Frequency 13 - Detroit

Highland Park Turning off Street Lights

2009-03-27T13:41:00.011-04:00

Arthur Blackwell II, thwarted in his attempts to privatize the Highland Park's water department and quasi-thwarted in his attempts to get paid by the state under the table, has a new cost-cutting idea: shutting off street lights. Citing a $1,000,000 a year DTE bill, he has requested that DTE let him turn off half of the city's street lights.

Blackwell II, appointed by Governor Granholm to be the city's "Emergency Financial Manager", essentially has the last word on every decision made in Highland Park.

Jack Lessenberry of the Metro Times described Blackwell II thusly:

The Detroit News, which I agree with editorially about once per papacy, called him “a nickel-grasping bottom feeder.” That was too kind. In a world where Lonnie Bates was the pinnacle of integrity, Art Blackwell would be suspect.

Forget the fact that his father, ex-Mayor Bob Blackwell, famous for having his jaws wired shut and sometimes running the city from a strip bar called the Tender Trap, did more than anyone else to ruin Highland Park.

...

This is a man who hid consulting fees, used leftover campaign funds to build a deck on his home, and couldn’t explain $27,000 in “travel expenses” back during his days as chairman of the Port Authority.

This is a man who once had a $42,000-a-year mayoral appointment with the Detroit Fire Department, but seldom showed up for work.

This is a man, in short, whose appointment to handle Highland Park’s finances makes as much sense as appointing a child molester to run kindergarten sleepovers.

Last year, Blackwell II was ordered to pay the state of Michigan back $66,000 after papers in a taxpayer-filed lawsuit stated that he'd cut a backroom deal with the State of Michigan (Ms. Governor?) to get paid $132,000 a year after he'd promised to work for $1 a year.

Earlier this month, WDIV-Detroit reported he was under investigation again for receiving an additional $44,000 from the state of Michigan. It's very strange how this money is coming directly out of state funds, and yet the media, masses and state politicians just can't seem to muster the same indignation for Blackwell II as they could for Detroit's ex-Mayor, Kwame "Detroit, you done set me up for a comeback" Kilpatrick.

Anyhow, back to the street lights... The Chicago Tribune and Detroit Free Press first carried the story on March 10. Blackwell II wrote to the city's block presidents in a letter dated February 23. He informed them of the plan to save 15% on the city's DTE bill by shutting of the street lights. Blackwell II floated a plan to shut the lights in alleys. Others have proposed shutting every other street light on Woodward, John R, 2nd, and 3rd. City officials met with block club presidents last night to discuss these plans. The plans were set to go into affect April 1. Crack Freep reporter Zlati Meyer wrote that a public meeting has been set for mid-April (?). He also called last night's meeting "public", despite the fact that it was only for block club presidents.

Back on March 10, a DTE spokesman told the Freep that they would not recommend the current proposal and would be willing to discuss alternatives with the city. But another DTE spokesman (Scott Simons) told the Freep today that he did not endorse, but would not object to Blackwell II's plan. Meyer offered no context on the change in tone by the DTE spokes-army (compared to the Freep's very own March 10 story). There was one quote from a retired female resident, but the majority of quote-space went to Blackwell II. Blackwell II had the audacity to claim that the city doesn't need as many street lights because it was designed for roughly 3 times the amount of current residents. He did not elaborate on how the city might morph into a landmass 1/3 of its current size. He did, however, report that 20% of the lights were busted anyhow.

2 months ago the Highland Park superintendent decided to immediately close the Highland Park Career Academy high school for all students except graduating seniors. Those kicked out by the decision were told to enroll in night school or internet classes to fulfill their legal right (and compulsory obligation for some) to attend school. Now, walking home at night could get even tougher...

What is "Justice" for Victims of Eminent Domain?

2009-01-03T16:01:00.006-05:00

Detroit can claim the first mile of concrete paved road in the United States (Woodward from 6 Mile to 7 Mile) and the first "urban, depressed" freeway (The Davison). But did you know that Detroit once boasted one of the most important streets in Black America and that politicians chose to demolish it in order to construct Interstate-375?

When the decision was made to use eminent domain and evict the people of Hastings Street, it shut down what had been the highest concentration of Black-owned businesses anywhere in the United States. Hastings boasted blues bars, eye doctors, greasy spoons, dry cleaners, locksmiths, lawyers and dentists. Property owners on highway sites received only 30 days of notice from the state and no assistance with relocation.

But my how times have changed. From the AP...

Michigan pays $16 million in M-5 land seizure

January 3, 2009

LANSING -- Michigan has paid a developer $16 million after seizing land for a highway project in metro Detroit.

The settlement reached early last month ends 13 years of legal wrangling.

In 1995, the Michigan Department of Transportation, or MDOT, used eminent domain to take 51 acres of vacant land to help build the M-5 Haggerty Connector in Novi.

The state in 1996 paid nearly $2.8 million for the land, which was owned by Haggerty Corridor Partners Limited Partnership. The developer said the land was worth more because adjacent property it owned was rezoned later for high-tech offices instead of residential homes and agricultural uses.

This is quite a different result compared to the eminent domain used to seize property for highway construction some 60 years ago.

Eminent domain is used in the construction of every major freeway. Freeway siting in Detroit (and almost every other major U.S. city) has historically been used to dismantle minority communities under the guise of "slum clearance":

In each case, hundreds of residents and businesses were forced to relocate and paid far below the fair-market value for their properties. Communities were shattered and neighbors were literally separated by uncrossable "urban, depressed" freeways.

- The Lodge Expressway tore through Detroit's original Chinatown near 3rd and Howard. It relocated to the area near Cass and Peterboro.

- I-75 in SW Detroit cut through Mexicantown, bisecting Bagley Street, formerly the commercial thoroughfare. M-DOT is finally building a pedestrian bridge to reconnect Bagley this year as part of its seemingly never-ending "Gateway" project.

- I-96 landed right in the middle of an enclave of middle-class African American homes along Grand River Ave. on the west-side, making the neighborhood very difficult to access.

- I-94 took out a swath of the northern part of the Paradise Valley neighborhood.

Now, over half a century later, "Haggerty Corridor Partners Limited Partnership" has been paid a handsome sum to, er, compensate for the loss of their, er, formerly undeveloped swamp?

