kresge grants

Kresge Arts Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Don't procrastinate, get your application filled out for a chance at $25,000 for emerging and established metro Detroit artists.

2013 Kresge Artist Fellowships are available in:

Literary Arts: Arts criticism in all categories (including literary, performing and visual), creative non-fiction, fiction, poetry, spoken word, and interdisciplinary work (including experimental work, graphic novels, zines and other hybrid forms).

Visual Arts: Art and technology, book arts, ceramics, collage, drawing, fiber, glass, installation, metalwork, painting, photography, performance art, printmaking, sculpture, video art, and interdisciplinary work (including experimental work and other hybrid forms).

Deadline is 11:59 p.m. Feb. 1. That's a hard deadline. Get your stuff in early.

More details here.

New book 'Driving Detroit' out now by WSU urban planner

University of Pennsylvania Press Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Driving Detroit: The Quest for Respect in the Motor City, called a must read by Harvard Professor William Julius Wilson, is available now from the University of Pennsylvania Press and at Amazon.com. 
 
Author George C. Galster sent us a note about his book, saying "it is the kind of book that will make readers laugh, cry, and shake their heads in amazement. Hopefully, they will also have many 'aha!' moments of revelation." All right, sounds good to us and just in time for holiday reading.

Why Stik moved back from Silicon Valley to Detroit

TechCrunch Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Launched two years ago from the Bay Area, Stik attempts to create a recommended list of service professionals online through a user’s social graph.

But as the founders discovered, Silicon Valley is not an easy place to grow a long-term business. After two years of trudging through the Valley, the four person company packed its bags this summer and headed back to the founders’ hometown of Detroit.

Read on here.
 

Freep: Detroit students grow produce year-round for meal program

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, December 18, 2012
This story in the Detroit Free Press, featuring a picture of students in a greenhouse, caught our eye.

Excerpt: The green projects district-wide are designed to reduce energy costs, improve health and student achievement and include a range of activities from energy conservation to waste management, transportation, nutrition and indoor and outdoor environmental improvements.

Read more here.

HuffPost Detroit: Detroit Jewish life centers around downtown synagogue

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 18, 2012
HuffPost Detroit's David Sands reports that activity at the Issac Agree Downtown Synagogue is increasing. A good sign for the Griswald St. religious center -- and downtown.

Excerpt: (The downtown location) has served as the focal point of a resurgent Jewish community. It's a rather remarkable development, because not long ago Detroit's last free-standing synagogue was on the verge of shutting down.

The recent transformation has been dramatic. The congregation now has 250 member units -- a figure that includes both individuals and families -- and its Friday evening and Saturday morning services regularly draw around 40 people. In addition, Isaac Agree now hosts regular Thursday morning services, Torah studies, Hebrew lessons and a wide array of other programming.

Read on here.

Winners announced in Detroit waterfront vision contest

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The Freep's John Gallagher reports that designers from as far away as "South Korea and England were among the winners in this week’s Detroit by Design 2012 competition, held by the Urban Priorities Committee of AIA Detroit." There were some pretty good ideas, including our favorite -- extending the river onto Detroit land via canals, ponds and lakes.

Read more here.

Downtown Synagogue joins neighborhood groups for food justice

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Detroit's Jewish community is active this week during Hanukkah, which runs through Sunday, Dec. 16.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the Eden Gardens Block Club -- partnering with the Downtown Synagogue in Detroit -- hopes to grow produce for its East Side neighborhood.

At the Detroit Youth Food Brigade, a member of the synagogue helps young students learn how to sell and distribute healthy food. And at Replanting Roots, another member of the Detroit synagogue is working to help ex-prisoners develop an urban farm.

The Downtown Synagogue is the last free-standing active synagogue in Detroit, where it hopes to become an anchor for a new generation of Jewish people looking to live in the city.

All sounds good. Read on here.

Pewabic Pottery hosts annual holiday shopping night this Wednesday

Pewabic Pottery Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Pewabic Pottery invites metro Detroiters to shop local this holiday season at its annual Holiday Shopping Night on Wednesday, Dec. 12 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
 
Guests can join in celebration for a night of tasty holiday snacking, live entertainment courtesy of the Jazz Merchants and great discounts. To top it off, shoppers can find the perfect gift for loved ones from a selection of beautifully handcrafted ceramics by more than 100 artists. 
 
The night will be full of surprises with giveaways every 30 minutes, and "special purchases" available throughout the evening. Upon entry, visitors will receive a numbered ticket, entering them for a chance to win Pewabic items including ornaments, t-shirts, and even an iridescent vase valued at $100.
 
In addition to the great deals, Pewabic Society members will receive double their regular discount (up to 20 percent).
 
"The Holiday Shopping Night is a fun year-end celebration, filled with surprises, entertainment and holiday cheer" said Barbara Sido, executive director of Pewabic Pottery. "It’s a great opportunity for metro Detroiters to shop local and support community artists."
 
Visitors can also take this time to view Pewabic Pottery’s annual holiday exhibition, Earthy Treasures, on display through Dec. 30.

To learn more about Pewabic Pottery call 313-626-2000 or go here. Pewabic Pottery is at 10125 E. Jefferson Ave. in Detroit across from Waterworks Park.

MSHDA and placemaking add to 'prosperity agenda'

Economics of Place Tuesday, December 04, 2012
This month’s edition of the Prosperity Agenda radio show focuses on placemaking efforts in Michigan and the impact some of these projects have on working toward a more vibrant state. The show also includes a conversation with new MSHDA (Michigan State Housing Development Authority) Executive Director Scott Woosley. Woosley discusses Michigan’s efforts to promote affordable housing, revitalize some of the struggling communities and attract new investment to the state.

The November showed aired Nov. 26 and you can listen to it anytime here or by subscribing to the free iTunes podcast. Our own Claire Nelson, publisher of Model D, co-hosts this broadcast. In addition to Woosley, other guests are Luke Forrest, the Michigan Municipal League’s Project Coordinator for the Center for 21st Century Communities; and Ed Dalheim of the MarCom Awards. 

For more go here.

Watch fresh music video, as Eminem joins 50 Cent in Detroit

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, December 04, 2012
It might have been a bit noisy and bright at a video shoot last month at the Michigan Central Station (an elsewhere). But it was worth it, we reckon, when we saw the product featuring homeboy Eminem, and 50 Cent and Adam Levine of Maroon 5.

An excerpt from Curbed Detroit:

Remember how 50 Cent and Eminem woke everybody up with their helicopter last month? That was because they were shooting a music video for 50 Cent's "My Life," the third single off of his next album, Street King Immortal. Although the album won't drop until Feb. 26, "My Life" and its music video were just released this week. The footage features 50 Cent, Eminem, and Adam Levine (of Maroon 5) singing/running/sitting in various Detroit locales, most notably Michigan Central Station. Take a look at the video here.

And read the rest of the story here.

Former Freep publisher on boards at Digerati

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Crain's Business reports that former Detroit Free Press Publisher David Hunke, who retired in September as chairman of USA Today, has joined Detroit-based software firm Digerati Inc. as its chief strategy officer.

An excerpt:

Hunke will offer the young company, founded in 2001, experience, CEO Brian Balasia said in a release.

"Strategically, I want to see if I can help them figure out how to line various business opportunities together," Hunke said. "I think Brian and I are going to do a lot of traveling and talking to partners on a national scale about what we can help with."

Hunke retired from USA Today in September after holding the position of chairman for six months. He had been president and publisher since April 2009.

Read the entire story here.

New student fitness center up and running at UDM

University of Detroit Mercy Tuesday, December 04, 2012
We couldn't resist: This is a new place designed with the students in mind, the Fitness Center is a great addition to on-campus living. Whether participating in a game of basketball, pumping iron, doing yoga, running on the indoor track, or enjoying a fruit smoothie, this hotspot affords a place to socialize with friends and relieve the tensions of the day through exercise.

Read on here.

Coffee and conversation at Creative Mornings lecture this Friday

AIGA Detroit Tuesday, December 04, 2012
How to land the perfect creative gig? In this instant-gratification society, it takes patience for sure. But while you’re working toward your passion, it shouldn’t stop you from being creatively curious, earning some much-needed bucks and soon you will be interesting to the creative world.

Each of those jobs carved a path to being on a team that creates campaigns for the world’s largest brands. It’s a journey of decision points on the road map of life.

This Friday, Jen Todd Gray, VP Creative Services, and Darrin Brege and Chris Stevens creative directors at ePrize will take you on their wild rides at Creative Mornings at Great Lakes Coffee. 

December’s Creative Mornings takes place at the cafe at 3965 Woodward Ave. in Midtown. This week's caffeinated lecture is Friday, Dec. 7, 8:30-10 a.m.

Want more info? Get it here.

Supino tops 2013 Zagat rankings for area restaurants

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Now the whole world knows what we've known since first trying a slice of Supino's delectibly, one-of-a-kind, thin-crust pizza way back in, um, early 2009.

That's because Zagat's elevatred the casual Eastern Market storefront pizzeria to number one in its Detroit-area restaurant rankings for 2013.

An excerpt: It was Supino Pizzeria at Eastern Market, where owner Dave Mancini makes fabulous thin-crust pizzas and serves them in a bare-bones dining area with about 20 seats and not a tablecloth in sight.

The lack of décor, though, clearly doesn't bother his customers, who rated his food an average of 29 points out of a possible 30.

Read the rest of the story here.

'Hands on' Model D partner Mode Shift gets Freep's attention

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, November 27, 2012
In a recent story on the impact of foundations on local economics and culture, a number of Model D's partners were mentioned, including Knight and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, both of whom lend support to the Mode Shift Move Together blog.

An excerpt from the Detroit Free Press:

The most recent example is Mode Shift, an effort funded by the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and the Knight Foundation to promote healthy lifestyles by getting people more active -- bicycling, walking and more.

The Community Foundation this year launched a new website called Wearemodeshift.org, an interactive portal that gradually will offer trail maps for bikers, information about bike-friendly retailers, and a debate forum on all manner of topics related to outdoor activity.

Read more here.

Dandelion strategist says TechTown needs to stake emerging technologies

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Last week in an op/ed piece in HuffPost Detroit, Philadelphia transplant Jason Lorimer delivered some insolicited counsel to TechTown in how to maximaize its impact on the local tech and research scenes.

An excerpt:  In my opinion, TechTown should stake their flag in emerging technology, like cleantech, alternative energy, medical devices and life sciences. This is the place you come if you have potentially transformative technology on the brain, small or large, ready for market or at the tinkering stage. There exists in Michigan tens of thousands of mostly disparate folks engaged, at varying levels, in new and interesting technologies. TechTown can give them a home.

Read on here.

Veronika Scott of UIX get capital love from Washington Post

Washington Post Tuesday, November 27, 2012
One of the early heroines of our own Urban Innovation Exchange project, Veronika Scott, is getting some much-deserved national love her for her nonprofit the Empowerment Plan, which employs homeless women to make coats for the homeless.

An excerpt from the Washington Post:

Scott, now 23, was a student at College for Creative Studies in Detroit when she launched her project by working on a class assignment with this direction: "Design to fill a need."

Scott spent months at a Michigan shelter getting to know the homeless. While there, she began working on a design for a coat prototype for the homeless that weighed 20 pounds and took 80 hours to make, earning her the nickname of the "crazy coat lady."

But Scott streamlined her design. She now employs homeless women to work in a formerly abandoned warehouse where they use donated materials and equipment from General Motors and Carhartt to make warm convertible coats for the homeless. Scott expects that her nonprofit, The Empowerment Plan, will produce 800 coats by year's end.

"She's changing the world, one coat at a time," Kennedy said at the ceremony inside the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Read more here.

AIA design competition aims to redefine Detroit waterfront

AIA Detroit by Design Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Detroit Urban Priorities Committee last week announced the DETROIT BY DESIGN 2012: Detroit Riverfront Competition and Symposium. The event will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Detroit Institute of Arts Kresge Court, and includes the opportunity for the public to preview selected competition submissions and participate in a discussion about the future of Detroit’s riverfront.

The panel discussion will be moderated by John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press, and the competition and symposium panel includes world renowned architect Daniel Libeskind; Reed Kroloff, Director, Cranbrook Academy of Art; Faye Alexander Nelson, President of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy; landscape architect and educator Walter Hood; and Canadian architect Lola Sheppard. Admission to the event is free for the public.

Competition prizes are $5000, a trip to Detroit and an AIA sponsored lecture to present the winning scheme for first place; $2,500 for second place; and $1,000 for third place. Entries for the competition can be submitted online here. The competition jury will convene in Detroit on Dec. 4-5, and winners chosen by the end of the day on Dec. 5. The winning entries will be announced shortly thereafter.

The Detroit Institute of Arts is at 5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit. Admission is free for the public and $25 for AIA- member architects seeking continuing education credits. A cash bar will be available. For more information, go here.

American heritage brand being created in Detroit

coDesign Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Shinola is getting a lot of local attention for its manufacturing versatility, which includes watch and bicycle assembly. Now comes a well-deserved national nod in coDesign.

An excerpt:

As they’ve started putting their manufacturing operation in place, Shinola has proven not only to be a familiar name but also a reminder of how products can benefit from the stories behind them.

After looking at a number of cities, the team decided to establish the company in Detroit, the former manufacturing powerhouse and something of an American throwback itself. It’s a tidy fit that, like the Shinola name, Detroit too is in the early stages of a 21st-century reinvention.

Read more here.

LCD TV assembly lines coming to Detroit? Maybe

CNET Tuesday, November 13, 2012
We caught this tasty little item last week at CNET and couldn't resist poking around the story a bit and pondering if it could indeed happen.

An excerpt:

Famous as the company that makes iphones for Apple, China's Foxconn is now evaluating a few U.S. cities, including Detroit and Los Angeles, to determine whether they would be good places to set up shop.

Read more here.

Linkner in Forbes: In Detroit, business can stand on shoulders of giants

Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Writing in Forbes, former ePrize founder and CEO and local entrepreneurial guru Josh Linkner takes it to the Silicon Valley's over-inflated bubble and shouts out the virtues of growing a company in Detroit.
 
Excerpt:
 
While there have been no shortage of successful start-ups in Silicon Valley, I argue that many of those ventures succeeded in spite of their location. For me, this 'best place' logic makes no sense. In the Bay Area, there is more competition for everything -- talent, funding, office space, resources, etc. When you’re swimming in a vast ocean filled with other startups, you need herculean accomplishments to stand out any more than the next guy. Every single day. Good luck with that.

Read the entire story here.

Metro Times blog: Pre-order reissue of Adult. classic 'Resusitation'

Metro Times Tuesday, November 06, 2012
We love Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller, better known to all you closet dance punks as Adult. That's Adult. with a period, wherever you insert the electronic duo's name in a sentence.

So we were mighty happy to read in the Metro Times that Kuperus and Miller have been working on some new stuff, and our old Ann Arbor friends at Ghostly International are reissuing the seminal Resucitation -- and on vinyl, no less, for the first time.

Read more here.

Skyscrapers lit up downtown for World Series

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, October 30, 2012
OK, we're all experiencing severe baseball hangover after seeing the Tigers fall to those intolerably spunky and quirky San Francisco Giants. But at least we got some residual benefit by getting downtown skyscrapers to light up the Detroit skies.

The Downtown Detroit Partnership asked more than 4,300 businesses to leave their lights on 6:30 p.m.-1 a.m. on game days and to put up messages, "Welcome to the World Series" and "Go, Tigers!"

Read more here. And go get 'em next year, Tigers.

Mode Shift says 'hooray' for walkable neighborhoods

Mode Shift Move Together Tuesday, October 30, 2012
From our friends at Mode Shift Move Together, a list of the four new and permanent retail spaces being developed in West Village this spring:

Craft Work, a restaurant and bar formed by a partnership between Michael Geiger and Hugh Yarro, the restaurateur involved in Ronan Sushi in Royal Oak and Commonwealth Café in Birmingham;
Detroit Vegan Soul, a healthy soul food restaurant, catering service, and meal-delivery operation -- and Hatch 2012 semi-finalist -- owned by Kirsten Ussery and Erica Boyd;
The Red Hook, a coffee and baked goods shop;
Tarot & Tea, a tea room, bulk tea purveyor, and retail goods shop that is the brain child of Nefertiti Harris, a successful Midtown business owner.

Sounds great. Read more here.

Open City: Sharing success from business to business

MLive.com Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Last week's Open City gathering featured several Detroit prime small business movers, including Dave Mancini of Supino Pizzaria. MLive reported Mancini said spent years looking for the right location to open his restaurant. Once he did open he had to find people just as committed and he was to making it a success.

Read more of what was said at Open City here.

Kresge: Metro Detroit literary, visual artists can apply for fellowships beginning Nov. 1

Kresge Arts Tuesday, October 30, 2012
In the 2013-14 cycle, 36 Kresge Arts fellowships will be evenly distributed among the categories of literary arts, visual arts, music/dance, and film/theater. In 2013, the fellowships will provide support for nine literary artists and nine visual artists living and working in metropolitan Detroit (Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties), whose commitment to artistic achievement in contemporary or traditional forms is evident in the quality of their work. In 2014, fellowships will be awarded to nine artists in music/dance and nine artists in film/theater.

Calling all artists. Step up, read more and apply here now. There will be a literary arts information session Dec. 1, 1 p.m., at the Walter B. Ford II Building, College for Creative Studies, 201 E. Kirby, in Detroit's Midtown. On Dec. 11, there is a visual arts info session at the same location at 6 p.m.

The application deadline is Feb. 1. 

HuffPost Detroit: Loveland's Paffendorf essays advice for county property auction

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, October 23, 2012
When Jerry Paffendorf is talking about Detroit properties and tax foreclosure auction in the same sentence, we're listening.

An excerpt:

Let's strap on our Detroit x-ray glasses at whydontweownthis.com, look at what's happening with the 20,000 properties at the Wayne County Tax Foreclosure Auction, and get real about improving land use strategies, informing the public, advertising the problems and dealing with all the properties left behind.

Well said. Here's the rest of the story.

Kickstart Noah Stephen's food photography project

Kickstarter Tuesday, October 23, 2012
We knew photographer-blogger Noah Stephens was interested in food and food systems in Detroit, but we didn't know how interested until we heard about this project to document every grocer in the city. He's trying to kickstart some funding to make it happen.

Check it out here.

Freep: Knight to put $20M into Detroit arts, culture

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Knight Foundation has proved to be a trusted and true friend of the emerging Detroit art scene. Word is that friendship will grow and prosper after the foundation invests $20 million in Detroit arts and culture. The Detroit Free Press has the scoop.

Read on here.

Dwell: International design movement includes Detroit

Dwell Tuesday, October 16, 2012
We found this gem of an overview on the world wide urban design movement largely because of this excerpt:

Matt Clayson, Director of the Detroit Design Festival calls this current rash of festivals the third wave. London's, founded in 2003, is the mothership. Philadelphia, founded in 2005, and San Francisco, in 2006, were the second wave. Detroit’s venture grew from the Detroit Creative Corridor Center’s design-thinky approach. Like that?

Here's more, from Dwell.

HuffPost Detroit: 'Shack' becomes Woodbridge cycling center

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Last week's feature on Detroit's emerging bicycle economy was only the tip of the iceberg. There's a ton of non-motorized activity in town, and HuffPost Detroit is doing a fab job of reporting it. Like this one. An excerpt:

Jason Hall, Mike MacKool and Mike Sheppard are the three young men behind the building's reinvention. The trio runs an annual bike expo called Detroit Bike City, which drew 1,500 people to Cobo Hall this past March. They're also members of Bikes & Murder, a local bicycle club that sponsors a popular weekly bike ride, dubbed "Slow Rolls to Slow Jams," at the Woodbridge Pub, located across the street from the space.

Read on here.

Atlantic Cities on rust belt memes: Dig deeper, find nuances

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, October 16, 2012
This summary of why rust belt narratives are far too often oversimplified and under-scrutinized screams to be passed around. Check this out:

We need more gray-area approaches to the Rust Belt that are less pre-packaged, more uncertain, and not as "feel good" or "feel bad" as “the ruin” and "rebirth" memes. We need reporting that helps us understand the inherent messiness of current conditions, and by so doing allows us to have better discussions of what and where is good and bad in the Rust Belt. These, by consequence, will lead to better real-world effects.

That, from Atlantic Cities. Read the rest here.

MODCaR's Imaging project makes Mutable Matter

Mutable Matter Tuesday, October 09, 2012
A unique event called Imaging Detroit, featuring DJs (no, not that kind; we're talking discourse jockeys. Clever, eh?) at the near East Side's Perrien Park was one of the highlights of last month's Detroit Design Festival.

It's heady stuff. The web-based Mutable Matter zine was equally impressed. Read what they have to say here.

Mies Detroit residential gems subject of new book

New York Times Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies, due out at the end of the month on Metropolis Books, gets a sneak preview in the New York Times. Yes, it's an architectural love story set in Lafayette Park; and, yes, as promised, we do have a dandy feature book review this week.

