Next Thursday, September 9, the Detroit Free Press is sponsoring a town hall forum on how to shape the new City Council districts (the result of last fall’s referendum to change the make-up of Detroit’s City Council, from at-large to, obviously, by-districts). This is a great opportunity to shape the conversation as the election commission starts drawing these districts. The town hall meeting will feature a panel of community leaders including: Bishop Edgar Vann, Pastor of Second Ebenezer Church; Charles Pugh, Detroit City Council President; Vince Keenan, Executive Director of Publius.org; Daniel Baxter, Director of Detroit’s Department of Elections; and Rochelle Riley, Free Press Columnist.
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 9, 6 PM
WHERE: Second Ebenezer Church, 14601 Dequindre Road, Detroit, Michigan 48212 (I-75 at East McNichols)
RSVP: Email rsvp@freepress.com or call 313-222-6617
Park(ing) Day will hit metered spaces all over the world in two weeks, on Friday, September 17. A DIY affair, it’s your chance to demonstrate that public spaces may have a higher calling that cars. The concept: to occupy a metered space for an hour or two (whatever is legally allowable) with a temporary park. Take your favorite houseplant out for an afternoon on the other side of the windows, set up a couple of lawnchairs, and interact with your community.
Lots of info about participating can be found on the Parking Day Network. Let’s Save Michigan is hoping to keep track of Michiganders who get involved. And I’ve seen Park(ing) Day Flint on Facebook (note: they are celebrating on Wednesday, 9/15, instead of the 17th). Even if you don’t want to run a temporary mini-park, find one near you and stop by to say hello!
It seems like almost every GLUEster has at least a passing interest in architecture and historic preservation. Illustrious St. Louis GLUEsters Jeff and Randy Vines were the first to articulate to me, very succinctly, “It’s one things our cities have that Sun Belt cities can’t compete with.” Our historic architecture, our urban fabric, is something that a shiny new city can only dream about. It’s one of the things Rust Belt enthusiasts talk about when we talk about why we live here, and why we think other people might want to live here if they really knew about it: our authenticity, our sense that our cities came from somewhere.
And you know we can’t help but love it when the national press picks up on it. This week, a great little piece from the New York Times on the recent development successes in Midtown Detroit–development that was largely dependent on the availability of historic preservation and brownfields tax credits. Midtown isn’t experiencing this relative stability because of a bunch of new builds. Hard-working Midtown advocates and developers are taking advantage of the character of the community’s historic building stock.
This just highlights the reasons to stay vigilant in support of historic preservation and brownfields tax credits in your state and at the federal level. Check out Preservation Action for some resources and links. I’m trying to put together some info on Michigan’s tax credit, which is up for renewal this year, and will hopefully have more for you next week.
A brilliant example of how there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned goofy fun to highlight the good things people, on their own, are doing in the city. Man, do I love Detroit. (Thanks to Model D for the video.)
A new Brookings video-cast with Robert Puentes discusses about the future of high speed rail in the United States. The conversation focuses more on intercity rail than intracity rail, and Puentes talks about the obstacles still in the path for the United States. He also speaks about the current administration’s efforts to implement high-speed rail.
We were extremely sad to learn that last week, an incredible Buffalo resident, and an integral participant in GLUE’s early days, Simon Griffis, passed away in a hiking accident.
Simon was an artist who ran the Ashford Hollow Foundation and Griffis Sculpture Park. His passion was creating opportunities for everyone–especially children–to create and experience art. He was a warm and creative light at GLUE’s first conference in Buffalo, and also the man behind the truly spectacular bronze pour that celebrated GLUE’s website launch in 2008.
We are grateful to have known him. GLUE’s collective heart goes out to his family and the entire community of Buffalo.
On Monday, GLUEsletter recipients (if you didn’t receive this, sign up over on the right side of the screen to stay current in the GLUE news) received a save-the-date about GLUE’s third annual conference. In 2008 we hit the east side of the mega-region with three days in snowy Buffalo. In 2009, ideas and the occasional beer flowed in Milwaukee in March. This year, we’re bringing it to the very middle of the Midwest: Cleveland, Ohio will host the Urban Laboratories Conference on July 15-17, 2010.
Registration opened today, and is limited to 100 Great Lakes urban dwellers–so register fast to reserve your seat.
Registration instructions, and lots more info, available at www.UrbanLabsConference.com. We’ll also be posting frequent updates about the agenda, the gems of Cleveland that we’ll be showcasing, speakers, and other details there for the next two months.
Rapid Growth has been hitting the town with a whiteboard and camera to collect I Will Stay If… photos prior to their event next week. Grand Rapidians, don’t miss their “Not Your Average Speaker Series!” on Wednesday, May 19. Participate in an exciting community brainstorm, and get your photo taken to contribute to the I Will Stay If… campaign! Let your leaders know what you want Grand Rapids to be.
While at this point, this is getting to be old news, we’d be remiss not to take a moment to mention some very exciting developments from St. Louis. Last month, voters across the entire St. Louis County (not just the city) approved an increase to the transit sales tax that will restore services previously cut–and expand services connecting the suburbs with the downtown. According to thisSt. Louis Dispatch article, the half-cent increase will fund lost bus and Call-A-Ride services first, and eventually will expand MetroLink services farther into the suburbs.
The most exciting piece of this story is the margin. An astonishing 62.1% of voters expressed an understanding the potential that transit has to positively affect economic development and provide access to opportunity–just two years after a similar measure failed.
Congrats to St. Louis, and hopefully GLUE can create the opportunity for the organizers who got Prop A passed to share their strategies for a successful campaign!
Grand Rapids will become the most recent city to participate in the I Will Stay If… campaign, through the efforts of Rapid Growth Media, and partnership with the Grand Rapids Young Professionals and the Michigan State Housing Authority. Rapid Growth is hosting a “not your average speaker series” on Wednesday, May 19, constructed around some of the ideas the IWSI… campaign is built on. In a great twist, a panel of young leaders will be asked not to expound on what they want, but to help brainstorm how to turn ideas generated by the audience into reality.
I’m excited to be heading over to GR to attend, and look forward to hearing the ideas of Grand Rapidians!
While at this point, this is getting to be old news, we’d be remiss not to take a moment to mention some very exciting developments from St. Louis. Last month, voters across the entire St. Louis County (not just the city) approved an increase to the transit sales tax that will restore services previously cut–and expand services connecting the suburbs with the downtown. According to this 