  Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 244 Registered: 06-2007 |
Okay kids, What we are: We are a sub-committee of Rebuild MI, http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0, 1607,7-154-25676_25689_26261-- -,00.html coordinating with the WARM Training Center, http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0, 1607,7-154-25676-172653--,00.h tml http://www.warmtraining.org/ as part of a steering committee of local planning professionals, community leaders and stake holders assembled in order to jump start the next phase of Detroit's evolution. In the past five years we have seen tremendous advancement in the rebuilding of Detroit and investment dollars trickling back into the city. Now is the time to push for the critical mass needed to redefine the city as a World class destination as well as providing training and resources necessary to lead the world in quality of life for livable and sustainable communities. What we are doing: This first phase of planning involves the identification and initial collaboration of metro-detroit communities in order to establish a cohesive strategy of redevelopment that is sustainable. November 16th is our deadline to submit an application to the national chapter of A.I.A. (American Institute of Architects), in which a national consortium of professional engineers, planners, ecologists, and financial experts will converge upon our city to perform a high profile study and plan of action. What we need from you: This thread is meant to serve as the platform of an online charette to get active community members involved and to share ideas and to communicate relevant/ required information. Time is of the essence. So we need clear identification of underutilized neighborhoods that can serve as the outline of our study area. So think about your favorite walkable neighborhoods in the City that could benefit from community outreach programs and city services, i.e. security, job training, parks/trails, recycling/trash pick-up, transportation, low-interest home-improvement loans...and tell us why these neighborhoods are important to the fabric of our City. Guidelines: Here are the requirements for our application: 1.)History (Not the overall history of Detroit, but the history of target neighborhoods...include links to credible sources if you can  ). 2.) Population figures, demographics, income levels, waterways/ natural features (wildlife if any)(we have the Census Data, but the people know there neighbors better than the spreadsheets, we want to hear it from the horse's mouth ). 3.) Forms of local government. i.e. voices in the community. Church groups, neighborhood groups, political groups, business leaders, influential figures...we need to hear from you to tell us what makes your community tick and what your community is lacking...more specifically, the physical, social, economic and political 'barriers to success'...include past examples that have failed to resolve community issues. 4.) Past and/or ongoing planning efforts. Who is doing what within those communities? Post links if you can. Next steps: We will be posting seperate threads over the next few weeks as we get closer to establishing our goals, so look for threads starting with 'Rebuild Detroit' as we will be posting our progress and asking for letters and petitions of support. Closing: Don't feel that you have to answer or provide information on all of the bullet points. Some people will have more technical information than others, while some will have keen insights that are known only to them. Please post your ideas and discuss amongst yourselves the most relevant study areas that could spark the Detroit Revolution. We are hoping to get a consensus of the most underutilized neighborhoods that could benefit the city overall through redelevopment, so please, do what you all do best, and discuss the goods and the bads, the ups and the downs, the trivial to the earth shattering...let us hear your voice! Thank you in advance!! And happy posting!! | ||
Paulmcall Member Username: Paulmcall Post Number: 468 Registered: 05-2004 |
Just what we need is one more study. What we need are leaders and parents to do their jobs. It would also be nice to have more job opportunities plus less rancor between city and suburbs. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 1813 Registered: 10-2006 |
"in which a national consortium of professional engineers, planners, ecologists, and financial experts will converge upon our city to perform a high profile study and plan of action." This is a terrible idea on the part of the AIA!•••• I am scolding them! You should never send a group of outsiders into a community to tell theat community what it needs! It is ok to study a community and it needs and help them, but be more careful in your phrasing next time! | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 245 Registered: 06-2007 |
Actually, it's a great idea. The consortium will not dictate to us, but to help bolster our resolve. It is up to us to establish and define our path towards vitality. They will only serve to garnish press and fanfare. We will be in control of our destiny, while they will be able to offer insight from years of experience and expertise. This is up to us! Our own communities, our own experts in the field, our own talent...you, me...all of us. | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 246 Registered: 06-2007 |