If you missed it, check this out. And another, a little bonus from the Design Observer Group.

Remake, remodel: East Riverfront's Globe to become DNR adventure and education center

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Our hearts leap each time we hear about a new redevelopment project on or near Detroit's riverfront or the Dequindre Cut, like this one regarding the vintage late-19th century Globe Trading Co. building that was announced to much fanfare last week.

An excerpt: 

Under a deal for the building, the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., a quasi-public board that holds title to the Globe on behalf of the city, will sell it for $1 to a local entity created by the Roxbury Group, a Detroit-based developer. Roxbury will then develop it to the DNR's specifications with the help of a construction loan from Key Bank.

Read more in the Freep here.

Voter education forums to held Saturday at six neighborhood locations

James Canning Communications Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Twelve Community Voter Education Forums will be held at six locations across Detroit this Saturday, Oct. 13 to inform voters about the details of the statewide proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot. The first forum at each location will be from 10 a.m. until noon. The second forum at each location will be from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.   

Everyone is welcome to attend any of the voter education forums, but organizers suggest attending the forum nearest your home or place of employment. The locations: 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School
3200 E. Lafayette

Renaissance High School
6565 W. Outer Drive

Wayne County Community College District East Campus
5901 Conner

East English Village Academy
17200 Southhampton
 
Wayne County Community College District Northwest Campus
8200 W. Outer Drive

Western High School
1500 Scotten Street

Forbes weighs in on 'Another Detroit is Happening'

Forbes Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Freelancer Tamara Warren attended a recent Corktown summit and penned this stylish report for Forbes.

An excerpt: Detroit is a fascinating backdrop as a metaphor for America -- its hidden cultural gems, its industrial revolution legacy, the fortitude of diligent business owners and its stark and vivid displays of neglect. But what made this visiting group different was the caliber of insight offered by the attendees whose list of accomplishments is nothing short of outstanding.

Well said. Read on here.

Detroit Bus Co., other DIY startups get love from Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Yup, we check through the virtual editions of Popular Mechanics now and then, looking for Detroit content. And here it is! A nice piece on DIY startups, our speciality.

An Excerpt: In 2012, that prevailing philosophy led Inc. magazine to dub Detroit Startup City. It earned the name because of the proliferation of small-business incubators. Among these was TechShop, a national network of member-based workshops. It was another iteration of a model created by TechTown at Detroit's Wayne State University in 2003. 

Read more here.

Open house set for the Auburn Friday and Saturday

Berg Muirhead and Associates Tuesday, October 02, 2012
On Wednesday, project partners, Invest Detroit, Midtown Detroit, Inc. and The Roxbury Group will give the first construction tour and preview of the Auburn, a $12 million, 56,000 square foot residential and retail project at Cass Avenue and Canfield Street in Midtown, Detroit. The five commercial tenants, which are scheduled to open by the end of the year, will also be announced.
 
The tour will give us a first look at the Auburn’s model units and common spaces, including two expansive porches and a year-round social room. The tour will also mark the official start of leasing for the 58 apartments. The preview is Oct. 3, 11 a.m. at the main entrance, 4240 Cass Avenue.
 
The Auburn will hold open houses for the community and potential residents on Friday, Oct. 5, noon-9 p.m.; and Saturday, Oct. 6, 4-9 p.m.
 
The Auburn has 54 one-bedroom and four studio apartments. The one bedroom units range from $920 to $995 and the studios from $780 to $830. For leasing information, contact Michael Martorelli, leasing manager for the Auburn, by sending an email here.
 

D:hive founder issues challenge to Detroit hater Colbert

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Here's something we'd LOVE to see happen on the lower Woodward corridor: pompous and unfunny Comedy Central show host Stephen Colbert in Detroit, a city that he slaps around with oft-frequency. What we LOVE even more is this challenge from D:hive founder Josh McManus: "Satire is a good awareness vehicle for social change," McManus said in issuing his challenge. "Mr. Colbert, when are you going to put your ass where your mouth is?"

Well said, Josh. Read the rest of the Freep story here.

WSU takes lead on bike sharing study

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, September 25, 2012
This is the kind of phrase, from the HuffPost Detroit, we consider music to our ears: A coalition of local business and nonprofit groups is now pursuing a study to see if this type of program, which already exists in places like Denver and Minneapolis, has a future in Motown. Wayne State University and other heavyweight institution and funders are involved in talks to get it done.

Read all about it here.

Monocle does Detroit again in beautiful moving pictures

Monocle Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Last week we found this series of "the Urbanist" podcasts about Detroit living on the UK-based Monocle site; this week, it's Detroit video content we find hosted by our British friends. 

Just click here and enjoy.

Dan Gilbert's entrepreneurial mission gets noticed

MedCity News Tuesday, September 25, 2012
We've written plenty, and so have others in Detroit, about Dan Gilbert's voracious appetite for vertical downtown properties. It's nice when others notice, like MedCity News, based in Cleveland (he has several holdings there as well, including the Cavaliers NBA franchise).

Read the Q&A here.

Live Downtown, Live Midtown programs not slowing down

MLive.com Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Nearly 700 young workers have already taken advantage of the Live Downtown and Live Midtown program. That's a good number for an initiative that was launched just last year. But more would jump at the incentive to move into greater downtown if there were more living units available, says Sue Mosey of Midtown Inc. in this story in MLive.

An excerpt:

The effort was launched in "partnership with Henry Ford Health System, Wayne State University and Detroit Medical Center as a way to get young workers to live in the Midtown area, by offering $2,500 in annual rent assistance or a $20,000 down payment on a home purchase. The effort's initial $5 million was matched by the Hudson River Foundation, the Michigan Housing Development Authority and the Kresge Foundation.

Large employers in the downtown area took note of the program, and soon Compuware, Quicken Loans, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Strategic Staffing and DTE Energy added another $5 million to the effort to draw their young workers downtown.
About $2 million has been spent so far, Mosey said, and the program plans to continue to spend $2 million each year for the next four years.

Sounds good, let's keep it going. Read more here.

Atlantic Cities: Detroit's "dark euphoria"

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Any piece about Detroit that leads with a quote from Sci-fi scion Bruce Sterling passes our cultural literacy test. Not to mention some other juicy wordsmithing by philosopher-superstar-entrepreneur Josh Linkner, who tells Atlantic Cities: "I'll put a Detroit entrepreneur up against anyone from the coasts and I think we'd kick their ass." Yeah, man. We like that kind of real talk. He also takes on the city's notorious lack of density, saying:  "Things tend to be spread out," he said. "Something on one block and something else four blocks later. We don't have a place you can stroll around for eight square blocks."

Right again, Josh. Read the entire story, largely about the national buzz being generated by the M@dison Building, here.

HuffPost gives us first taste of DDF

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Yes, we have a lot of coverage of the Detroit Design Festival this week. But too much is never enough when you have a series of happenings this good. Here's one to clip and save from Kate Abbey-Lambertz in HuffPost Detroit.

Start reading here.

The Urbanist podcasts Detroit

Monocle Tuesday, September 18, 2012
We love British media culture (Doctor Who? Downton Abbey? Big fans over here at Model D HQ). And for print, and, increasingly, on the web, it's Monocle that catches our myriad eyes. Especially when we start finding Detroit content. Like what we found in this series of the Urbanist.

Listen up here.

Curbed digs for news at Transformation Detroit event

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, September 18, 2012
We don't care what anyone says we love seeing Curbed Detroit breaking stories no one else does, like this piece that includes a few juicy teasers about what is happening and when in Corktown (or is that Corktown Shores?):

Take a look here.

Hatch semifinalist Vegan Soul talks food biz with HuffPost

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, September 18, 2012
May the best women and men win Hatch Detroit's $50,000 in seed money to support business startups in Detroit. And read all about how four finalists will be selected this Wednesday in Jon Zemke's news story here.

HuffPost Detroit has a tasty profile on one of the contenders, Vegan Soul. Read about them here.

Josh Linkner: Investing in Detroit good as gold

Forbes Tuesday, September 11, 2012
One of the things we love about Josh Linkner is he's never afraid to punctuate his thoughts in a way everyone can understand -- like comparing Detroit real estate to precious metals, gold in particular.

It's all here in a piece Linkner penned for Forbes, no less.

An excerpt:

Within a five-block radius from the downtown Detroit epicenter, you can buy a vacant building. Yes, building. My business partner Dan Gilbert has purchased approximately 3 million square feet of commercial property in the heart of downtown Detroit over the last few years through his firm, Bedrock Real Estate Services.

Read on here.

Curbed Detroit: Colorful art heats up streets

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, September 11, 2012
If you haven't had a chance to check out some of the colorful, edgy street art popping up around Detroit and Hamtramck, then get out there and see it now. It's splendid.

Curbed Detroit knows what it's all about. Go here and enjoy.

Rumors fly sky high about Yamasaki architectural gem

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, September 11, 2012
We have absolutely no problem admitting we love the work of former Detroiter, the notable Japanese-American architect Minoru Yamasaki, who among other gems, designed what is now known as One Woodward. Crain's Detroit Business is reporting this tantalizing rumor. What rumor?

Read more here,

Hatch Detroit picks 10 semi-finalists

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Hatch Detroit has announced the top 10 semi-finalists for the 2012 Comerica Hatch Detroit contest.

This year’s competition brought in more than 250 business plan submissions, representing a 25 percent increase over last year’s contest.

Drum roll, please. Here they are:

Detroit River Sports – Kayak rentals to city-goers, offering tours through the canal districts of Belle Isle, Downtown and other parts of the city. 

Detroit Vegan Soul Café – Vegan food with a soul twist, currently operating as a catering and food delivery business, looking to open a store in Midtown.

La Feria – A wine bar featuring authentic Spanish tapas in a relaxed yet upbeat setting, looking to open in Midtown.

Motor City Design – A custom denim specialty retail store featuring Made in Michigan products where customers can watch garments be made right in the store, looking to open Downtown.

Pho da Nang – A Vietnamese restaurant based in Clawson looking to open another location in Midtown.

Rock City Pies – A handmade pie company specializing in unique combinations such as Salty Apple Carmel Pie and Blueberry-Custard Pie, looking to open in Midtown.

Tashmoo Biergarten – Based on the biergartens in Germany, operating as a pop-up in West Village, looking to open a permanent space in the neighborhood.

The Collective Tap – High-end beer retailer offering classes and food parings, looking to open Downtown. 

Vividbraille Studio Boutique – Fuses high-end fashion and design with USA manufacturing in a retail setting, offering customers some of the finest Made in the USA fashion goods, currently operating in Chicago and looking to expand to Detroit.  

Whip Hand Cosmetics – A cosmetic company, currently operating online, looking to open its manufacturing and retail facility Downtown.

HuffPost Detroit's Kate Abbey-Lambertz wraps some good narrative around this announcement here.

Detroit music biz subject of Crain's series

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, September 11, 2012
We take the business of Detroit music seriously here and devoted much of our July speaker series to that topic. This series of stories in Crains Detroit simply nails many of our concerns. Our kudos. Highly recommended reading.

Start here.

Calling all architects: Register now for riverfront design competition

AIA Detroit by Design Tuesday, August 28, 2012
We've always believed a little competition for architects in Detroit could be a beautiful thing -- and end with the creation of many beautiful things.

So, right on cue, comes a design competition focusing on the redeveloping the riverfront.

An excerpt:

The competition will focus on the area between Cobo Hall and the Renaissance Center and between Jefferson Avenue and the Detroit River. This section of Riverfront which includes Hart Plaza is at the heart of the city. The major streets from the radial street plan created by Augustus Woodward intersect just north of this site.

Read the rest of the story here.

Nonprofit Better Block project coming to Detroit

GOOD Tuesday, August 28, 2012
We spotted this item trolling, as we are prone to do, on GOOD. It's about a project that redesigns and remakes a city block.

An excerpt:

The organization's next stop: Detroit, where the city's first-ever Better Block project will take place from Sept. 22 to 23 as part of the Detroit Design Festival. Headed by volunteers from the US Green Building Council and Wayne State University, the project aims to reshape a location with plenty of vacant commercial space -- the North End.

Great stuff. Read more here.

Matt Dear: 'Detroit hypnotizing, fascinating, great place for artists'

Cool Hunting Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Full disclosure: we've loved Matthew Dear since we first started hearing his music and going out to see him DJ in the early '00s. Our gophers even dug up this feature penned by managing editor Walter Wasacz in 2004: here. 

Now living in upstate New York, Dear still holds Detroit, well, dear. An excerpt from Cool Hunting:

That's Detroit--it always makes you feel like it's on the verge of tipping toward being successful and booming. And that's what keeps people there. And when you're in Detroit, you feel like you own it. It's your city, you're there, you're the one bringing in art and events and doing shows. You're meeting people who are also doing their version of what their creative interest is. So there's this little buzz that's always in Detroit and no matter how big that buzz gets on the world scale--like right now a lot of people are talking about it--you hope that it does finally explode.

Read more here.

Freep: News expected soon on Woodward rail

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Take a look at our News item today on developments in the M1 story and also take a peek at this, another report from the Detroit Free Press. An excerpt:

Project supporters were given 60 days to address concerns about the cost of building and operating the $137-million M-1 Rail line from downtown to the New Center area of Detroit -- a 15-minute route with 11 stops. It is a scaled-down version of the original plan to run light rail north to the city limits at 8 Mile.

Read on here.

Successful entrepreneurs just want to have fun

Fast Company Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Despite a snarky lead-in by writer Jude Stewart ("Detroit the Dinosaur hardly feels like the right place to investigate pockets of American innovation") - Hey Jude, don't make it (sound so) bad - this was still nice to see last week in Fast Company:

In a converted theater in downtown Detroit, Detroit Labs is a testament to the city’s resilient spirit of invention. The one-year-old startup designs and builds mobile applications, including Domino’s ordering app, which accounts for $150 million in annualized revenue, and the Chevy Game Time app, which dominated the Super Bowl last January, outranking Angry Birds for a time in the iTunes app store. Since turning a profit (in year one), Detroit Labs has activated phase two of its business plan: letting its developers work one day a week on totally independent projects. That’s right. Employees get paid to futz around.

Read on here.

Osborn neighborhood benefits from bikes for kids program

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Hoo-ray, we say. A summer bikes for kids program organized locally by the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative (DECC) made possible by a $12,500 Rails-to-Trails Conservancy grant sponsored by Coca-Cola is paying dividends in one East Side neighborhood.

HuffPost Detroit has the rest of the story here.

Tampa book arts blog send up some love to Eastern Market's Signal-Return

Tampa Book Art Studio Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Nice to see some attention given to one of our favorite innovative small businesses, Signal-Return. This by way of a Tampa blog.

An excerpt:

Ryan Schirmang, director of the storefront operation in Detroit’s Eastern Market helped launch Signal-Return as a project manager for Team Detroit, the international advertising and marketing firm. Team Detroit established the print studio as a way to bring traditional and modern techniques of printing to the community, and to provide a workspace for artists and designers to produce unique prints for retail clients.

Read the rest of the piece here.

Belle Isle aquarium re-opens with limited hours

Belle Isle Conservancy Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Here's some sweet music to our ears: the Aquarium will be open the first Sunday of each month and the second and third Saturdays of each month, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at no charge. It re-opened last Saturday to celebrate its 108th birthday.

For more information go here. 

Move to Detroit, build community, get some rent money

I Am Young Detroit Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Here's a nice "catch" we made by trolling our social media ticker last week, this one courtesy of our friends at I Am Young Detroit.

An excerpt:

The Live Detroit Fund was established last August through the "Do It For Detroit" campaign organized by CommunityNEXT of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. The fund allows recipients to receive $250 per month toward their rent. What’s the catch? The catch is you’re required to host a monthly event to help build community in Detroit.

Read on here.

Nutrition company Savorfull moves into New Center

Savorfull Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Here's one that has been on our radar for a while: nutrition company Savorfull, founded by nutritionist and CEO Stacy Goldberg, has moved its headquarters to the New Center One Building in Detroit.

Savorfull is a growing food membership service providing individuals with special dietary needs a sampler box of nutrient-dense, allergen-free food each month to their doorstep. The company’s new space at New Center One allows Savorfull to expedite service to its expanding customer base nationwide. 

To learn more about Savorfull, go here.

'Detroit Je t'aime' filmmaker tells all about love for the city

Detroit News Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Stop the digital presses: we're pleased to report that the Kickstarter campaign to fund Detroit Je t'aime ended successfully on Monday. This story by one of the filmmakers gives a nice account of how passionate this French team feels about the city. And only one moronic comment (near the end) out of 30 or so responses in the Detroit News. Well done!

An excerpt:

Meeting with people such as the legendary Grace Lee Boggs (97-year-old activist and philosopher), Malik Yakini (from D-Town, the largest urban farm in Detroit) and Olayami Dabls (from MBAD's African Bead Museum), among many others, was definitely life-changing. Thanks to this Detroit crash course, I quickly stopped calling Detroit a "blank canvas."

Read the rest of the story here.

Slows' Yardbird to face off for best U.S. sandwich in August

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Here what Adam Richman said on his Travel Channel food show last week about what is now one of America's most talked about sandwiches:

"(It's) a sandwich to be savored. It's unlike any sandwich found anywhere," Richman said during the episode, adding that the Yardbird will be moving on because of the "depth of flavor and special blend of seasoning."

The Travel Channel series, which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays, has scheduled the finals -- a national battle where the Yardbird will face nine other regional winners -- for Aug. 15.

We'll get some carryout from Slows and be tuning in. 

Check out the rest of the story here.

DC3 announces second design festival for September

Detroit Creative Corridor Center Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The second annual Detroit Design Festival (DDF), presented by the Detroit Creative Corridor Center (DC3), is coming to Detroit’s Woodward Corridor Sept. 19-23. The festival, which had 85 Design Happenings featuring 300 designers in its first year, connects designers and creative practitioners, exposing them to new markets and consumers. 

We had a ton of fun last year. Read more here and stay tuned for more info closer to the dates. 

Core77 blogger hits Detroit, swoons over people and place

Core77 Tuesday, July 31, 2012
We were trolling for Detroit media love when we chanced upon this beauty of a blog. Not much more introduction needed.

An excerpt:

True to form, DC3 introduced me to Peggy Brennan, co-founder of the Green Garage. The converted Model T showroom serves as a demonstration of down-to-earth sustainability (no pun intended), as well as a business incubator (everyone incubates these days) and an advisor on integrating sustainable practices for any interested member of the community. Brennan and her husband, along with 200 volunteers, spent two years designing how to best renovate the showroom and looked to the Passivhaus for inspiration. With 19-inches of insulation and triple-glazed windows, the Green Garage only costs $300 to heat for a year.

Read the entire travelog here.

Next American City looks at impact of Midtown Inc.

Salon Tuesday, July 24, 2012
We were happy to find this little validation of the great work done by Midtown Inc.

A descriptive excerpt:

Founded in 1976 by community activists rooted in the affordable housing movement of the 1960s, Midtown Inc. evolved along with the city. In the last two decades, the scrappy non-profit’s tactical collaborations with major anchor institutions in Detroit -- including City Hall -- have elevated it from the anti-establishment fringe and into the establishment itself.

Read on here.

Hotter than July kicks off at multiple locations

Kick Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Who's going? Events include an interfaith candlelight vigil, a three hour cruise on the Detroit River, the Gathering, a day of education and advocacy with an array of interactive and informative workshops covering issues of importance to women, men, transgender and youth, the Palmer Park picnic and much more. 

See the entire schedule here.

Vice: Phil Cooley one of "most interesting men" in U.S.

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 24, 2012
We love Vice, we love Phil Cooley. It makes sense the two would get along so famously.

An exceprt:

"We always felt that in order to have a healthy, long-term sustainable buisness we need a healthy community surrounding us," Cooley said. "So I was able to then use the monies we made from Slows, to hopefully help others in the community. We started working in public spaces, helping other small businesses get open, just because I could."

Read on and watch the video here.

Curbed Detroit says financing, construction coming soon for Whitney Building

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, July 24, 2012
We've been waiting to hear that the Whitney Building was ready to start redevelopment work ever since last October, when we held our Next Big Thing event there. We'll be waiting to get the official word and will bring that to you as soon as we have it.

In the meantime, check this out:

The Roxbury Group is the project developer; these are the same people behind The Auburn in Midtown. They have told Curbed that they are currently almost done gathering all the finances together and construction will begin immediately after.

Read more here.

RiverWalk's $44 million in upgrades to include improvements to Mt. Elliott, Gabriel Richard parks

Detroit News Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Wonderful news from the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy: more funding is headed Detroit's way for upgrades to the RiverWalk. An announcement Monday morning by heavyweight government officials zeroed in on improvements to two significant parks east of downtown. More work is planned on that stretch of the walk, plus an extension that will take pedestrian and non-motorized traffic west to the Ambassodor Bridge.