The $16 million is in addition to the $2.8 million already paid to the developer.

"I admire the government for realizing what's fair," said Alan Ackerman, an attorney for the developer. "It's not easy to give money away, especially in these times."

A message seeking comment was left with an MDOT spokesman Friday afternoon.

It was unclear how the settlement will affect the state budget, which Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration has said is facing a shortfall of at least $106 million in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

Is it really unclear how it will affect the state budget? They owe an additional $13.2 million to a faceless group of developers and their cadre of lawyers plus whatever they've spent trying to fight the lawsuit. It will affect the state budget *negatively*.

CVS and Detroit

2008-12-04T17:00:00.004-05:00

Trips to CVS (or Walgreen's or Rite-Aid for that matter) in Detroit are a rather unpleasant experience. It gives me great pain and discomfort to hear god-awful white pop music blaring in the aisles at its many Detroit locations. I've always noticed the lack of 24-hour stores in the city limits (only 4 in all Detroit compared to 44 in the suburbs). The drug store chains have a love/hate relationship with Detroit. They love to be the only stores where health and other products are available in many neighborhoods. They hate to serve these neighborhoods late at night, or in ways that promote the dignity and respect of their customers.

A new campaign, called "Cure CVS" is online at www.curecvs.com.

The campaign has released a study that documents a number of city/suburb disparities in major U.S. metropolitan areas, including Detroit. Among the Detroit findings from survey of 206 metro stores:

CVS stores in minority communities had 65 percent more health violations than stores in white communities.

CVS charged more for items than posted or advertised prices.

Security is heightened in Detroit, with more guards and items like infant formula and condoms kept in locked cases, making it difficult to compare prices.

One store per 30,000 residents in Detroit, compared to one store per 9,000 residents in Northville and Northville Township.

Mbad Museum Grows...

2008-07-23T17:53:00.003-04:00

Following up on a previous post about the Mbad Museum and Bead Gallery, there have been a few intriguing artistic developments out back!

The house across the field

Dining room with air conditioning!

P-Funk at Cityfest

2008-07-22T17:47:00.007-04:00

Parliament Funkadelic came to Detroit on July 6 for a free concert. Not since Stevie played the tricentenial have this many Detroiters gotten this funky in one place:

Note the folks on the edge of the garage roof

Note George in the red-orange wig

Their drummer was so tight; note Garry Shider in his traditional diaper

Re-Attached

2008-07-15T12:22:00.001-04:00

Back in Detroit most days now! Avalanche of postings to come! Hooray!

Winter at Palmer Park

2007-12-15T18:03:00.000-05:00

North Fishing Pier - Belle Isle

2007-12-08T13:24:00.000-05:00

A few pictures from Belle Isle's north fishing pier (about five weeks ago). Looking good, Detroit...

Wurlitzer Building

2007-12-06T00:37:00.000-05:00

On a much-revitalized strip of Broadway that features the new YMCA and a host of other business, a gem of a 1926 building sits neglected.

A view from the back alley...

The Wurlitzer's last tenants moved out in 1982. The owner at the time, Gerald Tobin of Annapolis, MD, purchased the building in 1980. The heat and water were shut off in the winter of 1982, even though tenants such as a photographer, two furriers, the Travelers Aid Society, a religious supplies firm, a legal printing company and the Detroit Police Lieutenants and Sergeants Association were still paying rent. Although the owner claimed he was "absolutely not" trying to drive out the occupants by allowing the heat and plumbing to be cut off, he admitted to owing Detroit Edison thousands of dollars and claimed that the long-term leases with tenants were no longer economically viable.

"I'm not really trying to sell it. I suppose my basic plan is to wait until I can free up some cash and renovate the heating system," he told the Detroit Free Press at the time.

Paul Curtis, a lawyer, purchased the Wurlitzer in 1995 for $211,021. Successful businesses have recently helped make Broadway a viable commercial strip again and lifted the once sagging property values. Yet, the Wurlitzer has decayed significantly during Curtis' ownership. A broker cited by the Free Press in 2004 claimed that the asking price of the building had climbed to 2 million dollars.

This is urban venture capitalism at its worst. A slew of skyscrapers like the Wurlitzer sit empty downtown while their owners wait for some sucker to shell out top dollar for their rotting, asbestos-filled beauties. Mr. Curtis has repeatedly made promises to renovate the deteriorating structure. This seemingly typical move attempts to justify owning a decaying structure and taking no action to renovate or demolish while hoping for someone to come along and buy the land its on. I don't know if Mr. Curtis still owns this building, but I do know that not much is happening with the property currently. (Also - is he the same person as the lawyer from Detroit "Paul L. Curtis" accused in 1994 by federal prosecutors of revealing the identities of two would-be informants [who were later killed] and arranging a $600,000 drug deal in order to set up another man's death?? Somebody help me.)

"Detroit Blog" has a bit more information about the history of the building. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these snapshots from a few weeks ago...

The building betrays a breathtaking musical history. From "Saul's Medley Land" to the "Ayotte's Booking Agency" (complete with audition room) to the music libraries on the higher floors.

On the rooftop...

The Metropolitan Building sits empty next door.

Detatched

2007-11-29T23:15:00.000-05:00

So I've temporarily left Detroit, due to a number of commitments:

-needing to teach in $hithole Ann Arbor to still get bread
-needing to have public transportation that would take me (and T Bozz) to said $hithole on weekdays
-needing to remain close to Detroit so I could still do "research"

Do the math, folks. That adds up to Ypsilanti. Ypsilanti is a fine city, with far more history and charm than Ann Arbor, not to mention lower rents.

I think of Detroit like a lost love lately. I've always known that I can't spend my whole life in Detroit, or even Michigan, the Midwest, the United States, etc. But I'm gonna miss Detroit dearly someday. Since I'm only a half hour ride from the city now (and with "research" still to do there and places to explore and be), I'm only feeling bits and pieces of that detachment here in Ypsilanti. More postings and pictures will crop up on this site if you check back soon...

Detroit Media Distorts Tiger Stadium Issue Beyond Recognition

2007-08-02T15:38:00.000-04:00

This post is not about the "impending death" of Tiger Stadium. First of all, its demolition is just about as impending as it was when we were told demolition would take place last summer. Detroit's city council voted last week to tear down the stadium, but they immediately followed that vote with a vote NOT to turn ownership of the old ballpark over to the quasi-public agency in charge of redevelopment. Huh?

