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 weekend.

Tour de Troit, which began and ended at Roosevelt Park, offered two ride options Saturday morning. A 22-mile slow-paced, police-escorted ride allowed bicyclists to go at their own pace as they explored the city. The Metric Century was a 62-mile ride for 250 of the more experienced riders.

Detroit now has more than 40 miles of bike-friendly lanes with more scheduled to be built and although the amount of bike commuters in the city—about 1,200—pales in comparison to places like New York or L.A., biking in the city is on the upswing.

That community has helped spur construction of a growing network of bike lanes on some of the city’s main streets, including Michigan Avenue. Detroit has about 40 miles of lanes, and more are scheduled.

Despite its reputation as the Motor City, many cycling enthusiasts see Detroit as being built for bikes, with flat, wide roads and a relative lack of motor traffic.

Check out the full story from the Detroit News here and take a look at pictures from this weekend’s 2011 Tour de Troit here in Freep.

Photo credit: Todd McInturf/Detroit News

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 New Center. From Grand Blvd the tracks will diverge and run along the sidewalks all the way into the downtown area where the rails will meet up with the Rosa Parks Transportation Center west of Woodward.

The trains would serve 19 stops along the 9-mile route, including 10 on Woodward between Campus Martius downtown and Grand Boulevard in the New Center — prime locations where the city is banking on transit to stimulate promising clusters of commercial and residential redevelopment.

Those crucial design and route decisions are part of an agreement the city said it has reached with the federal government, a major step forward on the $500-million project to build light rail on Woodward.

The new route will also apparently have more stops than initially planned and will stop within blocks of many of the downtown major attractions including Hart Plaza and the sporting stadiums.

Read the full article here.

Map courtesy of Freep

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 able to watch this story grow from something my editor proposed to me a week and a half ago (that had never even crossed my radar beforehand) to now something that is going to be a major narrative in the city going forward is pretty exciting.

But nonetheless, the more exposure this issue receives the better because, simply put, it is just one more facet to the ever-growing resurgence we are seeing taking place in and around the city.  I can only hope that it continue to pick up momentum as the summer wears on and that changes will be made soon.  But in the meantime, keep an eye on Crain’s coverage.

Josh Sidorowicz/Crain’s Detroit Business

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 personal snags at the beginning — though remarkable how a ship so large could right itself when doubters said it could not be done — the event first dubbed the Detroit Electronic Music Festival then Fuse-In then the current Movement survived its growing pains and has become one the world’s most impressive dance music spectacles. Over 100,000 people are expected to flood into downtown’s Hart Plaza over the weekend. Dozens of off-site parties await the insatiable who can never get enough beats.

Advance one-day passes are $35 ($40 at the door), advance weekend passes are $70. Get your tickets here.

Check out full coverage over at Model D and the Freep, or head downtown this weekend and check it out yourself. I know I’ll be heading down at some point this weekend.

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 blog—have been giddy about this new Woodward light-rail system proposal and it’s potential to bring in new businesses and people to the city.

As of now, the project still doesn’t seem to be going anywhere fast and ground on Woodward to start building the new rail system has yet to be broken.  Yes, it seemed like a great idea when first proposed. I mean, who could argue with plans to bring new developments and a mass-transit system to a city so desperately in need of it.

But here’s the thing, what if there was a better idea?

Turns out there might just be one.

Meet Sanders. Jerry Sanders to be exact, the chairman and CEO of a little company called SkyTran. Sanders is chomping at the bit to come to Detroit to turn the city into the first site of the company’s new large-scale, overhead mass-transit system that even NASA says will “revolutionize public transportation.”

Did you here me? NASA!!

Before the city starts tearing up streets for the $520-million light-rail line up Woodward, which will inevitably cost more and be used less than projected, maybe someone should get back in touch with Sanders and at least invite him to make a presentation. Especially considering that he doesn’t want any taxpayer money to build his new system, just rights-of-way, and would consider manufacturing its components here for export to other cities that SkyTran is sure will want what they see working cheaply and cleanly in Detroit.  

This system would be the first of it’s kind and SkyTran wants to make history in Detroit. So at this point you must be thinking that city leaders are scrambling to get this guy on the next flight out to the D, am I right?

WRONG!

Oh, and did I mention that the SkyTran says each car in the system will zip its way through the gritty city while using only as much power as needed to run two blow-dryers?

So what gives?

Sanders said he made some initial contacts with Detroit officials after learning about the city’s light-rail plans — which have been in the works for so long that some people around here would surely have a hard time giving them up, even for a better idea.

…

Sanders said he had some contact with City Council staff members late last year, who referred him to city transportation officials. But basically, he’s heard nothing back.

Where are the leaders in Detroit and why aren’t they taking advantage of an opportunity knocking at (or rather attempting to knock down) their front door?

Yes, light-rail on Woodward sounded like a great idea at the start, but it doesn’t mean it is the best idea. 