An excerpt from the Detroit News: 

The state's Department of Natural Resources awarded the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy a $15 million check at the groundbreaking ceremony. The conversancy has also received a $29 million federal highway appropriation, which U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, helped secure and the state's Department of Transportation gave to the river project.

Officials from the conservancy, MDOT, DNR and others applauded the partnership that will transform the river. Read the rest of the story here.

Workshops, other activities heating up at Signal-Return

Signal Return Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Signal-Return, the self-described "hive for dynamic visual production" in Eastern Market that is "a multi-use center for fine art, design, craft and literary arts" is zooming forward with workshops and other special events this summer and fall.

Go here to get more info on what's happening at Signal-Return.

'Motion to Makeover' project transforms Southwest park

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Any news about people volunteering to clean up and "makeover" a Detroit city park is good news. All the better is that the project is being headed by some law students. 

An excerpt:

The 313 Project, started in 2009 by then first-year law students Aisa Villarosa, Erika Riggs and Juliana Rivera as a community-service student group, offers free legal clinics to underserved groups. But they also spend time each month with their Motion to Makeover project, which took on a major project -- Southwest Detroit's 26-acre Romanowski Park.

What started as a casual idea to work on a park took root when the group decided on Romanowski and approached Home Depot about getting materials, not expecting it to turn into a $16,500 grant from the company's foundation.

Read the rest of the story in HuffPost Detroit here.

Canadian investor creates bicycle manufacturing center

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 17, 2012
There are a lot of bikes out there, but how many are "Made in Detroit?" Not many, probably. Not yet, anyway.

But here they come, thanks to Zak Pashak, who moved down here to cycling utopia from Western Canada to open a bicycle manufacturing center.

An excerpt from HuffPost Detroit:

His target customers are people who aren't hardcore cyclists but are still interested in bikes.The model he plans on producing in Detroit will be a lightweight steel three-speed with a tire that's thicker than those used for racing bikes. The bike will come in one color -- black-- and sell for a little under $500.

Black, yes. We'll take (at least) one. See the rest of the story here.

Corktown gets front page love in the News

Detroit News Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Nice to see a major feature on one of our neighborhood gems -- Corktown -- in one of the Detroit dailies. So what if we were there first -- about seven years and a month or two earlier. But who's bragging? Love the deep(ish) dive and the awesome quotes. Kudos.

An excerpt:

Among the new business owners are Jason Yates and Deveri Gifford, who opened a breakfast spot, the Brooklyn Street Local.
The Canadian couple chose Corktown after staying at Hostel Detroit and realizing the neighborhood was "the perfect spot" for their restaurant.

Fellow business owners have been overwhelmingly supportive.

"It's a collaborative effort, rather than competitive," Yates said. "It's fun because we're all doing this at the same time."

Read on here.

Transcontinental interplanetary neighborhood bicycle dude

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 10, 2012
When a guy named Mars hit town, suddenly things got down to earth in the Detroit neighborhood just east of Palmer Park. That's where he fixes up and gives away bikes to kids in the community. We read all about it in HuffPost Detroit. 

An excerpt:

"I owned my own business. I was making plenty of money. I had all my needs met," he told The Huffington Post.

However, that way of living didn't feel right to (Mars) Symons. He learned of an intentional community movement in Detroit called Fireweed Universe City, after meeting a psychedelic trance DJ who had become involved with the group. Symons decided to bike to the Motor City to check it out.

Read the rest of the story here.

Recovery Park goal includes indoor urban ag, horse stables, neighborhood employment

The Hub Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Gary Wozniak sees himself as a food systems developer and a job creator. And no, he's not running for president but rather looking to redevelop a 3-square-mile area on Detroit's East Side into self-sustaining farms with their own production and distribution systems. Ambitious enough, we think.

An excerpt from The Hub:

Recovery Park started as leaders from SHAR (Self Help Addiction Rehabilitation) were looking to create jobs for people with barriers to employment. Looking at the talent pool and the physical resources Detroit abundantly has--land, road infrastructure, access to fresh water--the natural conclusion was urban farming and food system development.

The difference between Recovery Park and other urban farming/ urban redevelopment programs is in both size and scale. While most community farming produces few jobs that are often dependent on grant funding, Recovery Park’s model aims toward something more self-sustainable.

"We’re taking a look more at commercial indoor agriculture so that the jobs are year round," Wozniak says. "We can get three, maybe four, growing seasons working indoors."

Intriguing stuff, yes? Read more here.

Indie film titan Jim Jarmusch shooting vampire flick in Brush Park

Deadline Detroit Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Stop the virtual presses: the perpetual silver fox of independent film, Jim Jarmusch, has been spotted walking around downtown Detroit. A few years ago, during a weekend in New York, we spotted Jim walking in Union Square. He likes cities and he likes walking. He's never a stranger to paradise. Welcome to Detroit.

He's here to make a vampire flick, provisionally titles "Only Lovers Left Alive." We like it.

An exerct from Deadline Detroit: 

The movie, a centuries-long romantic drama about two vampires, has an impressive cast, including Mia Wasikowska (the star of "Alice in Wonderland"), Tom Hiddleston (Loki in "The Avengers"), Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton"), John Hurt ("Alien") and the just-announced Anton Yelchin ("Fright Night").

Read more here.

MSU invests $1.5 million in Detroit farming project

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 10, 2012
It's nice to see Detroit going green. Yes, we're talking about the accelerating urban agriculture scene, but we're also cool with the increased presence by Michigan State University in the city. Sparty and Detroit are collaborating on a massive $1.5 million farming project.

An exerpt from HuffPost Detroit:

As the earth's population continues to concentrate in cities and resources become more scarce, the university believes that the world will become increasingly dependent on urban farming to meet its food needs.

"By 2050, food production will need to double -- using less water and energy than today," MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said in a release. "We see great opportunity to do good locally and connect globally."

More here.

"Sharp" Eastern Market FC shirts available with a click

Etsy Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Fans of the Eastern Market Futbol Club will love this, limited edition T-Shirts with some cool design work. All others, this is what you need to know: the product is "actually made in Detroit" and have some serious edge. Fantastic. Get them while they're hot.

Find them here.

Concert of Colors celebrates 20 years this weekend in three locations

Concert of Colors Tuesday, July 10, 2012
There's so much to see and hear at this year's Concert of Colors -- the annual summer event's 20th anniversary -- that we'll let you decide where you want to go and who you want to see this long weekend (Thursday July 12 through Sunday July 15) at three venues (the Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Max M. Fisher Center) in the Cultural Center.

OK, maybe just a few recommendations: how about Don Was Detroit All Star Revue, Saturday at Orchestra Hall; or George Clinton and P-Funk on the same stage on Sunday night?

You can take the rest from here. There is plenty to dig into. It's all free, by the way. Have fun.

NYT gets a glimpse of Midtown's Green Garage

New York Times Tuesday, June 26, 2012
We know that the Green Garage is a different kind of incubator, as the New York Times headline writer says. But we like this bit even more.

An excerpt:

(Tom) Brennan says he believes that traditional incubator and accelerator programs extrude entrepreneurs through a mechanized, one-size-fits-all process, sometimes spurring founders to charge ahead without first finding clarity on what they want to do, or why. Instead of focusing on acceleration, he’s working to build a start-up culture that’s a rough analogue of the slow-food movement: intimate, deliberate, unhurried. It’s an organic approach he knows won’t be for everyone.

Read on here.

Mode Shift links renderings of expanded D-Cut and Midtown Loop

Mode Shift Move Together Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Some of the best news we heard all last week was about the extention of the Dequindre Cut, from Gratiot to Mack Avenue, and the creation of the Midtown Loop, which will take the trail through the heart of Wayne State University and Brush Park. Also in the plans: a connector that will link Eastern Market with Hamtramck.

Pictures tell even a better story. Take a look at these accessed from the Mode Shift Move Together site.

Edgy Detroit Beautification Project explodes with color and controversy

Detroit News Tuesday, June 26, 2012
This story in the Detroit News confirms what we knew already -- that the street art that went up on Detroit and Hamtramck buildings this spring is radically beautiful and that the idea was hatched by a Hamtramck-based group called Contra Projects.

An excerpt: 

Hamtramck officials and property owners were so accommodating to the Beautification Project that most of the murals went up there first. It's part of the city's plan to spotlight its artistic side, head off illegal graffiti, and, perhaps grab a little of the global cool Detroit has been enjoying on the international art stage.

Jason E. Friedmann, Hamtramck's director of economic and community development, said the town has long been an art haven for creative types, but that side hasn't always been visible to outsiders.

"We're trying to get our underground creative thing out in the open to underline that this is part of what Hamtramck is all about," he said.

Well said Jason, well said.

Read on here.

Detroit "digital revolution" gets video attention from NBC cable

MSNBC Tuesday, June 26, 2012
It's somehow gratifying to see and hear, on a national cable TV broadcast, that there are so many young, tech-savvy workers employed downtown that there is not enough places for them to live. Well, let's fix that. More residential construction and reconstruction, please.

Let's go to the video here.

Allied Media Conference gets tactical this weekend

Allied Media Conference Tuesday, June 26, 2012
We visited Allied Media Projects earlier this spring and came away mighty impressed. We also came away with this impressive story by Matt Piper. AMP's annual summer conference is this weekend. It's packed with serious fun. That's what we're talking about. 

Get all you need to know here and go.

New York Post does Detroit on bicycle

New York Post Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Add this writer to the zillions of visitors who've been charmed by a visit to old Detroit city.

An excerpt: 

Of course, Detroit’s past is fascinating, but its present can be just as compelling. To see the city at its best, right in the here and now, spend time in the historic Eastern Market district, a thriving (and growing) neighborhood that lures thousands each Saturday to a festive event showcasing the wares of hundreds of producers from around the region.

Read more here.

Ten Detroit companies to welcome Venture for America fellows

Xconomy Tuesday, June 19, 2012
There are fellows already here -- made up of all varieties of professional and creative types -- and more on the way. We like it. We're starting to feel dense. An excerpt.

Venture for America believes that attracting talented college graduates to cities grappling with unemployment may help jumpstart those local economies, and now it’s moving forward with its mission to do just that. The New York-based nonprofit debuted its first class of 41 fellows and the companies they will work for across country. Ten Detroit companies--including Digerati, Quikkly, and Benzing--as well as venture firm Detroit Venture Partners will welcome the fellows.

Read more here.

Local transit visionary shares wish list

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Late last year, Neil Greenberg wrote this nifty piece for us on how he envisions rapid transit in this city and region. Now another gem, this time in HuffPost Detroit.

An excerpt:

Great transit won't happen because a cadre of powerful people say so. While high-profile support is essential, making transit work is ultimately an act of the people. Commuters. Taxpayers. Hoi polloi who couldn't hope to access smoke-filled rooms where high-stakes conversations about transit are currently taking place.

Read more here.

Origins of Cass Corridor art scene's lasting legacy

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Considering we're throwing a party this week that celebrates one important piece of the Cass Corridor legacy -- Zoot's -- this piece by Vince Carducci on the art and music scene got our attention.

An excerpt: 

My first encounter with the Cass Corridor came as a teenager in the suburbs reading Joy Hakanson Colby's multipage full-color spread on the scene in the now-defunct Detroit News Sunday Magazine.) The whole thing was capped off with a blockbuster exhibition mounted by the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1980 titled: "Kick Out the Jams: Detroit's Cass Corridor, 1963-1977." Legends grew up around the major players that echo to this day.

Read more here.

Community rebuilds Scripps Park at historic Woodbridge corner

Detroit News Tuesday, June 19, 2012
We know this story but love it when people tell it again and again, as does Donna Terek in the Detroit News.

An excerpt: 

A group called Forward Arts Detroit -- headed by Dominic Arellano and Lou Castanelli's Access Arts -- teamed with the Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation and Friends of Scripps Park last summer to clean up, and call attention to, this shaded and walled oasis of calm at one of Detroit's most bustling crossroads.

Read it all here.

The cure for planning fatigue? Action

Project for Public Places Tuesday, June 12, 2012
The Project for Public Places and the Kellogg Foundation are a good match. Add Detroit to the mix and you have one quite possibly made in heaven. Read on in this excerpt from the PPS placemaking blog: 

One of Kellogg’s goals is for this new initiative to plan strategically for including markets into Detroit’s long-term planning efforts–meaning that markets could play an integral role in the city’s turnaround not only as places for commerce and healthy food for families and children, but as anchors and destinations for their surrounding neighborhoods.

See more here.

Cass Park, Masonic Temple renovation in the works, says Detroit News

Detroit News Tuesday, June 12, 2012
When we need to catch our daily real estate buzz we turn to Curbed Detroit to turn us on. This time the thrills come in seeing the possibilities for development in the newly-Curbed-christened LoMidTo neighborhood. Check out an excerpt:

The Masonic Temple could be getting a pile of money for renovations, but like other LoMidTo property deals, the details are cloaked in secrecy! The Detroit News reports that in the lower Midtown area (Masonic's home) there have been 22 property deals under confidentiality agreements.

Stop us if you've heard any of this before. The rest of you join us here.

Iconic Detroit jazzman passes

Metro Times Tuesday, June 12, 2012
We had the pleasure of seeing and hearing the great Detroit improviser Faruq Z. Bey perform on several occasions. Some of us appeared on panels with him, to talk about music and how it is a part of the DNA of this city. We were saddened to learn of his passing. Metro Times Editor W. Kim Heron penned this eulogy.

Dave Mancini talks Supino, and "infectious Detroit spirit," in GQ

GQ Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Chef Dave Mancini takes us on a tour of his favorite food places, including the Sunday Dinner Company on the East Side and Pupuseria Y Restaurante Salvadoreno in Southwest Detroit. Totally awesome piece in GQ. Go here for more awesome.

Deadline near to support 'Street Fighting Man' on Kickstarter

Streetfightingman.com Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Among other things, we're impressed that the producers of the documentary, Street Fighting Man, which follows three Detroit men -- each a generation apart -- who seek to define their lives "ended our tenure in Detroit with a bang at Detroit SOUP, a monthly dinner/fundraising event that provides micro-grants for creative projects in the D. We were chosen to present Street Fighting Man and had the opportunity to connect with new fans, network with art lovers, and screen our 8 minute work-in-progress reel for those in attendance. The reaction was incredible."

Check out a clip here, and while you're on the site hit the Kickstarter link and help support the film, if you so choose.

Hotter than June: Curtis Lipscomb brings it as LGBT leader of color

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Just in time for last weekend's PrideFest, HuffPost Detroit's Kate Abbey-Lambertz penned this profile of our friend Curtis Lipscomb, founder of Kick, the one-of-a-kind organization serving African Americans in Detroit's LGBTQ community. Read all about him here.

Henry Ford to develop 300 acres at cusp of Midtown and New Center

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, June 05, 2012
And that's not all. folks. HuffPost Detroit rounds up a few projects (including the $500 million development in the headline above) re-shaping Midtown.

Read about it here.

'Detroit Rising' video series continues on Atlantic Cities

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Thanks, Richard Florida, for tightening the focus on how Detroit is moving forward from the ground up. Here is the third video in the five-part series "Detroit Rising." The links to the other two are here, too.

Check 'em out here.

TechTown's Leslie Smith tackles challenge of building ecosystems for high-growth entrepreneurship

Wayne State University Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Leslie Smith, president and CEO of TechTown, Wayne State University’s business incubator and technology and research park, will join former U.S. President Bill Clinton for the second annual Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI America) meeting, June 7-8 in Chicago.

That's mighty impressive. Read the rest of the story here.

Salon: Balancing "rustbelt chic" with pragmatism

Salon Tuesday, May 22, 2012
We saw this being circulated on the web, via various social media, and just had to dig into it. 

It puts into perspective starry-eyed optimism with practical realities

From Salon, an excerpt: What struggling cities need are jobs, and not just jobs at coffee roasteries in abandoned railroad terminals that make for great style-section articles. "The only way (a turnaround) will really happen is by reintroducing meaningful, equitably compensated work into these cities," says Catherine Tumber, author of "Small, Gritty and Green: The Promise of America’s Smaller Industrial Cities in a Low-Carbon World. "This longing can be expressed aesthetically, but it can only be satisfied by restoring the workforce."

Read the rest of it here.

Richard Florida kicks off 'How Detroit is rising' video series

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Creative class scholar Richard Florida is dedicating a career to finding out what works to make cities vital and vibrant. This first piece in a series now running in Atlantic Cities jumps on the multiple ways Detroit is shaking off its rust and finding new ways to thrive.

An excerpt: Detroit’s new generation of place makers and city-builders draws deeply on the city and the region’s many assets. Yes, urban renewal devastated parts of the city, and yes, it’s true that there are too many empty lots and abandoned buildings. But a walk through and around the urban core evidences a fabulous urban fabric with fantastic historic buildings of the very sort that Jane Jacobs was talking about when she said that old buildings give rise to new ideas.

Much more here.

Detroit artist creates facade with covers of Rolling Stone mag

Rolling Stone Tuesday, May 22, 2012
You know Rolling Stone, ?the bible of rock 'n' roll journalism for decades, was thrilled to see Detroit artist Jennifer Quigley covering the front of her building with covers of the mag.

An excerpt: Quigley recently covered the facade of a building on Michigan Avenue in Detroit with a collage comprised of Rolling Stone magazine covers. "I've had a Rolling Stone subscription most of my life," says Quigley. "I first began collaging with Rolling Stone thanks to my disdain for the horrible wood paneling that was in my rec room in high school. I covered every inch of that torrential wood paneling with three years' worth of my Rolling Stone subscription collection."

See what it looks like here.

Importance of neighborhood name game

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Giving neighborhoods a distinct name by identifying historically important characteristics or assets is done in cities the world over. Sometimes the names stick simply because of how often they are used in repeated. This piece, from HuffPost Detroit, is all about it.

An excerpt: Detroit, for its part, never standardized its neighborhood names. Most simply they reflect common usage, even if some of them are more well-known than others. Some are inherited from defunct towns, which ceased to exist when their land was annexed by the growing city of Detroit -- Delray, Springwells Village, Five Points, Old Redford, Nortown. Others come from nearby landmarks, such as Osborn (a high school) and Palmer Park, while many, such as Lafayette Park, Grandmont-Rosedale and Boston-Edison, come from urban renewal plans, subdivision developers or the names of designated historic districts.

Good stuff. Read on here.

Yo! Bum rush this show. Public Enemy headlines Movement

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Yes, Movement is more than just a techno fest. The hip hop nation has been represented by Slum Village, Mos Def and others. Next week Public Enemy -- you heard that right -- takes the Main Stage. Kelly Frazier gives us a preview in HuffPost Detroit.

An excerpt: Back in the 1940s, Chuck D's grandfather drove trucks for Ford, and the fruits of his labor would afford him a Cadillac in the 1950s. As a result, police on 7 Mile Road in Detroit regularly stopped his grandfather. It was one of many bold lessons about Detroit and the world that Chuck D got to learn.

Read on here.

Freep: Options for Detroit Works includes "green residential"

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Yes, we know Detroit Works planning and discussion has been underwhelming at times. But we still believe the only solution to addressing a shrinking population within a 140-square mile area is smart decision-making about how to use land rapidly "going back to nature." 

First read this excerpt from a piece by the very busy John Gallagher and then get on with the rest of the story.

What the Detroit Works planners call building blocks and other planners have called neighborhood types include districts devoted mostly to retail or industry, districts with a mix of homes and urban farms, and districts devoted to a blue-green landscape used for storm-water retention or natural wetlands.

We can't hide our love for the concept of "green residential," by the way. Read about that and more here.

Roasting Plant offering "world's freshest coffee," coming to downtown's First National

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, May 15, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/09/the-roasting-plant-opens-detroit-location-new-york-city-coffee-shop-first-national-building_n_1504237.html?ref=detroit

Vote for project finalists in Let's Save Michigan placemaking contest

Let's Save Michigan Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Click on the thumbnails to view the project details, read any comments, and cast your vote. Check out all the finalists and feel free to vote for multiple projects. You may only vote for the same project once a day, and all voting is subject to verification. For more on the contest details and rules -- and to vote -- go here.

Decades-long "expressionist continuum" exhibits at N'Nambdi Center for Contemporary Art

Detroit News Tuesday, May 15, 2012
In the 1960s and early 1970s the neighborhood now called Midtown and then called the Cass Corridor, was more than just kicking out the jams musically.

The art scene was also humming, building a foundation for the Detroit visual scene today.

The Detroit News captures it all in this review of a new show at the N'Nambdi Center for Contemporary Art. Read it here.

That buzz you're hearing is coming from Corktown's Beehive

Detroit News Tuesday, May 15, 2012
In 2011, Chris Handyside penned this great piece on Detroit's Beehive Recordings and its founder Steve Nawara.

Here's another, by Detroit News' columnist Donna Tarek. An excerpt:

(Nawara) wants to expand the hive's reach to record Detroit's Latin, Middle Eastern, Polish music to be an accurate representation of the sounds of the city. He already has recorded Finlay's sister Tamara singing the Russian folk songs she grew up with.

