Elements of Urbanism: Detroit
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/503560507_9W7u5-M.jpg)
While Detroit is nationally recognized as America's poster child for blight and economic decline, Metro Jacksonville takes a look at one aspect the city has successfully brought back to life: Downtown Detroit.
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-sep-elements-of-urbanism-detroit
Music scene is supposed to be awesome there. I have friends that travel a 6 hour drive fairly regularly to catch shows there. Personally, I don't have much love for Detroit after spending a night freezing on the airport floor after being snowed in. NEVER fly there in the winter! lol.
Poor Detroit. Has seen many many hard times in the last 40 years or so. Over 900,000 people departing since the 1950's, that's a huge chunk of meat leaving the butcher. Add to that the decline of the auto industry, which was the heart and heartbeat of detroit's success, and you've got a city that is only a shell of its former self, and continues to lose population. But it appears that Detroit of late is keeping its head up high and taking numerous measures to bounce back. Wouldn't want to live there, too cold in the winter, and summer lasts only about 3 months. Overall, wish the best for Detroit. Have some family living there and for the life of me will never know why they left North Florida for Detroit (early 70's, at that time the auto industry was still booming).
Heights Unknown
Nice capture of someone with a rebel flag at Comerica Park.
Just an observation.
(http://planningpolitics.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/michigan_central_station.jpg)
(http://michpics.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/michigan-central-station-interior.jpg)
(http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/fashioncat/6f3a10d3.jpg)
Did you make it past this station Lake? This is the old Michigan Central Station in Detroit, but it's out of the urban core. Buffalo New York has a similar station situation. There was a plan to convert this into a Grand Terminal for a fantasy monorail idea, that makes our Skyway look like the Union Pacific.
Sad to see them go, as both city's have plans to wreck them.
OCKLAWAHA
Yes, I've been past there several times over the last decade. You are correct, they are trying to tear it down.
Makes our Skyway look like the Union Pacific? So it was a crappy idea?
Wow I'm speechless. That 8th grader has more merit to be on the city council than that Monica Conyer lady.
Yes, I get around when I'm up there. However, for this thread, I only focused on DT. What historic district and neighborhoods are you interested in seeing? I have a pretty large photo archive from trips over the years, so I may have them.
A lot of the older homes and buildings are being torn down as I understand because they're havens for illegal activity. I don't know how many of the abandoned homes are in historic neighborhoods, but I think that's a loss I'd be willing to take if it helped with reducing crime. It is shame, but who is going to come invest and live in them when the rust belt is bleeding people and jobs?
I love this site, don't get me wrong - but i feel like some topics are very repetitive. Didn’t the Detroit area get covered at least once before? Also, most times I log in I feel like it is all about rail service.
Sometimes you have to drive the point home, so some topics are revisited at time when the opportunity presents itself. Rail is a great example of this because we feel its one of the most important issues facing the future of our community. Detroit has been covered in the past. However, the subjects have been different, well spaced out and deal with several issues we face locally.
November 2006 - Rust Belt Special II: Learning from Downtown Detroit
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2006-nov-rust-belt-special-ii-learning-from-downtown-detroit
September 2007 - Elements of Urbanism: Detroit International Riverfront
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2007-sep-elements-of-urbanism-detroit-international-riverfront
February 2008 - The Detroit People Mover: The Skyway's Sister System
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-feb-the-detroit-people-mover-the-skyways-sister-system
March 2008 - Rail Without the FTA: Detroit
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-mar-rail-without-the-fta-detroit
i love the city of detriot we fly up every year for the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, along with folks from all over the world (and now about a dozen or so of us from jax). The downtown is really great, there is of course some sketchyness once you head past the Motown Museum, but we have our own here as well. The people mover is great we hop on that from the hotel and we are at the Ren Center. The locals have always been a pleasure and I always feel welcomed when I am there. The crowd roar from Comerica Stadium is like nothing i have ever heard before, our hotel was right across the street and it was like a sonic boom. All in all I love it. You can tell they are hurting right now, there are a lot of empty buildings though but I like the way they have artists decorate the empty store fronts(see the pic with the tire art). But heck all i have to do is look out the window and the burkman plaza shell and know all citys are hurting right now.
One other thing, i love about detroit, is record stores!!! While they are fading there are still more then you can shake a stick at and me and the wife go hog wild!
It's great to see the good parts of Detroit every now and again. God knows we've seen enough of the crappy sides.
