corktown Archives - The Handbuilt City

cocoa brown dog cavalier king charles spaniel in corktown detroit lying on the back porch.

Policy Poverty Affordable housing Housing

Right-To-Renew, And Other Things

January 12, 2023January 12, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ann arbor, ann arbor michigan, ann arbor right to renew ordinance, corktown, detroit housing, detroit housing policy, housing in detroit, right to renew, right-to-renew

Gentrification and predatory housing practices led policymakers in Ann Arbor to create a new “right-to-renew” ordinance. Could it be a valuable tool in the fight for tenant protections?

Real Estate Policy Urban Planning Law

The Morouns Tore Down A Warehouse For More Truck Parking. Really. [EDITED]

July 9, 2021July 14, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments BSEED, building department, city of detroit, city of detroit government, climate change, corktown, criminal negligence, david bell, Detroit, drainage, drainage assessment, duggan, duggan administration, enforcement, flooding, hardscaping, impervious surfaces, industrial slumlords, manuel moroun, matty moroun, Michigan Central Station, mike duggan, moroun, moroun clan, moroun empire, municipal incompetence, pervious surfaces, rain tax, Regulation, slumlords, southwest detroit, southwest solutions, ted bundy, west side industrial

Walking from home to Corktown last night in search of food and drink with some out-of-town visitors who were eager

Real Estate Policy

Study: Detroit CBO Is Not Quite There Yet

April 26, 2021April 26, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments CAYMC, CBA, CBO, commercial development, commercial real estate, community benefits, community benefits agreement, community benefits ordinance, community development, community economic development, community engagement, community engagement strategies, community engagement strategy, corktown, corktown detroit development, detroit community benefits, detroit housing, detroit housing market, detroit local economy, detroit mayor mike duggan, duggan administration, economic development, housing, lending, mayor mike duggan, metro detroit, mike duggan, northside regeneration, paul mckee, rashida tlaib, real estate, real estate developers, St. Louis, sugar law center, sugar law center detroit, sugar law detroit

An academic paper looks at the Detroit Community Benefits Ordinance, or CBO. Conclusions? It’s had mixed success. We can get beyond this if we stop thinking about public policy in the simplistic terms of “pro” or “anti” development.

Politics Public Safety Law

Taxpayers Spend Hundreds of Millions Per Year On Police Brutality Settlements. That Money Could Be Better Spent.

February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 538, 911, 911 calls, amelia thomson-deveaux, black lives matter, corktown, damini sharma, Detroit, detroit will breathe, detroit will breathe lawsuit, fivethirtyeight, hulk hogan gawker lawsuit, hulk hogan lawsuit, laura bronner, lawsuit, lawsuits, litigation, nate silver, new york city, nonviolent crimes, police abolition, police brutality, police brutality lawsuits, police lawsuits, police reform, police violence, police violence lawsuits, settlement, settlements, springfield mass, violent crimes

A new article from FiveThirtyEight looks at the staggering sums of money taxpayers are liable for in police brutality lawsuit settlement in 31 American cities. The data are unsurprisingly incomplete, and unsurprisingly appalling.

Urban Planning Government Vacancy

Why Is Detroit Giving Industrial Slumlords Like Moroun A Free Pass?

January 11, 2021January 11, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ambassador bridge, BSEED, building department, building inspections, building inspector, corktown, dan gilbert, Detroit, detroit international bridge company, DIBC, economic development, enforcement, gordie howe, gordie howe international bridge, green dot stables, logistics, manuel moroun, matty moroun, Mike Ilitch, moroun, northern border transit, rosa parks blvd., southwest detroit, trucking, UST properties, UST Properties of Michigan, ust properties of michigan llc, Vacancy, warren, west side industrial

The owners of the Ambassador Bridge, their trucking empire, and a plethora of shell corporations own many acres of prime real estate close to Detroit’s downtown. Why have they avoided regulatory scrutiny?

Email Your 2020 Into A Literal Dumpster Fire

December 14, 2020December 13, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments andy didorosi, arsenal of clean, basecamp, bolsonaro, boris johnson, brexit, catharsis, corktown, coronavirus, covid, detroit bus company, Donald Trump, fire, frivolity, hey e-mail, jair bolsonaro, machinery, marketing, outdoors, robots, shipping container, snacks, southwest detroit, trump

2020’s apt description as a dumpster fire has manifested itself in, well, a literal dumpster fire, which Nat will be manning for a few days.

Detroit Historic preservation Mobility Transit infrastructure

Tour of Ford’s Michigan Central Station Project

September 22, 2020September 21, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments adaptive reuse, biking, corktown, dearborn, Density, Detroit, detroit international bridge company, economic development, Ford, ford motor, historic preservation, land use planning, matty moroun, Michigan Central Station, micromobility, mobility, Mobility Corridor, moroun, multi-modal transportation, new mobility, public transit, regional transit authority, RTA, scooters, southeast michigan, speculation, train station, train stations, trains, transit, transit infrastructure, trump, urban living

Michigan Central Station, the iconic, hulking, centenarian structure that has sat vacant for decades, is perhaps the flagship redevelopment project

Business & Economics

Detroit Policy Conference Touts Collaboration, Cultivating Local Talent, Transit Connectivity

January 29, 2020January 30, 2020 Nat Zorach 0 Comments corktown, dave coulter, detroit policy conference, detroit regional chamber, dug song, Ford, ilitch, Ilitches, manufacturing, mary culler, Michigan Central Station, mike duggan, motor city casino, shinola, southeast michigan

Months before the Davos of the Great Lakes, a.k.a. the Mackinac Policy Conference, draws visitors to the historic island off

Urban Planning Parking

Detroit Park City No. 4 – Corktown and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Low Density

December 10, 2019December 10, 2019 Nat Zorach 0 Comments corktown, detroit park city, detroiters for parking reform, donald shoup, elton park, michigan avenue, parking lots, shoupista, surface parking, tony soave

As Detroit’s hottest neighborhood, at least according to Buzzfeed, Corktown has to live up to a high standard. It’s got