In Nawara's concept, the "record" or MP3 is not the product, it's an advertisement for the product, which is the musician, his/her concerts, merchandise, and publishing rights.

"Music wants to be free," Nawara says. "The natural state of music is free. You play it; it enters the atmosphere. That's it."

Love it. Read on here.

Tour the Villages, buy a stunning one-of-a-kind house

The Villages Community Development Corporation Tuesday, May 15, 2012
We'll keep it short and simple: all need you need to know is that the Villages, a fabulous, historically-significant neighborhood a quick jog or bike ride from downtown, is hosting a real estate tour of select properties this weekend. More info here.

It coincides with the re-emergence of the pop-up Tashmoo Biergarten, which will pour Michigan craft beers Saturday and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. More on the beer here.

Canadian investment firm scores Penobscot for $5 million

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, May 08, 2012
One of favorite skyscrapers in the entire world, the The 47-story Penobscot Building, has been sold to investors from Toronto. We think it's a steal for $5 mill. The Freep's John Gallagher is on it. Read about it here.

 

Jane Jacobs inspires neighborhood walk in Greenacres, Sherwood Forest

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, May 08, 2012
We wish we could be everywhere at once, like getting up to the north side of town for last weekend's Jane's Walk, begun in Toronto in 2007 and inspired by urbanist icon Jane Jacob.

We be the HuffPost Detroit was there. Read about it here.

DSO adds violinist of international renown as concertmaster

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, May 08, 2012
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra got just what it needed: a young, international musical star. The Freep's Mark Stryker knows that's a very good thing, indeed. Read about it here.

Curbed Detroit looking for city's best block. Let's weigh in

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Our friends at Curbed Detroit are onto something by asking for readers to nominate the best city block in Detroit proper. We think along the same lines often. Check it out and vote here.

American Prospect goes long form in telling story of Detroit's fall and rise

American Prospect Tuesday, May 08, 2012
We caught up to this story by chance and found this excerpt especially good:

One morning at Motor City Java House, I’m introduced to a 30-year-old visual artist named Amy Kaherl, who is part of that fast-growing demographic. Kaherl runs Detroit SOUP, an organization that gives "micro-grants" of up to $1,000 for projects benefiting the city. It hosts monthly dinners: Five dollars buys soup, salad, pie, and a vote. Entrepreneurs present their ideas, and the winner of a secret ballot takes home the evening’s proceeds. SOUP has funded everything from a community radio station to an enterprise involving winter coats that double as sleeping bags, produced by (and distributed free to) homeless Detroiters. She has come to the Java House today to discuss the possibility of a SOUP dinner in Brightmoor.

Read more here.

Register now for Detroit Urban Economic Forum

White House Urban Economic Forum Tuesday, May 08, 2012
The White House Business Council, in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration, invites you to participate in an urban economic forum designed specifically to address the needs of urban entrepreneurs in the Detroit area.

The Detroit Urban Economic Forum is May 17, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at Cobo Convention Center, 1 Washington Blvd., in downtown Detroit. It's free but space is limited. Register here.

Power House Productions on list of NEA grant winners

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, May 01, 2012
We were thrilled to see our friends Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope from Power House receive a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help convert a vacant lot in the neighborhood north of Hamtramck into a skateboard park.

See all the statewide winners here.

Let there be light: Dlectricity, new modern art fest announced for Midtown

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, May 01, 2012
We like this a lot, a brand new festival of contemporary art and light to be held in early October in Midtown.

The Woodward Corridor between Kirby on the north end and Mack on the southern border will be alight with art. Institutions like the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the Max M. Fisher Center will have special programing.

And all you artists reading this can send your proposals for light-related works now through May 28. Get all the details on this brand-spanking new site.

Rodriguez doc builds buzz at NYC's Tribeca Film Fest

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, May 01, 2012
A window opened for Sixto Rodriguez in the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, it had closed. Or so everyone thought. But unbeknown to almost all other than music fans and critics in South Africa, the Detroit Southwestsider who kicked out his jams in the Cass Corridor was being called the Latin Bob Dylan.

The documentary, Searching for Sugar Man, is getting plenty of buzz in the wake of its screening at New York's Tribeca Film Festival and a release scheduled for this summer.

HuffPost Detroit is feeling it in this report.

Yamasaki's McGregor Memorial at WSU to get $1.8 million restoration

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Last week we were pleased to report that the Society of Architectural Historians held their recent conference in Detroit, including sessions inside Wayne State's McGregor Memorial Center, designed by Minoru Yamasaki.

Right on cue, another local story appeared in HuffPost Detroit on the great architect who began his practice in Detroit in the 1950s. An excerpt::

The jewel-like McGregor Center has long been considered by many to be among the finest buildings designed by Yamasaki, the Detroit-based architect best known for designing the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Yamasaki died in 1986.

The McGregor Center was built in 1958. The pools remained filled with water until the early '80s, when leaks and other functional problems led Wayne State to drain them. The pools have remained empty and something of an eyesore ever since.

Read more here.

Detroit, bike city: HuffPost's cycling series shifts into extra gear

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, May 01, 2012
In case you're missing HuffPost Detroit's ongoing series on cycling culture in Detroit, no doubt because you're out riding in the city, don't give it a second thought. There is a lot to dig into and get inspired about.

Like his story about Sarah Sidelko, who founded a bicycle program called Fender Bender, for women and the LGBTQ community.

An excerpt: She's now in the first stages of creating a bicycle lending library for Detroit, fixing up donated, used bikes one at a time. She has 14 finished, with a plan to have 10 to 15 more restored by June for a first, trial fleet.
 
Check out all of the stories here.

Scripps Park expanding sensory garden experience

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 24, 2012
We have always been fond of this park, at the triangular corner of Trumbull, Grand River and Martin L. King Blvd, the gateway to Woodbridge.

This piece in HuffPost Detroit comes just in time for the planting season. An excerpt:

Last summer, a number of community groups working with the adjacent Detroit Public Library Douglass Branch planted a "sensory garden" in a small gravel bed they constructed at the park -- a project they plan to expand this spring.

When the additions are completed, the garden will feature a variety of sense-evocative plants, including black-eyed Susans for color, lavender for its smell, whirling butterflies for their movement, lamb's ears for their soft texture and nasturtiums for their taste.

Read on here.

HuffPost: Hatch Detroit gets Comerica sponsorship

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The winning applicant, Joe Posch, plans to set up his classic bachelor-pad-themed store Hugh in Midtown Detroit. Posch, who owned high-end furniture and home wares store Mezzanine several years ago and then launched Hugh twice as a pop-up operation, said he had planned to open the new store regardless of the competition's results. Next fall, Hugh will open in the Auburn, a mixed-use building now under construction at the intersection of Cass Avenue and Canfield Street.

here.

Sean Mann and Sarah Szurpicki convert passion into getting things done

Economics of Place Tuesday, April 24, 2012
We've said it before, we'll say it again: do yourselves a favor and make regular visits to the Economics of Place site. We never fail to find good stuff, like this well-deserved nod of approval to two prime Detroit movers, Sean Mann and Sarah Szurpicki.

They get our nod, too. Read on here.

Hackley spring-summer lecture series begins with 'Southern Soul'

Facebook Tuesday, April 24, 2012
An ideal companion piece to the feature by Carleton Gholz on the newly-formed Detroit Sound Conservancy is this invite to attend the lecture series sponsored by the E. Azalia Hackley Collection at the Detroit Public Library (located on the third floor of the
Main Library).

The 2012 Hackley Lecture Series is free and open to the public and begins this Wednesday with Southern Soul: The History of Stax Records. We spotted another can't miss event, In the Director’s Chair: The Movies of Spike. That one is July 25.

Get more info and the entire schedule here.

March of Dimes partners with DMC and WSU for midtown fundraiser

March of Dimes Tuesday, April 24, 2012
We were alerted to this beauty of an event by our friends at Lovio George Communications and Design. 

This year March of Dimes has partnered with two world-class institutions, the Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University, as well as many other key organizations in the area. The March for Babies Honorary Co-Chairs are Michael Duggan, President and CEO of the Detroit Medical Center and Allan Gilmour, President of Wayne State University. March for Babies Chair for the new Midtown site is Dr. Joel Kahn of the Detroit Medical Center. Together the team will focus on recruiting new companies to participate and lead the community in making a difference for the health of moms and babies. Last year, March for Babies in metropolitan Detroit raised more than $1.4 million.

On April 29 in Midtown Detroit, thousands of families and business leaders will join together in the March of Dimes annual March for Babies--the nation’s oldest walk fundraiser honoring babies born healthy and those who need help to survive and thrive. This is the first time March for Babies will be held in Midtown and with one in eight babies born premature in Detroit, organizers hope to raise significant funds to support lifesaving research and educational programs aimed at helping moms have healthy babies.

March for Babies is on Sunday, April 29 at 8 a.m. on Wayne State University’s Campus in Midtown Detroit. Individuals and companies who want to make a difference can register today here.
 
 

'Louder than Love' doc on Grande Ballroom hits festival circuit

Vimeo Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Flashback to the second half of the 1960s -- 1966 to 1970, to be precise -- when the Detroit rock scene was on par with, well, the best of the rest of the world. Zero in on the Grande Ballroom, where the scene was flying the highest.

That time, place and inner space is the focus of Louder Than Love, a high energy music documentary that recently played to sold out crowds in Detroit and Ann Arbor (if it hadn't, that would have been news) and is now set to make its sonic assault on the film festival circuit.

Download the trailer here.

ValleytoDetroit.com luring Yahoo techies to downtown

TechCrunch Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Hello, laid-off Yahoo engineers and other tech pros looking for the next big thing, which, as we know, is a million little things. It seems many of those "little things" are adding up and multiplying quickly in the lower Woodward Corridor. And at the M@dison Building in Grand Circus Park in particular.

TechCrunch reports on attempts to woo the best and the brightest to the D. We stand behind that call to digital arms. Read on
here.

Detroit '68: New book draws parallels between politics and Tigers championship season

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 17, 2012
A lot happened in 1968 all over the world. There were the Paris barricades and a police riot in Chicago. Politically motivated unspeakable acts of violence like the assassinations of Martin L. King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.

In Detroit, the city was recovering from its own violent summer of 1967 by rallying around the beloved Detroit Tigers, a team that had not won a World Series since 1945. Author Tim Wendel's "Summer of '68" takes in a lot of what happened that season on and off the diamond, in and out of Detroit. 

This Detroit Free Press story with author Q&A got our attention. Read more here.

MSU proposing massive urban agriculture research project

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 17, 2012
This project fills the brim with possibilities. The opportunity for Detroit to become the "capital of the experimental" has long been in the forefront of our vision statement. We would heartily welcome Michigan State University, in this case, to put its resources into 100 acres of Detroit land for urban ag research that could match any on a global scale. And of course, we insist it be done inclusively with participation of local groups already working on the fertile ground.

A few tantalizing highlights in this excerpt from the Detroit Free Press: 

• Research efforts would include "vertical agriculture," in which food is grown inside multi-story buildings, and innovative ways to produce energy and conserve water in food production.

• If implemented, Detroit would become the key research city in a network that includes Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg, Nairobi and others. 

• Detroit "could be the research and innovation engine" for urban agriculture around the world. The other cities "look at Detroit as the place where many of the answers will come from."

Read more in the Freep here. With additional "big-ass farm" perspective from Curbed Detroit.

Data supports what we already know: people want walkability

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Density is important, the Atlantic Cities argues in this piece published last week, but walkability is even more important in determining the quality of urban life. We'll take a little of each, please.

Sort out the distinction between the two assets here.

Bike to Comerica on Earth Day, get reduced-price ticket to see Tigers

Detroit Tigers Tuesday, April 17, 2012
It warms our hearts to see the Detroit Tigers getting in the spirit of Earth Day and sustainability by offering a special ticket package for bike riding fans interested in coming to the game on Sunday, April 22. 

The Tigers are playing the Texas Rangers. Good opponent. Get all details here.



'Urban Futures' provokes discussion in Lafayette Park

rogueHAA Tuesday, April 17, 2012
If an evening of exploring the role of large scale urban visions in post-industrial cities sounds like your cuppa tea -- as it is for us --- this is your weekend huckleberry.

The panel discussion "Urban Futures" in Lafayette Park will ask some pertinent questions about Detroit Modernism. Some of those questions include: Detroit’s Lafayette Park development has achieved many of the goals of Modernist planning and urban renewal, creating arguably one of the most vibrant and diverse neighborhoods in the city: does this speak to the unique conditions of Detroit? Does Detroit offer similar opportunities for avant-garde planning and large scale urban interventions today? What successes and sacrifices accompany the Modernist social agenda, and are there lessons to be learned as we seek to engage in equitable and sustainable redevelopment here and in other post-industrial cities? 

“Urban Futures" is April 21. Panel Discussion: 6 - 8 p.m. Reception: 8 - 9 p.m. At Lafayette Park Retail, 1565 East Lafayette, Detroit.

Detroit Mercy star guard named Horizon League Player of the Year

Roundball Daily Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Admit it, you helped cheer the University of Detroit Mercy Titans into the NCAA tournament. We sure did, and marveled at the talents of sophomore point guard Ray McCallum Jr. at the same time.

So we were doubly pleased when it was announced last week that McCallum Jr. -- whose dad is the UDM head coach -- was named Horizon League Player of the Year.

Read all about it here.

HuffPost Detroit: Bus and rail system both needed for Detroit. We agree

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 10, 2012
We're completely in step with HuffPost Detroit bloggers' Megan Owens and Adrianna Jordan's assessment that Detroit needs light rail and rapid bus transit.

Here's an excerpt:

The fundamental reason why both light rail and buses are necessary is that they often serve different purposes and are suited for different locations. When the transit modes work together, light rail provides an urban transit backbone that is fed by buses delivering passengers throughout less dense areas.

There's more to like about this piece. Read on here.

Bicycle culture blooms and booms in post-motorized city

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Any and all stories about walking and biking get out attention -- especially if they are in the same headline, like this piece by David Sands in HuffPost Detroit.

Not to mention a key sentence like this: A 2012 report by the Alliance for Biking & Walking found the number of bicycle commuters in Detroit rose 258 percent over the last two decades. Yeah, man. Those are the kind of numbers we like to see.

Read more here.

Gilbert scores again, this time with $500K residential building on Washington Blvd

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, April 10, 2012
We never get tired of Dan Gilbert (or anyone else -- c'mon anyone else, step up and put down some cash on Detroit real estate) buying downtown properties. This time it's a residential building on Washington Blvd. that you've seen a million times but never guessed at its endless possibilities. Get the lowdown in Crain's here.

Freep's Henderson: City Council "realists" made right call in consent vote

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Of the many analytical comments written on the long, difficult process to get the City of Detroit and the State of Michigan on the same page regarding a consent agreement to move the city off the financial schneid we like this one, by the Freep's Stephen Henderson, the best.

Here's a tease:

They chose a better way forward. But this is just the beginning of the work.

Council members, including those who voted against the agreement, will need to focus now on making the new structure work in a way that truly improves the lives of Detroiters. There is no time for second-guessing and squabbling, only responsible leadership.

Hear! Hear! Read on.

D3 now driving data from Tech Town

Data Driven Detroit Tuesday, April 03, 2012
When Grand Valley State bought the old Barden Communications building in February, we wondered what would become of our friends at Data Driven Detroit. Well, now we know. D3 is in transition to new offices in Tech Town.

The best way to contact the group is here or through Ask Kurt. That's D3's director Kurt Metzger, as you know.

For more info go here.

Dime building welcomes Chrysler suits to downtown digs

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Though Chrysler nor Quicken Loans people are commenting, sources tell Detroit Free Press columnist Tom Walsh that the Auburn Hills-based automaker is moving up to 70 people to offices in the Dime Building downtown.

That's great news for the Woodward Corridor. Keep 'em coming and read more about it here.

Freep's John Gallagher takes a deeper dive into downtown and Midtown

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, April 03, 2012
When John Gallagher of the Free Press talks, we listen. When he writes it, we read it. Like this timely push back at those who suggest that all the metrics don't add up to success for downtown and Midtown.

An excerpt:  

Yet at a casual glance, the downtown and Midtown markets appear to be booming. Rental apartment buildings are filled to capacity and running waiting lists. Downtown's newest hotels, including the Westin Book Cadillac and Doubletree Fort Shelby, enjoy healthy occupancy rates well above the local average.

There's more. Read on here.

'Awesome' launches, starts spending money to reward talent

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, April 03, 2012
The Detroit Journal was awarded $1,000 last week by the Awesome News Task Force Detroit at a party at the Virgil H. Carr Cultural Arts Center in downtown Detroit. Awesome also celebrated its launch at the same time.

Where did we find this awesome news? In Kate Abbey-Lambertz piece in HuffPost Detroit, that's where.

Nain Rouge makes Atlantic's list of imaginary city monsters

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, April 03, 2012
It was hard to resist the rest of the story when it began like this: "If you want to catch a cryptid doing its thing in America, common sense would deem you drive far out into the woods where humankind rarely ventures. After all, it's typically hunters and hikers who wind up having awkward run-ins with Bigfoot or the Flatwoods monster."

Even better is that Atlantic Cities, where we found the piece, went on to include our very own red dwarf of evil renown, the Nain Rouge. Keep reading here.

Jazz fest announces big-name talent for Labor Day weekend

Detroit News Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Though Labor Day seems so very, very far away, we yearn for it for many ways. One of those reasons is the Detroit Jazz Festival, which announced some its headliners earlier this week.

Some of the names include guitarist Pat Metheny, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, pianist Chick Corea, tenor and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter and trumpeter Randy Brecker.

Susan Whitall of the Detroit News has more here.

Cass Tech home to new Detroit City Futbol side

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The semi-pro Detroit City FC soccer team will open its regular season May 12 against visiting AFC Cleveland at, drum roll please, the field at downtown's storied Cass Technical High School. 

Here's an excerpt from HuffPost Detroit:

The new soccer team, nicknamed "Le Rouge," will belong to the National Premier Soccer League's Midwest division and will play against teams in Cleveland and Buffalo. Organizers say home games will feature a variety of local entertainment, food and merchandise to help create a family-friendly environment that spotlights Detroit.

Read the rest of the story here.

Midtown garage opens its fabulous house of green

Facebook Tuesday, March 27, 2012
For all of you who have marveled at the transformation of a historic Midtown automotive facility to a cutting edge model for sustainability and all things green, here's your chance to see up close and personal.

The Green Garage has an open house this Thursday, March 29, 3-8 p.m. And you're invited! Go here for details.

Let's argue for more walkable streets, shall we?

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Walkability is always part of the Detroit conversation. But it jumped to the front of our thoughts last week when we were at the intersection of W. Vernor and 14th attempting to cross the street from the Mercury Burger Bar to Slows, Astro and Sugar House on the north side of Michigan Avenue.

This is arguably the coolest block in the city, one of the coolest in the state, celebrated from coast to coast as a model of urban redevelopment.  

But the length of the traffic light signal, which has to go through at least a couple of cycles to accommodate auto traffic from multiple directions, made it a long, long, long wait. As we waited, cars race passed at highway speeds.

We were all able-bodied walkers and able to get across before the signal changed. But we're not sure the lady in this story, using a walker, would be able to manage it. And that's a problem, Detroit road engineers.

Check the piece out from Atlantic Cities here and keep the argument for walkability going full force. We plan to.

New York Mag tells readers where to go, what to do in Detroit

New York Magazine Tuesday, March 27, 2012
New Yorkers considering a weekend jaunt to Detroit were just given a head start by New York Magazine, which directs people to a tasty list of places to eat, play and stay while they're here. 

It's a nice list, including outsider art installations like Heidelberg and Hamtramck Disneyland, quirky food and drink stops like Lafayette Coney Island and Cafe D'Mongo's, and lodging options at the Book Cadillac, Hope and Folly and the Inn on Ferry St.

Read all about yourselves here, Detroit.

Nain Rouge, Midtown and placemaking

Economics of Place Tuesday, March 27, 2012
We found this last night while scouring the interwebs looking for quirky Detroit stuff to share. It comes from Dan Gilmartin and his ever-inspiring Economics of Place blog:

The Marche du Nain Rouge is the brainchild of Francis Grunow, a midtown resident and a big player in the turnaround of the historic Cass Corridor neighborhood. When I was in high school the area (which is part of greater Midtown) was #1 on the list of neighborhoods that you didn’t want to venture into at night. Today, however, it boasts some amazing new residential loft developments, authentic retail shops, great restaurants, and an energy approaching what you might find in some of the more well known "comeback" neighborhoods in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Well said, and thanks for giving some deserved love to Model D stalwart contributor Grunow. 

Read the rest here.

Keep on reimagining Detroit

Facebook Tuesday, March 27, 2012
We're fans of the Freep's John Gallagher and his Reimagining Detroit book, published last year by Wayne State University Press. So when we heard that a film based on the book was in progress and a 30-minute segment was being screened downtown at the M@dison Building this week, we jumped all over it.

