Link Drop - July 10, 2009

• It looks increasingly likely that Detroit Public Schools will be the first major school district to declare bankruptcy (News).
  

• The Free Press does a feature on land banks, a redevelopment tool that other declining cities, like Flint, have used with much success.
  

• The Rosa Parks Transit Center, Detroit's great new transit hub downtown, is set to open Tuesday (Free Press).
  

Link Drop - July 9, 2009

• Detroit's Children Museum has been cut out of DPS's new budget, which may force it to close (Free Press).
  

• Metro Mode points to an AP article on Greening of Detroit's efforts to reforest the city.
  

• Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium recently received a grant to fix the roof of the closed facility and are holding a fundraiser on July 25 in an effort to reopen it.
  

Link Drop - July 8, 2009

• The Metro Times keeps following the incinerator story, which now has as much to do with government transparency as it does with the specific question of what to do with the city's trash.
  

• While the U.S. slowly spends its stimulus funds on highway construction and other pork, France is investing billions to renovate historic buildings and keeps its cultural patrimony vibrant (NY Times). I wish we had such foresight here.
  

• An op-ed in the New York Times argues Detroit is the next great biking city.
  

• A well-known developer wants one last look at the Lafayette Building before it's demolished to see if he can save it (Crain's). No word yet on whether DECG will grant his request.
  

Link Drop - July 7, 2009

• Detroit Public Television and U of M Dearborn teamed up to interview all the candidates running for Detroit City Council or the charter commission (Michigan Messenger). You can watch the videos at MiVote.org. Great way to weed through the candidates.
  

• Does Obama have an urban agenda? If so, it's not a priority (Politico).
  

• Next American City questions the economics (and aesthetics) of convention centers. Prescient given our protracted struggle to renovate Cobo to save one flagship event.

Link Drop - July 6, 2009

• Volunteer crews are cleaning up Michigan Central Station (John Cruz), but not everyone is happy (Detroit Yes).
  

• Amtrak service will likely be cut in Michigan's next budget (News).
  

• In a "non-political" decision, Bing is making Warren Evans, perhaps his main political rival, the chief of police (News). 

• The New York Times Magazine profiles Will Allen this week. He's the founder of Growing Power, one of the nation's leading urban farms.

Link Drop - July 3, 2009

• The May/June issue of Preservation Magazine has a story on Detroit's preservation community. The magazine has also written about the city's vote to demolish the historic Lafayette Building.
  

• A commentator in the Free Press worries "right-sizing" or "shrinking" cities will ruin them.
  

• DRIC, the public bridge plan, will soon have the rights to riverfront land in Windsor, bringing it one step closer to reality (Free Press).

Link Drop - July 2, 2009

• Lessenberry makes the case for electing city council members by district (Metro Times). To support the ballot initiative, go to Detroiters for City Council by District. 
  

• Volunteers are sprucing up a section of Roosevelt Park across from Michigan Central Station (News).

Link Drop - July 1, 2009

• Seven teens were shot in broad daylight yesterday on the West Side of Detroit minutes after summer school let out (News). The Free Press is demanding a response from the mayor and the Warrendale Blog is following the tragedy closely.
  

• Mayor Bing finally spoke in public yesterday on the need to reform the culture of City Hall (News). You can watch the speech here. (He speaks from the 4:25 mark to 45:10.)
  

• A curbside recycling trial starts today in select neighborhoods (Crain's). The Council is still trying (likely in vain) to end the incinerator contract to ensure the program's a success (Free Press).
  

• Kresge Arts in Detroit is keeping the city's art scene afloat almost single-handedly (Metro Times). The Kresge Foundation also funds the Riverfront Conservancy, the M1 light rail plan, and every major art institution and non-profit in the city. They deserve our endless praise.

Link Drop - June 30, 2009

• A non-profit coalition is trying to open a community grocery store in an empty Farmer Jack to help alleviate Detroit's "food desert" crisis (Michigan Citizen). The Free Press has more.
  

• Detroit Public Schools may declare bankruptcy (News).
  

• A micro-loan program is helping to grow small businesses in Detroit (Model D).

Link Drop - June 29, 2009

• Sam Riddle dishes more dirt on Monica Conyers (Free Press) and Ken Cockrel plans to force her off the City Council (News). The sooner the better, I'd say.
  

• Detroit Make It Here gives some much deserved press to Going Home, a community blog that's helping to revitalize the struggling neighborhood near City Airport.
  

• Is the Packard Plant -- the always-burning, forever-abandoned, 43-building dumping-ground on the city's east side -- Detroit's greatest absurdity? Bill McGraw makes the case (Free Press).

Update: Monica Conyers resigns from office effective July 6 (Crain's).

Link Drop - June 28, 2009

• Meijer might sign on as the anchor tenant of the Shoppes at Gateway, a long-rumored outdoor mall to be built at 8 Mile and Woodward (News).
  

