Written by Linda Campbell Detroit, Michigan, recently became the first city in the nation to pass an ordinance designed to give community members a voice in negotiations with big developers. Large-scale developers often receive financial support from taxpayers in the form of grants, tax abatements, and land transfers. In exchange, they sometimes promise community members […]
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld with artwork by Sean Bieri, courtesy of www.metrotimes.com Detroit and many cities across the country that experienced disinvestment, white flight and redlining a generation ago, are now grappling with economic “redevelopment” efforts that notoriously and blatantly bypass communities of color. Since redevelopment so often means removing long-time residents to transform neighborhoods […]
Written by Frances Kunreuther This blog post is due to the courtesy of openDemocracy. Bill and Billie Hickey live in Brightmoor, a neighborhood about twenty minutes away from the gentrified Midtown area of Detroit. Most people in Brightmoor live in poverty (50 per cent of residents have an annual income of under $25,000) , and the community has the largest […]
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Last week, two Muslim groups donated $100,000 to help Detroit residents whose accounts are past-due with the city’s water department. The announcement from the two organizations – The Michigan Muslim Community Council and Islamic Relief USA – focused on the act of charity as an expression of their faith, and the money will certainly help […]
Written by Frances Kunreuther Residents must be gaining some power in Detroit. Because each time they start to organize something, the state tries to intervene to usurp their gains. This time it is the Community Benefits Agreement ordinance. The Detroit People’s Platform introduced the need for a Community Benefits Agreement ordinance to ensure that developers – who are […]
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Many commentators have taken to calling Detroit the canary in the coal mine, as a warning to other cities facing de-industrialization, unemployment and other “urban” woes. But in this era of the city’s bankruptcy “crisis” and supposed comeback, what we see from Detroit is a warning about the cost of transferring governing power to […]
Written by Tina Law Growing up, my dad often introduced himself as being “Hong Kong people.” The first thing he wanted you to know was his name; the second thing was that he was from Hong Kong. Being from Hong Kong was an enormous source of pride for him, and he frequently spoke about the […]
Written by People’s Platform Water shutoffs in Detroit have been garnering media attention (this oped and this article). The People’s Platform, which Building Movement Project has been helping to coordinate this past year, put out the letter below to call for an end to water shutoffs. Vernice Anthony, DirectorDetroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion Dear Ms. Anthony, […]
Written by Caroline McAndrews Tomorrow, the Detroit City Council will be voting on whether or not to allow the expansion of the Detroit Development Authority (DDA), a move that would grant over $300 million dollars in public funding to developers to build a new hockey arena in the city. We’ve been focusing on the stripping […]
Written by Linda Campbell On July 18 of 2013, Kevin Orr, the appointed Emergency Manager for Detroit, announced that he was filing for bankruptcy on behalf of the city. Subsequent media coverage has focused on whether that means the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts will have to sell its most famous works, or whether more […]