The funny part about this is that the AIA national calls this team the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT)and has been doing studies in select cities for multiple years. Cities like Tuscon, Reno and Central City Lousiana. Cities that for the most part are unsustainable in nature, being a product of sprawl or in areas with limited natural resources. But these are the cities that have submitted applications. Detroit has not taken the initiative to turn in an application. So you may decry the prospect of outsiders coming in, but i ask, what have we done that is so spectacular as insiders? This is our opportunity to get community leaders together with citizens and parents to work together towards a common goal. This is not the opportunity to show the world how cynical and defeated we are. We have the right history, the right building stock, the right schools, the right idealism and the right people to see this through. So, let's see it through and post the neighborhoods that can serve as catalysts to a regional rejuvenation. No more arguing about the validity of initiating positive change and creating a vibrant city, let's just do it!! | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 4333 Registered: 10-2004 |
Duh! Architects design and build things. Wanna bet that they propose that something (lots of somethings?) should be built. And hit the coffers of whatever public treasury it can... | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 247 Registered: 06-2007 |
For all of those overtly critical of the AIA, please click on the links posted in the original post. This initiative is NOT governed by the AIA only spawned by some of the most forward thinking and progressive professionals this world has yet to see (of which some happen to be architects). We are standing on the shoulders of giants of men (frederick law olmstead, Eliel Saarinen, Albert Kahn, Daniel Burnham, Louis Kamper, Wirt Rowland, George Mason, Cass Gilbert, Mies Van der Rohe, Malcomson & Higginbotham...etc.) and owe it to ourselves to further their vision that has given us all of the things we hold so dear about this city. I repeat, this is not about architects proposing something, this is about YOU proposing something! So please, once again, post about the nieghborhoods you love and what it is you love about them. (Message edited by Jb3 on October 14, 2007) | ||
Daytwa Member Username: Daytwa Post Number: 1 Registered: 10-2007 |
You people make me sick. These type of comments could only come from people in the detroit area - I've never heard anything like it anywhere else... The poisonous negativity and bitterness that exist in these forums are exactly why our area is so @#$ed up. Who cares whether it is "just another study" or architects who only "design and build things" (Livernoisyard, you obviously have no affiliation with the architecture or engineering fields). This is something positive that we can do to improve our city. The worst that we could get out of it is additional information or a new viewpoint. The added press and awareness certainly would not hurt - it could turn out to be a major driver for community change (i.e. those with money might like what they hear). The rest of you do-nothings can just sit in front of your computer and do exactly that. Jb3 - you have my support and assistance. | ||
Hockey_player Member Username: Hockey_player Post Number: 372 Registered: 10-2003 |
Quote: "This is something positive that we can do to improve our city. The rest of you do-nothings can just sit in front of your computer and do exactly that." You can continue to pat yourself on the back, but go into the neighborhoods and ask the residents if the answer to chronic poverty, drug addiction, illiteracy and blight is to have architects converge on the area. I doubt their reaction would be as kind as that on the forum so far. | ||
Oakmangirl Member Username: Oakmangirl Post Number: 525 Registered: 08-2007 |
Jb3, to get active community members involved... The mistake was in assuming people here are active or even part of the community. ;-) | ||
Daytwa Member Username: Daytwa Post Number: 2 Registered: 10-2007 |
^^What are you talking about? People here are extremely active complainers! ;-) "You can continue to pat yourself on the back, but go into the neighborhoods and ask the residents if the answer to chronic poverty, drug addiction, illiteracy and blight is to have architects converge on the area. I doubt their reaction would be as kind as that on the forum so far." So, unless it is something that cures all of the city's ills we should do nothing at all, right? What exactly are YOU doing to alleviate chronic poverty, drug addiction, illiteracy and blight? | ||
Rfrankt Member Username: Rfrankt Post Number: 5 Registered: 03-2007 |
Check out Brush Park Village North at www.hipcityDETROIT.com This project is helping to rejuvenate Brush Park. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1211 Registered: 12-2005 |
Daytwa, The point being made is that this will be a wasted effort since the "customer" is a coalition of groups that have no accountability or resources to implement the findings of the AIA group. Unless the coalition can get city officials to join them prior to take off, they sure as hell won't be with them at the landing when it is time to implement. | ||
Daytwa Member Username: Daytwa Post Number: 3 Registered: 10-2007 |
The "customer" is not a group of architects, the "customer" is the city of Detroit: http://www.eere.energy.gov/bui ldings/program_areas/rebuild.h tml | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 2940 Registered: 06-2004 |
