  Deandub11 Member Username: Deandub11 Post Number: 299 Registered: 05-2006 |
Not a very positive article, but whatever. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ news?pid=20601109&sid=aMV8_J49 diKs&refer=home Did catch this little snippit. Don't expect this to happen any time soon and I realize we already know that these "plans" exist, but it's interesting to see the "plans" in print. "``How do you downsize to the right level when there doesn't seem to be a bottom?'' asked developer Fred Beal of J.C. Beal Construction Inc., which wants to do a $50 million conversion of the vacant 34-story David Broderick Tower near the city center into offices, shops, restaurants and lofts." www.DetroitArmy.com | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3674 Registered: 04-2006 |
Is the average price of a home in Detroit really $18,578? | ||
Sean_of_detroit Member Username: Sean_of_detroit Post Number: 2368 Registered: 03-2008 |
That article even managed to bring me down a little bit. The transformation of vacant blocks into farms/gardens is apparently getting the negative press that was once predicted. Then you have this excerpt (below) that really wants to make you abandon all hope; 'That exodus has left Detroit with the highest poverty and foreclosure rates in the U.S. and, at 10.1 percent in October in the area including Livonia and Dearborn, one of the steepest measures of unemployment in the nation as well. ``How do you downsize to the right level when there doesn't seem to be a bottom?'' asked developer Fred Beal of J.C. Beal Construction Inc., which wants to do a $50 million conversion of the vacant 34-story David Broderick Tower near the city center into offices, shops, restaurants and lofts. Detroit has seen decades of fruitless renewal efforts as successive mayors built sports stadiums, welcomed casinos and renovated the riverfront. That endeavor included the Renaissance Center, a downtown office-and-hotel complex that began as a Ford project in the 1970s and switched to GM ownership two decades later after failing to spur long-term development.' Is this really how the world views Southeast Michigan? Wow, I guess the economic climate is really that bad. Keep calm and carry on? That can be pretty hard at times. But, all is not lost... I like this quote another DYES poster said recently; "Just remember, we have nothing to fear of the upcoming/current recession. We've been there for almost a decade!" Maybe I've been in the storm to long. LOL!? Or maybe I can stay positive/calm because I'm looking past the storm. Can anyone else see it? Look past the problems.... (Everyone is going to laugh at me again, aren't they? That never seems to fail.  ) | ||
Izzyindetroit Member Username: Izzyindetroit Post Number: 154 Registered: 07-2008 |
"Is the average price of a home in Detroit really $18,578?" According to MSHDA, yes. | ||
Sparty06 Member Username: Sparty06 Post Number: 130 Registered: 03-2007 |
We desperately need truly visionary leadership in the City of Detroit. Unfortunately, we have the farthest thing from it right now. | ||
Hunchentoot Member Username: Hunchentoot Post Number: 121 Registered: 03-2005 |
Sparty, That's just it. Urban farms are something that will continue to be mocked by the world, but if it's part of a comprehensive plan including dense, walkable, fine-scaled, quality-of-life and detail-orientated urban community islands amidst the prairie, if they're part of a vision, they're really a fine use of the space. People need to eat food. People need work. There's lots of people in need of work and people who need food and open land with no other use. It's a natural progression. But it also should be guided and focused so that the urban places are of quality and worth living in, not just a response to it being a last resort. | ||
Legsdiamond Member Username: Legsdiamond Post Number: 57 Registered: 01-2005 |
Wow, I had no idea urban farms are mocked...I know of one in Minneapolis that's got a huge waiting list to get a plot. Granted, the growing season is short, but it sure seems to be successful. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 2994 Registered: 07-2007 |
``How do you downsize to the right level when there doesn't seem to be a bottom?'" Answer: Implosion, then parking lot. Or: Charge admission to abandoned building explorers. | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 5322 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: You first. Tell us if it's structurally sound. We'll follow right behind you. | ||
Sparty06 Member Username: Sparty06 Post Number: 131 Registered: 03-2007 |
Hunchentoot, I wasn't mocking urban farms, far from it. I was mocking our city leadership including the city council for being utterly incompetent. I remember reading an article sometime in the last month about a non-profit group that wanted to plant trees in Detroit only to be stopped by a city council member because planting trees "was a union job." And, since the city didn't have money to pay for the union workers to plant the trees... no trees could be planted. That sort of thing is just unbelievable to me. (And that's just one small example of incompetent leadership... the FBI corruption probes, city council members who don't show up to council meetings... showing up to work late/leaving early, giving out city contracts to political donors, etc. etc.) (Message edited by sparty06 on December 09, 2008) |
