May 2012
2 posts
11 tags
Big chains investing in the D
There’s been some good news so far this month regarding groundbreakings of major developments in Detroit by big chain stores. Earlier this week marked the official groundbreaking of the Whole Foods store in Midtown. And come this Thursday a new project called the Gateway Marketplace will break ground near 8 Mile and Woodward.
The new development is expected to host a Meijer superstore and a...
7 tags
What's next for Detroit's transportation...
Thanks to Translogic, we’re able to take a closer look at some of the possibilities of future transportation infrastructure in the city.
Most of us already know the story of how Detroit became the Motor City after it fell in love with roads and highways thanks to the car boom of the 1950s. Thanks to that subsequent shift in mindset, and promotion of the very industry that put Detroit on the...
March 2012
3 posts
5 tags
Detroit Self-Portraits
The Detroit Free Press has started a pretty cool new project on their website. Dubbed Detroit Self-Portraits, and deriving inspiration from the DIA “Detroit Revealed” Exhibit, the site allows Metro Detroiters to upload and share their views of the city.
Visitors can then go on and vote for their favorite images and leave comments. Head on over to the project here and check out the...
5 tags
Corktown Gets a Burger Bar
After the Mercury Bar failed to catch on with the coffee crowd, the recently renovated venue has now reopened withe a new menu and a new vision.
Burgers!
Right across the street from Slow’s BarBQ on Michigan Avenue, the Mercury Bar officially opened this past Saturday. The restaurant features a beer drinking room on the lower level aptly named Corktown Cellars. The interior of the place...
9 tags
Detroit's Tubes
If you’ve been downtown, you’ve probably seen them. Maybe, you’ve even used them.
They’re Detroit’s numerous tubes, walkways and skywalks that connect some of the city’s buildings and sporting venues together. From the tubes in Greektown to the skywalk connecting the Joe and COBO to the adjacent parking garage, there’s actually quite a few more than I...
February 2012
1 post
8 tags
A how-to guide for making a Detroit documentary
The people over at Changing Gears decided to poke a little fun at some of the cliches that have become synonymous with documentaries about Detroit. We’ve all seen, or have at least heard of, the slew of recent Detroit docs that have been released in the past couple of years, some much worse than others.
Lucky for you though, if you happen to be an aspiring doc filmmaker because most of the...
December 2011
2 posts
7 tags
Detroit's Interactive Newsman
Well, it only took me about a month to get around to posting this. Blame college, finals and life. Last month I met with Channel 7’s Stephen Clark to job shadow him for the night. Afterwards I had to write about my experience for one of my journalism classes. Here’s how my visit went.
I arrived at the studio, proudly known as ‘Broadcast House,’ around 5:50 p.m. just as Stephen Clark...
5 tags
Light rail in Detroit is dead
For better or for worse, the plan to bring light rail to the city is history…at least for now, anyways.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting the plans were scrapped in favor of a new system of high-speed city and suburban busses.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Detroit Mayor Dave Bing that doubts Detroit could pay operating costs over the long term for the Woodward Light Rail...
November 2011
3 posts
6 tags
Detroit News: Bing ready to wage 'war'
Even with all of the bright spots in Detroit—all the redevelopment projects, all the stories of new businesses and residents relocating back downtown—there’s a one large, continually growing cloud hanging over the city.
Detroit is almost out money.
And the man I thought would be able to get the city through this mess, along with a newly elected City Council I had so much faith...
5 tags
Huffington Post: "Detroit," Meet Detroit
Didya hear? The Huffington Post is launching a new website called HuffPost Detroit that will be completely dedicated to countering the narrative of national media that “parachute in to cover the declining metropolis.”
Pretty cool, right?
And also, I couldn’t not blog about the column in today’s Huffington Post by Toby Barlow where he discusses something that I always seem...
8 tags
Detroit's Deco Glory
The Detroit News put together a nice photo gallery documenting the best of Detroit’s historic downtown art deco architecture.
From the Penobscot Building to the Book Cadillac Hotel, many of Detroit’s oldest buildings have withstood the test of time while others have received thorough restorations.
Check out the gallery here.
October 2011
3 posts
5 tags
Freep: 'People just love Detroit'
Jim Schaefer and John Gallagher write in today’s Free Press about the increasing amount of positive press being given to the city of Detroit by national media outlets. Could the tide be permanently turning finally?
Yes, the narrative seems to be changing. Those outside of Detroit are finally starting to come around and realize what many of us already knew.
But, here’s where the...
5 tags
8 tags
USA Today: Spirit of revival rolling through...
Heading into mid-October with two winning sports teams, Detroit seems to be getting all kinds of attention lately.