please take this shit to New Orleans we don't want an urban Disneyland here | ||
Oldoak Member Username: Oldoak Post Number: 46 Registered: 09-2007 |
Jb3 please do not give up on Detroit because of the isolationists who insist on negative discouragement. Detroit will never be an urban Disneyland -- some people like to feel superior so they keep fueling the negative. Now of course it's your turn to attack me, Lilpup. What, did I spell something wrong??? | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1212 Registered: 12-2005 |
Daytwa, Welcome to the forum, but please read someone's post thoroughly before responding to it. I never wrote that the "customer" is a group of architects, I wrote that the "customer" is a coalition of groups, which is further supported by the information in the link you provided, which states that Rebuild America is a network of community-based partnerships. None of the links provided so far indicate that the City of Detroit is a member of any of these "community-based partnerships". | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 248 Registered: 06-2007 |
The Coalition has the support and is comprised of members of the City Planning Commission (which is to say that we have had a meeting and they have agreed to attend our next meeting as well as to try and garnish further support from City Council, a step in the right direction) The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce has already established their commitment to improving the neighborhoods and attracting new homeowners. http://www.modeldmedia.com/fea tures/nez14.aspx Since the resources needed to implement whatever plan we decide upon is determined by our own willingness to participate in determining our own fate, i have the utmost confidence in my fellow Detroiters, that we can pull together and accomplish our goals. We already have the support of some local CDC's and other non-profits. We have the inexhaustible resources of community volunteers from Greening of Detroit to Detroit Synergy. We have the talent and the intelligence to dictate our own future. And since it is us that will decide, i find it highly unlikely that we will find ourselves in a Disneyesque realm of fantasical minimansions and hollow communities that are nothing more than fancy facades. We are Detroit. We are gritty and determined. We love our abandoned buildings, but we want safe neighborhoods. We can create beautiful places from decaying factories, but we want toxin free ground water and clean beaches. We love our hole-in-wall pubs and local playgrounds, but we don't want druggies mugging us or leaving needles for our kids to find. So thank you all for your responses so far. But maybe i'm asking the wrong question. Instead, maybe we should be talking about the worst parts of Detroit. Tell me about the places you loathe. the places you'd pay money to have erased from the face of the earth. The places that serve now only to grow weeds and provide havens for derelicts. Tell me the places we could be better served by inviting nature back into. Tell me what you want to see in your community. (Message edited by Jb3 on October 14, 2007) (Message edited by Jb3 on October 14, 2007) | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 4336 Registered: 10-2004 |
Follow the money... | ||
Oakmangirl Member Username: Oakmangirl Post Number: 526 Registered: 08-2007 |
Jb3, Could you please clarify some things? -WARM is partnering with the AIA to build what exactly? Sustainable mixed housing? -What role do city planners play? I'm surprised that key areas have not yet been identified and your deadline is a month away. -Is only one area to be slated for development or several? Thank you. | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 249 Registered: 06-2007 |
Let me clarify: quote:'The point being made is that this will be a wasted effort since the "customer" is a coalition of groups that have no accountability or resources to implement the findings of the AIA group.' This initiative will NOT be awarded to Detroit WITHOUT the support from local government, WITHOUT the support of communtiy leaders (non-profits, CDC's...etc.), WITHOUT the support of educational partners and WITHOUT the support from local stakeholders. Given that we cannot succeed without support from everyone involved, it stands to logic that we will succeed with the support of everyone involved. The question is not whether we will succeed or not, the question is what areas of Detroit do you think would most benefit or be the impetus for change. I'm curious, because this is going to happen, with or without your help. (Message edited by Jb3 on October 14, 2007) | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 2941 Registered: 06-2004 |
You want to do something to help the city? Start providing viable alternatives for the 'derelicts' you mention. Can the AIA help you do that? Yes, it's nice to have more businesses move downtown. Yes, it's nice to have new buildings, even nicer to rehab the old ones. But there is a lot of poverty in Detroit - do you plan on helping people or just supplanting them with higher income 'beautiful' people? How do you intend to address the city's real issues? | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 250 Registered: 06-2007 |
