Here comes gentrification?

The Detroit News reports on five new developments planned for Woodward between Warren and Mack, the area where MOCAD, the Majestic Theater, Union Street, and the Whitney currently stand:

For now, the seven-block strip is simultaneously bustling and abandoned, with hipsters and middle-class professionals sharing the neighborhood with more than a few aggressive panhandlers. Many investors are working hard to make 2008 the year the strip becomes almost totally gentrified -- if they can convince bankers and sometimes even landlords that they are the ones who can succeed.

Creative corridor

The Detroit News reports on the state's efforts to attract the film industry to Michigan, including a 35% rebate on film production costs and low- or no-interest loans. This is part of a broader effort to transition the economy to serve "the creative class": young professionals, media workers, and the bohemian types who are supposedly the key to our economic future. MetroMode reports that local leaders hope to draw such workers and build the economy by making Woodward a creative corridor lined with media-oriented and "knowledge" jobs.

A creative corridor sounds smart to me. Woodward is already lined with creative businesses and cultural institutions , and there's every incentive to add more. That's what's happening in Midtown, and it's encouraging to see. But I don't think media-work is likely to replace the auto industry any time soon as Detroit's economic engine.

And incentives for film production? More than three dozen states are trying that. We'd be better off supporting the growing local film industry than competing in a race to the bottom to attract Hollywood productions.