Although it might of seemed quiet with the cold, there have been some pretty important happenings this week. These are 5 things you should know are happening, that are coming up on the horizon, or just interesting news about Detroit.
Canada Picks Up The Rest Of The Tab On Building New Bridge Across Detroit River (CBC)
With this, it’s almost assured construction will start shortly. $630 Million was dedicated by the Canadian government in their budget to secure property and get started.
Canada has agreed to pay the entire cost to build a U.S. Customs plaza adjacent to the planned Detroit-Windsor bridge, Transport Minister Lisa Raitt announced in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The federal government was already planning to pay for 95 per cent of the bridge, which will cost $2.1-billion and is expected to open in 2020.
The estimated price tag of the plaza is $250 million, but Raitt said Canada will recoup the cost through bridge tolls. The U.S. will pay for workers, operations and maintenance of the plaza in Detroit. (More)
If The Proposal For Fixing Michigan’s Roads Fails, “There Is No Plan B.” (Detroit News)
The legislature kicked this one down the road to force a ballot initiative in the upcoming weeks. This piece lays out that it may not be perfect – but Michiganders have been backed up against a wall. We’d add that it’s by a legislature that seems to consistently put politics before practicality.
The message that Michigan’s highways are disintegrating didn’t resonate with focus groups, but calling them dangerous did — as long as it was coupled with a guarantee that all road taxes will go to fix the roads.
The promise is aimed at countering long-standing resentment that the sales tax on fuel is siphoned off to pay for education and other services. Proposal 1 on the May 5 ballot will replace the sales tax on fuel, and dedicate by law to road work all of the current fuel taxes plus $1.2 billion of the new revenue raised by the one-penny sales tax hike. (More)
Q&A with Detroit artist Alyssa Klash: Art and Business can peacefully co-exist (DetroitUnspun)
Contrary to popular belief, making art isn’t just about being hit with a single bolt of inspiration that propels your work to genius level. It is more about working, working, working. It is about making stuff even when you don’t feel like making stuff. And then making some more.
That is why Detroit artist Alyssa Klash is the kind of artist the city needs and embraces right now. Klash has paid her dues – and her tuition. She has worked the long hours for little pay and little recognition. She has made stuff even when she’d rather be in bed or drinking wine along the Seine. She’s a businesswoman and a creative. (More)
Region’s Transit System Can’t Get Many To Job Centers (Freep)
We’re glad folks are beating the drum on this, and we couldn’t add more to what they said so we’re going to link to the best.
Where most poor people live, along vast stretches of the east and west sides of Detroit’s core, there are fewer jobs per capita than in almost any other major city in the nation.
And where the jobs are — in far-flung suburbs — our woeful public transit system either doesn’t provide service, doesn’t go the distance, or isn’t reliable enough to get people consistently from where they live to where they work.
More than 10,000 Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park residents travel daily to low-paying jobs in suburban communities that opted out of public transit, the Data Driven Detroit analysis found. So the workers drive. Or patch together multiple-mode commutes. Or they hoof it. (More)
So What Exactly Does Dan Gilbert Own? (MLive)
Neat map by MLive on what Gilbert actually owns downtown. We broke the story that he’s doing fiber internet in the Central Business District, and so with so many buildings he owns in the vicinity, it only makes financial sense for his investments (as well as helps those looking for fiber). Check it out here.
See you next week!