To hear it from the local (yokel) media outlets:

1. The stadium will be torn down soon! (Don't ask when or what portions will be saved or what exactly is going in it's place.)

2. Everybody except for a few sentimental crazies wants to get rid of Tiger Stadium!

Distorted reports and editorials have appeared in the Detroit News, Free Press and on local TV stations like WDIV.

- In an editorial on Tuesday, July 31, the Detroit News made the false claim that "every" proposal to save the stadium has lacked financing plans. The editorialist notes that the city is paying $25,000 per month to secure the building, but fails to mention that demolishing the stadium will cost millions of dollars. The upcoming hole in the city's budget on item-line "Tiger Stadium Demolition" is estimated at $4-6 million. That's only if neglected relics from inside the stadium (such as dugout urinals) fetch tons of money at auction. If they don't fetch tons of money?

Hey, speaking of holes, the editorial also omits mention of the vast open space that will be located where the stadium is currently located because there is no development scheduled to be built in its place. Shrugging this issue off, the editorialist writes:
"Developers who see value in the Corktown land have been reluctant to act because they don't want to be the party responsible for tearing down the ballpark."

Yeah, you know how developers are so very sensitive to the needs of surrounding communities. I bet that's why the proposed Wal-Mart never came through.

- On July 26, the Free Press suggested that all the stadiums "neighbors" (read: Corktown yuppies) want the stadium demolished.

"In Detroit's Corktown neighborhood Wednesday, people who live or work near the old ballpark said they were ready for something new."

The stadium also straddles the Briggs community. I have not seen an article where Briggs residents are asked their opinion about this issue. Why must Corktown yuppies be the only sources ever solicited for the "local" opinion? Are the reporters paid to report this story too lazy or too scared to walk over the Cochrane St. bridge and talk to people immediately to the north? Are they too poor to formulate opinions north of the stadium?

- Perhaps the most offensive bit of distortion came from the local NBC affiliate. When broadcasting legend Ernie Harwell made a plea for the city council to delay voting on the issue until their September meeting, they neglected to mention the main point of his speech: delay the vote so that a new proposal to convert the building into a smaller baseball stadium with a Detroit music museum could be heard.

They selectively quoted from Mr. Harwell:

"The old stadium has stood there like the house by the side of the road for a long, long time now," Harwell told the council. "There's been a lot of going back and forth, a lot of bitterness and acrimony. We want to try to eliminate that and move on. We've had some ideas. Mr. Spicer has studied this situation and we think there are viable solutions."

While WDIV omitted his position from their coverage, the freep chose to distort it, only quoting him saying:

"If we can’t (save part of it), we’ll have to keep Tiger Stadium in our memory, our mind and our heart, and cherish it that way."

It's disingenuous to present this as a simple choice of demolition vs. continued abandonment, which is what nearly every local news outlet has done. Today, like last year, the plan for the "impending" demolition is about as transparent as how that $2.6 million stadium maintenance fund got spent. Uh.

Indiana and bp partner to accelerate earth destruction

2007-07-26T12:59:00.000-04:00

In regional news...

The massive BP oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., is planning to dump significantly more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, running counter to years of efforts to clean up the Great Lakes.

Indiana regulators exempted BP from state environmental laws to clear the way for a $3.8 billion expansion that will allow the company to refine heavier Canadian crude oil. They justified the move in part by noting the project will create 80 new jobs.

Update - Jeffries East Housing Project

2007-06-07T19:21:00.000-04:00

I posted back in January a discussion of the plans to demolish the Jeffries East Housing Project.

The housing authorities had slated mid-February 2007 as the date when the last families would be evicted. Last month, a razor wire fence was built to surround the project. This haphazard gesture has been met with resistance by folks who are not ready to abandon these homes.

I recently drove down 4th street with a friend and took this video:

Fisher Body Plant

2007-06-01T12:55:00.000-04:00

I went in the old Fisher Body Plant for the first time the other day. Located at Hastings and Piquette, the building is a crumbling masterpiece of industrial architecture. Forgotten Detroit once again does a better job describing the building's history.

I submit pictures for your consideration:

A fire hydrant outside dates from 1912.

Heading in...

The boss wants you to punch your card AND sign in and out in the lobby.

Auto bodies were raised and lowered on a contraption (the remnants of which can be seen on the floor) through the enormous rectangular hole in the ceiling.

Washroom basins crowd men like dogs; they rinsed blood, sweat and grime.

Memorial Day in Detroit

2007-05-28T18:43:00.001-04:00

Postal Shutoff South of 8 Mile

2007-05-25T16:34:00.001-04:00

In the block bounded by Greenlawn, Pembroke, Woodingham and Chippewa, residents are currently being told to pick up their mail at the College Park Post Office at Livernois and Eight Mile. According to the postmaster, the shutoff of postal service was prompted by loose dogs and dogfighting in the area. The Post Office is demanding that the city of Detroit work with Animal Control to contain the problem. They're also demanding Animal Control escorts when service resumes (reminiscent of the Bus Union's recent demand for police escorts on buses).

Caught in the middle of this battle between the City, the Post Office and Animal Control are CITIZENS. These citizens may or may not be able to easily get to their mail.

Although postal workers in metro Detroit have been bit 34 times this year (including 3 incidents in Livonia and 4 in Westland), there was no SPECIFIC incident cited by the postmaster other than reports of dogfighting on the block. It is predictable but sickening to see Detroit residents paying the price for bad dog owners everywhere.

The Water Front

2007-05-11T22:33:00.000-04:00

Tonight was the first ever public screening of a new documentary, The Water Front. The Water Front documents the struggle of the people of Highland Park to demand affordable water, resist the privatization of their water system and shut-offs of running water set in motion by the "managers" appointed to run Highland Park. The filmmaker had an extraordinary amount of access and video of the state-appointed city officials as they attempted to gouge already disadvantaged residents with rate-hikes, bully them with water and sewage shut-offs and privatize the city's water system. The film was shown at the Highland Park Community High School.

Clip from The Water Front here!

Abe's on Lincoln

2007-05-08T14:47:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite sights around town (the scrubbing-bubble looking thing) has been covered up at Abe's...

...but lives on elsewhere, like Eastern Market.

