After a lobbying effort, Dan Gilbert, billionaire founder of Quicken Loans, won special tax status for wealthy areas of downtown Detroit where he owns billions worth of property.
Urban Affairs
In-depth reporting on Michigan’s largest city and surrounding communities, including deep dives into the big changes afoot in Detroit, its schools, neighborhoods, institutions and city hall.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Can Detroit businesses survive city’s push for walkable neighborhoods?
Mayor Mike Duggan wants to make seven neighborhoods more walkable. But the first project, along the Avenue of Fashion, is months behind schedule and businesses are closing.
Posted inUrban Affairs
In a changing Detroit, footpaths are vanishing across vast, empty lands
The University of Michigan has mapped 5,200 footpaths through Detroit. The author of the study says it’s a valuable planning tool. But one critic calls it ‘poverty porn.’
Posted inUrban Affairs
Wayne County’s tired jail deputies work double shifts at low pay. Wanna apply?
Michigan’s largest county is perpetually short of officers to guard jail inmates that critics contend shouldn’t be incarcerated in the first place. ‘It’s a screwed up system,’ a sheriff’s official admits.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Detroit Police opt for safety over privacy, as facial recognition approved
After months of controversy, a police oversight board approves the use of facial recognition technology in Detroit, as some other cities nationwide prohibit it over accuracy and privacy concerns.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Ossian Sweet defied segregation. Now his Detroit home will be a museum.
The black doctor stood up to a white mob upset that he moved into their neighborhood, igniting one of the most important – and incendiary – housing discrimination cases in history. A fundraising effort is underway to make his former home a museum.
Posted inUrban Affairs
E-scooters are fast, unregulated and all over Detroit. What could go wrong?
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan invited scooter companies to set up shop last year. Now, the city and others in Michigan are grappling with the consequences.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan claimed scooter injuries are ‘BS.’ They’re not.
New research says e-scooters, whose riders frequently don’t wear helmets, are causing a head injury ‘epidemic’ nationwide. One Detroit emergency room alone treats 10-20 injured riders per month.
Posted inUrban Affairs
After a year, safe drinking water is flowing again at Detroit schools
Detroit’s public district returns a back-to-school essential most take for granted: running water. Last year, schools shut the tap after the discovery of lead and copper.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Detroit shut off water to 11,800 homes this year. Most are still off.
Records show 62 percent of Detroit residential shutoffs were without service as of Aug. 1. The vast majority had gone a week or more, contradicting claims that the city restores nearly all water within 48 hours.