Read the full column here and comment below.

Image courtesy of SkyTran

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 the 2010 census data.  BUT, most people weren’t expecting the excruciatingly large decline that was actually reported.

Detroit, once America’s fourth most populous city, will fall below Midwestern neighbors like Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Ind.

But this, this is staggering. See the full report here on Freep.com

Courtesy of Freep

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 the full clip below.)

Now, if we could all take a minute to collectively breath and shake off the hysteria, I’d like to share today’s columns from the Freep and Detroit News that address the two issues of business taxes and the financial manager law.

On cutting business taxes

The Detroit News editorial board points out that, in the midst of all the shouting and ballyhoo, a major point has fallen on deaf ears. Cutting business taxes and simplifying the Michigan Business Tax is meant to create jobs and put Michiganders back to work.

Adding jobs to reduce Michigan’s 10.1 percent unemployment rate — that’s the official rate; the real number is likely much higher — is as crucial a priority as providing a quality education, maintaining roads, manning prisons or any other function of state government.

What that means is that the plan shouldn’t be viewed as a tax break for business as much as a bailout for Michigan’s beleaguered workers in the form of more jobs and better pay.

Read the full editorial here.

On the hysteria surrounding financial managers

The Freep’s Stephen Henderson points out the weaknesses of the state’s current “rubric” for dealing with these types of emergencies which explains why cities like Pontiac and school districts like DPS were so far gone by the time emergency financial management stepped in.

For years, local governments and school districts have been able to walk right up to the brink of financial disaster without any intervention from the state. So when state officials do rush in, they face horrific conditions with too few options for balancing the books.

The state’s current rubric for dealing with financial emergencies is weak to the point of flaccidity. Legislators are right to firm up the consequences of inaction.

 Henderson does acknowledge, and rightfully so, the fact that the plan does indeed tread on the democratic process and calls for tweaks to those aspects of the proposal. Henderson also addresses the critics claiming the proposal is an attempt by the right to take over.

That’s not to say the current proposal is perfect. Wiping out elected officials, as both the House and Senate versions call for, is decidedly anti-democracy...But overall, fixing the law makes good sense. And it’s overdue, given the number of jurisdictions in financial trouble.

It’s also worth noting, for the benefit of those who characterize this effort as some right-wing attempt to take over the state’s cities, that most of these ideas come from Dillon, a Democrat, who was talking about them well before he was appointed to Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s cabinet.

Read the full column here.

What say you? Weigh in on the discussion and leave a comment.

This is an intersting story that I’ll have to keep my eye on. Rochelle Riley wrote in today’s Detroit Free Press about Mayor Bing’s visit to Detroit’s “sister” city, Turin, in northern Italy.

It turns out the two are remarkeably similar and low-and-behold, face very similar challenges in this post-industrial era in which we’re currently living in. And now, Bing and other city leaders are looking to Turin to see what they’re doing to re-build and reenergize the city.

Turin earned its Detroit nickname because the two cities appear to be separated at birth, except Turin arrived in the First Century BC and Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac’s canoe hit the shores of Detroit in 1701.

Detroit and Turin are nearly equal in area and population, and the main industry of each is making cars.

Read the entire column here.

Graphic courtesy of Detroit Free Press

I love to eat. There I said it. Detroit, no doubt, has one of the best restaurant scenes of any major city. We love our food and we have a tradition of pumping out some classic dishes and brands over the many decades.

The Detroit Free Press today highlighted the 50 best foods that have helped to define an entire region. Bet you can guess just some of the many foods that made the list. From the classics like Vernors ginger ale, Better Made potato chips and the coney dog (American & Lafayette) to some new classics like Slows BBQ pulled-pork or pita and hummus.

It’s mouthwatering list (haha, pun intended) thats a worth a look or two. Check it!

At the beginning of September I posted an entry on The Freep’s John Gallagher’s forthcoming book Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City. Today online, The Detroit Free Press posted another excerpt from the book that I thought was worth sharing for those who hadn’t swung around to the Freep’s website yet to see it.

The topic of the excerpt focuses on what Detroit could, and very well should, become going forward: greener and more navigable by foot by way of a more densely populated urban center.

Densely packed urban neighborhoods attract retailers, so a city that builds up its healthier districts and connects them with greenways would be one where residents can find much more of what they need close at hand. Right now, shopping requires Detroiters to get in their cars and drive miles to find the stores they favor.

As the nation struggles to cope with rising global temperatures and soaring fuel prices, Detroit may emerge as the city that figured it out first — how to use its open lands to foster a local food economy, how to create a network of greenways that permits its residents to park their vehicles, how to help community-based entrepreneurs create a financial safety margin for a city once yoked to global economic swings.

You can click on over to Freep.com here to read the entire excerpt from Gallagher’s book. I’m not dropping an hints or anything but I think this book would make a great stocking stuffer this Christmas.

Picture courtesy of Freep.com/Susan Tusa (2007)