Jer Staes

Jan 30, 2025

As you can see in the video below, a major overhaul of the triangle-shaped park has gotten started in earnest, with work to be completed in the summer. Businesses will remain open.

This one has been a long time coming. Big parts of a plan from 2017 will be put into place. Historically, the park had more green space and was more welcoming than the current design.

What's coming? The Downtown Detroit Partnership says:

• Softening the park by adding new gardens
• Permeable surfacing (it allows water to go through instead of pool or have to be handled by sewer systems)
• Expansion of the dog park and lawn
• A new canopy of trees

If you're looking for some Capitol Park history, may I suggest this link on the monument to Michigan's first governor.

Jer Staes

Jan 29, 2025

At an announcement tonight at the Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan on Collingwood, the Detroit city council member said he wants to "take Detroit to the next level."

He's a former state legislator and has been in council since 2021.

Durhal III is the third candidate along with current council president Mary Sheffield and former council president Saunteel Jenkins to declare.

Last month as a exploratory candidate, Durhal III stopped by our Daily Detroit studio for an in-depth discussion on his policy ideas on our podcast.

The video is embedded above and you can find it here.

I plan to have in-depth conversations with every candidate for mayor that I can, and there's another one set to publish later this week.

Jer Staes

Jan 29, 2025

The second Barkside location on 11 Mile near Greenfield will have 6,000 indoor square feet of play area and 7,000 of outdoor yard, reports the Detroit News.

Started in Detroit's West Village neighborhood, this place makes the term "Saloonimal" quite literal.

My 2 Cents: Metro Detroit just doesn't really have many large indoor spaces for dogs right now. I have a few friends that go to Barkside and really like it, I'll have to go soon.

Jer Staes

Jan 29, 2025

The merger brings together AAM's expertise in driveline systems with the global metal forming capabilities of Dowlais, creating a more diversified automotive supplier with a bigger geographic footprint. They expect cost savings through operational efficiencies and scale. [AAM Newsroom]

Driving the news: Electric vehicles require far fewer parts than combustion ones, and suppliers are adapting. Whatever happens in the U.S. with EVs, the auto industry is global and players are dealing with different sets of regulations and increased Chinese competition.

Jer Staes

Jan 28, 2025

On February 9, it's curtains for one of the long-time spots of downtown Ferndale.

From a statement by Brian Kramer, the CEO of parent company Hometown Restaurant Group who owns the joint:

The restaurant business is very difficult right now. In my 30-plus years in the restaurant business, I’ve never experienced a tougher economy than what we are experiencing today. Add to this the high food costs, high labor costs, intense competition, the need for constant quality control, tight profit margins and endless hours of work — we just agreed the time was right to close the restaurant, take a step back, focus on our other restaurant operations and give someone else a chance to re-concept the location.

The space at 241 W. Nine Mile Road is going to become a Sidecar Slider Bar. That's a local outfit that started in Birmingham and is expanding, with locations in Farmington, Brighton, Lansing, Plymouth, Grosse Pointe, and Sterling Heights.

My two cents: I had some good memories at Public House and went to a holiday party there just a few weeks ago. But listeners of our podcast tell me service at times was mixed.