Model D sister pub Pop City from Pittsburgh finds the things we have that they want

Our sister pub Pop City graced us with their poster child for Rustbelt Renewal presence and pointed out the things we have that they want. No, not Joe Louis' fist or the spirit of Detroit statue, those are the things we'd steal if we were another city. What they wanted was our art scene, our greening projects and the M1 rail line. (Actually, Pop City, we'd like to see our M1 rail line, too.)

There's also a comment at the end about hockey, but we're not going there.

Excerpt:

The Greening of Detroit is an organization that has teamed up with Michigan State, the Detroit Agriculture Network and EarthWorks Urban Farm to facilitate urban agriculture.  Created to counteract the "food desert" that city-center Detroit had become, the program currently supports 877 urban gardens manned by individuals, families or community cooperatives.  For a minimal annual buy-in ($10/families, $20/communities), farmers are provided training and materials (tools, seeds, organically-grown trans-plants) so they can grow food on their own land or on the many parcels of vacant land throughout the city (permitting arranged, though the group is not beyond guerrilla gardening). 

"Local is the new organic," enthuses Rebecca Salminen Witt, president of The Greening of Detroit.  "This movement is exploding, making it easier to raise money from corporate donors and foundations.  We might not be doing this if the auto companies were still cranking out cars, but there's a pioneering spirit now.  There's also an agricultural heritage in this state and with improved growing techniques, we can now grow 51 weeks a year.  This can change people's lives and already, it's making us all feel better."  A fertile idea for Slow Food Pittsburgh?

Read the entire article here.