International Workers Day in Detroit

2007-05-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

From the always low-brow freep:

UPDATED AT 1:33 p.m. -- Thousands of immigrants jammed into Clark Park in southwest Detroit on Tuesday, calling for immigration reform and an end to deportations that they say are splitting up families.

- A crowd estimated as "Thousands of immigrants". Firstly, there were many non-immigrant U.S. citizens there, including many families with non-immigrant child born here. Secondly, "thousands" is a pretty half-assed estimate (1000-999,999). I would say that at least 10,000 people were there (including many "immigrants").

- "...jammed into Clark Park". Poorly chosen words? Actually there was plenty of space to walk around at Clark Park, even though "thousands" turned out. We also "jammed" Vernor Highway with a 2-mile march from Patton Park.

- "...deportations that they say are splitting up families". Are we actually going to debate whether or not deportations split up families? Who's "they"? And who could deny that the majority of deportations separate family members from each other?

Anyhow, enough freep-bashing. Here are some pictures:

The march gets underway at Patton Park.

Around the curve at Vernor and Dix...

...and under the train tracks

Clark Park

Coal

2007-04-11T22:50:00.001-04:00

A faded advertisement for a coal company greeted northbound drivers on Rosa Parks as they approached Antoinette for decades. I'm not quite sure what happened, but it looks like the brick building upon which the coal was advertised just got a buzz cut. Perhaps it was the Rainbow Action Network, who plan to protest the continued proliferation of coal power at the Chase Bank building in Downtown Detroit on Friday...

Be careful driving in that right lane!

Rant: The CoPa

2007-04-07T20:11:00.000-04:00

I admit it, I've been to the last three games at the CoPa (including Game 2 of the World Series, a.k.a. "Smudge-gate"). When Detroit's new baseball stadium opened in 2000, I swore I'd never go to it. I made a special trip from Florida to see a game at Tiger Stadium in it's final year, 1999. When I moved back to Michigan, my boycott was abandoned because of curiosity and a brother with the money for season tickets.

Having watched games at roughly a dozen major league parks, I can't help but be appalled by what a LOW-RENT CIRCUS watching a game at the CoPa continues to be this season:

1. When the Tiger's raised their AL Pennant flag on Opening Day, fireworks and smoke filled the afternoon sky. Fireworks are always lame during the daytime.

2. Very few of the songs played on the stadium's bumpin' sound system are less than 9 years old, with the exception of some of the music players pick out for their personal introductions. 1998's "Gettin' Jiggy With It" and the annoying Jet song appear to be the youngest songs played to energize the crowd.

3. One of the Tiger's new promotional partners, a sexist, crappy hair salon for men, finds a male crowd member once a game that they deem to be in need of a hair cut. The lucky fan wins a free hair cut.

4. ComCrapst sponsors the new pitch-speed and pitch-count scoreboard in left-field. The pitch speed was broken on opening day (like most of ComCrapst's services in Detroit) and the scoreboard no longer indicates the type of pitch thrown.

5. One of the loudest moments of Opening Day was when the mostly white crown jeered the Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

6. The crowd will silently sit on their asses, eat junk food and drink beer until the scoreboard graphic, "Make Some Noise!" appears on the scoreboard. Game situations that call for cheering are met with apathy unless the graphic is displayed.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

2007-03-13T10:01:00.002-04:00

This year's Saturday calendar date (Mar 17) for St. Patrick's Day means 7 days of mid-lent partying in Detroit. That's because our St. Patrick's Day Parade was Sunday (Mar 11) in Corktown. Corktown was Detroit's hub of Irish immigration from the 1830s onward and still (cheaply and desperately in some ways) retains it's Irish character. Today, it's the last neighborhood in Detroit where you can find homes built in the 1840s and it still hosts a string of Irish pubs and plain old bars along its main corridor, Michigan Avenue.

Here are pictures from the parade:

This was perhaps the funniest thing spotted at the parade. A public short bus from the city of River Rouge has been converted into a rolling keg party.

The white castle on Michigan Ave. gets a "walk-thru" on parade day. It was astonishing to see so many white people walking around a neighborhood where you rarely see white people walking around.

People tend to think of Detroit as a "black" city, when in fact white people still wield an astonishing amount of influence in the city through property ownership, businesses, churches and politics--even "ethnic" whites still retain a presence in 2007.

White people

Not surprisingly, the "droves" of white people mostly drove to get to the parade:

Afterwards, a Star Wars troupe (except for Vader) agreed to pose for me in front of a beautiful Corktown home. Please note the Storm Trooper on the segway.

More from the Winter escape: Miami

2007-03-13T10:01:00.001-04:00

In Miami on Super Bowl weekend:

We conned our way into a recently-gated older neighborhood in NE Miami:

But everywhere's got a ghetto...

Roadtrip: Antiwar in D.C.

2007-03-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

The month-long hiatus on this blog resulted from a two-week roadtrip and a nasty virus contracted upon return. The last few weeks have been like a fever dream at times, but I am back and ready to battle.

Catching up:

The three bears started their road trip by driving to Alexandria, Virginia and attending the Jan. 27th war protest in D.C. Here are some photos:

An idyllic street in Alexandria, VA.

What a beautiful day to protest. As Detroit plunged into a deep freeze, Washington, D.C. warmed into the 40s with sunshine.

Devil and son costume

On the way out of town, a broken down metro train resulted in long delays. I was forced to stare at this "defense" advertisement. There were no peace advertisements.

Hoffa '96

2007-01-20T17:56:00.000-05:00

Fisher W and Rosa Parks. A Hoffa 2001 sign has been removed and the '96 is starting to expose a a sign beneath indicating a party store.

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20 Grand Motel

2007-01-17T23:56:00.000-05:00

The 20 Grand Motel still shows vague signs of life. Anybody who was anybody in the Detroit music scene of the 1960s played at the 20 Grand lounge. The classic restaurant and lounge have been erased, but the original 20 Grand Motel lives on as the Economy Inn.

In the freezing January rain, the lights cautiously welcome anyone with enough money and need for a bed.

