Non-profits retrench

This weekend the New York Times ran an article on Detroit's struggling non-profit sector. Charities across the region are on the brink of fiscal collapse just as they're needed most, and Detroit's major foundations -- like Kresge, Skillman, and Hudson-Webber-- don't have the funds to save them all. As a consequence, non-profits are being forced to cooperate, combine, or close. Even the symphony and the opera may be forced to share an orchestra to cut costs.

History repeats itself

The New Yorker's George Packer points out this passage in a history of the twenties published in 1931:

The suburban boom itself did not begin to languish in most localities until 1928 or 1929. By that time many suburbs were plainly overbuilt: as one drove out along the highways, one began to notice houses that must have stood long untenanted, shops with staring vacant windows, districts blighted with half-finished and abandoned ‘improvements’; one heard of suburban apartment houses which had changed hands again and again as mortgages were foreclosed, or of householders in uncompleted subdivisions who were groaning under a naively unexpected burden of taxes and assessments.

Eerie, isn't it?

He also links to Sweet Juniper's haunting photo essay, "School's Out Forever," published recently in Vice Magazine. Definitely worth a look.

State takes over Pontiac's finances

According to the news, the state is appointing a manager to run Pontiac. Flint was state-run from 2002 to 2006, and other declining urban areas, Hamtramck and Highland Park included, have suffered the same fate. Local leaders have been unable to close deficits that keep growing every year as population and tax revenue declines.

Could Detroit be next? Not likely. The politics would be brutal. But the state has taken control of Detroit Public School's finances for the second time, and the city itself is facing a $300 million deficit -- the latest in a series of chronic, growing deficits that have no easy solution. Every tax hike drives more residents and businesses away, but so long as the city's population continues to slide, the city will continue to have less revenue each year to provide services to the same size area. This is an equation for disaster -- day by day, dollar by dollar.

Habitat switches to demolition

The New York Times has a report today on how Habitat for Humanity is now knocking down more homes in Saginaw than it's building. In partnership with the city, the group is paying low-income workers to dismantle dilapidated homes and recycle anything salvageable. In essence, the city is co-opting the scrappers, letting Habitat take the valuables instead and use the profits to finance new home construction. Still, it's awfully ironic to see Habitat workers wielding sledge hammers.

Bridge Watch

Last night the U.S. Coast Guard got more public input than it was anticipating when 500 people showed up to comment on the environmental impact of Matty Moroun's proposed new bridge. This could be a big setback for Moroun, who boldly went ahead and built on-ramps to the unapproved bridge without waiting for public comment or federal approval.

Send in the artists!

When people hear homes are selling for $100 in Detroit, they momentarily dream of a great deal. Then they see a picture of the property -- burned out, scrapped, and rotting in a dying neighborhood -- and the dream is dashed. Luckily for the city, some artists find that image irresistibly romantic -- and the price can't be beat. The Detroit News has a profile today of a group of artists who are eagerly buying up derelict property just north of Hamtramck. (A local novelist first wrote about them in Sunday's New York Times.) I wish them the best of luck, and I hope they bring their friends!

Capturing the beauty in Detroit's decline

Time Magazine has some gorgeous photos of Detroit's ruins. They are the work of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, two talented French photographers who show great respect for our post-industrial landscape. Check out their website for more, including shots of East Germany for contrast. I'm stealing just one; please follow the links for more:


Hat Tip: Detroit Yes!

Paging the Joshua Generation

In November, the New Yorker published a terrific article on race and the presidential campaign, calling President Barack Obama the foremost member of "The Joshua Generation" -- a new wave of black leaders, like Cory Booker in Newark and Patrick Deval in Massachusetts, whose appeal transcends race. The Breakthrough, Gwen Ifill's new book, has a similar argument, pointing to black leaders who "rely more on pragmatic political coalitions than on racial solidarity."

I think it's time the Joshua Generation makes itself heard in Detroit. The last two weeks have proven, yet again, that politicians across the region suffer from 1967 syndrome -- the delusion that nothing has changed in forty years. Detroit's City Council almost seems to take it as a badge of pride.

Exhibit A: The Cobo Veto. Not only did the Monica Conyers-led Council veto the region's best hope for fixing Cobo and saving the Auto Show, they did it singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" to the region's permanent embarrassment.



Exhibit B: The Leno "Snub". Today, Jay Leno announced a free show at the Palace for anyone unemployed in Michigan. I'm not a fan of his, but it's a great gesture, and I'm glad he's doing it. Not Councilmember Martha Reeves. No, no, no. If it's not in the city limits, she doesn't want it at all. Here she is making an ass of herself on WDIV. Note the refrain: "Auburn Hills isn't Detroit." I got news for you: Yes, it is. No one outside of Southeast Michigan gives a damn whether you're from the city or the suburbs. We're just Detroit. Get some pride and let it rest.

Light rail to run *next year*

The proposed light rail line between Downtown and New Center will be operating by late 2010 (says the Free Press). Realistically, the project will be delayed until at least early 2011, but that's still exciting news. Hopefully this privately-funded project will be integrated with DTOGS, the city's own plan to extend mass transit up and down Woodward and eventually the other main arteries of the city. The 2010s will be the decade that mass transit returned to Detroit.

