On Georgia St.

Drive down a random street in a Detroit neighborhood, and you might see just as many abandoned houses and vacant lots than lived in homes. With that said though, many Detroiters are finding hope and potential in what others might see as despair. And in a neighborhood on the eastside of Detroit, Mark Covington is trying to figure out a way to bring his neighbors together, despite all the factors working against him.

I produced this story as part of WDET's Facing the Mortgage Crisis series.




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To learn more about Mark Covington and the Georgia Street Community Collective's efforts, check out their website or their blog.

http://www.georgiastreetcc.com/

or

http://georgiastreetgarden.blogspot.com/

Single Barrel Detroit

Single Barrel Detroit is basically a Detroit-version of la blogotheque, in which musicians perform their songs live for a handheld camera, and in-front of something beautiful. For example, you can see the great Rodriguez performing solo in-front of the Diego Rivera mural at the DIA, or Daniel Zott walking around Woodbridge, or Charlene Kaye in the empty Lee Plaza Hotel. Metro Times Arts and Culture editor (and fellow former Groves alum), wrote about the project last month.

"Fame, Death, Fear, and Money"

An insightful and fascinating look at Andy Kaufman's genius and influence airs this week on Studio 360. Erik Molinsky put the piece together. My favorite part unfolds 1-minute and 52-seconds in.

Bike Among the Ruins

Despite the press, survival here isn’t so hard. Businesses like the Wheelhouse and the Hub have already shown how well Detroit can work as a new business hothouse. With the legendarily affordable real estate and without needing to pay for car payments, gas or insurance, bicyclists could rebuild Detroit into a model of a two-wheeled economy. They could pass laws promoting bikes over cars and designate entire avenues motor-free zones, which, given the state of many of them now, wouldn’t be so much of a stretch.

Maybe it sounds far-fetched, but then again maybe it’s just destiny. Look at a map and you’ll see that Detroit is designed in the shape of a wheel, with streets emanating like spokes from the downtown hub. It looks like a premonition, a city uniquely designed to alter transportation forever.

The Entire Op-Ed by Detroit's Toby Barlow