Office

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Jeffries East Housing Project Slated for Demolition

2007-01-17T17:28:00.000-05:00

The Free Press featured this local headline last Friday:

City-owned slum awaits wreckers
Some residents welcome plans to rebuild Jeffries project

The tone of the article reminds me of the discourse used in the 1940s, 50s and 60s to justify the destruction of Paradise Valley and other so-called slums. The article reports that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will demolish the 252 row house units and build 188 low-income units in their place. Will new buildings dramatically improve life in this community?

The article claims that 131 families still live in Jeffries East. Driving through, I find this hard to believe as the vast majority of windows have been boarded up, but I guess that doesn't mean people aren't living behind those boards. Those living there have been told to leave by the middle of next month. By displacing them and drawing different low-income residents, will the problems currently associated with the neighborhood go away?

The article does not discuss the structural qualities of the buildings, their roofs, their brick or their foundations, all of which will soon be hauled away in dump trucks. It neglects to even raise the possibility that the current buildings, built in 1955, might be rehabbed. The article does, however, report that the 1941 built Sojourner Truth homes on 7 mile are being rehabilitated!

The solid brick rowhouses of Jeffries East will soon be demolished.

The article does cite a number of unanswered resident complaints about broken windows and pipes. With the Detroit Housing Commission taken over by the federal government in July of 2005, residents continue to face the same neglect and mismanagement at the hands of a different bureaucracy (HUD).

Also in July of 2005, a small fire broke out in one of the apartments. Although a fire station sits less than a mile from the apartments, Alexandrine Station's firefighters had been ordered not to respond to anything but calls pertaining to Major League Baseball's All-Star game that was happening on the same day.

As a result, firefighters from a more remote station were dispatched and the blaze consumed 8 units and damaged many more.

Firefighters finally arrive to battle a raging blaze at Jeffries East

The same units remain charred in January 2007

I have no illusions about the quality of life in the Jeffries East housing project. Desperate people walk along its streets. On Monday, instead of driving past the community along Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard as I normally do, I decided to turn down Fourth and take some pictures. A teenage boy standing on the sidewalk whistled loudly as my vehicle approached, communicating something to someone about my presence.

Perhaps he suspected I was a cop. On the DEA website, they praise themselves for raids conducted in the project in 2004. In addition to misspelling Jeffries, the press release includes the asinine claim that their sweeps of drug dealers meant that "business as usual" would not continue in the project.

Not much has been learned from our urban history of "slum removal." The core cause of this neighborhood's problems is poverty but the only time you hear about Jeffries is when a "major" drug bust happens or HUD comes up with plans to pack the same desperate people together into new units.

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Monroe Block Erasure

2007-01-17T13:04:00.002-05:00

In 1852, Hiram R. Johnson began to finance the construction of a rather ambitious block of commercial buildings in downtown Detroit. People associated the "Johnson Block" more with the street it was on and eventually it became known as the "Monroe Block." Monroe extended eastward from Woodward's Campus Martius. Theaters, clothiers, hatters, hotels, restaurants, dentists, clothing makers, loan sharks and pawn shops were just some of the things operating on the street at one time or another. Hotels dominated the early decades and theaters were the rage later on, making it part of a theater district. The National Theater (built in 1913 on the next block and visible in some of the pictures below) remains abandoned but intact on the next block to the east, the only remaining testament to its theater district era. Through neglect, hatred, incompetence and other failures of society, much of the original Monroe block was beyond repair by 1990, when it was demolished. It was the last intact antebellum (pre-civil war) block of commercial buildings in Detroit.

For those not familiar with the oil-slicked parking lot now sitting where the "Monroe Block" once stood, here are some pictures:

The National Theater (1914) still sits at the beginning of the next block.

The Library of Congress has these amazing pictures of the now-erased Monroe Block to offer from throughout the 20th century:

1908

1913

1915

1917

1929. Note that black and white people are photographed together.

1933

1951

1982.
Property neglect was in full swing by the time of the above photo. The rear corner of the building is visibly caving in. "Vagrants" or "thugs" are often blamed for much of the damage these buildings suffered. However, people only took what little was valuable from these buildings when sporadic, half-assed attempts by landowners at securing these buildings failed. Structures weren't being ripped apart for materials as commonly as has been the case more recently. Others label property-owners as the culprits. The proprietors of businesses in these buildings certainly did witness some of the deterioration, but often times those people were distinct from the building owners, who seem to be owed the most blame for the neglect, including the city's stewardship of the block after they acquired the buildings in the mid-1970s.

Preservation efforts were underway for roughly the same 15 years that the city owned the property and are cited as insufficient to save the block from destruction in this phenomenally researched article.

1930

The dentist's office was open from 1921 to 1978. "Dr. Park's Painless Method Dentists" practiced here over the tumultuous 1929-1932 period. In 1933, Dr. William Zieve began practicing there until he vacated the building in 1978. Inside the Dentist's office in 1982:

So, here again we have today's "Monroe Block." A simple, ground-level parking lot. The National Theater awaits it's death row appeal in the background. Some people ask me, "Why not make the National Theater a stage for the Hard Rock to have concerts?" The Marxist in me usually answers something about capitalism and "All that is solid melts into air," but I still hold out hope that some asshole with money (perhaps this SUV's owner) will realize the potential of that weird old theater over there.

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White's Records

2007-01-17T00:06:00.000-05:00

White's Records got boarded up again recently. Here's a picture from 2 nights ago.

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Ernie Harwell Sermonizes at New Salvation Army Rehab Center

2007-01-15T12:07:00.000-05:00

The Salvation Army just concluded a weekend of activities to dedicate their new Adult Rehabilitation Center in Detroit. Sunday, former Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell delivered a speech that alluded to social collectivism. The building is located on Fort Street, between 10th and Rosa Parks.

New Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center

Street-faced Loading Docks

Down the block, a new Salvation Army thrift store is at Fort and Brooklyn, 4 blocks east (toward Downtown).

Facing west on Fort Street, new store, post office on the left, adult rehabilitation center just past the post office.

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Traffic Signal Removal

2007-01-05T19:41:00.000-05:00

At the corner of Lafayette and Concord today, a car crashed into a traffic signal pole. The impact was so fierce that the car's airbags deployed and the pole snapped, leaving the traffic lights hanging just a few feet over the road.

Many of the traffic signals in depopulated areas of Detroit are regulating intersections with very few cars passing by. This particular traffic signal has flashed yellow on Lafayette and red on Concord for years. Instead of removing the signal, however, utility workers replaced the pole so the light could continue to blink.

