Constructing Our City
This week I drove up Livernois Avenue to one of my favorite breakfast spots, Noni’s Sherwood Grille. I have been avoiding Noni’s since the spring. In early June I turned the corner off Outer Drive to see the flowering trees that had managed to survive in the middle of the boulevard ripped up by their roots. Their blossoms were still fresh, seemingly unaware that their trees were now dying, no longer able to stand. It was sad sight, signaling another development scheme ripping up neighborhoods.
I have lived near Livernois long enough to have seen a series of revitalization schemes in the Six and Seven Mile area. The first I remember was under Coleman Young, where he provided blue awnings for store fronts. These were replaced by “artistic” metal columns that seemed to get in everyone’s way. But in the mid 2000’s the “Avenue of Fashion” was severely disrupted by a development boondoggle. A clumsy effort to turn the Avenue into a Boulevard blocked traffic, forced businesses to close. and some to fail. For months dirt was dumped into the middle of the street, grass, trees and flowers faced toxic fumes and traffic never did quite get its groove back with the introduction of Michigan left turns onto streets.
But over the years, the boulevards bloomed. The space in the middle of the street hosted art fairs and pop ups. People adapted to the left turns and meter parking. This short mile holds 130 businesses owned by African Americans. It is the highest concentration of African American businesses in the city. Popular restaurants, clothing, appliance stores, tech shops, bakeries, barber shops, and coffee houses grace the street.
Now many of those businesses are struggling to survive in this new redevelopment effort. All business owners are facing losses. The 18 new businesses that were scheduled to open have not.
This project was pushed by the Mayor as part of his image of walkable neighborhoods. It evolved with limited engagement with the community, and reflected much of the vision of Maurice Cox. He was imported by Duggan to head up development projects and has recently left us to take similar ideas to Chicago. But Cox’s vision never reflected the reality that fragile businesses face as streets are destroyed and remade to fit the latest trend.
Moreover, there has been almost no thought given to how to actually develop a community in ways that strengthen it. My breakfast companion was late because he had gotten involved in counting the workers on the boulevard. There were 27 people, three of them African American, probably none of them from the surrounding community. Construction becomes yet one more weapon in the arsenal of changing the face of our city.
The Mayor has belatedly recognized that business are in trouble and through the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation is providing small loans. These loans are likely to be even more risky for businesses as they have a clause saying that if the borrower misses one payment, they will owe the whole balance or lose their business. This doesn’t sound like a good idea if you want to protect existing businesses. Only 6 loans have been made through the program.
Quick fixes and technical gimmicks are the hallmark of this Mayor. He has persisted in refusing to prioritize the development of our people, the protection of our most vulnerable, and the expansion of imaginative, emergent possibilities. Creating real work, that enables people to develop themselves as they develop community, that creates new paths to sustainable life should be a priority. Examples of new, cooperative ways of living abound in our city. Their roots run deep.