Detroit Archives - The Handbuilt City

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.

Detroit Public transit Michigan Transit infrastructure

What If We Can’t Wait? Public-Private Partnership Solutions for Infrastructure

February 2, 2021February 2, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, Amtrak NEC, augean stables, austerity, ben stupka, brooks patterson, BRT, bus, chicago parking meters, dave coulter, Detroit, economic development, FRR, l. brooks patterson, macomb county, MBA, mba capstone, megan owens, metro detroit, michigan, mikel oglesby, mobility infrastructure, new york fear city, oakland county, philanthropic capital, PPP, private sector, public sector, public transit, public-private partnership, regional infrastructure, regional planning, regional transit, regional transit authority, robert moses, RTA, ryan friedrichs, stephanie farmer, transit, transit infrastructure, transportation, transportation riders united, TRU, why is macomb county awful

The RTA is planning on returning in 2022– again- to revisit a ballot measure to fund regional infrastructure investment in Southeast Michigan. Can we wait for 2022? Should we explore alternatives in the meantime?

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?

Sustainability Poverty Energy Housing Utilities

MPSC December Meeting: Neighborhood-Level Equity and Energy

December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments affordable housing, Brad Banks, Briana Parker, CMS, Consumers Energy, Detroit, DTE Energy, economic justice, Elevate Energy, energy, energy justice, housing, Indiana Michigan Power, mary templeton, metro detroit, michigan, michigan public service commission, MPSC, public utilties, racial justice, racism, redlining, SEAS, segregation, SEMCO, Sharonda Williams-Tack, Sierra Club, Tim Skrotzki, Tony G. Reames, Tony Reames, utilities, water justice

Dr. Tony G. Reames of the University of Michigan, Briana Parker of Elevate Energy, and others presented at an MPSC meeting on some approaches to the question of equity in energy efficiency for low-income communities and communities of color.

Detroit Urban Planning

Awake, East Warren! Dreaming Mixed-Use in Detroit’s Farthest-Flung Corridor

December 2, 2020December 2, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments affordable, affordable housing, apartments, bank, banking, banks, densification, Density, Detroit, east english village, eddie carrington, euclidean zoning, flux, flux city, form-based zoning code, grosse pointe, invest detroit, joe rashid, multifamily housing, parking minimums, real estate, real estate development, rental, street parking, surface parking, traditional main street overlay, upzoning, use-based zoning code, warren, Zoning

A new, mid-density development project on Detroit’s far east side is materializing, heralding a new dawn for a corridor that has struggled with autocentric, low density and disinvestment for decades.

Adaptation & Resilience Public Health Culture & Language

Handbuilt: Gratitude and Resilience In The Strangest Year On Record

November 26, 2020November 26, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments american history, coronavirus, covid, COVID19, covid19 diaries, culture, Detroit, historiography, history, hubbard farms, mexicantown, native and indigenous peoples, southwest detroit, thanksgiving, thanksgiving dinner, windsor

LAST NIGHT, MY PARTNER AND I SAT AT THE DINING TABLE THAT CAME INCLUDED WITH OUR 1895 HOUSE in Southwest

Politics Movements & Organizing

Michigan’s Election Plunges Headfirst Down A Weird Rabbit Hole

November 5, 2020November 5, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ballots, biden, black mirror, bob dutko, chris wallace, cobo, cobo center, coronavirus, covid, COVID19, darryl wood, democracy, dennis prager, Detroit, detroit police, Donald Trump, joe biden, laura ingraham, pandemic, polls, protest, protest movements, protesters, rush limbaugh, sean hannity, shaffwan ahmed, tcf center, tea party, trump, tucker carlson, voting

A crowd of pro-Trump protesters, partially incited by a Tea Party Super PAC, came down to the TCF Center in downtown Detroit to demand that the ballot count be stopped as the tally of mail-in ballots indicated that Joe Biden was pulling ahead by a larger margin.

Entrepreneurship Burgerbanism Food

Yum Village Will Bring The Fire In Detroit’s Takeout Dining Scene This Winter

November 5, 2020November 5, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments afro-caribbean, APX interactive, art deco, black-owned business, COVID19, crowdfunding, Detroit, economic development, entrepreneurship, food, godwin ihentuge, joe robinson, milwaukee junction, new center, nigeria, north end, restaurants, storefronts, we run 313, yum village

Experience all three dimensions of Yum Village– and then get you some jerk chicken.

Detroit: Vote No On Proposition N

October 27, 2020October 27, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments community development, demolition, Detroit, distressed property, duggan, economic development, mike duggan, proposition N

Detroit’s Proposition N, on the ballot next week, is a terrible idea for a few reasons, and Handbuilt recommends you vote no.

Business & Economics Historic preservation Urban Planning Transit infrastructure

Detroit Fairgrounds Site: Alternatives to Permanent, Monumentally Bad Decisions

October 6, 2020October 5, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 8 mile, adaptive reuse, brooks patterson, brownfield, dave coulter, DDOT, Density, Detroit, duggan, economic development, eight mile, francis grunow, historic preservation, mike duggan, preservation, QLINE, redevelopment, RTA, SMART, state fairgrounds, state fairgrounds site, transit, transit infrastructure, woodward, woodward avenue

The State Fairgrounds site is centrally located, and it’s huge. Too huge to make some monumentally bad decisions about permanently turning it into a Shelby Township-style strip mall.

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