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Free Advice

2006-12-22T16:02:00.000-05:00

Billboard messages offer free advice about parenting almost everywhere you go in Detroit. On Oakland in Highland Park, two identical messages proclaim the need for children to use car seats until they reach the height of 4 feet 9 inches.

Photoshop? No. Sadly, a decision was made to place these identical billboards next to each other. Notice the sign in the foreground proclaiming a "Drug free school zone". There are no schools currently operating in this area. The street is lined with abandoned and occupied industrial buildings and leaning street lamps.

Across the street

OK, let's forget for a moment the poor decision to place the same message next to itself. Let's forget that there are no schools along this avenue and probably not very much parent traffic. Let's ignore how difficult to discern the message, "4"9' Is The Magic Number!" is. One question remains: how many parents in this neighborhood can afford to buy child seats for 4"8' children?

Car seat prices range from about 50 to 300 dollars.

The boosterseat.gov website advertised on these billboards includes a link, "Where can I find a booster seat?" It suggests, "...stores that sell toys, children's furniture or other items aimed at parents" and to "Try typing 'Booster Seats' into your favorite search engine."

I know of only one effort to provide car seats to low-income families. A local auto parts chain partners with the Detroit Tigers in a (self-) promotion to provide car seats to "qualified families."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) argues with statistical data that children as tall as 4"9' have better chances of surviving auto accidents if they are in booster seats. Their point is well taken. However, their use of advertising funds and "efforts" to get this message out seem misguided. Why not spend that money on discounting car seats for low-income families?

Other free advice billboards in the city ask questions like, "The Crossing Guard Knows Who Your Kid Hangs Out With, Do You?" Such questions are intended to berate bad parents into taking more interest in their kids' activities.

There's no shortage of free parenting advice, but who are the ad wizards that came up with this?

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Coachman's Records

2006-12-18T20:57:00.001-05:00

The Coachman said that Bobo Jenkins was on his deathbed when he made him promise to keep the blues alive. In Detroit, The Coachman was a blues ambassador on the airwaves of WDET and WGPR and at his record store at Charlevoix and Mt. Elliot. The Coachman and his record store have passed.

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Packard Plant

2006-12-18T18:45:00.000-05:00

The exploration of urban ruins is not new. Places like Rome and Tikal fascinate people centuries after their native inhabitants disappeared. Detroit is still a very large city of about 900,000 people. The region boasts more than 5 million. But then enormous buildings have long stood abandoned near the core of the region.

The daring and the desperate alike have ventured into the train station, the Broderick Tower, the Packard Plant and myriad smaller wonders of neglect. It's become less and less novel to have a set of photographs from inside these places. Still, I am compelled to visit and document. Some have visited in search of shelter. Others to scavenge contents of value. Others to vandalize and destroy. Others to create artwork. I visit them to experience and document. I'm just another explorer, I know. My photographs capture just one day in the histories of their subjects.

The Packard Plant is 3.5 million square feet of buildings on the east side that have been largely abandoned for over 50 years. Much smaller businesses continued to use portions of the property until recently. The complex was considered the most modern automobile factory in the world when it was built in 1907. The company began as a luxury automaker in Warren, Ohio in 1899 and was drawn to Detroit shortly thereafter by robber baron James Joy. Albert Kahn, Detroit's most famous industrial architect, designed the plant. Critics applauded his use of steel reinforced concrete.

Here is one of the thick pillars:

Other photos from the plant:

Notice the thriving tree on the top-right.

Inside the bridge over E. Grand Boulevard

This room was filled with televisions.

The Management has had it with cups and bottles.

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Coverups

2006-12-08T07:05:00.000-05:00

Detroit erases its physical history. Europeans arrived in 1701, but the oldest surviving home dates circa 1840. Only vague traces of Native presence remain, like the burial mound that still sits inside Fort Wayne. Much of the Detroit's 18th century buildings were erased in a great fire in 1805. Very little of the rebuilt Detroit from the early 19th century remains. Antebellum Detroit was erased and replaced (the Monroe Block is a notable example). The architecture that can still be found abundantly in the older parts of the city doesn't begin to get built until after the Civil War.

We're still erasing, of course. While a lot remains, the majority of what was built between the Civil War and Great Depression in Detroit has been erased. Dramatic and idiotic "refurbishments" of theaters and other buildings in the decades after World War II erased much of the previous eras grandeur and replaced with colder, simpler designs.

Sometimes, entire neighborhoods get erased. Paradise Valley had the highest concentration of African American owned businesses anywhere outside of Harlem in the 1940s. It was erased by the venom and misguidance of politicians and planners. In the late 1990s, construction of the Detroit Lion's football stadium bulldozed the only remaining night club (The 606 Horseshoe Bar) of the neighborhood.

Paint can erase a lot of history. Century old advertisements have clung to the tops of buildings before finally being covered over. Murals have come and gone. Statements are made and then replaced with other statements. The billboard at the SW corner of Michigan and Trumbull was purchased this past election season by the challenger for Governor, DeVos. The retort simply painted over the "os" to spell "DeVil for Governor", and changed his hackeneyed "vote for change" mantra to "vote for satan". The DeVos people quickly and sometimes not so quickly changed the message back. The editors repeated their efforts on their other local billboards...

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Dearborn mourns

2006-12-07T15:04:00.000-05:00

The Mayor of Dearborn, Michael Guido, died of cancer this week. These photos are from Dearborn, the day after his death:

The old Montgomery Ward building in Dearborn. Guido was accused of improprieties after the city of Dearborn paid one of Guido's close supporters $3.35 million for the abandoned building in the spring of 2005.

Ford's Headquarters was one of the only buildings that didn't have their flags at half-mast. Are they so multinational that they have no idea what's happening in Fordville? Did Guido not bend far enough backwards for them?

One of Dearborn's "Gentlemen's" Clubs pays tribute.

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Michigan Central Station

2006-12-02T14:15:00.000-05:00

A little background information:

The Michigan Central Station I visited was built to replace the Michigan Central Station pictured on the right. It was built in 1913 upon at least one premise that turned out to be false--that the growth of Detroit would spur skyrise development between downtown and the new station's relatively remote southwestern Detroit location. While others have argued that planners should have anticipated automobiles leading to dramatic reductions in passenger train travel, it was difficult to foresee the extreme actions the auto industry would take to gut Detroit of its streetcar and train transportation options. After all, train stations have survived in other American cities...