But it’s not just the Tigers and Lions that are garnering all the national spotlight and headlines. Many writers and journalists around the country have been drawing deeper (albeit similar and a bit cliche at this point) connections between the city’s sports teams and the...
September 2011
3 posts
6 tags
Tour de Troit
Biking through the city of Detroit?
Sure, some would never dare to venture out into the city on two lowly, human-powered wheels, but then again, many more than you probably would expect are.
It turns out that the Motor City is becoming increasingly more friendly to bicyclists and the 10th annual Tour de Troit is a prime example with more than 4,500 bicyclists taking to the streets this...
August 2011
3 posts
6 tags
jdetroit meets Moxie
A few weeks back I finally had the pleasure and opportunity to meet the woman behind one of the most successful Detroit blogs on the web. Becks Davis created Detroit Moxie back in 2008 and since that time it has taken off and gained a huge following.
In any case, shortly after our meeting, Becks had asked if I’d be willing to write a guest piece for Moxie about my experience working as an intern...
4 tags
Living & Investing in the D
Every year right around this time, Crain’s Detroit Business publishes their annual “Living & Investing in the D” magazine packed with tons of awesome info about all of the cool things going on in the city. From fantastic people and entrepreneurs to new businesses and housing projects, if you weren’t already convinced Detroit was worth investing in before you read, you’ll be hard pressed to not...
6 tags
USA Today says to explore Corktown
USA Today recently put together a list of what they deemed to be the 10 best urban neighborhoods for exploring. Low and behold, Detroit’s own Corktown, a neighborhood I’ve gotten to know very well over the past couple weeks, made the list.
Being Motown’s oldest neighborhood, USA Today said the area is one the rise with young, new artists, musicians and professionals. My personal favorite stops...
July 2011
2 posts
10 tags
First legal food truck hits Detroit streets
And Crain’s Detroit was first with the story! This past Friday El Guapo Mexican Grill opened for business on the corner of Randolph and Monroe street in downtown Detroit. The corner is a prime location backing up to Greektown and just blocks from the financial district and Campus Martius Park.
While other food truck operators in downtown Detroit have set up shop without permits, Anthony Curis and...
5 tags
WatchEastern Market is now open during the week on Tuesdays through the end of September!
Production by Josh Sidorowicz/Crain’s Detroit Business
June 2011
7 posts
6 tags
Woodward light-rail plans moves forward
Plans for the new M1 Woodward light rail project took a big leap forward today and the Free Press has all the deets.
It appears that city officials and the feds were able to come to a consensus on one of the major issues holding the project back: where exactly to place the tracks. And now it appears the rail system will have the best of both worlds with center-running tracks from 8 Mile south to...
5 tags
Loving Detroit despite...
Nolan Finley summed it up pretty well in this past Sunday’s Detroit News. Finley’s column this week discussed a subject that is far from original but one that still manages to stir some good emotion.
I know right here on this blog, I’ve talked several times about why I love Detroit and why I choose to blog about it and promote it and I know I’m not the first and definitely won’t be the last.
...
7 tags
Food Carts: Watching news develop in Detroit
It has been quite entertaining this past week watching the food cart story catch on around Metro Detroit. Entertaining because it was over a week ago that little ‘ol Crain’s Detroit Business broke the story first and since then the Detroit News and The Free Press have all finally hopped on board.
Being in (or at least attempting to become a part of) the news business here in Detroit and being...
6 tags
Follow-up: Detroit not welcoming to food vendors
It turns out that after that original story in Crain’s Detroit was published last week, some of the street cart vendors mentioned—specifically Kristyn Koth of the Pink FlaminGO and Jeff Aqualina of Concrete Cuisine—have already been contacted by members of the City Council and Planning Commissions and have been invited to an upcoming meeting regarding the matter.
Nonetheless, Crain’s...
mswayfarer asked: I like your write-up about the food trucks. Did you know that southwest detroit actually has tons of taco trucks, etc? I went around the neighborhood and photographed all the ones I could find, which was over a dozen, and that was just 1 afternoon! (this is my favorite shot from then: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinnevl/5483961261/in/set-72157623682348864 )
6 tags
Detroit not welcoming to food vendors
A story from this past week’s issue of Crain’s Detroit Business (written by my editor Nathan Skid actually) highlights an issue that hasn’t gotten much attention…yet. When compared to other major cities—New York and Chicago come to mind—something is prominently absent from Detroit’s streets and sidewalks: food carts.
For residents and workers in the city this would seem to...
4 tags
HOUR’s Best of Detroit 2011
It’s that time of year again and HOUR Detroit Magazine has compiled their list of the best of what the Motor City and Metro Detroit has to offer. From food, to shopping and even people, there are over 100 categories to sort through with more than 250 winners. Check out all the categories and winners here.