You're invited as well. Go here to register.

Robert Richie -- uh, that's Kid Rock -- buys riverfront estate

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Michigan rap-country-rock star Kid Rock has purchased a house on the East Riverfront, our friends at Curbed Detroit report.

It's a 6,000-square-foot colonial-style house on the same block as the Manoogian Mansion, the dwelling used by Detroit's mayors.

Hey Kid, give us a ring when you want to party like it's 1989. Read all about it here.

Photographer Noah Stephens focuses on Detroit people and place

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Nothing beats an interesting face. Unless it's a killer public place. There are plenty of both in Detroit, where photographer Noah Stephens roams the cityscape with a camera.

We've taken notice of his talent. So has HuffPost Detroit. Take a look at the work here.

The Alley Project creates public art space on far Southwest side

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Looking at problems to provide hints for solutions is a smart way to look at community. This is even smarter: Looking at the assets a community might provide and leveraging that social capital. The Alley Project (TAP) didn't mushroom up magically, although there was a strong community base for it to begin with. It evolved in a partnership of participatory design.

We couldn't agree more with those words by Lee Schneider in HuffPost Detroit. Read on here.

Atlantic Cities takes notice of Detroit Bus Co.

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, March 20, 2012
If it's about transportation and it's in Detroit, we're all over it lately. Not to mention, we're always on the hunt for stories on transit region-wide, statewide and, well, all over the planet. So long as it presents solutions to a plethora of issues back home.

Like this story we found in Atlantic Cities. Read about the Detroit Bus Company here.

Winter Music Conference party raises funds for Youthville

Resident Advisor Tuesday, March 20, 2012
At Need I Say More, an afternoon after-party at the upcoming Winter Music Conference in Miami, DJ and all-round good guy Danny Tenaglia is heading a lineup that is donating the proceeds of the event to Detroit's Youthville. Imagine that. How cool. No doubt the artists' relationship with longtime Youthville mentor and international DJ star Mike Huckaby played a part.

Resident Advisor has the scoop.

Place is what you make it

Let's Save Michigan Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Find an underutilized space in your community. An alley, a pocket park, a vacant lot. With a group of neighbors, friends, business owners, or other community members, create a plan and design for turning that underutilized space into a community place.

The best part: there is potential funding at the end of your project.
 
Let’s Save Michigan will award up to three prizes, ranging from $500 to $1000, to partially or fully fund your project. Your community will be more attractive, more welcoming, safer, and more economically successful.

Get more details here. Look for a feature next week that aims to entice you even further.

Inc. mag calls out Detroit as innovation hot spot

Inc. Tuesday, March 13, 2012
You know the social innovation scene is pretty sweet when Inc. Magazine says the downtown tech enclave dubbed Webward Avenue is poised to become "Detroit's own Silicon Valley." We felt that exact vibe at our last speaker series event held at the M@dison so we're not caught off guard by that statement.

Read the rest of the story here.

GOOD knows what's good: Detroit on list of cities where art is booming

GOOD Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Sure, there is nothing especially novel about Detroit being on a list of cities experiencing an artistic boom. But let's not get too cozy or cocky and stay gritty and productive. It's nice to be on GOOD's radar, that's for sure.

Read the rest of the story here.

OCD hackerspace gets some love from Detroit Yes!, Metro Times

Detroit Yes! Tuesday, March 13, 2012
We've been fans of OmniCorpDetroit before the Eastern Market hackerspace even had a name or a permanent space. We've seen some of the crazy-good work produced there for the annual Maker Faire. And have even been impressed with stuff that never made it out the door. That's how good these creative people are.

Check out this nice spread in Detroit Yes! here. And in the Metro Times here.

Spring forward march at St. Paddy Day parade in Corktown

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, March 13, 2012
About 3,000 people were expected to participate in the annual parade that spanned several blocks along Michigan Avenue, said Mike Kelley, president of the United Irish Societies and co-chairman of the parade. That number jumped to over 65,000 because of unseasonably warm spring-like temps in Detroit's Corktown.

“The crowd is huge,” Kelly said. 

That's an excerpt from the Detroit Free Press. Read the rest of the story, which includes a slideshow with plenty of shamrock green, here.

Corktown innovators get 'buzzed' on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe'

MSNBC Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The top of our Monday morning is given a rousing head start whenever Detroit doers get their due in the national media. This time during a caffeinated discussion on how innovation is changing the social landscape and putting juice into the economy in Michigan and Ohio. With a special focus on what's happening in Corktown, around the intersection of Michigan and 14th St. and beyond.

We've got video. Watch it here.

Empowering Detroit's powerless with design

New York Times Tuesday, March 06, 2012
We're always happy to dig up press on Veronika Scott, who was featured in our recent IdeaLab speaker series in Ann Arbor. This time the words attached to her good deeds come courtesy of the New York Times. Here's an excerpt: 

Having graduated this past December, Ms. Scott has now founded the Empowerment Plan, a nonprofit company, where she is training and paying recently homeless women to produce the coats for those living on the streets. Already they have made 275 coats -- 100 of which have been given to homeless people in Detroit and two of which Ms. Scott gave to Occupy Wall Street supporters she met while visiting New York this winter.

Read the rest of it here.

Citizen Effect making connections via social networks

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Earlier this year, Dan Morrison of Citizen Effect introduced himself in Model D. Now read up on his group's progress in HuffPost Detroit. An excerpt:

So what did all this work on Twitter get us? A good but not ridiculous list of 831 Twitter followers? Actually, a hell of a lot more than that. First, a launch week that made it feel like we were a much larger operation than we are (which has its ups and downs). We had two articles in the Detroit Free Press, air time on WDET, a feature on Model D, two invitations to blog on Huffington Post Detroit, blog posts on Positive Detroit, Xconomy, Detroit Half Full, The Detroit Hub, and others. Most important, social media allowed us to get physical. Over 200 people came out for our happy hour and nearly 200 people inquired about how to be a Citizen Philanthropist for Detroit4Detroit. Not bad for a few social media hacks.

Read the rest of the story here.

Tigers fans brave rain, snow and heavy wind for tickets

Detroit News Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Hey, this is the sort of late-winter news we love hearing: Nearly 1,000 people waited outside Comerica Park to buy individual game tickets for the 2012 season. The tickets, which were also available online and by phone, went on sale at 10 a.m.

Play ball here.

Student-journalist imagines new life in historic Detroit buildings

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 06, 2012
We get excited when student-journalists bust out into the local spotlight. We found this one by a Detroit architecture loving student Chris Zadorozny in HuffPost Detroit. An excerpt: 

With the recent push of hotels in the city now, including the Westin Book-Cadillac, the DoubleTree Fort Shelby, and the soon-to-be-renovated David Whitney Building into an Aloft Boutique hotel, this could work again. Yes, the Marriott at the Renaissance Center is right down the street, and most of the high-end visitors stay at the Book-Cadillac, the views could entice many to stay.

Read on here.

Is Packard plant going down? Maybe, maybe not

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Finances appear to be an issue for Cristini, who did not return several calls from the Free Press on Friday. He told the Environmental Protection Agency last year that he didn't have the resources to pay $35,000 for cleanup costs at the plant. His company, Bioresource, owes $760,000 in back city and county property taxes. The city has a separate lien against the owner for $400,000 in unpaid taxes, a spokeswoman said.

here.

Twitter event on placemaking draws crowd on the web

Economics of Place Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Buzzing around the web with frequent stops at the Economics of Place has its rewards. Look what we found this time: a pretty high-level panel on placemaking that took place on Twitter. An excerpt:

Panelists Nate Berg from The Atlantic Cities, Diana Lind from Next American City, Ethan Kent (who was sitting in for Kathy Madden) from the Project for Public Spaces, and Dan Gilmartin from the Michigan Municipal League offered some tangible best practices and placemaking examples, as well as some insight into how placemaking can become an entirely new mindset and approach for economic development.

That's just a bit of it. Read more here.

Pewabic Pottery ages well, hits 109 mark this Saturday

Pewabic Pottery Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Looked what dropped in our laps just as we were going to digital press on Monday: an invite to an anniversary celebration at historic Pewabic Pottery, which turns 109 years young this Saturday, March 10.

There will a special birthday party event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The public is invited to attend the free celebration, which will feature complimentary guided tours, demonstrations, birthday cake, refreshments and hourly door prize giveaways.
 
Guided tours will begin at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. and will feature a first look at the nonprofit’s new history tour plaques, which were purchased through funding from the Michigan Humanities Council and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. In addition, guests will have a chance to see the pottery’s recently restored 105-year-old historic chimney.

For more info go here.

Explore historical Underground Railroad route on bicycle

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 28, 2012
HuffPost Detroit reports that the Adventure Cycling Association decided to create more maps, and added a new 518-mile Detroit Alternate trail to the Underground Railroad routes that have end points in Marine City and, across Lake Huron in Owen Sound, Ontario.

Cool history lessons that most of us know little about. Read the rest of the story here.

Brooklyn is so last year; now Detroit might be the new Austin

Culturemap Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Guess what? There is a new round of urban hipster-centric comparisons that includes Detroit in the conversation. This time the standard of cool is Austin, not Brooklyn, and cities like Asheville, Chattanooga, Burlington and, of course, Detroit are in on the chase. Or so says Culturemap.

It's not horrible. Read it here.

Like the Broderick Tower? So do we

Facebook Tuesday, February 28, 2012
We were trolling around Facebook the other day and found this page dedicated to the Broderick Tower, one of downtown's skyscraping gems. No, scratch that. It is one of the great buildings to ever rise over the North American continent -- and you can quote us on that.

Find the page, and "like" the great tower,  here.

Bike paths promote more riders, don't they?

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, February 28, 2012
A recent study of Seattle residents found that those living near bike paths had an increased likelihood of riding, which makes sense, but saw no effect for bike lanes. Hmm. Then, a study in Minneapolis reached the opposite conclusion. Another study found no connection between bike lanes and ridership levels at all. In short, the research picture is far from settled.

The good news is that bikes, and where people ride them, are the subject of so much attention. Dig into it here.

Bizarre Foods' five top moments in Detroit

Travel Channel Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Andrew Zimmern came to Detroit for a recent episode of Bizarre Foods, which airs on the Travel Channel. He visited some of our best soul kitchens, hung out with the Mower Gang, had ghost pepper pizza on Bangladesh Avenue and went to Dearborn to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

That guy puts some crazy stuff in his mouth. Check out the results here.

Artist Charles McGee still holds sway over Detroit art scene at 87

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 28, 2012
We were delighted to see a piece on longtime Detroit artist of influence Charles McGee this week in HuffPost Detroit. We have admired McGee for years, love his sculptural piece on John R at Farnsworth (go see it!) and last ran into him at Avalon late last year.

Here's an excerpt:

McGee paved the way for black artists in Detroit. His figurative paintings and abstract sculptures pop up all over the city, where he has lived since 1934. His active life in the region's art scene has included teaching, board involvement and winning the Kresge Eminent Artist award in 2008.

Read the rest of Kate Abbey-Lambertz piece here.

Hey, let's get married in Detroit

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 21, 2012
On Valentine's Day in HuffPost Detroit, we found this timely story with slideshow on some excellent locations in Detroit to get hitched. Also timely is an exhibition at the Detroit Historical Museum called "Saying I Do: Metro Detroit Weddings." Go see it: it's up through May 24. 

Find those cool Detroit wedding locations here.

Public Enemy lined up as Movement headliner

Resident Advisor Tuesday, February 21, 2012
For its seventh year producing the Movement Festival, Paxahau has plucked a diverse cast of headliners: including Chicago house icon Lil Louis on Saturday, May 26, rap legends Public Enemy on Sunday, May 27 (in their debut appearance at the festival) and Detroit native Jeff Mills, performing under an old moniker, The Wizard, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28.

Check out the first round of announcements, listed on Resident Advisor, here. There will be more to come.

Curbed checks out Detroit Soup's two-year anniversary bash

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Nice to see Curbed Detroit's Sarah Cox (who authors Model D's 'Imported to Detroit' series) getting out on the town and reporting from some of the city's most unique party spaces. Like this one in the former Jam Handy building on East Grand Blvd, which hosted the recent two-year anniversary of Detroit Soup. Take it away, Sarah:  

"Detroit's totally cornered the market on that unfinished, do-we-even-have-a-permit-to-be-here look for big events. And we love it! Why wait til renovations are done to show off a structure? Hell, most places look best stripped down (we love these brick walls!), so bring on the space heaters." She even waxes for half a sentence on our own Next Big Thing event last October at the David Whitney Building.

Read the whole piece here.

Americans want walkable neighborhoods, not big houses

GOOD Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Thank you, people of the USA. We put our faith in you once again. We are ecstatic to hear that a healthy percentage of our fellow Americans want walkable over wonky. Wonky as in the McMansion movement that characterized the last two decades.

We hold our tongues and say no more. As usual GOOD has the goods. Read on here.

Model D publisher Claire Nelson takes on prosperity agenda on WJR

Michigan Municipal League Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Michigan Prosperity Agenda is a monthly radio show that challenges listeners to help make Michigan a better place to live, work and play by creating vibrant local communities.

This month's show aired on News/Talk 760 WJR and was co-hosted by executive director and CEO of the Michigan Municipal League Dan Gilmartin and our own Claire Nelson, publisher of Model D. Part of the discussion was on Nelson's recent More Sexiness in the City piece.

Find the show archived here.

Roger Ebert says 'thumb's up!' to 'Lemonade: Detroit'

Twitter Tuesday, February 21, 2012
We've never hidden our excitement over the robust number of film and video being shot and produced in Detroit, about Detroit. Publisher Claire Nelson shared her list of favorites a few weeks ago. In case you missed it, here it is again.

Lemonade: Detroit is on that list. And now we find it on film critic Roger Ebert's Twitter feed. Find it here.

Detroit rises and shines for National Geographic Traveler

National Geographic Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Writer Andrew Nelson saw plenty that impressed him on a return visit to Detroit at the behest of National Geographer Traveler. One thing that caught his eye were the art deco towers, which he says "make those in Miami’s South Beach look like anthills. 

Then he met up with architectural historian Dan Austin. "Detroit has one of the largest collections of Roaring ’20s architecture anywhere in the country," Austin told him. "And it’s not just art deco buildings, either--a town house development, Lafayette Park, is the largest collection of mid-century modernist Mies van der Rohe residences in the world." Well said, Dan. 

Keep reading here.

Video stars: DetroitUnspun tunes into Data Driven Detroit

YouTube Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The pictures say it all. Well, no: Data Driven Detroit's Kurt Metzger and his charts say it all during episode 11 of DetroitUnspunTV. Plan to spend a good half hour getting an education on proper council re-districting that manages to keep the integrity of neighborhoods intact. Metzger knows his stuff.

Watch the video, commercial free, here.

Detroit has an app for that

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Retaining talent is one of the reasons Nathan Hughes started Detroit Labs, which employs more than 15 people at its M@dison Building HQ downtown. 

This hub of online creativity is part of the growing App Economy, including some nice growth spurts coming out of Detroit, and is featured in this story in HuffPost Detroit. Read it here.

Gary Panter, Joshua White, Adult., Monster Island light up MOCAD opening

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 14, 2012
We saw you there, near the crush of bodies at the front of the stage, when Adult. -- Detroit's Nicola Kuperas and Adam Lee Miller -- fired up their live sound at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. And in the big room around the back, where Cary Loren and his extraordinary post-acid poetry and noise-rock project Monster Island performed. Wow, what a night. 

It was one of MOCAD's grandest art openings, a perfect kick-off event for a showing of works by Gary Panter (of Pee Wee's Playhouse fame) and Joshua White (he lit up New York's Fillmore Theatre in the 1960s).

Get a taste of it in HuffPost Detroit here. Then go to MOCAD and see the show. It's up through April 29.

DSO sets record with 'Live from Orchestra Hall' webcast

CBS Detroit Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra said about 15,000 viewers saw the ensemble’s recent performance of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s "Symphonic Dances." Previous live webcasts by others have garnered about 10,000 viewers, it was reported.

Nice work, DSO. Read the whole story here.

Detroit City Futbol organizers buy semi-pro club

Detroit News Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Two years ago, Sean Mann started a city soccer league -- the Detroit City Futbol League -- which drew 1,000 spectators to some games on Belle in the summer of 2011. That success has led 31-year-old Mann and partners Dave Dwaihy, Todd Kropp, Ben Steffans and Alex Wright to buy the rights to form a semi-professional soccer team representing Detroit.

Read all about it here.

Mike Kelley legacy work remains in flux at MOCAD

ArtInfo Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Artist Mike Kelley, who was part of the art-noise collective Destroy All Monsters while a student at the University of Michigan in the 1970s died on last week at age 57. He'd been in Los Angeles for over 30 years, carving out an art career that enabled him to exhibit in galleries, museums and biennials around the world.

Kelley's "Mobile Homestead," an unfinished replica of his childhood home, is the subject of three documentaries to be featured in this year’s Whitney Biennial in New York. Back in Detroit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), however, the future of the work -- Kelley’s only piece of public art and his only permanent installation in his hometown -- is now uncertain.

Read about it here. Need to catch up on your Destroy All Monsters history? Do it now.

Freep editorial editor suggests neighborhood links remain for political districts

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Editor Stephen Henderson is a smart guy. In a recent editorial on considering the options for slicing up the city into new council districts, these words got our attention:

"Like any city, Detroit is defined by its neighborhoods. They provide the sense of place. 

But you wouldn't know that from looking at the four maps for City Council districts drawn up by the planning commission. In each case, the proposed districts are compact and contiguous, drawn to account for legal restrictions and voting precincts, not currently cohesive communities."

He's right. Read on.

Eastern Market reinventing itself with more than food

Detroit News Tuesday, February 07, 2012
The Detroit News reports: "A $3.9 million upgrade has begun of Eastern Market's Shed 5, which is the heart of the market's plant and flower business. The upgrades will include a commercial-grade kitchen aimed at upstart local food producers.

"Among the entrants in the farmer's market area are a self-described hacker space, a letterpress storefront and an art gallery. Plans are under way to build a community kitchen aimed at small-scale food entrepreneurs, and construction of a 40,000-square-foot fish farm inside a former city sewage facility may begin soon."

More, we say, more, more, more. Read the rest of the article here.

D3's proposal for council districts, weighs in on bus rapid transit

Data Driven Detroit Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Yes, that's right, we have a full court press on to try to drive the correct decision in creating reasonable and equitable Detroit City Council districts. Read Free Press editor Stephen Henderson's take here.

In its current newsletter, Data Driven Detroit asks these three vital questions about the Detroit City Council district options created by the City Planning Commission:

1. Are any neighborhoods or historic areas split between two or more districts? If so, residents and community organizations must rely on multiple Council members to represent their neighborhood. That makes it more difficult to hold any single member responsible for that neighborhood issues.

2. Are any neighborhoods grouped into districts with distant or dissimilar neighborhoods? If so, the focus of that district’s Council member will be divided between neighborhoods with significantly different interests and concerns.

3. Are any place-based long-term public or private investment areas split between two or more districts?If so, businesses, investors, and government programs must rely on multiple Council members to support their interests. Splitting investment areas makes impact more complex, difficult, and harder to demonstrate.

Read the entire report here. After you dig into that, check out D3's report on another pressing issue, bus rapid transit.

Black Male Engagement (BME) winners announced

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Ten black men in Detroit -- and 10 more in Philadelphia -- are receiving grants valued at $5,000 to $40,000 for community projects as part of the Black Male Engagement (BME) program launched last August by the Knight and Open Society foundations.

Detroit's leadership award winners include a mentor, a lawyer, former prisoners who now teach literacy and media skills, an LGBT rights activist, entrepreneurs, and one comeback kid. That's a strong list. 

Read the whole story here.

'Godmother of African-American poetry' receives $50,000 prize from Kresge Foundation

Kresge Foundation Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Award-winning poet, editor, and educator Naomi Long Madgett -- who nurtured aspiring Detroit poets through her teaching, annual poetry award, and publishing company last week was named the 2012 Kresge Eminent Artist.

The award and $50,000 prize recognize Madgett’s decades of commitment to poetry by African-Americans, and promoting the study and appreciation of African-American literature in schools and universities.

That's only a fraction of the story. The rest is even better. Read it here.

'9 Businesses' highlights indie Detroit entrepreneurship

Vimeo Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Screened last week at Eastern Market's Signal Return, the short film 9 Businesses aims to give a taste of how small business energy can help catalyze, revitalize and inspire neighborhood life.

Need some inspiration? Watch this.

Alliance for Biking & Walking releases 2012 benchmarks

Alliance for Biking & Walking Tuesday, January 31, 2012
This report shows that increasing bicycling and walking are goals that are clearly in the public interest. Listen up, Detroit:

Where bicycling and walking levels are higher, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes levels are lower. Higher levels of bicycling and walking also coincide with increased bicycle and pedestrian safety and higher levels of physical activity. Increasing bicycling and walking can help solve many serious problems facing our nation.