Anyhow, more on the history (and more photos) of the train station can be found at Forgotten Detroit. I'm more interested in its present presence...

A number of the building's finer architectural points as they remain today:

This underground baggage conveyor led up into the baggage claim area through the double doors. The water in this room was at least 3 feet deep. Lower levels of the station were completely submerged. We found an entrance that was mostly dry and used pipes and even a ladder to get through the few inches of water we encountered. Fog on the lens made for some spots.

Climbing the train station, looking below.

The elevators on some floors still featured thick marble.

Most of the floors were long and empty. The tower was never even close to fully occupied, something only conceivable in a booming early 20th century Detroit. The size of the tower became more real to me after walking the long, hollow corridors on each level.

Elevator shaft.

From the roof:

The smoke stack towers high over the station and has been redecorated top to bottom.

To the southwest: St. Anne's, the original French-Catholic church in Detroit, sits at the foot of the Ambassador Bridge.

To the east/northeast: venerable Tiger Stadium awaits its "historic dismantling." The old and new Cass Technical High Schools sit side by side in the upper left.

To the west: The Rouge is visible billowing smoke even on a cloudy day.

To the east: Downtown.

Next door: Abandoned Post Office then School Depository.

As I walked across the vast waiting room, I could hear my footsteps cascading above in the rounded ceiling. There's so much beauty in the station that time may never take away. Should a wrecking ball? Matty Moroun, most notorious for his stranglehold on the Ambassador Bridge, owns the vacant train station. Is he at all responsible for its current state? Should he be held accountable for the massive chunk of unused land he owns in the middle of an otherwise vibrant area of southwest Detroit? How should he be held accountable? Who would hold him accountable? I doubt the mayor of Detroit or U.S. congresswoman for the area would attempt that. They are the only two democrats Moroun has ever contributed money to.

I think it should be restored into a train station. I also think that we should fill in half of Detroit's highways with community gardens and public parks... What do you think?

The Mbad Museum

2006-09-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

Of all the dead-end streets between Grand River and I-96 on the near-northwest side, Taft is by far the most interesting. That's where the Mbad Museum houses a bead gallery and outdoor exhibit. Here are some photos of the outdoor art:

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Rotary Park

2006-09-27T11:31:00.000-04:00

Rotary park is one of the few recreational gems in the inner-ring of metropolitan Detroit. It's located in Livonia and features a fabulous set of nature trails. Here are some pictures:

The inside of a hollowed-out tree

Actaea pachypoda - "Doll Eyes"

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"Historic Dismantling" of Tiger Stadium on Hold

2006-09-26T12:13:00.000-04:00

News from Mayor Kilpatrick's office: that the "historic dismantling" of Tiger Stadium is going more slowly than originally planned. Originally scheduled for demolition this month, developers are now being asked to submit proposals "in a few months." The Mayor attributes the delay to a number of factors, including that the building will be "historically dismantled" and not "demolished" and that he believes the city can sell off artifacts to help pay for the semi-erasure (promises to save parts of the main entrance and the field have been made). This is why Detroit News' price tag for the job today of $2-5 million was lower than the original $3-6 million. They think they can fetch a million dollars for memorabilia left rotting for 7 years.

The famous neon lights

Will this landmark actually come down in the coming months or will it fall into the limbo that continues for the Michigan Central Station? Should these buildings be rehabilitated or scrapped? If the buildings should not be rehabilitated, what should replace them? Should the owners of these properties be held accountable for the obstructions to city planning that these limbo-state buildings create? (The city owns Tiger Stadium and the owners of the Ambassador Bridge own the train depot.) Should the city and private landowners be forced to restore or destroy, so that the city can move forward?

In Ann Arbor on Wednesday, two free and open to the public events will discuss the Tiger Stadium site:

4 :00 to 5:30pm Panel discussion in Angell Hall Auditorium C with Preservation Advocates:
Peter Comstock Riley, Founder of Michigan and Trumbull, LLC Isaac David, Preservationist and Architectural Historian

6:30 to 8:00pm Film screening in Angell Hall Auditorium D "Stranded at the Corner: The Battle to Save Historic Tiger Stadium"

Tour Detroit 2006

2006-09-24T19:13:00.000-04:00

Saturday, September 23rd was the annual Tour Detroit bike ride. The ride began and ended at Roosevelt Park in Corktown and travelled 35 miles around Detroit with a police escort and a Sag Wagon. The day was gray and the forecasters promised rain, but somehow it held off for the entire ride. Here are photos from the event:

On the way to the event... Note that N. Corktown is littered with old campaign stickers for Teamster political candidates. The Teamsters' headquarters are on Trumbull in N. Corktown, just blocks from numerous permanently stickered street signs. It's become an eyesore. Not to mention the Teamsters have lost 150000 members since Hoffa's re-election in 2001. TDU ... Anyhow...

Back Alley Bikes showed up to help get some bikes in shape. They are a volunteer-run collective that promotes knowledge about fixing bikes as well as bike repair.

The event was police escorted.

Riders enjoy the riverview.

A menacing tiger statue doesn't stop these cyclists as they pass the home of baseball's Detroit Tigers, who are playoff bound for the first time in 19 years.

There were a few upscale neighborhoods on the route. Here's Boston-Edison.

About halfway through the ride, we took a break at Fort Wayne.

Here is the coolest cop I've yet seen in Detroit. He's listening to his walkie-talkie at Fort Wayne.

Riders stop for a train by a junkyard in downriver Detroit.

The educational and organizing potential of this event can be better fulfilled in the future. Though the literature provided for some of the sites on the route was interesting, it was brief and people did not usually know what they were looking at as they coasted past. I'm going to ride around with a bullhorn next year or something...

Update: Plans are in the works for the route next year to concentrate on the eastern half of the city.

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Mogwai back in May

2006-09-14T10:33:00.000-04:00

Catching up... Mogwai came to Detroit to play at St. Andrew's Hall on May 18. The Earl of Bandwidth and I promptly sallied to their performance from Ann Arbor, since I hadn't yet moved to Detroit.