Some highlights:
Food and Drink —
Locally produced food brand: (three-way tie)...
6 tags
Detroit Moves Me
And this weekend proved I wasn’t the only one.
For the first time ever I ventured downtown to experience an event that has been going on since 2000. The Detroit Electronic Music Festival (all the cool kids call it DEMF) takes place every year during Memorial Weekend in Detroit’s Hart Plaza on the riverfront.
Why I had never attended up until this year I have no idea. Granted, I’m not even...
May 2011
6 posts
7 tags
Movement Returns to Detroit
Picture by Marvin Shaouni of Groove
In it’s 12th year, The Movement Electronic Music Festival kicks off in Hart Plaza today and runs through Memorial Day. Headlining acts include Felix de Housecat today, Carl Craig tomorrow on Sunday and Fatboy Slim on Monday along with more than 100 other acts throughout the weekend. Check out the full schedule here.
After hitting a few financial and...
8 tags
Upmarket Living in the D
Model D’s Tom Hendrikson put together a great video on the buzz surrounding the upswing in buying and selling of residential properties in Detroit and more specifically in Midtown and the Woodward Corridor. Too bad I’m not in the market….
There is a clear sense of “it” happening in the Woodward Corridor: “it” being a combination of corporate investment, community...
April 2011
2 posts
13 tags
Light-rail in Detroit? Or something better?
I’m shocked I haven’t heard more about this yet.
This past Sunday, Freep columnist Ron Dzwonkowski shed some light on an intriguingly different alternative to the much talked about M1 Woodward light rail system.
The gist: Move over light-rail, there might just be a better option.
For the greater part of the past year (if not longer), many Detroiters—including myself right here on this...
March 2011
12 posts
6 tags
Would you like that super-sized?
Forget all this talk about “right-sizing” the city of Detroit back to health, some urban experts are now saying that the exact opposite must be done.
The Atlantic’s Mark Binelli (who apparently has a non-fiction book about Detroit in the works) writes about the latest big idea, that of super-sizing, to fix the city of Detroit.
The takeaway from the census stories was that Detroit plummeted to...
4 tags
BREAKING: Detroit’s population implosion
713,777.
That’s how many people currently reside in Detroit. That number represents one resident being lost every 22 minutes from 2001 to 2010, according to the Detroit Free Press. That number represents the lowest population in the city since the beginning of the 20th century.
Anyone who is even remotely familiar with what’s going on in the city of Detroit wasn’t expecting any good news from...
7 tags
Imported from Detroit?! Not so fast
Detroit News today reports that Chrysler has filed suit against clothing retailer Pure Detroit for improperly and unlawfully using the car company’s much talked about slogan originally used in their February Super Bowl commercial.
Apparently Chrysler had tried to resolve the issue out of court but Pure Detroit refused to budge.
“Chrysler has repeatedly attempted to resolve this matter...
9 tags
The Freep and Detroit News weigh in
In a clip that has been vehemently passed around Facebook this past week, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is seen weighing in on Gov. Rick Snyder and his new tax proposals and his subseqent efforts to revamp the state’s emergency financial manager law.
The bottom line to take away from that clip: Michigan is indeed screwed and democracy as we know it is being kicked to the curb. (You can watch...
2 tags
Note to visitors: A picture posted on here on Wednesday, February 23rd of the “Detroit Moves Me” poster was posted in haste and regretfully was not properly attributed due to my admitted oversight.
The picture comes courtesy of Charlie Wollborg of Curve Detroit.
Sincere apologies to Charlie for not acknowledging credit of what turned out to be a very popular post on jdetroit.
ettiord asked: I know I sound insane, but I believe I'm a Detroit even thou I've never set foot in it. Everyday I read about that great stories coming from the city and begin to cry because I'm not there, do you think that this is odd or just some cry for attention like the others flocking to the city to take pictures of the ruins? Because I don't want to be seen that way, I just want to be...
7 tags
Michiganders: Detroit success = Michigan success
Good news coming out of the Free Press this Sunday.
According to a new poll conducted by the Detroit Free Press and WXYZ-TV Channel 7, no matter where in the state some 72% of Michiganders agree that a healthy, vibrant Detroit is either essential or important to Michigan’s future vitality.
No surprise that view of importance is viewed more strongly in and around the surrounding Metro...
7 tags
Cobo's Facelift Finally Unveiled
Borrowed money from a bond sale will fund the much-anticipated $221 million dollar renovation of Detroit’s Cobo Center. Those bonds would be paid back from revenues from Cobo.
For those of you thinking the current look of Cobo is pretty jab it’s understandable considering the last major renovation of the convention center was some 20 years ago in 1989.
While the new plan...
February 2011
13 posts