Many of us know this already. But not all. Read the entire report here.

Doc on corridor music legend Rodriguez rocks Sundance

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Rodriguez has always been a mysterious figure, even in underground Detroit art and music circles. He was a fixture in the old Cass Corridor in the late-1960s/early-1970s, playing guitar and writing tunes about halfway between East Coast and West Coast (Bob Dylan and Arthur Lee of Love). He recorded his music, it made its way to South Africa, which embraced the son of Mexican immigrants as a poet-genius of gritty urban Americana.

Then, he was said to disappear. Only to be rediscovered by new generations of rockers. But let's not spoil the story any further.

Read more about the film here. Then get out and see it when it hits a Detroit screen near you.

'After the Factory' film contrasts Detroit with Polish city

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Documentary filmmaker Philip Lauri and cinematographer Steven Oliver got a chance to mix with creative filmmakers from a world-renowned film school -- which produced Andrej Wajda, Roman Polanski and many others -- and with the aid of producers and translators, the filmmakers launched a month-long cinematic investigation of Lodz, Poland.

The result is After the Factory, a tale of two cities an ocean apart but sharing a number of characteristics.

The film screens at the Detroit Film Theatre Feb. 2. Read all about the project here.

Web-based fellowship project ready to take on Detroit

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Early next month, Detroit welcomes three visitors who will spend an entire year developing web-based solutions to confront city issues head on.

Matt Hampel, Alicia Rouault and Prashant Singh were selected to be 2012 Detroit fellows for the national organization Code For America, a nonprofit that matches cities with civic-minded designers, coders, developers, engineers and a variety of cross-discipline problem solvers.

After finishing their initial training in San Francisco, the three fellows will come to Detroit on Feb. 3. They will spend a month talking to city officials and community residents about key issues and attending public events. Then they'll return to San Francisco, where they will spend the bulk of the year coming up with ideas and developing them, before returning to Detroit to test them with users. At the end of their fellowship, they will have built projects that are useful for the city and found residents to take responsibility for the projects' future sustainability.

That's just part of the story. Read it in its entirety here.

What is the Detroit brand? Experiencing people and place

Forbes Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Independent filmmaker Erik Proulx spent nearly two years traveling to Detroit to film Lemonade: Detroit, trying to find stories of reinvention that accurately reflect its brand. A brand, he says he could have never fully grasped without the first hand experience of being there.

Experience was the teacher for Proulx, as it is for us all.  

He writes all about it for Forbes, no less. Great stuff. Read about it here.

AIA: Detroit part of "New Big Three" for practicing architects

American Institute of Architects Tuesday, January 24, 2012
In the voluminous, intriguing scholarly piece, writer Wellington Reiter describes Detroit, New Orleans and Phoenix as U.S. cities "that have visited the frontlines of the future and are reporting back to the rest of the us, a bit wobbly and worse for wear, but still standing and in some respects, regaining their footing."

The rest of his paper is even better. Read it here.

Dirtbombs 'Party Store' makes Flavorwire list of best album covers of all time

Flavorpill Tuesday, January 17, 2012
We admit it: anytime a story about the Dirtbombs -- or you name it, a plethora of Detroit musicians that have made an impact around the world -- comes across the wire, we're all over it. This one is especially cool, an argument that the Dirtbombs' Party Store possesses one of the top album covers of all time.

Read all about it -- then rock out to "Sharivari" with the help of this sweet video.

Bethany Shorb's 'ties that don't suck' make Etsy's list of 1,000 handmade sellers

Handmadeology Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Etsy, as many of you know, is an international marketplace made up of a community of artists, thinkers, doers, makers, sellers, buyers and collectors.

So it's none too shabby when you're biz places 20th out of 1,000, as did Bethany Shorb and her Cyberoptix line of ties. Look for her moniker, Toybreaker, hit it and check out Shorb's fab collection of hand-printed wearables, all produced in a studio on Techno Boulevard (that's Gratiot, on the southern edge of Eastern Market).

Michigan Municipal League touts economic importance of immigrants

MIchigan Municipal League Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A new report by the Immigration Policy Center shows Michigan's immigrant population growing, excelling educationally and contributing to the state's economy.

Using the latest census data, the report shows that in 2010, immigrants made up 6 percent of the state's population or 587,747 persons. This compares to 1990 when the figure was 3.8 percent.

Follow Model D's coverage of this topic in the pages of Model D in the coming months and read more about the Immigration  Policy Center report here.

Atlantic Cities profiles downtown catalyst Dan Gilbert

Atlantic Cities Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Dan Gilbert has been making plenty of news locally with his purchases of properties in the lower Woodward corridor. He's been getting some love from the national press, as well, like this Q&A in Atlantic Cities.

Read more about Gilbert's lifelong downtown love affair here.

Photography beyond the 'poetic inconsequence' of ruin porn

Design Observer Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Dave Jordano was a student of photography at the College for Creative Studies in the early 1970s. Following the example of his photography heroes -- Walker Evans, Robert Frank and others -- he set out back then to photograph his city.

He came recently back to "re-photograph" the city. The result is an overall picture of Detroit that connects decades 40 years apart.

Take a look at the entire piece here.

BBC reports: Space for growth in Detroit

BBC Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Sure, you may have heard much of this before -- that the city is underserved by national food chains, the manufacturing base has collapsed and population has been on a decades-long decline -- but it does feel kinda good to get the BBC to weigh in on urban farming, Eastern Market, the importance of Whole Foods entering the marketplace and, of course, the creative possibilities of having incredible amounts of space as an asset.

Read it all here.

'Work, Reimagined': Detroit producer pens a piece for Yes! Magazine

Yes! Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Independent radio producer Zac Rosen takes a dive into Detroit's creative communities and comes up with some blueprints for the changing nature of work. COLORS--Detroit, On the Rise bakery and the Boggs Educational Center are part of "a revolution of values," he writes. Nicely put.

Read the whole story here.

Giddy up: Pony Ride nurtures creative life in Corktown

Vimeo Tuesday, January 10, 2012
You heard? A group of outside the box investors, including Phil Cooley of Slows, purchased an 80-year-old factory on the corner of Vermont and Porter streets last spring and created a community empowerment project that enables artist and social innovators to get massive amounts of space at an affordable price. You probably did, since we ran this story about the Corktown incubator in November.

But that's OK, because it looks even better in this video clip. Roll the tape and check it out here.

Kickstart Kresge grant winner Steve Hughes' 'Stupor' project with Matthew Barney

Kickstarter Tuesday, January 10, 2012
When writer-builder Steve Hughes met art world maverick Matthew Barney a few years back on a Detroit film set, who knew the two would hit it off and one day collaborate on a book project as part of Hughes' elegantly wasted 'Stupor' series? It's a match made in, well, some stinking, cinematic barroom in a town that is equal parts Hamtramck (where Hughes lives and gets plenty of inspiration) and Boise, Idaho, where Barney spent his formative years.

We don't really know, it's just a guess on our part. But we're eager to see the finished product, to be called Washed in Dirt. Help support it here. Then listen to WDET-FM's Rob St. Mary talk to Hughes here.

DC3 helps grow collective voice for Detroit creatives

Detroit Creative Corridor Center Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Speakers Bureau is an initiative by the Detroit Creative Corridor Center to help establish a voice for Detroit’s creative community. This collective voice is that of many people and businesses who demonstrate forward progress in the city.

All of these individual entities have worked with or work alongside the DC3 in Detroit. Maybe they’ve participated in the Creative Ventures Program or consulted with the DC3 staff on a location for their business. Whatever the case, this is the story of Detroit’s forward movements through our lens. Read all about it here.

HuffPo Detroit rounds up Dan Gilbert's greatest hits of 2011

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Most of us have followed the multiple stories of Quicken Loans founder/chairman Dan Gilbert buying up Detroit skyscrapers in the lower Woodward corridor. His newish company, Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC, manages the properties.

And there are hints of more to come. While we wait, HuffPost Detroit editor Simone Landon maps out Gilbert's real estate scores -- purchased for a cool, cumulative $50 million -- here.

Knight Foundation's BME reinforces good works of Detroit's African American men

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Knight's Black Male Engagement program is rolling forward in Detroit and Philadelphia. Since BME launched, over 1,000 African American men have shared their stories. It offers a chance for community leaders to talk about their projects and connect with others doing similar work in Detroit.

One of the participants is Curtis Lipscomb of KICK, and organization that supports LGBT African Americans. In his BME video, Lipscomb says he's worked with over 3,000 people in nearly 20 years of service. 

See the KICK video and read the entire story here.

Visual regards: Freep editor and other Detroiters illustrate city life

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, January 10, 2012
A few months ago, the Free Press began asking its readers to share pictures that reflected their experiences in metro Detroit. The project took its cue from "Detroit Revealed: Photographs 2000-2010," an exhibit up through April 29 at the Detroit Institute of Arts that features local and international artists' photos of Detroit and Detroiters.

Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson contributed his own family snaps to the slideshow. Check it out here.

HuffPost Detroit's top 11 tech startups for 2011

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Our friends at HuffPost Detroit are ending the year with some best of lists and roundups just like we are. This week, a list of the 11 top tech startups is making the rounds around the webs.

Check it out here.

Detroit Revitalization fellows announced

Wayne State University Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The Detroit Revitalization Fellows Program is a partnership between Wayne State University, the Kresge Foundation, Hudson-Webber Foundation and the Skillman Foundation that brings together talented professionals in Detroit. They will participate in a program combining two years of full-time employment with executive development-style education, networking opportunities and professional coaching and mentoring.

See the list of fellows here. We'll follow this story as it develops.

Sign up for future media economy workshops

Detroit Future Media Tuesday, December 13, 2011
These workshops are 20-week training sessions for Detroiters interested in building Detroit’s media economy by creating grassroots media, and community cultural production. The workshops offer intensive trainings on video, graphics, and web design with a focus on education, entrepreneurship and media-based community organizing.

Hey, sign us up. You do the same here.

Bizdom chief calls Detroit "entrepreneurial field of dreams"

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Dan Izzo zeroes in on a topic near and dear to our hearts: young and hungry thinkers, doers, builders and makers finding opportunities to do business in Detroit 2.0. Some of them have no ties to the city but come ready to plant their vision in this fertile place, says the Training and Launch Chief for downtown's Bizdom U.

The piece first appeared in HuffPost Detroit. Read it here, get inspired.

Wheelhouse pops up at Compuware HQ downtown

Detroit Regional News Hub Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Co-owners Karen Gage and Kelli Kavanaugh say they have always wanted to operate their Wheelhouse Detroit bike shop year round. The next best thing is a pop up shop in a great location. And it doesn't come much better than the Compuware Building, across from downtown's Campus Martius.

It's now open through Christmas Eve. Get all the info you need to go shopping here.

Getting physical: 'Thrive' putting print journalism in hands of homeless

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 13, 2011
We're big fans of Delphia Simmons and her stewardship of street newspaper Thrive. And not only because Model D is happy to be supplying some of the content for the paper distributed by homeless Detroiters.

This story caught our eye in HuffPost Detroit.

Excerpt:

Simmons' hard work to get the project up and running attracted the notice of Kiva, a nonprofit organization that uses the Internet and its worldwide microfinance network to issue loans that help alleviate poverty. Kiva learned about Simmons' project from Margarita Barry, a Detroit entrepreneur who helped set up the organization's local branch.

Read the rest of the story here.

Arts institutions combine efforts for creative development summit

ArtServe Michigan Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Developed by ArtServe Michigan and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in partnership with the College for Creative Studies and Cranbrook Academy of Art, this summit is designed to empower artists of all disciplines to take the next step in building sustainable professional creative practices.

It takes place Friday and Saturday (Dec. 16-17) at MOCAD, 4454 Woodward Ave., in Midtown. Get more info and register here.

New books out by Detroit bloggers, including one of our own

Sweet Juniper Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Among other things the talented Amy Elliot Bragg is a contributor to our sister and brother custom publications within the pulsating, ever-expanding Issue Media Group network. She is also the author of the recently-published book, Hidden History of Detroit. This Sweet Juniper piece steers you closer to it, and also brings to light another new Detroit tome, 313: Life in the Motor City by John Carlisle.

Read more and find out where you can purchase them here.

Progressive landscape for social entrepreneurship: it's here

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Have a killer project that, no matter how great, fails to get the city's attention?

You're not alone, says writer-activist Achille Bianchi in HuffPost Detroit. "This is why so many grass-roots and socially progressive movements and organizations thrive and continue to thrive in Detroit," he writes. "Their invention, innovation and efficiency spawns from a certain type of need that only specialized tools can fix." We like how that sounds.

Read the rest of Bianchi's piece here.

'Who is a Detroiter' brouhaha gets radio play on WDET

WDET Tuesday, December 06, 2011
We know this heated debate is so last week, but we thought whoever didn't weigh in via social media or was hiking in the Porcupine Mountains or on a fishing boat in the North Atlantic would appreciate hearing this 30-minute segment featuring Toby Barlow, Rabbi Jason Miller and Model D's Walter Wasacz from WDET's Craig Fahle Show.

To catch up to the debate and refresh our take on it, go here. To listen to the podcast, go here.

Bright lights, our city: New docs focus on future of Detroit

One of Us Films Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Local production company One of Us Films is working on a documentary film that tightens the focus on the potential of smart urbanism around the world. Using the thesis laid out in Detroit Free Press writer John Gallagher’s "Reimagining Detroit," the documentary looks to Detroit’s future, and to the future of cities everywhere.

Check out a clip from director Carrie LeZotte's work in progress here. And while you're in a video-watching mood, check out a preview of another intriguing work in production, Keys to Detroit. We like it, and plan to keep our eyes on both.

Curbed Detroit new architecture critic issues challenge to status quo

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Cheers, Curbed Detroit, for jumping into our moribund media marketplace and fearlessly mixing it up with business owners, designers, realtors, rabbis, Patti Smith fans and now the preservationist community. We didn't know we needed you until we needed you.

Welcome new architecture critic Kelly Ellsworth, who challenges all who love Detroit buildings to not only be passionate -- but proactive and effective.  

Let the arguments begin here.

Upstart Boat Magazine creates Detroit issue

The Guardian UK Tuesday, November 29, 2011
It was a lazy month for London ad agency owners Davey and Erin Spens. The pair, fascinated by magazines and travel, took an unusual vacation -- renting an office in Sarajevo, bringing their two coworkers along to pen a magazine offering readers a true glimpse of the formerly war-torn city.

After some help from writer Dave Eggers, who introduced the first issue of Boat Magazine with one of his short stories, the pair are at it again. They came to Detroit to produce their second issue -- a $12 "antidote to lazy journalism," printed on beautiful matte paper, with an article from Jeffrey Eugenides and interviews with Ben Wallace, Alex Winston and Jessica Hernandez.

We found one excerpt, a photo essay on Detroit food, in The Guardian:

We headed down there on a Saturday morning to find a bustling area filled with vegetable stalls, and thousands of people from all over Detroit and the surrounding states shopping for produce for home or business. The must-haves are the ribs from Berts, but we were as taken by the market across the freeway, with its walls painted in murals of meat, fish and cheese, which are sold inside.

Buy it here.

DC3 accelorator gallery places call for submissions

Detroit Creative Corridor Center Tuesday, November 15, 2011
"Starting Over," a new exhibition from the Detroit Creative Corridor Center, requests submissions for a gallery show to open in January.

Artists over the age of 18 from Metro Detroit are encouraged to submit no more than two two-dimensional pieces to the DC3 Accelerator Gallery by Nov. 25. The gallery is housed at the Taubman Center for Design Education building at CCS's New Center campus, located at 460 W. Baltimore. There is a $10 fee for entry.

"The concept for our first open-call exhibition is about the idea that, sometimes, you have to start anew," said Katherine Maurer, curator, DC3 Accelerator Gallery. "We want to receive submissions related to starting over, work that does reinvent the wheel. A product redesign, fine art, and anything in between will be considered as long as it relates to the concept of starting over."

Find out more here.

Detroit, an artistic paradise

Los Angeles Times Tuesday, November 15, 2011
This LA Times' trip to Detroit found an "artistic haven" of old structures, committed art dealers and vibrant examples of how community and culture intersect.

From the DIA, which the writer calls "America's most overlooked major museum," to the sculpture park outside the College for Creative Studies, and even a stop at Heidelberg, this travelogue details a city teeming with creativity. Russell St. Deli, Cafe D'Mongo's, Cass Cafe, and yes, Slows, were a few of the destinations the LA Times raved about.

Excerpt:

When I asked his inspiration, Guyton responded with questions of his own: "What is art today?" "Does it have to be in a museum?" "How do you revitalize a neighborhood?" "How do you get people to come to Detroit despite what they've heard?"

One of Guyton's motifs is New York taxis, painted on plywood boards. "A lot of people think you have to go to New York to make it," he said. "I'm saying I can make it right here, and I will. Watch me. I'm just getting started."

Find out more here.

Record amount of diners swarm fall Detroit Restaurant Week

Detroit Restaurant Week Tuesday, November 15, 2011
There's just no stopping Detroit Restaurant Week.

Event producers Paxahau reported that the 10-evening dining promotion lured 36,046 gourmands to 21 restaurants across the city of Detroit, an 18.4 percent increase over 2010. It's the second-largest tally ever for the $28 prix fixe dining bonanza, which has counted 150,000 customers since launching five years ago.


"We are pleased the enthusiasm Metro Detroiters have for Detroit Restaurant Week has continued to grow over the years," said Jason Huvaere, Director of Detroit Restaurant Week. "It has been a terrific way for our community to experience the tremendous fine dining restaurants Detroit has to offer. With each campaign we hope we’re developing a new crop of customers who will frequent the restaurants all year long."

Stay tuned for the announcement for a Spring 2012 Detroit Restaurant Week date and more here.

Detroit: a test case in the role of art in a city's revival

Grist Magazine Tuesday, November 08, 2011
In Kansas, a battle between Governor Sam Brownback and the National Endowment for the Arts has resulted in the NEA pulling all arts funding for the state, according to Grist. In Detroit, partnerships between major institutions and artistic-minded entrepreneurs have launched partnerships like the FAB lab, which offers metalworkers, mixed-media artists, woodworkers and digital fabricators the (often expensive) tools and space needed to practice their craft. Which seems like a growth strategy?

Excerpt:

"Detroit has always been a place where things have been made," says Alex Feldman, one of the project's creators, who works on economic development strategies with the company U3 Ventures. "That tradition is still alive here. But it's starting to shift in a small way to a more (artistic) culture of manufacturing and creation."

Tap into the scene here.

New Children's Chamber of Commerce to focus on Detroit kids

PNC Foundation Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thanks to a $50,000 grant from PNC Financial Services' PNC Foundation, First Children's Finance will launch the Michigan Children's Chamber of Commerce, designed to strengthen early-child care centers across the state --with a focus on Detroit, Inkster and Pontiac.

It's been a rough couple years for the early-care industry. Since 2009, Wayne County lost at least 60 licensed centers for child care, contributing to a loss of over 1,400 slots for young kids in Southeastern Michigan. As a result, over 70 percent of state subsidy dollars in Michigan are paid to unlicensed guardians caring for kids.

"Low-quality care in the first few years of life can have a long-lasting impact on a child's learning and behavior," said Skillman Foundation President & CEO Carol Goss. "Quality care helps a child to develop a strong mind, body and spirit through a variety of experiences."

Business members of the Michigan Children's Chamber can receive small business mentoring and financial support. The Chamber will conduct 200 clinics in 2012 to help existing businesses overcome specific business issues to stay on their feet and keep their doors open.

Find out more here.

Everybody loves Detroit now

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, October 18, 2011
How does it feel, friends, to be a redemption tale, a sports film montage and the trendiest city in America, all in one week?

While the last few days weren't kind to either the Tigers (bless you, boys) or the Lions, newspapers across America were high on the Detroit redemption theme, with sports serving as the engine for our latest renaissance.

We here at Model D know that progress in the city is, to pborrow from our upcoming Next Big Thing event, really the mean result of a million little things -- the hard work, goodwill and dedication of thousands of Detroiters that often go unnoticed. It's the community development organizers, the small business owners, the neighborhood watchdogs, and countless more of you every day that make this city special -- not a scoreboard result or an advertisement for a car commercial. 

Still, the recognition is nice. We're glad everyone's coming to understand what we love about this place.

Excerpt:

"We're a tough town," said Emmett Moten, a partner in the redeveloped Doubletree Fort Shelby hotel and former development czar for then-Mayor Coleman Young. "If you look back where we were in the '60s and where we are today, there were a lot of, not bumps in the road, but major, major catastrophes. But because the town was strong, they've been able to overcome that. ... "It's picking up," he said. "We have our problems, but we're willing to fight."

Click here to read the article.

A Detroit Lions story; a commentary on urban land-use

Yahoo! Sports Tuesday, October 18, 2011
In a widely-circulated article from Yahoo! Sports on the Detroit Lions' improbable start, Kid Rock and Ford Field's new reputation as a stadium to fear around the NFL, we found a few thoughts on urban land use and downtown space that fit pretty well in Model D.