St. Andrew's Hall is a former church in downtown Detroit. To indicate that the edifice now exists for musical congregations, a disco ball hangs from the ceiling. The building is a large rectangle replete with a modest second floor balcony spanning three sides. The second floor balcony offered a lovely view to complement the mathematical psychadelic atmospheric sounds of Mogwai:

The lads all came out in green adidas warm-up jackets.

They quickly shed the jackets upon evaluating the temperature and ventilation in the packed house.

A capacity or near capacity crown of nearly-motionless indie-rockers are illuminated by Mogwai's elaborate lighting system.

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Corktown Sucks

2006-09-07T22:14:00.000-04:00

These images were captured on June 4th. They are from the area near Tiger Stadium.

A distant view of the stadium might lead a stranger to assume it weren't abandoned. Notice the Tiger logos blending into one another above the glass doors.

A neighborhood hardware and lumber store on Trumbull has survived over 100 years. The elaborate fencing and razor wire are more recent.

A casino expansion rises to the northeast. All 3 Detroit casinos are expanding and/or relocating into their permanent locations and adding hotels. This is the (Marian) Ilitch owned casino. After 10 years of legal gambling in the city, Detroit's unemployment and poverty rates remain near the highest among U.S. cities.

Update re: the absurd: Flick-err has twice stopped this photo of the casino's construction to be posted on here.

The pedestrian bridge from Tiger Stadium over I-75 might be the largest in Detroit.

The other side of the bridge (north of the Fisher).

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Bike Ride out E. Canfield

2006-07-28T16:22:00.000-04:00

What follows is the first of (hopefully) many "Bike Ride" posts. Detroit is a bike-friendly town. It wasn't necessarily designed to be bike-friendly, but losing 50% of its population in half a century and maintaining an extensive, out-of-date network of paved roads provides my road bike and I with a lot of room. Last Sunday morning (7/23), I headed out to the Eastside along Canfield with my camera. E. Canfield is home to at least 25 churches (I lost count). The occupancy rate of these churches appears to be much higher than the occupancy rate of any other type of building you'll find along the road. In fact, it appeared that every church I passed was holding a Sunday morning service. The following photographs feature a variety of churches (storefronts, cathedrals, etc.) as well as a number of other things that caught my eye on this bike ride...

St. Josephat is one of the last remaining buildings from the Hastings Street era.

A city park at Canfield and Russell offers an interesting view of downtown.

St. Albertus church.

You can worship, but you better not try to learn. The St. Albertus school is abandoned.

The polka dot bus.

F.I.J.? Catchy...

Canfield takes a hiatus for an abandoned building.

An electronically gated house of worship.

Bike tires!

Arts and Crafts style of architecture.

Industry interrupts Canfield again. For now, it's an operating factory.

The unfinished R&B murals of the abandoned Canfield Market.

There's lots of parking on Canfield, but sometimes you want to get a really sweet lawn spot.

Lush urban prairie.

Open doors welcome you to this C.O.G.I.C. at St. Aubin and Canfield.

I'm sad I have to miss this...

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Cities & Memory

2006-07-22T00:26:00.000-04:00

In Maurilia, the traveler is invited to visit the city and, at the same time, to examine some old post cards that show it as it used to be: the same identical square with a hen in the place of a bus station, a bandstand in the place of the overpass, two young ladies with white parasols in the place of the munitions factory. If the traveler does not wish to disappoint the inhabitants, he must praise the postcard city and prefer it to the present one, though he must be careful to contain his regret at the changes within definite limits: admitting that the magnificence and prosperity of the metropolis Maurilia, when compared to the old, provincial Maurilia, cannot compensate for a certain lost grace, which, however, can be appreciated only now in the old post cards, whereas before, when that provincial Maurilia was before one's eyes, one saw absolutely nothing graceful and would see it even less today, if Maurilia had remained unchanged; and in any case the metropolis has the added attraction that, through what it has become, one can look back with nostalgia at what it was.

Beware of saying to them that sometimes different cities follow one another on the same site and under the same name, born and dying without knowing one another, without communication among themselves. At times even the names of the inhabitants remain the same, and their voices' accent, and also the features of the faces; but the gods who live beneath names and above places have gone off without a word and outsiders have settled in their place. It is pointless to ask whether the new are better or worse than the old, since there is no connection between them, just as the old post cards do not depict Maurilia as it was, but a different city which, by chance, was called Maurilia, like this one.

- Italo Calvino

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Heat Wave

2006-06-18T11:46:00.000-04:00

Initializing a heat wave discussion seems appropriate at this time, considering the modest one that Detroit experienced from Sunday, May 28th (Memorial Day Weekend) - Thursday, June 1.

Day - High temp/Low Temp:
May 28 - 89/64
May 29 - 91/73
May 30 - 89/72
May 31 - 89/68
June 1 - 82/66

This isn't far from the prolonged and extreme heat that will cause a catastrophe. I'm sure there were some deaths attributable (by attributable, I mean related at some level, if not the root cause of) to the recent high temperatures.

On the evening of Memorial Day (only the second day) the A.P. weighed in with a report that "A pre-summer heat wave..." was pushing temperatures over 90 in the upper peninsula, naming a number of remote locations in the state, but not mentioning the high of 91 in the state's largest city.

The Detroit media attention followed up on the A.P.'s interest in the Roseville Marching Band's 3 dozen members who required medical treatment after 27 of them passed out during a Memorial Day parade. Maybe those band outfits are not the best attire in 90+ heat.

How many people succombed to heat-related deaths in Detroit during those five days? I saw no coverage that addressed that, although it's almost certain that some deaths resulted.

Basically, as Klinenberg and others have written, it's a fundamental part of media perversion. If it don't bleed it don't lead. While those band kids were not bleeding, many of them were probably dry heaving. As far as weather disasters go, heat wave footage is not exciting. However, people die in large numbers during heat waves. They are often old, in poverty and dying in isolation. This quiet but unjust way of passing is not interesting to Fox 2 Detroit and co. I scoured the internet for any specific coverage of recent heat-related passings and found nothing.

Here are some pictures of Detroit on May, 29 (Memorial Day):

Canadian tourists operate a camera outside Hitsville.

Hot, hazy skies, a funky tree, the colonel, and the Fisher Building.

The 20 Grand - the famous club is gone, but the hotel remains.

Inside the restaurant

Fire hydrants provide relief from the scorching heat.

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