I bike Detroit

A few weeks ago I went on the Colin Hubbell Memorial bike ride through the city of Detroit. It was a beautiful day (those clouds cleared up) and a whole bunch of people gathered at Belle Isle to ride. We rode along the riverside, which is beautifully redone and expanding. We rode the Dequindre Cut, which is an outstanding paved bike trail and has the potential to be even greater. Then we rode north and south, through Midtown by Wayne State, to the New Center and then back south and along the river and back to Belle Isle. For a ride through a city, it was really peaceful.

The New York Times had an op-ed about Detroit becoming the next big biking city. I chuckled at first, but after remembering my ride and paying more attention to all my pedaling people during the work week, I think I buy it. I'm trying to figure out if I'm just being a sappy optimist, grasping at anything that can ease the regular burden of bad news around these parts. The other option is finding a way to combine two things very near and dear to me: Detroit and biking.

These paragraphs in the op-ed particularly caught my eye and roused my imagination:

"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."

Is this really something to believe in and explore? Could it be true that Detroit could transform its mode of transportation with the bike like it transformed the world with the car?

And could this new mode of movement in Detroit help with maybe moving Michigan a little lower on the fatty list (we're #9). It could motivate people to be more active and have a better chance at preventing heart disease and diabetes. Fewer cars would equal less pollution. There's a lot of potential here to make huge moves as a community. Grassroots, son. Grassroots.

Read the NYT's op-ed: Bike Among the Ruins

Thoughts?

Some links for your Detroit biking pleasure:

• The Hub of Detroit is a non-profit, full-service retail bike shop. Funds raised by The Hub support their free youth and adult education program, Back Alley Bikes.
• Learn more about Detroit's Trails
• Wheelhouse Detroit is a cool, booming Detroit business. They want to help the "whole world to experience the Motor City on two wheels."
• Brochure: What Every Michigan Biker Must Know (PDF)
• Read more about the Dequindre Cut and the Detroit RiverWalk connecting at Model D, one of my favorite Detroit-based news sites. Add a little Belle Isle to this new greenway connection and good times will be had by all.
  

Flint, MI: No, Rush, we're not going to tear down, jerk

The other day I heard an interesting New York Times Today's Business podcast about Flint, MI. The podcast was from April 21, but I couldn't locate it outside of iTunes, so I looked up this article. Basically, they are trying to save Flint by shrinking it. The idea is to consolidate it's residents by gently persuading them to move. I don't know how "gentle" it really is, since they're basically going to cut off city services to certain blocks. So if you would like a nice sidewalk, you would have to move to the areas of town that are being tended to. The article briefly mentions it and the podcast goes into the talk of turning the decrepit neighborhoods into forests. My first thought was: this might be a model for Detroit. I mean, Wayne County has like 7000 acres of land banks - throw in a little forest!

Also, I'd like to take this moment to tell Rush Limbaugh to fly a kite. What an unfortunate human being.

Urban farming in Michigan

One of the things I'm most looking forward to when I get a house will be tending to my own garden. As in previous recessions and depressions, urban gardening has become quite popular. There's been a lot of talk here in Michigan about using Detroit's vast wastelands as urban agriculture spaces. People are starting their own gardens. My favorite one is the Georgia Street Gardens, which have been featured on the cool Detroit blog Sweet Juniper, Time and the Detroit News. It's a great story and when I get a minute, I want to go visit and see how they're doing. But there are also other gardening opportunities sprouting elsewhere, too. Check out these resources that can help you get involved or get started:

Earthworks Urban Farm
1264 Meldrum, Detroit, has many volunteer opportunities. Call (313) 579-2100, Ext. 204, or contact them via e-mail at earthworks@cskdetroit.org.

Detroit Garden Resource Program
They provide classes, and individuals can become members to receive plants, seeds and compost. For more information, call The Greening of Detroit at (313) 237-8736 or visit www.detroitagriculture.org.

The Greening of Detroit
While focusing on planting trees and creating green space in Detroit, the group also needs volunteers and provides other resources to gardeners. For more information, call (313) 237-8736 or e-mail the group at info@greeningofdetroit.com.

Michigan State University Extension
MSU can help with everything from analyzing your soil to hosting classes on how to preserve produce. They can be reached at (517) 355-2308 or at (888) 678-3464.

How to start a city garden:

• Find a parcel of land. If privately owned, find the owner and get permission. If city- or county-owned, contact Detroit or Wayne County about purchasing the land. Although some people start gardens without permission, the strongest community gardens are those established through legal means.
  
• Get a water source. Ask a neighbor; have the city install a water source and meter -- a cost is involved; haul water yourself; or set up a rain barrel.
  
• Get good soil. The MSU extension can help with soil testing. Or because of contamination fears, bring in new dirt and create a raised bed for planting.
  
• Start planting. Seeds are cheap and readily available. Plants, though more expensive, can also be purchased at local farmers' markets.
  

Source: Detroit Agriculture Network

Detroit, Mitch Albom and the real deal

Last night my BlackBerry chimed and I took a peek before bed. My dear friend, Marisa, sent me an article from Sports Illustrated. The article was called "The Courage of Detroit" and was written by Mitch Albom, a renowned Detroit Free Press columnist of more than two decades. It intrigued me and I promised myself I'd read it the next day, today. It struck close to home, as it should for absolutely any Detroiter. I got a bit emotional.