Author Dan Wetzel contends that there's more for opposing teams to fear when visiting Detroit than the defensive line. Ford Field bucks the nationwide trend of cocooning stadiums -- that is, placing them far from city life and downtown chaos. The stadium's defiant location creates a crowd boiling over with enthusiasm before streaming through its doors -- and the crowd factor, no doubt, that contributed to the Bears' nine false starts against the Lions during Monday night's game. Wetzel's logic? Smart planning and cooperation between the Lions and city officials have re-defined the notion of the home field advantage in sports. And visiting teams should beware.

Excerpt:

It brought a hot team and the first Monday night game in a decade. So the people were everywhere, drinking in parking garages and cooking on dirty sidewalks and even tapping kegs right by the police headquarters. They wouldn’t have it any other way. It produced a throng of fans who would later bring the soul of the city inside and rain it right down on the Bears.

Read more here.

Tyree Guyton: new children's book and a farewell show

The Heidelberg Project Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Readers as young as six can now enjoy the brilliant spectacle of Tyree Guyton's work -- without leaving the house.

A new picture-book biography, "Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art," was released by author J.H Shapiro and illustrator Vanessa Brantley-Newton. The story details Guyton's transformative powers on his East Side neighborhood.

Bid farewell to Guyton, who is heading to Basel, Switzerland, for a one-year arts residency, on Friday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. Kresge Eminent Artist honoree Marcus Belgrave will perform his unique new composition, All That Jazz: The Heidelberg Suite, with Anthony Wilson and the Detroit All-Star Jazz Orchestra. The concert was made possible through a $50,000 gift from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation. The fete takes place at the First Congregational Church at 33 E. Forest. Tickets are $25. The concert is in partnership with the Arts League of Michigan.

Excerpt:

Guyton is headed to Basel, Switzerland in late October for a prestigious, one-year residency at the Laurenz House where he will reflect on 25 years of the Heidelberg Project through a series of manifestos. This work is a component of his 2009 honorary PhD from the College for Creative Studies. Guyton has also been invited to participate in the international 2012 Art Basel, called “the largest art show in the world.”

Purchase your tickets and find out more here.

Detroit hip-hop poised for another day in the sun

National Public Radio Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Local music writer William E. Ketchum III says hip-hop's elusive pendulum of influence is swinging back to Motown, offering five reasons rap enthusiasts across the nation need to tune in to Detroit's musical offerings (and no, Eminem isn't one of them).

Noteworthy artist Royce da 5'9" has a new album, Big Sean is cracking Billboard lists with his Finally Famous LP, which came out on Kanye West's G.O.O.D label; while indie rock and rap fans alike found much to like about Black Milk's collaborations with Jack White. Up-and-comers FowL and Danny Brown also made the list.

Excerpt:

"It started out as an individual thing. Now, I think all of us realize it can't be an individual thing," says Royce Da 5'9". "We've all been self-contained over the years, but now we realize there's strength in numbers. It's good to be unified, as opposed to everyone on their own agenda."

Read more here.

Know This! takes a tour of Detroit's creativity

YouTube Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Know This! took a tour through Detroit, catching up with 71 Pop's Margarita Barry, Detroitbigfdeal's Tunde Wey and Bureau of Urban Living owner Claire Nelson along the way. The host says they're hearing a lot of new concepts in the city, "because people are really innovating, people are really connecting and they're bringing a lot of creative ideas to revitalize the city." Hear, hear.

Check the video out here.

Red Bull World Tour goes full volume at TV Bar

Red Bull Music Academy Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Techno enthusiasts might associate the Red Bull Music Academy with offbeat genre collaborations and up-and-coming producers, but the World Tour stop in Detroit last week was anything but. Motor City Frequencies was a tribute to Detroit's founding fathers of electronic music, the second wave of DJs who followed in their tracks, and a chance to spotlight the city's next class of musicians advancing the craft. The week-long event, hosted at Flat 151 and TV Bar, mixed heavies like Juan Atkins, Theo Parrish and Underground Resistance's Mike Banks with hip hop producer Nick Speed (50 Cent, Tupac Shakur).

Excerpt:

Speed told the assembled crowd how much he loves the 'gumbo of music styles' Detroit offers and his send-off was a high-energy tribute to all the original music the city has spawned. With one of his own beats blasting through the speakers, Speed stood on the couch and began freestyling for the audience.

The beat goes on.

The Irish Times writes their can't-miss-Detroit travelogue

The Irish Times Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Most every city newspaper has taken a crack at the "Detroit travelogue" this year -- a Lonely Planet-esque tour though the city, combining the D's often mercurial history with present rebuilding efforts. In Detroit, writes the Irish Times, we're successfully re-inventing 200 years of history into a tour for every traveler -- be it the Motown music-seeker, the Underground Railroad tracer or the merry Prohibition buster. Rather than dwell on ancient memories, IT also lauds Detroit's thriving downtown as a cosmopolitan attraction all its own.

Excerpt:

Take a trip up to the restaurant on the roof of the Detroit Marriott hotel, officially the tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the western hemisphere, and have a drink. It’s pretty jaw-dropping, on a par with my favourite, the rooftop restaurant in the San Francisco Hilton. Back on the streets – as they say in the cop shows – head to Midtown and the Detroit Institute of Arts, which, despite its prosaic name, houses one of the finest art collections in the US. Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry cycle of 27 fresco panels – gifted by another Ford, this time Edsel – is considered the best work of his career.

Keep traveling here.

Andrew Zago goes on LA's KCRW, talks Detroit architecture and urbanism

KCRW Tuesday, September 27, 2011
A segment of Monday's KCRW's To The Point newsmagazine used the current negotiations between the Big Three and the UAW to begin a larger discussion on Detroit's architecture and urbanism. Andrew Zago is the owner of Zago Architecture, which has offices in Detroit and Los Angeles (notable works include MOCAD.) He says the auto industry and union's struggles play out in the city's physical condition (no surprise) and architectural history. The future, he says, lies in attracting projects that command a larger scale of urbanism than a single storefront could produce; while avoiding the massive RenCen types of projects that corrupt the city's character.

Excerpt:

"There is this incredible sort of grassroots creativity. But somehow, it never kind of brings about ... it never can cohere into significant urbanism, and the top-down models tend to be too sterile. I think what Detroit really needs and where its future is, is to find a kind of middle ground. Projects that are real and true to Detroit, warts and all; but at the same time, can rise above the most minute scale of grassroots efforts -- and I think we're starting to see some of that."

Listen to the program here (Zago speaks at minute 42).

Inside Detroit to raise funds with downtown scavenger hunt

Inside Detroit Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Who better to design a clue-laden scavenger hunt through the streets of downtown than the CBD's foremost tour guides at Inside Detroit?

A new fundraiser for the city's welcoming team asks Detroiters to park their cars and hit the pavement for an Amazing Race-style contest testing denizens on their knowledge of local history, businesses, culture. Teams of 4 have two hours to master a 50-clue scavenger hunt -- and possibly win a $500 bundle of gift certificates and prizes. The $120 team registration benefits the nonprofit Inside Detroit and downtown's Welcome Center. It all begins at 3 p.m. Oct. 1, with an afterparty at Hard Rock Cafe at 5 p.m.

Register your crew at Inside Detroit's website.

We've got the sixth-happiest young professionals in America

Forbes Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Detroit blew past the Windy City -- and most of America's top urban centers -- in Forbes Magazine's rankings of the cities with the happiest young professionals. By the way, noted a Forbes representative, were it not for the factor of job security, we'd be in the top five.

Model D launched over five years ago with the belief that this city, despite its flaws, offered a quality of life to be envied across the nation. More than high-tech jobs and cheap cost of living, we offer something better -- an inclusive and diverse community willing to open its arms to all who make the journey. So, congrats Detroit. We did this one together.

The list is available at Forbes (alas, there's no text) so click here to read more.

D3 map puts end to city's food desert myth

Data Driven Detroit Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Attention national scribes, television anchors and documentary hosts -- Data Driven Detroit's new interactive map shows the city offers 115 stores that offer groceries in the city ... and Whole Foods hasn't even broke ground!

The study, conducted by Danny Devries and Robbie Linn, hazards that Detroit is more of a "food grassland" than a "food desert," with only small pockets lacking immediate access to fresh food in the nearby vicinity. Indeed, with two national chains and one international grocery chain, the additional claim that Detroit lacks corporate grocery investment is also put to rest.

Excerpt:

The problem in Detroit is not a lack of food; it is the way in which that food gets to our tables. The food desert label detracts from the situation on the ground and has the potential to distract policy makers, keeping them from finding real solutions. Detroit residents know the local food landscape best. Poor residents also recognize that local groceries do exist, spending over $27 million a month with EBT cards in Detroit grocers. However, they also show their dissatisfaction with their options by traveling outside of the city to spend their EBT dollars.

Food for thought? Click here for a full helping.

Revisiting the legacy of Belle Isle landscape artist Frederick Olmsted

New York Times Tuesday, September 13, 2011
As the nation's founding father of public parks, Frederick Olmsted is most celebrated for his East Coast creations, like New York's Central Park and Prospect Park. Canny locals know his imaginative green thumb extended to the Midwest, including our own most famous city green space, Belle Isle.

While Belle Isle's appearance has strayed from Olmsted's original intent, his sinuous, weaving canals tracing through the island park are virtually untouched.

Excerpt:

I took a boat tour of the canals, accompanied by Keith Flournoy, Belle Isle's ever-resourceful park manager. (We were in a small, motorized launch, but you could get pretty much the same experience by renting a paddleboat.) We glided past weeping willows and under a series of wonderfully varied footbridges. "This is how Olmsted meant this park to be seen," Mr. Flournoy said.

Find out about Olmsted's other Mid-American works here.

Ruin porn, dreamers and you -- a meditation on Detroit's future

The Awl Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Adhering to the axiom that art is meant to be controversial (nay, even prescriptive), a recent essay from NYC-based website The Awl attempts to justify "ruin porn" -- a new term for the practice of capturing cities in destruction that's become shorthand for a culture of photography in the D. This bitter, often sarcastic piece won't be for everyone, but it's the latest attempt to justify the competing narratives for the city's present state and the shaping of its future.

Excerpt:

With so much of Detroit about to disappear, does this not provide us with an excellent opportunity to document that which we will not be able to document in the near future? Instead of decrying voyeurism, why not consider these photographs and stories a reminder that in America we actually do abandon our neighbors and let our cities die, time and time again.

You can find the essay here.

Shimmer on the River to benefit Detroit Riverfront Conservancy

Detroit Riverfront Conservancy Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Shimmer on the River, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy's largest fundraising celebration of the year, will celebrate the waterfront promenade's continued development with an elegant dinner and dancing event along the Detroit River.

The fundraiser, which takes place on Thursday, Sept. 8 from 6 to 10 p.m. at the GM Plaza, will honor U.S. Senator Carl Levin for his continued support of the Detroit Riverfront. Guests will enjoy a strolling dinner of Michigan-made products and local favorites, and jazz artists the Les Williams band and One World Island will grace the stage.

"This is an evening for every Detroit Riverfront supporter to come together and not only celebrate what's been accomplished, but to also play a role in its continued transformation and growth," says Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CEO Faye Nelson.

A range of ticket levels, including Young Professional and VIP prices, are available. Visit detroitriverfront.org to purchase tickets and learn more.

Art, bikes and a beautiful day at Anna Scripps Park

Knight Arts Tuesday, August 23, 2011
To celebrate its first year of work, the dynamo arts organization Forward Arts added a new event to its repertoire -- the donation-based Art Ride, which took 100 patrons to lesser-ventured city creations like Hamtramck Disneyland, Heidelberg satellite project Street Folk 2 and Power House Productions.

The bike ride culminated at Woodbridge's Anna Scripps Park, where Access Arts hosted seven installations and a number of workshops and showcases from its students. As the Knight Arts blog reports, over 15 organizations and stakeholders came together to put on the show.

Excerpt:

This is a clear example of why art improves the quality of our lives. On a sunny day, kids built forts with their family and neighbors, and a diverse crowd admired the art pieces, while mingling in the park and snaking on delicious treats from the Pink FlaminGO! food truck. It created a positive energy that people were attracted to, and everyone walked away with a little bit of culture, whether (sic) they expected to or not.

Photographs and more available here.

Downtown Detroit fights back

Washington Times Tuesday, August 23, 2011
There's plenty good going on in Detroit right now, summarized in a recent article from the Washington Times. Whole Foods, the Live Midtown housing incentives and recent population growth in young professionals, well-covered, all receive their due. What's new is an interview with Nate Forbes, managing partner of Troy's Somerset Collection, which has opened the CityLoft retail venture in the downtown Woodward corridor. Forbes touts both the city's public-private partnerships and current leaders for creating an atmosphere that supports new businesses and entrepreneurs.

Excerpt:

"Of course Detroit has a lot of geography — it's a large city. There's no telling how long it will take, but you have to start off in small chunks. You have a lot of businesses moving to the area that will spawn other investments — hotels, retail, restaurants. It's one block at a time, but when you go down there now, you feel a renewed energy."

More to read here.

Knight Foundation campaign recognizes inspiring black males

Black Male Engagement Tuesday, August 16, 2011
A new campaign organized by the Knight Foundation and the Open Society Foundations' Campaign for Black Male Achievement is looking for a few good men.

The initiative's called BME (pronounced "Be Me"), and the organizers seek to recognize black males doing good in their communities and inspiring others by the way they live. Phase One of the two-part program asks African-American men living in the D to share their stories, which will be open to a community-wide vote.

Excerpt:

We're not looking for perfection. We just want to share stories about the good things that black males do for their community, how you serve your neighborhood and your city, and how you inspire others to join you. Because you may not always realize that you are an example for the future leaders of our communities, we're asking the people around you to come forth and recognize you, too.

Know a good man? Want to share your story? Get started by going here.

Detroit is the new ... Detroit!

7STOPS Magazine Tuesday, August 09, 2011
We're still trying to track down the origin of the Detroit-Brooklyn comparison. Perhaps it was Patti Smith's urging for punk kids to live the true rock & roll lifestyle, or a recent NYT article comparing Detroit's nightlife and entrepreneurs to that of a burgeoning Brooklyn. While the analogy's gained steam outside our borders, this new essay posits a new sort of regrowth in Detroit -- one based as much on building community as building cool.

Excerpt:

And while this most recent wave of media attention is refreshing considering the post-apocalyptic alternative, to suggest that Detroit is the new Brooklyn misses the point entirely. Detroit will never be what Brooklyn is. But at the risk of sounding like the girl who didn't get asked to prom telling us that she "didn't really want to go anyhow," I don't think that the people that make Detroit exciting are looking to recreate Brooklyn; they're looking to revitalize the city they love. They aren't attracted to an anonymous blank slate, but to joining a community committed to doing good in a big city.

Here's to doing it our way. Read more here.

Moonwalker: As poet David Blair takes orbit, Detroit's arts community remembers

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, August 02, 2011

During a rollicking New Orleans-style funeral procession down Cass Avenue, hundreds of Detroiters paid their respects on Sunday to poet and musician David Blair, who passed away unexpectedly and much, much too soon July 23.

Blair, who published his first collection, Moonwalking, last year, was a National Poetry Slam champion, a Detroit Public School teacher, a wordsmith who traveled around the world to perform. And when he returned home to Detroit, this former blue-collar factory man was beloved by local artists, musicians and intellectuals.

Excerpt:

The creative community Blair built around himself will be his lasting Detroit legacy, Kubat said."All of these great people were able to meet and become close," she said. "He brought us all together, and he left us all together, so we could all be what we were supposed to be."

Read the Freep's tribute to Blair here. Find out more about David Blair, or chip in to help pay for his funeral service, at dblair.org. And click here to check out photographs of David Blair from Metromode managing photographer Dave Lewinski.

Young Broke & Beautiful: The new IFC series gets wild in the D

Independent Film Channel Tuesday, August 02, 2011
"Young, Broke & Beautiful" -- there's no way a TV show aiming for that demographic could pass up a night in our fair city. This intrepid series from the Independent Film Channel spotlights indie culture and creators across the nation. Their hour-long travelogue on the D makes friends with plenty of our favorite people and places, from the Imagination Station and DJ Kyle Hall to late-night parties and Coneys (natch).

Excerpt:

Stuart will pull the Scion into the most beautiful, broken down parking lot in the world. There's no doubt that all these YBB's will know where the dopest, most off the chain, unsanctioned warehouse party is happening, and Stuart will find himself closing down the night, partying with his people.

IFC will rerun the Detroit episode all week, beginning Tuesday at 6 p.m. Find out more about the channel's tour Detroit here.

Ty Cobb's Detroit: A writer journeys back in time

Grantland.com Tuesday, July 26, 2011
A "genius in spikes." An incorrigible racist. How do we define the memory of the greatest Tiger, Ty Cobb, who passed away 50 years ago this month? Local writer Anna Clark goes back to a shabby duplex on Commonwealth and Willis in Woodbridge, where Cobb and his young family lived. Through the eyes of the home's current owner, and by delving into Cobb's history, Clark attempts to make sense of the man who was, at times, both a legend and a lout. And she manages, through the narrative of Cobb's life, to draw parallels between our memories of the ballplayer and the narratives we seek to create for Detroit.

Excerpt:

Ty Cobb can be a cruel man, and at the same time be a misunderstood hero. Detroit can be both a ravaged, bleeding city and an inspired place where creative people are imagining new ways for an urban center to be successful. In fact, that's exactly what is true.

Clark's story is a grand slam. Catch it here.

Knight Foundation, NEA to fund Detroit's new concepts for arts journalism

Knight Foundation Tuesday, July 19, 2011
While cultural institutions work to attract new audiences, two of the nation's most illustrious foundations are looking for the newest models for arts journalism in the 21st century.

The Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge will seek new models and ideas for sustaining arts journalism in the 21st century in eight cities across America, including Detroit. Up to $100,000 is available for each project; first round winners will receive $20,000 to develop an action plan for new models that can be replicated in another cities.

Excerpt:

"No idea is too unusual," Scholl said. "Embedding a nonprofit reporter in a for-profit news organization? Creating a new collective to share professional work? Asking the community to decide which arts stories are best and put up the money to cover those? Have better ideas that never would have occurred to us on our own?  Fill out the application form, and send them in. The best ideas may well be the ones that stretch our thinking."

Find out more here.

WashPo's Impulsive Traveler goes wild for the D's urban grit

Washington Post Tuesday, July 19, 2011
There's room to ride in Detroit city. That was just one of many surprises an intrepid traveler/journalist from The Washington Post found on his trip to Detroit. While the ruins of the Michigan Central Station were a necessary and foreboding stop, the D's welcoming spirit was alive and well at Motor City Brewing Works, City Bird, PJ's Lager House and Nancy Whiskey (all chronicled in the piece). And above all, the lesson learned was this -- if you visit Detroit, get on a bike -- and fast.

Excerpt:

I rode Grand Boulevard into the city's eastern neighborhoods, turned north into Hamtramck (a two-square-mile municipality that's technically separate from Detroit but sits smack in the middle of it), then traveled back west through the tree-lined streets of the historic districts of Arden Park and Boston-Edison. The city is a visual feast: urban farms, derelict houses, art deco skyscrapers, 19th-century churches, industrial ruins and vibrant murals declaring, "Detroit Lives!" Above all, there's a lot of space.

Read more here.

Vacation buzz: our favorite links from the past two weeks

New York Times Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Model D took a break last week to celebrate the holiday, but a city like Detroit never sleeps. If you're just back from Up North or the beach, here are a few of our can't-miss links to catch up on what went down over Fourth of July weekend.

The New York Times sang the praises of the city's young and entrepreneurial dreamers, writing, "These days the word "movement" is often heard to describe the influx of socially aware hipsters and artists now roaming the streets of Detroit. Not unlike Berlin, which was revitalized in the 1990s by young artists migrating there for the cheap studio space, Detroit may have this new generation of what city leaders are calling "creatives" to thank if it comes through its transition from a one-industry (town)." Are we becoming a Midwestern TriBeCa? Read more here.
Or, wait a minute: aren't we already the next Brooklyn? Check that out down the page.

Microfinancing Detroit: Kiva Detroit, a partnership between Michigan Corps, the Knight Foundation, San Fran-based Kiva.org and microlender Accion USA, together raised over $11,000 in just three hours to help fund five start-up businesses in the city. The site allows supporters to pledge loans for as little as $25. Click here for details.

Will a battle for designing the Detroit of the future derail the momentum of the present? The Wall Street Journal writes of a rift between the City of Detroit and the Kresge Foundation that could have serious implications for arguably the two most important initiatives of 2011. "Kresge stopped funding Detroit Works at the start of the year after disagreements with City Hall over the role of outside consultants. The foundation also is rethinking its support for the rail line amid a separate spat with city officials." Say it isn't so. Read the rest of the story is here.