On the foreclosure crisis

The New York Times Magazine has an epic piece on the foreclosure crisis. The focus in on Cleveland, but you could substitute the word Detroit and never notice the difference. The whole Rust Belt is struggling with an unprecedented glut of abandoned homes, and the rest of the country's on notice.

Foreclosures are a problem all over the country now, but Cleveland got to this place a while ago. Cities, old and new, are looking at what’s occurring in Cleveland with some trepidation — and also looking for guidance. Already places as diverse as Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas and Minneapolis have neighborhoods where at least one of every five homes stands vacant. In states like California, Florida and Nevada, where many of the foreclosures have been newer housing, there is fear that with mounting unemployment and more people walking away from their property, houses will remain empty longer, with a greater likelihood that they will deteriorate or be vandalized. ... “Cleveland is a bellwether,” Immergluck says. “It’s where other cities are heading because of the economic downturn.”

There's an election, I guess

Prediction: More Detroiters will buy paczkis on Tuesday than vote. For those who do both, Mary Kramer of Crain's Detroit has a thoughtful post on the candidates and the issues. I, too, wish someone would run on her five-point platform:

1. End corruption.

2. Fix the schools.

3. Elect council members by district.

4. Offers primers on business and public policy to city officials.

5. Build regional mass transit.

A grassroots look at the city

Do yourself a favor, and read this wonderful post on Sweet Juniper. The author walks us through the stops of a tour he just gave to a Time Magazine reporter, showing a side of the city that too few ever see, not just nationally but locally. This is the Detroit that fascinates and inspires me, and I wish more people would get a chance, or rather, take the chance, to experience it.

Creative class guru predicts Detroit's demise

Richard Florida, the prophet of the creative class, has a new article in the Atlantic, "On How the Crash Will Reshape America." He predicts a reorganization of the American landscape, with power shifting to "mega-regions," like the North Carolina research triangle or the Boston-New York-D.C. corridor, where new economy jobs (think media and information) are most concentrated.

Who will suffer the most? The Rust Belt. Specifically, Detroit:

Perhaps Detroit has reached a tipping point, and will become a ghost town. I’d certainly expect it to shrink faster in the next few years than it has in the past few. But more than likely, many people will stay—those with no means and few obvious prospects elsewhere, those with close family ties nearby, some number of young professionals and creative types looking to take advantage of the city’s low housing prices. Still, as its population density dips further, the city’s struggle to provide services and prevent blight across an ever-emptier landscape will only intensify.

Hm. That rings a bell. Oh wait, that's what's happening already. Still, I'd rather not hear it from a man who just a few months ago was preaching to the choir at the Creative Cities Summit 2.0.

Retail fund to the rescue

There's a new $5 million fund for downtown retail, the News reports. The Detroit Investment Fund will give loans ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 to establish new storefronts in the city's five core neighborhoods -- downtown, Corktown, Midtown, Eastern Market, and the riverfront. Together with new greenways and proposed transit projects, this could keep the downtown area on an upward trajectory. What's still missing, though, is housing. If all the condo and loft deals are dead, who will keep these stores in business? Let's hope the real estate market finally starts to rebound soon.

Don't panic

Lately, it seems another downtown business closes its doors every other day -- Borders, Sweet Georgia Brown, Zaccaro's Market. The Free Press says revitalization has stalled. Even the well received Mercury Coffee Bar shut its doors Monday. Thus began the wailing and gnashing of teeth: downtown is dead, Detroit is doomed.

Let me let you in on a secret. Half of all new businesses fail within four years. And we're in a recession. In fact, the city itself has arguably been in a depression for decades. So while we should celebrate and promote all the new businesses that come on board, there's no need to declare defeat whenever one (or even two or three) shuts down. Just look at the turnover in Royal Oak. A business fails there every month, but no one's writing the downtown's post mortem. It's just the way it goes.

Oh, and Mercury Coffee Bar? It's set to re-open next Friday. It's joined by a fancy new French cafe at Trumbull and Howard in Corktown and a new produce market on John R in Brush Park. Go check 'em out.

Revitalization on hold

The Free Press confirms the obvious today: the revitalization of downtown has stalled. The proposed Cadillac Centre is dead, condos aren't selling, and Quicken's move downtown is highly uncertain. New hotels have opened and DTE renovated its campus, but those projects were underway before credit dried up. Some existing stores are disappearing, too, like the downtown Borders. Development isn't totally dead -- five new coffee shops have opened recently -- but things have sure slowed down.

The state of our state

Granholm's State of the State address went something like this: "Michigan. Brutal. Budget cuts. But jobs! Michigan! Jobs! Michigan! Energy! Jobs! Michigan!" By the end I almost felt employed.

But she only devoted a minute or two to the most critical passage of the speech -- the restructuring of state government. The plan is to reduce the salaries of elected officials by 10%, consolidate 18 state departments into just eight, cut off funding to the state fair, and close three prisons. Those are serious changes, but we never heard the details. And as the business press has complained, the savings aren't sufficient to cover the deficit. I guess the federal stimulus will save us.

Still, I thought it was a solid speech. Serious, well delivered, and relentlessly optimistic without seeming deranged -- a tough feat to pull off in an economy as tanked as ours.

Off the radar

Model D has a roundup of Detroit blogs this week. There are some goodies there, but alas, mine didn't make the cut. So kudos to you, dear readers, for following this blog despite the complete lack of promotion or publicity. The few, the proud, the think Detroiters.