Excellent questions OG. But do not worry, we have the support of the local architecture colleges as well that have years of community studies at our disposal. To answer your questions: '-WARM is partnering with the AIA to build what exactly? Sustainable mixed housing?' WARM is dedicated to providing training and funding options for sustainable design. They are the ones that are actually submitting the application. They are looking to AIA Detroit to help define what it means to have a truly sustainable community in order to further their goals. At this point there is no comprehensive plan to guide Detroit's Green movement. The AIA is being requested to support the application in order to help provide a comprehensive long term plan that has the support and dedication of key community organizations. Essentially, the initiative is meant to specifically bring together and solidify relationships and common goals between the citizens, the government and the financial institutions. The overall plan is left up to those organizations to decide (mixed use...whatever)what is in the best interests of all involved. -What role do city planners play? I'm surprised that key areas have not yet been identified and your deadline is a month away. As i said, Detroit has no real plan of action for sustainable design. The application is not meant to be a formal plan or outline, it is meant to show solidarity within the community. This is to say that in order for a study to be performed, the communities must show support and willingness to participate. Once we all agree we want to initiate change, we can then move towards change (can't help those that aren't willing to help themselves) -Is only one area to be slated for development or several? This is why i am here. I want to hear from the community what areas you feel could most benefit from redevelopment. Who would be impacted most? As well as to raise awareness that 'Green' must be the driving factor of City development from here on out. But this does not just pertain to buildings in isolation. It pertains to regional influences (watersheds, riparian corridors...etc)as well as lifestyle choices (incandescant vs. flourescent...etc) | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 251 Registered: 06-2007 |
quote: "You want to do something to help the city? Start providing viable alternatives for the 'derelicts' you mention. Can the AIA help you do that? Yes, it's nice to have more businesses move downtown. Yes, it's nice to have new buildings, even nicer to rehab the old ones. But there is a lot of poverty in Detroit - do you plan on helping people or just supplanting them with higher income 'beautiful' people? How do you intend to address the city's real issues?" That is the beauty of having WARM initiate the application process. Rebuild MI at the WARM Training Center is dedicated to providing training to those that need it as well as providing funding options for those that qualify. They are working with local lenders to get low-interest loans for sustainable retrofits. i.e. a homeowner pays $200 per month in the winter for heating costs but wants some construction money for home improvement. WARM can provide (through lenders) an energy audit and show the homeowner how to save thousands of dollars a year on utility bills. The saved money can be applied to repaying the loan (just one example) To clarify, this is not a welfare program, this meant to show people how to help themselves. (give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach him to fish...) The AIA's role will be to show communities how best to manage their built environment that will maximize local jobs and local materials. | ||
Hockey_player Member Username: Hockey_player Post Number: 373 Registered: 10-2003 |
Quote: "What exactly are YOU doing to alleviate chronic poverty, drug addiction, illiteracy and blight?" It's not my job to cure those things. I am busy living a life and taking care of the problems in my immediate environment. Nor do I appoint myself the messiah of Detroiters, who in your mind are sitting around waiting for some yuppie savior to show them the way out of their ills, problems they are evidently too stupid to have thought of until some self-important Internet forum poster came along. If you want to know what's wrong with the neighborhoods, get out of your cozy little home and go to the neighborhoods and ask the people who actually live there, not a bunch of largely middle-class forum posters. People are getting shot, living in crumbling homes in rotten areas and you're positing discussions about fucking "fluorescent vs. incandescent." Talk about clueless. | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 252 Registered: 06-2007 |
HP-Would i go to Phoenix and ask the people that live there how best i can cure their water needs to keep their lawns green. Should i ask them how best to transport Great Lakes water to their arid climate? Or would it be better to initiate outreach programs designed to teach people about the consequences of the choices they make. How about providing the means to rehabilitate derelict buildings into community centers that can help people with their illiteracy? As i said, this is not direct welfare. Drug addiction and unwanted pregnancy can only be combated with education and awareness. For some, it's too late and they will be better served through direct welfare. For the next generation of derelicts, we can head them off at the pass by providing people with the empowerment to recognize that 'IT IS THEIR JOB' to give a damn about their neighbors and their environment. The question was never postulated as to what exactly was wrong with the neighborhoods. The question was exactly where our concerted efforts would best be served. | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 253 Registered: 06-2007 |