Here's one bright spot: Amidst a gloomy June economic report, BNET reports Detroit continues to hire both white and blue-collar workers, calling the domestic auto industry a "micro-recovery." We're sure glad to hear it, though we'd rather be cycling in the city. More information here.

Is Detroit the new Brooklyn?

PBS Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Well, they're finally getting it. While we think Detroit's laid-back vibe puts it in a class of its own, the rest of the country is finally getting hip to our scene. The question at PBS Need to Know: Is Detroit the new Brooklyn? We'd say we've got our own identity to keep building, but thanks for the compliment.

Excerpt:

There are restaurateurs and entrepreneurs of all stripes living alongside environmentalists and urban farmers.  The city, according to the Times, seems like "a giant candy store for young college graduates wanting to be their own bosses." One woman said that there's a cool party just about every evening.

Read the rest of the story here.

Live Midtown program inspires new incentives for Quicken Loans' downtown employees

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Dan Gilbert's Quicken Loans will join several other major firms in the city to offer incentives urging their employees to live in Detroit, following the success of this year's Live Midtown program. The program will be announced later this summer.

Midtown Detroit Inc. reports 178 employees from the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Hospital and Wayne State University have used the Live Midtown program to rent, buy or fund home improvements in the district since the program launched five months ago.

Gilbert says he plans to move at least 2,000 of his employees to downtown beginning this fall.

Excerpt:

Speaking Wednesday to the visiting news media, Gilbert quipped, "Building anything great is messy. A construction site is messy, but when it's done, it's usually something people can be proud of." His often-stated goal is to make downtown the lively core of a revitalized city, or what he calls Detroit 2.0.

"There is just a certain feel" to downtown, he said Wednesday. "There's a certain energy, a certain buzz, a certain closeness to everything, and people really, really are enjoying it."

Read the rest of the story here -- and look for more info on these new residential initiatives in Model D this summer.

Why we love the city -- and what we're granted in return

Detroit News Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A recent column by the Detroit News' Nolan Finley examines the psyche of the Detroit-lover. What makes us remain hopeful, in the face of massive deficits and long delays, unanswerable questions and dark days? Why do we remain here, determined to stick out the fight, when nothing stops us from leaving?

Maybe we're gluttons for punishment, Finley writes. But he found some perspective at last weekend's River Days festival, surrounded by thousands of people lured downtown by sunshine, music and the beauty of the revamped Detroit RiverFront Conservancy.

Excerpt:

The work done by the Riverfront Conservancy to revive the riverfront is an example of the huge returns you can reap in Detroit when you invest a bit of hope. Polish one piece of this jewel and it makes you eager to shine another. In a landscape so devastated, everything you do to makes a noticeable difference. So maybe we love Detroit because it needs us so much.

Click here for the rest of the story.

Grace Lee Boggs: How a Detroit Summer plants the seeds of revolution

YES! Magazine Tuesday, June 28, 2011
When longtime Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs started the Detroit Summer program in 1992, her vision was of a multi-generational collective sharing ideas and efforts to rebuild the community. She knew the work would be slow -- one empty lot, one potluck, one garden at a time.

But in a passage from her new book, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century, Boggs says she rejected the more typical (and large-scale) frameworks of a left-wing organization or sizable nonprofit, noting, "the system continues to function because neither carries the potential to transform society."

Excerpt:

" ... our hope was that Detroit Summer would bring about a new vision and model of community activism -- one that was particularly responsive to the new challenges posed by the conditions of life and struggle in the postindustrial city. We did not feel this could be accomplished if control of our activities was ceded to the dictates of government or the private sector, even though this meant that we would be working on a small scale. However, by working on this scale, we could pay much closer and greater attention to the relationships we were building among ourselves and with communities in Detroit and beyond.

Read more here.

Allied Media Conference gives press power to the people

Allied Media Conference Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Allied Media Conference is a four-day long grassroots media training seminar, in which professionals and enthusiasts school each other on everything from graphic design and blogging to performance arts and social justice issues. This year's national conference picked Detroit as Ground Zero for the group's guerrilla education training. It all kicks off June 23 at the McGregor Memorial Hall at Wayne State.

Registration is still open and is on a sliding income scale ($100 is the suggested amount for the four-day conference).

Excerpt:

At the AMC, media creation is not only about personal expression, but about transformation – of ourselves and the structures of power around us. We create media that exposes, investigates, resists, heals, builds confidence and radical hope, incites dialogue and debate. We demystify technology, not only learning how to use it, but how to take it apart, fix it and build our own.  We do it ourselves and as communities, connecting across geographic and generational boundaries.

Find out more or reserve your spot here.

Bikes, books and a little music: we like this blog for two-wheeled aficionados

Bikes, Books and a Little Music Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Detroit's cycle craze shifts into another gear thanks to this blog dedicated to motor-less transport in Motown -- with some cultural pit stops along the way.

Author Charlie Z., camera in hand (careful there) is passionate about capturing the feel and spirit of Detroit from two wheels. He also loves books and jazz from the 1950s and 1960s. Clearly, we think he's onto something here.

Excerpt:

I've experienced the sweet smell of bakeries and barbecues, breathed in the smokey fumes from beat-up cars, and diesel exhaust from buses or trucks has left my throat scratchy and dry.  I've heard the sound of gospel music filling the streets on a Sunday morning. I've heard the people mover rumbling overhead. I've heard dogs barking, horns blowing, sirens blaring and street corner vendors hawking their goods. Most of all, I've seen considerable contrast between wealth and  poverty.  As I cycle through this city, I hope to present some of  the unusual sights and rich sounds found within its borders.

Want a little more of Charlie Z? Click here.

Don't shut 'em down: Flogging Molly's new album defends Detroit

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, June 14, 2011
While most know Flogging Molly's Celtic rock roots, lead singer Dave King splits his time between Wexford, Ireland, and Detroit. That's where he wrote the songs for the band's latest album, Speed of Darkness, with the milieu of the city serving as his muse. While they were forced to record in Asheville, NC (Eminem booked the only studio large enough to hold the seven-piece), there's plenty of Detroit's sights and soul on the band's new album, which is on sale now.

Excerpt:

Last year while driving downtown to a restaurant, the couple spotted some graffiti scrawled on a defunct factory: "Shut 'em down." Mr. King, initially confused by the message -- was it fatalistic or rebellious? -- rewrote it in song. The galloping "Don't Shut 'Em Down" sticks up for the city (or any "modern town") that has its "windows smashed open and the doors kicked out."

Read more here.

NY Post profiles the "new Detroit cool"

New York Post Tuesday, June 14, 2011
When no less an authority on cool than the NY Post devotes a feature to how cool it is to hang in Corktown, you know we're doing something right. Detroit's own Nicole Rupersburg captures the wave of entrepreneurial spirit washing over Michigan Ave., spotlighting new businesses-to-be like The Sugar House Bar, Astro Coffee and the Detroit Institute of Bagels. We also dug the article's "where to stay" travel guide, which tells it like it really is. Take this profile of the neighborhood's MGM Grand Casino & Hotel:

Excerpt:

The immensely appealing, Tony Chi-designed spa alone makes this one of the best city hotels in the Midwest; an exclusive feel and masculine, expensively-decorated rooms -- nicer than at many an MGM-owned hotel in Vegas -- help matters greatly, as does the presence of two fine restaurants overseen by Michael Mina. You should know, though, that this hotel doesn't feel like it's in Detroit. This may be a plus for some. We were first-timers once, don't worry. We get it. No judgments.

Get some more cool here.

600 interns swarm downtown "After 5"

After 5 Detroit Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The 600 interns involved in this summer's After 5 program might have joined the extracurricular social program to meet new people or get involved downtown. But for the organizers of After 5, only one goal stands out -- stopping the brain drain, and keeping these future grads in Detroit.

"There's a great lifestyle in Detroit," says Peter Van Dyke, publicist for After 5 Detroit. "Not only are they getting a great work experience with great institutions, but it's basically showing them that you can have this great lifestyle as a young professional in Detroit. You don't have to live in one of the outlying suburbs, like Royal Oak or Birmingham. You also don't have to move to a big city."

Last year's program enrolled 400 interns in the greater downtown area. While After 5 hasn't tracked retention rates for its interns, participation increased 50 percent for the 2011 summer.

They're also trying to foster connections between these young students, understanding that a ready-made social network can be a powerful draw to keeping a young professional in Detroit upon graduation.

"So many interns go to GM or AT&T or Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and they never hang out with other interns in downtown Detroit that summer. So this is a way to get those interns to meet each other. So hopefully they'll start making their own plans after work with each other," he says.

The summer 2011 kickoff launched June 9 at the Majestic Cafe, and featured a welcome from DTE Energy chairman Tony Early. "He underlined the importance of having young professionals in Detroit, thanked them for their commitment to working in the city, and asked them to come back after graduation," Van Dyke says.

The summer-long program will offer interns six more opportunities to enjoy Detroit this summer, including a loft party at Midtown's Studio One Apartments, a tour of Eastern Market, a kickball tournament on Belle Isle, a concert in the Park to be held in New Center, a "Dine and Dash" restaurant crawl and a happy hour cocktail party at Foran's Grand Trunk Pub.

Interns can still sign up to be part of After 5's summer program. Click here to find out more.

Crowdsourcing Detroit's next retail venture

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, June 07, 2011
A new contest will utilize Facebook and Twitter to "hatch" Detroit's next retail venture -- and the crowd favorite will take home $50,000 to launch their idea.

Hatch Detroit is looking for the D's next coffeeshop, art gallery, record store or clothing atelier. Beginning July 1, hatchdetroit.com will accept submissions from potential business owners. The Hatch team, Nick Gorga and Ted Balowski (both Metro Detroiters) will then narrow the field through multi-stage voting. While they're applying for 501(c)3 status to accept donations and sponsorships toward the prize money, they say they're prepared to fund Detroit's fan favorite to open its doors.

Excerpt:

Voting will narrow the 16 ideas to eight. The eight will post videos describing why they love Detroit, what they see for the future and how their business will help the city. Through the same online process, the eight will be narrowed to four ideas. The four finalists will get in front of a panel of local and national judges yet to be assembled. Each will give a five-minute pitch, followed by a question-and-answer session.The process will be live at a public event and streamed online.

Read the rest of the article, or visit the website to start hatchin'.

Forty years later, "What's Going On" still spins true

National Public Radio Tuesday, June 07, 2011
40 years ago, Motown Records, the sonic factory of lighthearted love songs and spirited soul, released Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," a departure for both the label and the singer. The album, a song cycle that tells the story of a Vietnam vet returning home to a nation in chaos, brought social consciousness to soul -- and the airwaves.

Motown Museum CEO Audley Smith, interviewed for the piece, said Marvin's musical transformation was an inspiration to him and a generation of young Detroiters.

Excerpt:
He says the song "What's Going On" served as an anthem of social awareness. "It was important to be a part of what was happening in terms of social activism in the city of Detroit," Smith says. "And to have Marvin Gaye come out with a song that reinforced that necessity to be conscious, to be active, was a wonderful thing."

Mercy, mercy me. Listen to the story here.

Detroit now worthy of nationwide hipster consideration

Flickr Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sociologists know that hipsters, that particular breed of 20-something cultural "vanguards," cannot survive in merely any city. Any healthy and happy hipster needs dive bars that serve PBR, vintage shops, grimy music venues, post-industrial art spaces and other habitat features in order to thrive.

We found this funny picture on Flickr. Detroit is now worthy of a slot on the "Post-Grad Hipster's Guide to Inhabitable U.S. Cities." Rejoice! We're labeled on the map, along with this caption: Detroit "Street Cred; Something vague about hopeful post-apocalyptic gardening," Michigan.

See which other hipster hangouts made the list.

Detroit five crack Fortune's Inner City 100 list

Fortune Magazine Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Five Detroit companies cracked Fortune Magazine's Inner City 100 list, which recognizes the 100 fastest-growing businesses with an urban address across the nation.

The five Detroit area companies selected include:
• FutureNet Group - #8 on the list
• UltraLevel Systems - #28 on the list
• Micron Electrical Contracting - #79 on the list
• Ash Stevens - #81 on the list
• Tompkins Products- #90 on the list

Local leader FutureNet Group, helmed by Perry Mehta, received props from Fortune from its innovative business model, which provides large-scale computer access to 20,000 kids every day in India.

Excerpt:

After acquiring licenses to do business with local, state and federal governments, FutureNet's operations expanded to the Detroit area. They also began to offer, of all things, environmental and construction services. Air monitoring, road resurfacing, network support, asbestos and lead inspections are just a few of the diverse services FutureNet Group currently provides.

Check out the rest of the list here.

Shrinking cities syndrome: Detroit's not alone

The Midwesterner Tuesday, May 17, 2011
We won't deny that a rivalry exists between the D and Chicago. Maybe it's the legacy of competition for bragging rights as the Rust Belt capital. While it's Detroit's problems that usually capture the national media's imagination, Chicago isn't safe from the population exodus documented in the 2010 Census.

It's considered a global trend that people are pouring into cities. But, with the exception of Indianapolis and Columbus, every city in the Midwest lost population in the last ten years. Even Chicago. That fact, says Richard C. Longsworth, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, should give Detroiters pause.

Excerpt:

The fact is that Chicago, for all its glamor and all its success, supports 25 percent fewer people and has 25 percent fewer jobs than it had at the height of its industrial power. Yes, it's more beautiful, and cleaner, more connected to the world than before. But all this glitz and all this new economy doesn't add up to a city as rich and vibrant as the old City of the Big Shoulders.

This tells us something about this new global economy and its ability to support the people who live within it. If even a place like Chicago is a "shrinking city," what does this mean for Cleveland, St. Louis, Detroit and other less favored places?

Read more here.

Soul search: exploring Aretha's roots at New Bethel Baptist church

Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Imagine the sound of Sunday service in a church on Detroit's west side, 1956. Singing in the community choir was a 14-year-old girl, the preacher's daughter. The old New Bethel Baptist church was razed to make way for I-94, but the congregation -- where Aretha Franklin learned to sing -- still exists. The Chicago Sun-Times takes a trip to 8430 C.L. Franklin Blvd. to explore New Bethel Baptist's history, where soul music and religion stood hand in hand.

Excerpt:

New Bethel Baptist is arguably America's most important musical church. It demands the same pop culture respect given to the Rev. Al Green's Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis. When Rev. Franklin's Chess sermons were played late at night on WLAC out of Nashville, Tenn., it's not unlikely to think Al Green, James Brown and other emerging soul stars heard the message on clear channel radio. He was known as "The Man With the Million Dollar Voice."

Read more about the Queen of Soul's early kingdom here.

Financial Times digs Motown's optimistic tune

Financial Times Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Detroit's affordable real estate, diverse architectural styles and urban leadership won high praise from the Financial Times, with an article that digs deeper than statistics to interview several residents who couldn't be more optimistic about the city's progress. And though prices are still low around the city, one local real estate expert says the housing market is finally moving upward again.

Excerpt:

Kelly Sweeney, chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Weir Manuel, has been a local estate agent for 30 years and is convinced of an upward trend. "Because of the loss of manufacturing jobs, our market went into freefall well before the subprime crisis," he says. "But we reacted quickly to that, and we are in a better position now. And there has been some improvement in employment. Also, our inventory of bank-owned properties is going down."

Read the rest of the article here.

Detroit 1-8-7 signs off

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, May 17, 2011

It was a rough week in this city for underdogs.

We said goodbye to the Red Wings, who mounted a three-game winning streak but fell just short of a series win. Detroit Public Schools' emergency financial manager Robert Bobb bid adieu to the city, after disclosing his fight with cancer during his tenure. And "Detroit 1-8-7", an ABC cop show set and shot in the Motor City, lost its bid for another season. While the show had some early missteps (soda, anybody?), the cast of Hollywood transplants truly embraced Detroit. We saw and heard them genuinely fall in love with the D, and proclaim that message to the national media. We'll be sorry to see them go.

Excerpt:

For a while, "Detroit 1-8-7" embraced our underdog spirit and ran with it. Somehow, the characters coalesced into a portrait of what gives underdogs the hope to keep going. With their humor, despair, grace and frustration, the characters played by James McDaniel, Michael Imperioli and the other actors had begun to represent the real population of metro Detroiters who aren't giving up, no matter how many times Detroit's issues are borrowed by outsiders for a punch line or a put-down.

Click here to read the rest of Julie Hinds' farewell.

BBC Travel energized by city's rebirth

BBC Travel Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Why Detroit? From an artistic standpoint, our creators and visionaries have nothing to lose -- and nobody standing in their way. This new story from BBC Travel paints a portrait of Detroit as a city increasingly shaped by the cultural vanguard. Corktown, which is seeing plenty of commercial development, also gets some love (read more about what's going on in Corktown here.)

Excerpt:

As Detroit continues the fight of its life, artists and visionaries are slowly returning to the city to take advantage of the cheap rent and open spaces. While some have compared Detroit to a war zone, its burgeoning artistic community looks at it like a playground.

"I see the magic here. This city has been known to come back," artist Tyree Guyton said. "There's this new energy that's creating art all over the city. [A colleague] said in the past that the new industry in the city of Detroit is art and culture. I believe it. I see it."

Read the rest of the story here.

NYT: 36 hours in the D gets it right

The New York Times Tuesday, May 10, 2011
How to spend 36 hours in Detroit? The New York Times jam-packed almost a dozen of this city's landmarks into one action-filled weekend guide to decoding the D. We'll give our out-of-town colleagues props for digging into little-known historical facts (we always forget downtown boasts the nation's second-largest theatre district) and directing travelers to local treasures like Pewabic Pottery, the Piquette Plant and Atlas Global Bistro.

Excerpt:

No video can portray the passion one finds on the streets of Detroit these days, where everyone from the doorman to the D.J. will tell you they believe in this city's future. While certain areas are indeed eerily empty, other neighborhoods -- including midtown, downtown and Corktown -- are bustling with new businesses that range from creperies and barbecue joints catering to the young artists and entrepreneurs migrating to Motown, to a just-opened hostel that invites tourists to explore Detroit with the aid of local volunteer guides.

No urban enthusiast, the NYT concludes, should witness the renaissance Detroit is attempting. Well said.

The NYT now has a paywall, which allows readers 20 free views a month. If you haven't exceeded your monthly tab, click here.

$200 million federal grant to connect Chi-town and the D by light rail

Detroit News Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Michigan light rail advocates, rejoice -- the Mitten state will receive $200 million in federal funds to build a new bus and train station in Ann Arbor, and also to create a high speed rail line that will shave 50 minutes off the Detroit-Chicago train route.

The bulk of the funds will improve the Dearborn-Kalamazoo rail corridor, which will eventually allow trains to travel at speeds up to 110 mph along the 235-mile route. The funds will also allow Michigan and six other states to purchase next-generation high-performance passenger rail cars. Leaders around the state are hailing the federal grant as an essential step to eventually utilizing light rail throughout the state.

Excerpt:

Michigan mass transit advocates also touted the announcement.

"Policy and transportation planners have ranked the Detroit-to-Chicago corridor as one of the most viable routes in the nation," said Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United. "Because of Michigan's existing infrastructure, we can do high-speed rail faster and more cost-effectively than most other states. It just makes sense."

Find out more here.

Video: Slum Village lyricist Elzhi drops "Detroit State of Mind"

Guardian UK Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Detroit MC Elzhi is the latest rapper to take his crack at what British rag The Guardian calls a "totem" of hip-hop -- Nas's Illmatic. The legendary 1994 album, released when young Nasir Jones was just 20 years of age, is consistently named one of the top rap albums of all time. Elzhi's mixtape interpretation drops May 10, and Elmatic is already receiving tons of buzz, from hip-hop heads in the 313 and around the globe.

Excerpt:

Layering trademark witty wordplay and fast-moving flow over classic tracks, the former Slum Village lyricist resurrects the spirit of his source material and rises above mere hip-hop karaoke. To quote Nasir Jones himself, though, It Ain't Hard To Tell why today's rappers are paying tribute to his debut album.

Click here to read the rest of the article, or check out the first single, "Detroit State of Mind," here.

City is muse for Esquire's superstar songwriting contest

Esquire Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Ah, Detroit -- for every sound you've created, from furious punk to swooning Motown gems or fierce hip-hop anthems, you tell a different story. That's why Esquire magazine located its 2011 Songwriting Challenge in the Motor City -- a city, they noted, that embodied all the qualities they wanted their A-list team of musicians to mine for inspiration. Love. Loss. Redemption. Hope. Cars.

So they came to Detroit. Dierks Bentley, Raphael Saadiq, Brendan Benson, Ben Blackwell and Dhani Harrison. They each wrote a song. And all the proceeds from mp3 sales will benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Detroit. Sound check, please.

Excerpt:

In shitty dive bars and majestic concert halls, the music of Detroit pulses with the sound and fury of a city in the fight for its life. We came to Detroit to witness this fight and to honor it, and to announce that -- by selling these five original songs and donating the proceeds to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Detroit -- we intend to join it.