What To Know And Where To Go In Southeast Michigan
Welcome back from the holiday weekend, comrades. Today's show is Episode 300 of your Daily Detroit, and for that we thank you, our listeners. We also dive into two pieces of Ilitch-related news: First, that Olympia Development has missed a deadline to submit a development proposal for a parcel on Woodward between the Little Caesars Arena and I-75. After already receiving a …
The District Detroit has gotten a lot of critical media coverage. It's pretty clear that the renderings portrayed when the project launched haven't matched the reality. Instead of city-like streets full of life and teaming with offices, retail and residential — it's a sea of surface parking lots. Although the Ilitch organization has been getting a lot of the arrows (see …
The HBO show "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" last week turned its lens on the District Detroit, the Ilitch family's mostly unrealized plan to redevelop 50 blocks as a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood between downtown and Midtown. Predictably, it did not go well for the Ilitches, who received $324 million in taxpayer assistance in exchange for what so far is the Little Caesars …
The District Detroit was supposed to be a 50-block development that was going to change the landscape of downtown Detroit near Little Caesars Arena. Well, it has changed. It's now a sea of $40 parking lots and beautiful architectural husks as development timelines get blown again and again. Although there were a lot of promises made early on — and hundreds of millions in …
On today's show, we have some fun discussing the return of the WLLZ call letters to Detroit's FM airwaves, and by listener request we talk about the elephant in the room, the so-called District Detroit, in the wake of the big story that ran over the weekend in Crain's. First up is a new Patronicity campaign to help restore Hamtramck Stadium, which hosted Detroit's various …
Here's your Daily Detroit News Byte for Monday, April 30th, 2018. We dig in to a bit of Detroit's refurbished point of origin with Secret Detroit author Karen Dybis... Detroit exits state financial oversight... Free chicken, fish & fries from Captain Jay's at an upcoming thifty opening of a Salvation Army ARC thrift store that's moving to a new location... Six …
Word came over the press wires that Olympia Development has begun construction of a new $30 million building on Temple Street in the District Detroit (or as we've always called it around the office, Ilitch Village). If you're not familiar, that's the 50 or so block area around the new Little Caesars Arena that's seeing a ton of new investment and development, including the …
One of the biggest issues plaguing both Joe Louis Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills was the lack of quality options for eating and boozing before and after games. The Palace had well-documented struggles with this issue and the old Joe Louis Arena, while located in downtown Detroit, was nestled in a veritable concrete fortress of freeway ramps and parking …
Detroit has some pretty impressive pieces of public art, like The Spirit of Detroit, Monument to Joe Louis, and the Alger Fountain just to name a few. By this summer there will be even more pieces around The District Detroit. This week it was announced that Olympia Development of Michigan and Ilitch Charities have donated $800,000 to the College for Creative Studies …
Students started the first day of classes in the Detroit Public Schools Community District with water coolers and bottled water in lieu of drinking fountains. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti ordered drinking water shut off across the district last week after testing found elevated levels of lead or copper in 16 of 24 school buildings and after 18 were given bottled water after …
On today’s show, we dive into yesterday’s late-breaking news about Detroit City Council’s vote to establish the new Cass-Henry Historic District in the shadow of Little Caesars Arena. The district includes two buildings owned by the Ilitch family that they’ve proposed to demolish as part of the District Detroit project. We speak with Eric Kehoe, president of the board of …
The Detroit school board Tuesday adopted a new, $7.1 million curriculum that Superintendent Nikolai Vitti says is a key part of his plan to bring Detroit schools up from the bottom of national rankings. Earlier Tuesday morning Detroit was ranked last — for the fifth time — among urban school districts on a national test known as the Nation’s Report Card. Vitti’s former …
Teachers and staff in Detroit’s main school district could soon have to tell their supervisors if they are supplementing their salaries with a side job. The school board’s policy committee last week approved a new policy that says the district “expects employees to disclose outside employment” and bars employees from working a second job while on any kind of leave. The …
The creation of a new school district last year gave Detroit schools a break from years of crippling debt, allowing the new district to report a healthy budget surplus going into its second year. It’s the first time since 2007 that the city’s main school district has ended the year with a surplus. But a report released this morning — just days after Superintendent Nikolai …
The era of democratically elected school boards running Detroit’s schools officially returned Wednesday night with the swearing in of the seven new board members chosen by voters in November. “I do solemnly swear,” the board members said as they raised their right hands for the oath. “That I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this …