And just to clarify. I do walk the neighborhoods, and i do ask people about what's going on in their lives. Messiah? No. Concerned citizen sick of the shit we live in and willing to sacrifice my time and effort to initiate change? Yes. People too stupid to change things themselves? No. Overwhelming political processes barring change? Yes. This is opportunity knocking. This is not me telling you i will save your city. This is me relaying a message in which it states that now is the opportune moment to take advantage of collaborative groups working towards the same goals. As far as this forum being simply middle-class. What i have seen is a large on-line community that comes from and intimately knows the neighborhoods and actually care about what happens to those neighborhoods. | ||
6nois Member Username: 6nois Post Number: 541 Registered: 11-2006 |
I am going to take a shot here. I don't have a ton of information about the area, but I think a good target would be the University District, around UDM and Marygrove. This area has excellent potentional but has many issues as well. Working with the universities to open their campuses, and force the students and the neighborhood to be one in the same is probably the biggest step. When I have more time I will write more about my thoughts on the subject. | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 254 Registered: 06-2007 |
Thanks 6nois, I would love to hear your thoughts. You're right about the tremendous opportunity that area offers. Also, I like the history of the neighborhoods presented in the following link. https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/5/115298.html?1192377111 | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 2942 Registered: 06-2004 |
I wouldn't force the universities to open their campuses - universities are different environments for a reason what is really needed is functional neighborhoods and encouragement of small businesses that will be locally owned and hiring, and integrated into the neighborhoods look at the more successful large cities - they're really an amalgam of small, walkable, neighborhoods with residential and shopping areas - you don't have to drive five miles in NYC or Chicago to find a place, other than a liquor store, to buy groceries The idea of sparsely located consolidated shopping areas and big box/chain stores needs to be reversed for local economies to be sustainable. That's why so many newer suburbs are trying to create their own downtowns. Yet at the same time many older, traditional small town downtowns have changed over to restaurants and entertainment spots to survive, which is scary because these are totally dependent on discretionary spending. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4237 Registered: 10-2003 |
Jb3, great thread. My candidate would be Highland Park with the reuse / restoration of the Model T complex at its core. Highland Park has history, architecturally elegant buildings and house through out. It has two historic home districts although activity surrounding them is dormant. It also is a small town politically and you won't face the same huge bureaucratic hurdles you are sure to run into in the City of Detroit. Thanks for posting this and for keeping your cool with a few dark cloud detractors who may think you should solve hunger in Madagascar before you think of doing anything anywhere else. You will always face negativity when shine a positive light and you seem well equiped to let it slide off and keep your eyes on the goal. We look forward to your future followup threads and hope the best for your efforts. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 379 Registered: 07-2007 |
If anyone hasn't realized the facts you are tying to discern by now. I think that all hope is lost! Another waste of resources. | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 255 Registered: 06-2007 |
Great posts all! We need to hear the good with the bad, so...Keep posting! Metro Detroit has a tremendous wealth of resources in caring and concerned citizens willing to roll up their sleeves and work towards a better future. I know it seems overwhelming and a daunting task to drag ourselves up from the ashes, but if we all believe it is possible, the sky's the limit. We'll do our part on our end, we just need your support and ideas. As i said before, this will only fail if we let it! | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 1822 Registered: 10-2006 |
"The worst that we could get out of it is additional information or a new viewpoint." Remember that people on the forum don't like outsiders viewpoints? "So thank you all for your responses so far. But maybe i'm asking the wrong question. Instead, maybe we should be talking about the worst parts of Detroit. Tell me about the places you loathe. the places you'd pay money to have erased from the face of the earth. The places that serve now only to grow weeds and provide havens for derelicts. Tell me the places we could be better served by inviting nature back into. Tell me what you want to see in your community." That is a good point. It is definitely a better idea to concentrate on the neighborhoods that are halfway decent rather than those that are too far gone. "The question is not whether we will succeed or not, the question is what areas of Detroit do you think would most benefit or be the impetus for change. I'm curious, because this is going to happen, with or without your help." For starters then, I suggest the University neighborhoods near Detroit Mercy. Livernois has many well established neighborhoods running along it up to Eight Mile as well as many community organizations fighting to maintain the strip. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 3066 Registered: 10-2003 |
