OK, so this post will be a little brag-heavy, but hey, somebody’s gotta do it.

DL! got a shout-out the other day from Richard Florida which was kind of cool. If you’ve read any of his books, you can start to see some of the similarities between his thinking and Detroit. Nevertheless, this series he is writing and filming via the Atlantic (titled “How Detroit is Rising”) ought to be interesting. I hope that the research and the thoughts delve deeper than what has come to be known as the “revival story of Detroit.” I think it’s great that large media bodies are conglomerating around some of the miniature victories being seen in the city right now, it’d be cool if Florida found a way to advance some of his thoughts a step further through Detroit. But anyway, he makes a shout to DL! in the article kicking off the project. See it here.

Separately, Urban Outfitters in the UK is now selling a DL! print. Quite cool I’d say. We are really excited. Mega-fives (the more grandiose equivalent of a high five) to Scott Waraniak for the design work on that particular print and for helping to make us look so good (this is the same guy that did the motion graphics for the Be a Venture piece, designed this site, all kinds of stuff). Anyway, check it (click on the photo to see more or order if you are in the UK):

So yeah, feeling good on this Wednesday morn.

Through the graphic above, taken from a Freep article by John Gallagher, we get a look at what could potentially be (again, hypothetical!) a neighborhood-level plan for development in communities across Detroit as part of Long Term Planning within the Detroit Works Project.

DWP, all in, is Mayor Bing’s attempt at right-sizing the city, through a variety of civic engagement efforts, design and long term planning measures. If we get this process right as a city, the possibility of our transition to solutions-exporter for other struggling cities gets astronomically higher, which of course plays in to a lot of the work we are doing creatively.

A huge part of what we do here is making sure that the work and innovative models we are creating in response to interesting economic circumstances and opportunities is projected outward in to the world. I always say Detroit could write the rule-book for next-generation cities. It’s true. Economic systems worldwide are crumbling, cities are re-thinking their positions amidst globalization, and in Detroit we’ve been confronting the dire version of those circumstances for many years. And over the past three years, we’ve gotten significantly better at innovating with minimal resources. And this is the stuff that the country will deem more and more significant as cities struggle more and more. In the last week or so, two outfits locally have been getting national coverage that plays a significant part in moving the narrative about Detroit’s potential forward.

DETROIT Soup featured in Dwell Magazine, a national publication:

Patrick Thompson Design featured on Design Sponge:

Now we can finally conclude what’s been going on along Woodward along the former site of the old Garden Theatre, seen here:

As Louis Aguilar reported in the Detroit News, the prominent space in Midtown along Woodward Avenue between Alexandrine and Selden, will get a renovation via a $750,000 incentive from the Michigan Strategic Fund as a live music venue and performing arts center. The place will hold up to 1,300 people and will create 84 jobs. Not bad. A tip of the cap to Sue Mosey and the gang at UCCA for making the deal happen.

News broke last Friday that Michigan State University is proposing a $100M plan to create a research center for urban farming. Says a Detroit News article:

“The idea could make Detroit into a global model for growing food and energy crops in once unthinkable urban settings — inside desolate buildings, on contaminated soil and between concrete slabs of shopping center lots.”

Seperately, a quote from an MSU official makes a good point about the real grounding force behind this plan:

“What we’re actually looking forward to is a time down the road where this is a significant part of Detroit’s economic plan, where food and energy production is part of what Detroit is known for,” Foster said. The effort would help “redefine what the city is.”

The full articles discussing the plan:

Detroit News
Lansing State Journal

Meanwhile, Wayne State is making moves with a $93M biotech research hub to be developed at the site of the old Dalgleish Cadillac building. The building was built by Albert Kahn and will undergo a historic renovation. Once completed, hundreds of researchers will be stationed there addressing cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, bioinformatics and computational biology and biomedical engineering.

More from a Crain’s article here.

I have really stayed mum on this topic, mostly because it’s so deep and complex that I struggle with the “proper” narrative. And so instead of suggesting the merits of an EFM versus reaching some sort of consent agreement, I think it’s best to follow the process on your own and establish a position on the issue for yourself. Whatever the case, our city is at a crucial moment.

This afternoon– actually, right now– City Council is discussing the consent agreement. The meeting started at 1pm. Follow Steve Neavling via Twitter (@Freepreporter) for the best up-to-date play by play of the meeting that Pugh is holding. The Thursday deadline looms where a decision MUST be made by the state. If a consent agreement isn’t reached by that time, then the EFM could come in at that time. Of course, beyond that, there are many complications that make it such a complex issue– but those are the basics.