Re the Monica Conyers video, she was definitely out of order for her behavior, but that little girl needs to be taught that you don't talk to adults that way. Had that been me when I was in 8th grade, my mom would have popped me in the mouth whether my point was valid or not. [/digression]
I didn't realize that the Detroit People mover runs on rails. I thought it was rubber-tired like Miami's.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2273/2224539612_b998800f8c.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2628/3744180991_95e49f9b9a.jpg)
Did you guys hear that Silverdome was sold today at auction for $583,000. Talk about insane.
Times are desperate. Pontiac did not want to keep paying $1.5 million a year to maintain it.
If anyone is interested, dateline NBC's show tonight is about Detroit at 7 EST
Quote'Dateline' To Air Detroit Special
Chris Hansen Hosts Hour-Long Detroit Special
ClickonDetroit.com
updated 6:21 p.m. ET April 18, 2010
DETROIT - The Motor City is hurting and we all know it.
The city that drives the world continues to get slammed with negative headlines, such as CNN's most "Dangerous Cities in the World" list, the auto industry's plight, the lowest literacy rates in the country and record unemployment numbers.
National network camera crews and a "Dateline" correspondent with close personal ties to Detroit have been scouring the streets for the past ten months to bring Detroiter's fight for revival and survival to a national arena.
On Sunday at 7 p.m. on NBC, Chris Hansen will host an hour long "Dateline" special titled, "America Now: City of Heartbreak and Hope."
Hansen, who grew up in Detroit and worked as a reporter at WDIV-TV, returned to his roots to take a very personal look at what's being done to save the city, and the people who are leading the way.
Hansen visited several struggling schools in Detroit and talked to notable figures such as Mayor Dave Bing, Police Chief Warren Evans, Kid Rock and Sam Riddle. He even paid some normal Detroiters a visit to share their painful and positive stories with the world.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36602267/
Thanks. I left the office to go home and check it out.
BRT vs. streetcar in Detroit
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2010/04/13/for-detroit-brt-or-rail-first/
QuoteLayoff notices sent to 2,000 Detroit teachers
About 2,000 Detroit Public Schools teachers have received layoff notices as the district's financial manager continues to pare down a $219 million budget deficit.
Steve Wasko, a spokesman for Robert Bobb, confirms Tuesday that notices have been mailed but says many teachers likely will be returned to work.
Full Article:
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100420/FREE/100429988#
Quote from: tufsu1 on April 20, 2010, 04:23:24 PM
BRT vs. streetcar in Detroit
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2010/04/13/for-detroit-brt-or-rail-first/
From the article:
QuoteBuses are unlikely to produce the build-up Detroit desperately needs, but current plans for the Woodward Streetcar line are not adequate to spur the type of intense developmental activity for which the city is currently pushing because of widely spaced station stops and a lack of independent rights-of-way. This implies that many of the aesthetic and perceptual advantages of rail-based transit will be lost when implemented in the Detroit context and suggests that at least from a transportation perspective, improvements in bus service would be a more effective use of funds.
There's a problem here. This project isn't about getting city residents to suburban counties. Unless I'm mistaken, the $125 million is private funds that have been donated to construct a starter streetcar line by many private entities along that particular corridor to stimulate economic revitalization. So I doubt those companies would donate the cash for a bus system to serve another county.
Detroit should use its urban history and remaining building stock and attractions as the backbone for a unique urban living experience that you can't get in the burbs or any other city in the immediate region. In a city like Detroit, there are a ton of issues that must be addressed but you have to start somewhere and build up from there. Connecting New Center and WSU with DT is a great starting point for creating an urban atmosphere that currently does not exist in the state of Michigan. Although this is rail, we face a similar issue with the spreading out of downtown improvement projects over the last decade. DT Jax is the perfect example of what can not happen (economic development and vibrancy-wise) when you spread your financial resources out instead of starting small and working your way out.
As for the Detroit LRT's cost, if the expense or traveling on dedicated ROW is the concern, then the proper path would be to address those issues. For example, if sharing ROW is an issue, remove a lane from Woodard. After all, it certainly doesn't back up like it did when the city had a million more residents 50 years ago. If cost is a concern, drop the bells and whistles and go to no-frills streetcar system (single track/passing sidings, simple stop platforms, heritage cars, etc.). That way you can extend the rail line's length and still take advantage of the economic impact these systems tend to bring with them.
Nice Article, Lake! Even with Detroit's woes, Their downtown has significantly more historic buildings renovated and in use than that of Downtown Jax... Also the Beautiful Michigan Central Station....what a shame it is being demolished. Part of it so closely resembles our own Terminal.
If only there were a way to restore these great cities and reverse quickly , the economic woes that haunt them.... :(