In what may be the most polarizing city in the country, Detroit has many things worth talking about ā good and bad. When the name Detroit is mentioned, everyone seems to have an opinion. Especially outside of this region.
As a transplant from California, I’m reporting what I see and here in my adopted home, for everyones benefit. Forget what you heard, see for yourself!
Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) from this week :
The Good:
- Bedrock to invest $2.1B; create 24K jobs in Detroit
- Detroit Neighborhoods get a boost with $27 million worth of investments
- Hitsville USA gets 7 figure gift
- Detroit brings out the calvary for Amazon bid
- Motor City Match is changing the course of business
The Bad:
- Ā Detroit towing company stole countless cars in a scheme for money
The Ugly:
- Bounce house company refuses to do business with anyone living within the city limits of Detroit
- Airport worker replaced hand soap with “male body fluid”
Good News:
Billion Dollar Effort
In case one needs more proof that Detroit is marching forward toward it’s quest to once again be known as a world class city, I present to you: Dan Gilbert.
The CEO of Bedrock is investing $2.1 Billion (yes with a B) intoĀ development and redevelopment projects:
One such development will be the tallest building in Detroit when it’s done. That building will sit on the old Hudson mall site, and will be of mix use (retail as well as living space), and provide 24,000 jobs. Gilbert’s Bedrock, as it stands now is the largest employer in Detroit now, ahead of DMC, as well as the actual city of Detroit.
What About the Neighborhoods?
Some say it’s slow motion, others feel like it’s not happening at all, but the neighborhoods Ā in Detroit are getting a much needed touch up. Albeit not as quickly ā Ā nor given the over the top storylines like downtown and midtown get, but it’s happening.
News came out earlier in the year, that the Fitzgerald neighborhood on the west side was set for revitalization. Now multiple neighborhoods are getting much needed help. Neighborhoods like Brightmoor on the west side, and Osborn on the east side.
Then there’s this:
video via wxyz channel 7 news Detroit
And the Hits keep coming
The Motown Museum A.K.A. Hitsville U.S.A. received a $1 million gift Wednesday. The sizable donations comes from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation.
It will help to expand the iconic house on West Grand Boulevard into 50,000-square-feet.
Last year it was announced that there would be a $50 million expansion of the popular tourist attraction, and now they have a little more icing to add to their cake.
And the winner is… Detroit?
A Dan Gilbert led team, is trying to woo online retail giant Amazon to Detroit. To boost up his efforts, Gilbert and company are inlisting the help of our neighbors to the south.
Yes the south.
Windsor, Ontario, Canada is now all in. Can Amazon resist such proximity to international waters?
On the flip side, one thing working against Detroit from being a shoe-in, is something Amazon requires, and the city and surrounding suburbs are historically at odds over: Transit.
However, in my humble opinion (whatever it’s worth) Amazon would do wonders for this city, as well as make the comeback story, complete.
The Bad
A Detroit towing company as well as a police officer are in hot water for an elaborate, yet, despicable act of financial terrorism. In a nutshell,Ā some Detroit police officers who reportedly accepted bribes to funnel work to specific towing companies.
And if that weren’t bad enough, the city also alleges an unnamed Highland Park police officer did not fill out forms to alert people their stolen vehicles had been recovered.
Over time, the owners were then forced to pay extremely high storage fees when they finally tracked down their vehicles.
Dirty Bird
DTW is investigating to find out which one of it’s employees replaced the hand soap with something, this person should be publicly shamed for:
Strictly Business?
A bounce house business based in Canton, is receiving plenty of backlash this week after it’s, shall we call it “work rules” went viral.
The policy for Awesome Bounce is, not to rent out equipment to anyone who lives within the city limits of Detroit.
“The problem wasn’t this room, the problem was this room was in Detroit,” said Deon Mullen, of Franklin-Wright Settlements, a non profit that has been around for over 134 years. Who’sĀ programs include: Youth Enrichment, Recreation, Senior Outreach Services, Early Start Child Care among so much more.
Awesome Bounce claims it’s drivers have been robbed in the past, and their equipment have been damaged in the city.
“What mattered was we were located in the city of Detroit, and that’s all that mattered to that company,” Mullen said. “After that, they didn’t want to hear anything else that I had to say.”
But when one door closes, another opens ā or in this case, two. Two bounce house businesses offered their services free of charge to help the kids have a great time.
Thank you for reading, I’ll be back next week with more Detroit news. Regular coverage of Detroit sports resumes this weekendāšæ
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