• The New York Times Magazine takes a deep look this week at how the downsizing of the auto industry has affected Metro Detroit's black middle class.
  

• The Free Press weighs in on the bridge battle.
  

Link Drop - June 26, 2009

• The Lafayette Building is coming down (Free Press). The Downtown Development Authority voted unanimously to demolish the historic, 1920s-era structure, preservationists be damned. 

• Eastern Market Corp. may open a non-profit grocery store downtown just off Campus Martius (Free Press).
  

• DPS is cutting 1,766 employees, but a $285 million deficit still remains (News).
  

• A new Cobo deal is headed to Detroit for the council's approval (Free Press).
  

• The Ilitches will renegotiate the lease on Joe Louis Arena (Crain's). It's not clear yet whether the goal is to renovate the stadium or buy time before building a new one.
  

Monica Conyers pleads guilty

Monica Conyers pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring to commit bribery. No word yet on her sentence (she could get up to five years), but if there's any justice in this world, she'll go to prison for a long time and never return to public office. Thanks to the hard work of the local media and the FBI, the Kwame Kilpatrick era of corruption -- in City Hall, in the school system, and on the Council -- may finally be ending. We have a new, principled mayor. We have a responsible and driven fiscal manager cleaning house at DPS. And now we need a new council, elected by district, operating on a rewritten city charter.

In honor of the King of Pop:

Link Drop - June 25, 2009

• A final bill to expand Cobo is actually expected to pass (Free Press).
  

• Last month, the American Institute of Architects released a report (PDF) reimagining Detroit as a series of interconnected "urban villages" and green spaces. Rooflines, a blog by Shelterforce magazine, has an interesting post on the proposal, as does the Landscape + Urbanism blog.
  

And the bridge battle goes on

The fight over twinning the Ambassador Bridge keeps getting messier. Yesterday the bridge company accused MDOT of dumping 10,000 tons of dirt onto a new truck ramp out of spite. The company filed a lawsuit in May seeking to block construction of a rival, publicly-funded span, and they say the dirt was dumped in retaliation. MDOT says no, the dirt is temporary, but the bridge company may have jeopardized federal funding for the massive Gateway Project by unilaterally changing the design of the bridge plaza, among other infractions. The same issues were cited by the U.S. Coast Guard last week when they ordered the company to stop all work on the new, unapproved span.

To say this spat is getting complicated is to greatly understate the case, but the most surprising development to emerge in the last few weeks is that Matty Moroun, the Grosse Pointe billionaire who owns the Ambassador Bridge as well as Michigan Central Depot, may finally be getting boxed in. The odds have always favored Moroun--he's got the money and the track record to do what he wants, public opinion and the law be damned--but it looks like he may have overplayed his hand. The company has cut off part of Riverside Park without title to the land, shut down access to part of 23rd Street without permission, built the ramp to a new bridge without a permit to do so, and so far failed to divert truck traffic from neighborhood streets.

That's led to doubt or outright opposition from nearly all Southwest residents and community groups, all levels of government in Canada, the City Council, MDOT, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the state representative for the area, Rashida Tlaib, as well as most media observers. Moroun still has a few backers -- a handful of community groups, who co-signed the lawsuit against the public span, and some Michigan lawmakers, mostly Republican, who'd rather see a bridge built at private expense. But the opposition is growing, and for good cause.

Update: MDOT sues the bridge company for disregarding its contract. This is getting intense.

Link Drop - June 24, 2009

• Confusion reigns on the incinerator question. From what little the public knows, it looks like it's here to stay -- meaning no landfills and little or no recycling in the city's future (Metro Times).
  

• Construction begins soon to link the Dequindre Cut to the riverfront (Crain's).
  

• Jack Lessenberry continues to sound the alarm over the state budget crisis (Metro Times). 

• On Tuesday, the Ilitch family will announce whether it's renewing its lease at Joe Louis Arena or building a new stadium (Detroit News). Bill Shea has the best breakdown of what it means for the city (Crain's).

Link Drop - June 23, 2009

• The Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy formally lists its grievances against the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (Crain's). Worth reading.
  

• Richard Florida of "creative class" fame and urban economist Ed Glaeser discuss a recent Telegraph article on shrinking cities: Glaeser says we should stop investing in declining cities as places, investing in people instead so they have the education to get out if they wish (NY Times); Florida concurs but argues that demolition and smart infrastructure investment can make shrinking cities better places to live for those who remain (Atlantic).
  

• Bill McGraw notes how little Mayor Bing has been seen or heard since taking office. The Free Press editorial board calls his silence on every major issue "awkward" and "troubling."

• First Tiger Stadium, now the Lafayette Building. City Council denied a historic designation for the downtown building today (Crain's). Expect demolition imminently.