Albom chronicles the sports ups and downs in Detroit. This is the greatest sports town in the United States. Yet, he doesn't keep it under that umbrella. He dives into the contradictions of the country that's forgotten its manufacturing base, its middle class and its Michigan citizens who struggle along. He wonders how California can complain that we make cars that ruin the environment when THEY ALL DRIVE THEM CONSTANTLY. Get your head out of the smog cloud, California. Or how Southern politicians, all a bunch of jokers if you ask me, can outsource jobs, bust unions, lower wages and give tax breaks to foreign automakers and then scold the U.S. auto executives for bad practices. I'm not saying the auto executives and their managerial goonies are free of blame, but come on. (I considered adding a few choice words about the South here, but I'll save it. I try to keep the blog family-friendly.)

Albom writes about the homeless, the foreclosed homes, the quiet downtown, the looming casinos and the rampant unemployment. He calls the people of this city and state the most downtrodden optimists. We don't talk about if Detroit will return to its former glory. We talk about when it does. It's so true. We know it's bad, we get it, but it's not going to stay that way.

A question Detroiters often hear is "Why don't you leave?" Shortsighted people have asked me this because they feel I would benefit elsewhere. I suppose my answer is that I'm not afraid, I believe in the city and, frankly, it's nurtured my family, education and career since 1985. Whether I like it or not, no other city gives me this many shots at success. No other city has as many of my relatives and dearest friends, either.

Albom gets the "Why don't you leave?" question, too. He obviously loves this city and though he doesn't say it explicitly in the article, you know that's what he means. This article reminded me why Albom was one of my fundamental inspirations to start writing when I was a kid: I loved hearing his voice on the page. I enjoyed his thoughts and appreciated his concise writing. Reading this article dusted off some nostalgia.

I've heard people bagging on Albom in the past. He got in a little bit of writing hot water a few years back. I never met him, but I think I wrongly let those negative sentiments influence me. This article has set me straight. It really brought me full circle and it helped understand my feelings about Albom, Detroit and Michigan.

In the article, Albom captures what I think is the essence of how Detroiters feel and he's published it in a popular national magazine. I hope people get the message. I hope that this helps them understand where we're coming from and how we're dealing with where we're going. I love Albom's last line:

"To hell with Depression. We're gonna have a good year."

A few tears popped out of my eyes while I read the article, but not because I was sad. I was moved. Sometimes I find a get choked up while listening to podcasts that share incredible stories (a usual suspect: This American Life.) You can imagine how silly I look when I get choked up while on a bike ride or running.

These weren't tears of sadness, but rather tears of relief. What Albom wrote was exactly what I was thinking. Honestly, I also feel it's exactly what a lot of Detroiters are thinking. That gave me a sense of unity. We're all in this together. It gave me hope, the same kind of hope that sprouted some tears when I watched Barack Obama's presidential victory. It's not about sadness, quite the opposite in circumstances like these.

Thanks, Mitch. Thanks for setting me and everyone else straight. You are the real deal.

Homeless in the Library

I must admit, I enjoy my current place of work that involves NO homeless people, but it's good to see that libraries are keeping their doors open. Perhaps homeless people aren't the easiest or most pleasant to deal with, but they are people that need our services just as much as everyone else. Check it:

Libraries offer more services to homeless
By Carol Motsinger, USA TODAY

Public libraries, long a daytime sanctuary for homeless people, increasingly are offering services targeted to them. "The broader mission of the library is a very welcoming one," says Jane Salisbury, supervisor of library outreach services at Multnomah County Library in Portland, Ore. Libraries are shelters from cold and heat, she says, but homeless people also go there because "people are there to serve them." Services vary:

• In Washington, D.C., the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library has begun seminars about library resources and health care services for the homeless. The library plans to offer music appreciation and arts classes to homeless patrons.
• Jacksonville Public Library teaches Internet use to homeless job-seekers.
• The Free Library of Philadelphia pays homeless people to work as bathroom attendants at the central library.
• The San Francisco Public Library has two part-time staffers who refer the homeless to housing and mental health agencies.
• The Los Angeles Public Library has a five-day summer camp for homeless children. In July, a magician, mime, musician and storyteller will perform and teach.
• Volunteers take children from homeless shelters to New York Public Library branches for monthly story time sessions.

Daniel Kibler, reference librarian at the Jacksonville Public Library, who teaches the computer course, says his part-time role as a social worker is more challenging and emotional than his usual duties.

Four years ago, Kibler helped a homeless man in his 50s complete an online application for a job at a grocery store. The man didn't know how to use a computer mouse, Kibler says. He left the reference desk to help him four or five times.

"We try to do the best we can with the time we have," he says.

"When someone is honestly trying to improve themselves and you don't have time, you feel particularly helpless."

Nancy Huntley, director of the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Ill., says services for the homeless are outside the scope of a librarian's job. "Our role is just to provide books and information," she says.

Accommodating homeless patrons without alienating others can be a challenge, librarians say. Richard Parker of the Tulsa City-County Library, says visitors have complained about people panhandling, staring or saying inappropriate things to children.

Sanford Berman, founder of the American Library Association's Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty Task Force, says others complain about patrons' grooming. Libraries such as the Dallas Public Library have hygiene rules. Berman says they must be administered evenly.

"That kind of rule should be equally applied to a suburban matron doused in perfume," he says.