Jb3, I would nominate the entire Woodward corridor, including Highland Park. Woodward has a special influence in this area, and people and redevelopment seem to be drawn to it. It connects suburbs that have experienced urban redevelopment in the last decade or so like Ferndale and Royal Oak, with the city's CBD. Fill in the holes, and let Woodward be the trunk that many branches then spread out from. Gateway Park may be a beginning. Woodward Avenue brings a regional structure and identity to an area that suffers from uncontrolled sprawl. Downtown, Foxtown, Midtown (cultural district), New Center, Highland Park, Ferndale, Royal Oak, Birmingham... straight on out to Pontiac. | ||
Rb336 Member Username: Rb336 Post Number: 2862 Registered: 02-2007 |
JL - I agree. healthy trunk=healthy branches. downtown is developing as a nice root ball. | ||
Nainrouge Member Username: Nainrouge Post Number: 266 Registered: 05-2006 |
Although this may be obvious, I think that you should definitely coordinate with the other initiatives going on in the city such as NextDetroit, LISC Strategic Investment Initiatives, Skillman Good Neighborhoods, Growing Well, Food and Fitness, The Road to Renaissance, and others that are coming up. With lots of groups doing lots of things it is important to coordinate efforts so that communities are not "overstudied" and efforts are not unnecessarily duplicated. Also, one project could easily feed off the other. You say that you have the census data and are looking for more neighborhood data. You will want to take a look at the Detroit Drilldown information that just came out. http://socialcompact.org/pdfs/ DetroitDrillDownReport.pdf Also, please put some pressure on other city government departments - especially DPD - to release their data on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood level! I would love to help you with this, if you want to contact me off this board, let me know. Shame on all of you who are being so negative! Would you rather have this work done in Boston or LA? I think you should feel free to criticize the work once it is done (and I am SURE you will), but to discourage it from the outset? Why is every attempt to do something positive slammed on this board? Are you all so jaded? We need more national attention and more folks coming to town, not fewer. | ||
Jb3 Member Username: Jb3 Post Number: 256 Registered: 06-2007 |
Thank you all so much for your posts! We embracingly welcome any and all help, especially from those that are intimately familiar, and involved with parallel initiatives. So far we've heard/ read about some great areas and some great ideas: The vacant DPS school site leases offer tremendous opportunity for adaptive reuse (thoughts welcomed...community centers, outreach programs, municipal services...let's hear them all!) The University District and the Livernois corridor present specific opportunity/ challenges for walkable communities and retail that will help bolster the neighborhoods Lafayette Park also presents great opportunity to further the vision of one Mr. Mies Van der Rohe, as well as adapting to some new age ideals of density and pedestrian oriented design Model T plant in Highland Park...need i say more...what a chance to revitalize a key component of Detroit!! I'd live there!! Entire Woodward Corridor...Well, we've beaten some of these horses to death, but we'll keep beating by recommending a rapid transit line, but since our driving focus is on sustainability, it will probably make financial sense for the City to replace the thousands of light poles with solar powered ones (your thoughts welcomed here!), as well as initiating a 'Green Woodward Fund' that would give incentives to retailers and mixed-users for building/ rehabilitating environmentally conscious (again...thoughts welcomed). Brush Park. Other than historical significance, what's the draw? Is it the stadiums? Is it the physical barrier of the freeway limiting pedestrian movement? Is it the vast parking lots (Detroit's most popular development choice) in front of and surrounding the stadiums preventing any hope for a truly dynamic atmosphere? In my mind, Brush Park could best be served by promoting a mixed-use, high density block development in the parking lots around the freeway and along Woodward (again, thoughts welcomed here!) Since, this area is already being 'regentrified', i say we tear down the barriers to success...vacant parking lots. Corktown/ Mexicantown. To be completely honest here. This area has already been predetermined as our main focus site. Not to worry though, we are determined to tackle it all! Our goal is to provide Detroit with a comprehensive game plan for it's built environment that will provide us with all of the tools we need to create a thriving City. We already have the foundations in place with strong and caring communities as well as unrivaled and undervalued building stock. The next step is simply to reevaluate our past decisions and work towards building communities that can be self sustaining by enticing and bolstering localized economies (give me your thoughts on this...tech jobs, advertising, urban agriculture, fashion, PET recyling...etc). Thanks again for sharing! I may not respond to everyone, but i am listening! So post away! And tell me what you want to see in your communities! |
