Business first...a reminder that we have a day and time for our March meet-up:
Saturday, March 28, at 5:00 PM, at Taqueria Mi Pueblo (7278 Dix Rd, Detroit, 48209; 313-841-3315). Please let us know in the comments if you can attend.
We have a suggestion from 2thanks for an April meet-up: Sweet Potato Sensations, in Northwest Detroit (on Lahser, across from the Redford Theater). This restaurant is starting to create a lot of buzz, so it might be a great place for us to check out.
Lastly, for now, let's keep in mind the special exhibit at the DIA: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit. The exhibit opens on March 15th and closes on July 12th. Tickets will undoubtedly sell out quickly, so we'll need to start discussing a meet-up relatively soon.
In the meantime, peregrine kate graciously gave this open thread over to me when I mentioned that after completing the Thomas Sugrue book, The Origins of the Urban Crisis, I felt like I wasn't quite finished. I did a lot of supplemental reading during the preparation of the series of diaries and felt there were links, blogs and books too good not to share. I also felt that after gaining a sense of how Detroit got to where it is, it would be helpful to discuss "what next." I have included some of the latest thoughts and ideas, but at the end of this diary, I will be asking for your ideas about the Detroit of Our Dreams.
For those who didn't read the Sugrue book or read the diaries, I urge you to read the following blog post: The reasons behind Detroit's decline. Pete Saunders is a Detroit native who now lives and works in Peoria, IL as an urban planner. As such, he is familiar with Sugrue's work but adds his own personal insights in this post at Urbanophile (which was so widely read that it inspired him to start his own blog, The Corner Side Yard). Although he doesn't write strictly about Detroit, if you have any interest in the issues facing cities today, he's a highly-readable source. His follow-up post to the one cited above can be found here: The "Reasons Behind Detroit's Decline" Series, an Epilogue.
While Pete Saunders identifies and discusses many of the problems facing cities today from an urban planner's perspective, others write about what could be. For a brief, simple read, I suggest Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City, a 2010 book by John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press. Gallagher interviewed planners, academics, and activists extensively to develop an outline of what Detroit could do next. He argues persuasively that the days of 2,000,000 Detroiters, with heavy employment in the auto industry, are long gone, and plans for Detroit should be based on a city of 500,000 - 600,000 residents with a diversified economy. He envisions a city supportive of urban farming and locally-sourced food; a city with a commitment to a "road diet" (undoing decades of auto-based urban planning) and incorporating greenways (e.g. the RiverWalk); a city that will rediscover past geography and heal the landscape by "daylighting" (uncovering) long-buried streams; and a city that will welcome entrepreneurship through high-tech incubators (e.g. TechTown), co-ops, and social enterprise. He also suggests that as long as city government is underfunded because of the depressed tax base, private-public partnerships are the only feasible means of getting the city back on track. While I don't agree with everything Mr. Gallagher wrote, his book is a an interesting introduction to the possibilities for future Detroit.
Last, but certainly not least, is the work of Detroit Future City.
In January 2013, after three years of solid work, drawing on the best local and national talent as well as the insights of tens of thousands of Detroiters, the Detroit Future City Strategic Framework was released. The DFC Strategic Framework is a highly detailed long term guide for decision–making by all of the stakeholders in the City.
For the next year, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation gathered resources and developed a team to connect people to the plan. Work began immediately in various sectors of the community and with policy leaders locally and at the state and federal levels as well.
The DFC Strategic Framework would not be a plan that sat on a shelf. Through the support of the Kresge Foundation, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and working in collaboration with the City of Detroit, the DFC Strategic Framework would come to life.
In January 2014, an official home base was created and leadership team announced to ensure the successful execution of the vision created in the DFC Strategic Framework.
To say, "highly detailed long term guide" is an understatement. The entire document is in excess of 340 pages, and I have to admit, I haven't finished reading it yet. Detroit Future City is very clear that this is NOT a master plan, but is instead a framework and a vision by which future planning can be guided. Unlike past plans for the city, this was developed with the input of ordinary Detroiters, and so they hope it is more representative of the needs of the people and not a mere academic exercise. In order to revitalize the city, the following key actions were identified:
12 Imperative Actions
1. We must re-energize Detroit’s economy to increase job opportunities for
Detroiters within the city and strengthen the tax base.
2. We must support our current residents and attract new residents.
3. We must use innovative approaches to transform our vacant land in ways
that increase the value and productivity and promote long-term sustainability.
4. We must use our open space to improve the health of all Detroit’s residents.
5. We must promote a range of sustainable residential densities.
6. We must focus on sizing the networks for a smaller population, making them
more efficient, more affordable, and better performing.
7. We must realign city systems in ways that promote areas of economic
potential, encourage thriving communities, and improve environmental and
human health conditions.
8. We must be strategic and coordinated in our use of land.
9. We must promote stewardship for all areas of the city by implementing short-
and long-term strategies.
10. We must provide residents with meaningful ways to make change in their
communities and the city at large.
11. We must pursue a collaborative regional agenda that recognizes Detroit’s
strengths and our region’s shared destiny.
12. We must dedicate ourselves to implementing this framework for our future.
Those general guidelines are then addressed with specifics throughout the framework. For those who are interested in a summary of the 2012 plan, these blog posts provide an overview:
Two blog posts: Detroit Future City statistics and a summary of the Detroit Strategic Framework Plan; the executive summary of the plan is here:
Detroit Future City 2012 Detroit Strategic Framework Plan (Executive Summary) Warning: PDF file; and the entire plan is here:
Detroit Future City 2012 Detroit Strategic Framework Plan (entire) Warning: massive PDF file.
So those are some of the professional ideas for transforming Detroit, but what about those of us who just want the city to succeed? Several weeks ago, when the NC General Assembly was closed due to a "snowstorm" (yes, those quotation marks are intentional; my northern bias is showing!), NC State Senator Jeff Jackson found himself at work alone and proceeded to tweet his social-media-passage-of-laws. (NC Snow Day) If Senator Jackson can do it, so can we...what would you like to see happening in Detroit? (Bonus points if you put it in a form that I can tweet with my brand-spanking new Twitter account, @KossackDoReMI.)
The floor is open...
ETA by request the links to the Sugrue diaries: Sugure #1, Sugrue #2, Sugrue #3, Sugrue #4, Sugrue #5, Sugrue #6, and Sugrue #7.