Eight months after hundreds of Detroit teachers made national headlines by calling in sick to draw attention to deplorable conditions like rodents and buckling floors in public schools, city officials today announced that they’ve spent $2.5 million to get most city schools into tip-top shape ahead of the start of classes next week. At a press conference at the elite Bates …
Many of us carry our own little library with us. It’s called a Nook or a Kindle or one of the other e-readers. Mine’s a Nook. When I open it up sayings appear. One of them is a quote from Cicero, “A room without a book is like a body without a soul.” Reading books brings whole new worlds to life and sets the stage for future success. Unfortunately, the reading statistics for …
Education is important, but it's very clear that not all students are educated equally. The New York Times published an article based on a study that looked at the correlation between money race, and student success. The results were fascinating and disheartening. But what does that mean locally? Using the Stanford Center For Education Policy Analysis study data, we applied …
For the first time in a half century, the City of Detroit is doing a citywide reassessment of all residential, commercial and industrial properties, and that could mean big changes for your tax bill if you live in nine of the ten districts. According to officials, 95% of the city’s 220,000 residential properties will see a reduction of 5%-15% percent of their property’s …
10Best, a project of USA Today, has highlighted one of the most talked about places in Detroit putting it in the running for "Best Art District" in the country. People from around the world come to the Heidelberg Project on the east side to check out the art and creativity by Tyree Guyton, a long-time Detroit resident and artist who has made a visual impact around the world. …
On today's podcast: Last week on this show we told you how a capitol reporter in Lansing alleged that state Senator Peter Lucido of Shelby Township made a sexist remark to her while she tried to interview him. Now, a fellow state senator of Lucido’s says she’s filing a workplace sexual harassment complaint against him. State Senator Mallory McMorrow tells Crain’s the …
Happy snowmageddon, Detroit! Hope you're all staying nice and warm. On today's episode, we dig out of the early and record-breaking November snowstorm and dig into a few of the things that aren't working around town. Specifically, we talk about: That WXYZ investigation into a Detroit landlord whom the city has forgiven more than $1 million in unpaid taxes, fees and other …
Lead in our drinking water has been in the news, with quite a few suburban communities learning they have levels of lead that require action under new guidelines that are stricter than those the Environmental Protection Agency sets. To help explain what’s actually happening our guest on the show is Elin Betanzo. Elin Betanzo, PE In August of 2015, Elin played a …
So you have a mere 30 minutes or an hour to grab lunch from your office job. Or you just want something inexpensive and easy. Or, are you trying to impress a client? We're putting together an on-the-ground, from experience guide to where to eat. RenCen/Riverfront Financial District Campus Martius Park Grand Circus Park Greektown Corktown Midtown …
The Motor City is a nickname for our town that is known the world over. After all, we put the world on wheels. But what if the same industry that gave us economic strength also, in a way, took away the vitality of the city? Detroiters for Parking Reform says there is too much surface parking around greater Downtown Detroit. And our guest today is Francis Grunow. …
Our public school system in Detroit has a lot of needs. Not just for the district itself, but as a lot of families don’t have money, a lot of programs that kids in the suburbs just do? Well, they don’t in Detroit. Like travel and fees to robotics competitions, for instance. Often in the suburbs, parents pick that up. In Detroit, often, the families don't have the …
On today's Daily Detroit podcast: Brian "Q" Quinn from the TruTV show Impractical Jokers will join us on the line. He’s one of four that make up the comedy troupe The Tenderloins. They’re coming to DTE Energy Music Theatre on August 9th. [Tickets here] A schedule change puts the Rocket Mortgage Classic and Grand Prix on the same weekend. A new incentive district is …
There's been a ton of scrutiny, including from this podcast, about the Ilitch family's failure to follow through on its promises to develop the District Detroit. Now, The Detroit News reports that the Ilitches also own 44 vacant lots and eight empty buildings surrounding the MotorCity Casino Hotel complex, where the family now hopes to build a seven-story parking …
Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device: What does it take to make a startup work in Detroit? Our conversation today is with Andrew Landau. His Detroit-based e-commerce company, Jewel, was recently purchased by banking giant Capital One. They’re going to stay, grow and hire in Detroit, even after the acquisition. We also talk about why he’s …
Happy Monday, and welcome to a new week of your Daily Detroit. Today, Jer talks about an eventful past week spent at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island, filling us in on some of the things he came away with beyond just the headlines about no-fault auto insurance reform. Specifically, it's becoming clear that Detroit's comeback needs a lot more juice (read: …
On today’s podcast: Last week on this show we told you how a capitol reporter in Lansing alleged that state Senator Peter Lucido of Shelby Township made a sexist remark to her while she tried to interview him. Now, a fellow state senator of Lucido’s says she’s filing a workplace sexual harassment complaint against him. …