Stay tuned.

Some interesting– not necessarily new– actions around business growth and economic development:

1) The Detroit Creative Corridor Center released their year-end report, which examines the steps they have taken to accelerate growth of the creative economy in Detroit. Some of the highlights after just one year of operation: 200 creative sector jobs were provided through their business attraction efforts. And get this– five more companies and 1,200 jobs are in the pipeline. These are businesses that they have attracted to locate in the city and are bringing jobs with them. Aside from that, over $1M has been raised through their efforts to support investment in the creative sector locally. This means more support for early to mid stage companies through the Creative Ventures program, and more resources to put on thoughtful events showcasing the creative community like the Detroit Design Festival. Two thumbs up. See the DC3′s report here. Moving on–

2) Josh Linkner, one part of the Detroit Venture Partners gang, penned a somewhat interesting article in INC magazine. The message: Detroit isn’t a blank canvas, it’s just a place where “we have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a noticeable brushstroke on a canvas whose final version affects us all. Let’s seize it.” Sure, can’t argue with that sentiment and feel-good sorta stuff. I guess the more significant aspect of all this dialogue is that they are creating tangible actions from this genuine opportunity. DVP is investing in mid-stage tech companies, and headquartering them in the nearly three million square feet of office space that Dan Gilbert is ferociously snatching up in the downtown area. Hate ‘em or love ‘em, it’s damn nice to see these guys walking the walk.

Unrelated to all this, but quite interesting nonetheless: the owner of the Packard Plant says that sucka is coming down, with a team that is reportedly just “days away from starting to barricade and fence off the 3.5-million-square-foot eyesore” as part of a larger scheme to demolish the building. Building owner Dominic Cristini claims it is part of an effort to “do the right and responsible thing.” Let’s see if this guy walks the walk, too. (Read the whole article here)

Today is a big day for the political future of Detroit. The City Council will decide at their 3pm meeting how the city will draw the lines that determine our council districts– essentially, the regions within the city that council members will be elected from.

First, it helps to understand how Detroit used to elect councilman, and how that is changing. In past years, all nine city council members were elected by an at-large vote by the citizens of Detroit. Council by Districts passed in the last years and so seven of nine council members will be elected from geographical districts that are drawn in the city. This so that council seats don’t fall automatically to the most popular candidates or to those that just have the most resources available to run a campaign and thus preventing other able-bodied individuals. Now, in many cases, councilman will reflect the district that they come from– representing local issues and therefore addressing the needs of the people in Detroit more effectively.

The question now is how those district lines will be drawn. Will downtown and surrounding areas be one district– including SW Detroit which is arguably a much different cultural and demographic scene with different needs? This gets tricky. As of last week, City Council was trying to choose from four different district maps. Now, the local think-tank Data Driven Detroit (D3) has proposed a fifth map.

The suspense continues, with a decision made today at the 3pm meeting.

Read more:

Announcement that the decision will be made today: Read

D3′s justification for the fifth district option: Read

More comparison from Huffington Post on all the options: Read

We are sitting in Lodz now, doing the mostly non-glamorous work of getting the Polish subtitles ready for the Lodz premiere of the film tomorrow. Once we screen in Lodz, the flood gates fall, and we will be on a five day run that will end us in Amsterdam on Sunday. From there will pick up the pace through the Netherlands and end the screening tour in Paris. There’s a lot of excitement going around! We are pumped to be showing the film to European audiences and look forward to seeing what the reception will be across the pond.

More (short) updates to come from the road. In the meantime, a few things to keep you busy:

1. There’s a particularly enthralling dispatch that just came via the Freep from Roy Roberts, the Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager. The overall message as it relates to steps being taken to fix issues in the school system, Mr. Roberts comments: “If we aren’t bold in what we’re doing, we’re going to fail.” Refreshing I must say. Really though, read the full article.

2. Check out our latest additions to the Speakers Bureau– the videos we are developing for the Detroit Creative Corridor Center in an effort to tell their story in Detroit– by clicking here. The list of people we have profiled is growing!

3. We were on an airplane, so we didn’t get to see it in the flesh for the original airing, but the new Chrysler commercial is a pleasant addendum to the earth-shattering original (I mean, come on, an entire year’s worth of branding, marketing and commerce was practically based on this commercial). I sort of like that the scope was broadened in that it’s still a focus on Detroit, but using Detroit’s position as a larger narrative about the country.

The Huffington Post did a nice write-up on “After the Factory,” our documentary premiering at the Detroit Institute of Art on February 2 at 7pm (Get your tickets!). Check out the trailer for the film and then go ahead and read the article: