Gov. Snyder's proposed state budget ruthlessly eliminates state tax incentives for a number of industries and projects in favor of lower overall business taxes. While the incentives for filmmaking have gotten the most attention, the elimination of state tax incentives for the redevelopment of brownfield sites and historic preservation may be the most crucial issue for Detroit.
The brownfield credits apply to "brownfield sites," which the Michigan Economic Development Corp. loosely defines as "properties that are either contaminated, blighted or functionally obsolete." These incentives, along with others for the preservation of historic properties, have been responsible for many high-profile redevelopment projects, including the Book-Cadillac and Fort Shelby. As I wrote earlier in a post about redevelopment around Grand Circus Park, the redevelopment of the Broderick Tower was literally made possible by state tax credits.
I understand the need for a balanced budget, but it seems that many of Snyder's proposals would set Detroit and Michigan backwards, leaving us to rely entirely on the hope that his "good climate for business" idea is going to pan out. Nancy Kaffer and Daniel Duggan of Crain's Detroit write that the elimination of these tax credits "could slow or stop the flow of redevelopment projects in Detroit," and the article quotes the vice president of board administration of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., who says that "it's hard to think of a big project that hasn't used the credits."
With all the progress that's been made recently on these projects, the idea of cutting off the state tax incentives seems very misguided.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Silent Impact of Robocop
The Robocop statue has been a pretty divisive topic. I'm not really sure how I feel about the symbolism of Robocop, or that so many people outside Detroit donated money, or that a group of people who have been in Corktown for only a few years are building a seven foot statue in their backyard.
Either way, while you might think it’s stupid, the Robocop statue fundraiser has accomplished what you had probably not even thought of attempting: raised thousands and thousands of dollars for a Detroit project. I certainly did not think $50,000 would be donated to the construction of a Robocop statue, especially in less than a week. Some people claim that this is not impressive because one businessman in California donated half of the money. In response, I would say that it's almost equally amazing to raise $25,000 in less than a week. So, it seems like this is a challenge. If you think you could spend that money on something better or more creative, start your own fundraiser or present your own plan, because the possibility is clearly out there.
A Hamtramck artist may have just proven this point without even realizing it. The Detroit News writes that “Marianne Burrows was irritated with the recent online fundraising campaign to create a statue of the sci-fi movie icon and launched her own $50,000 drive for something she thinks is more useful: an art park.” The goal is to provide $2,000 and some empty land to 25 artists.
The irony is that Burrows apparently would not have come up with the idea of raising money for this project if she had not been pissed off about the Robocop statue.
And, in defense of Robocop, when I was thinking of ways this $50,000 could be better spent in Detroit, I was thinking of maybe feeding malnourished children or buying new textbooks and supplies for DPS students. But again, I’m not personally making the effort to raise money, so more power to Marianne Burrows for pursuing her own idea.
I don't think the Robocop statue will make or break Corktown, and if it ends up convincing a lot of people to visit Detroit for the first time so that they can discover that it's much more than a place with a Robocop statue, I think that's a good thing.
It is definitely possible that this only happened because the idea of a Robocop statue is kind of stupid and therefore spread quickly on the internet. In the end, if it turns out that people are more willing to donate money to a statue of Robocop than to more useful things, I think that says more about humanity than about this statue.
Either way, while you might think it’s stupid, the Robocop statue fundraiser has accomplished what you had probably not even thought of attempting: raised thousands and thousands of dollars for a Detroit project. I certainly did not think $50,000 would be donated to the construction of a Robocop statue, especially in less than a week. Some people claim that this is not impressive because one businessman in California donated half of the money. In response, I would say that it's almost equally amazing to raise $25,000 in less than a week. So, it seems like this is a challenge. If you think you could spend that money on something better or more creative, start your own fundraiser or present your own plan, because the possibility is clearly out there.
A Hamtramck artist may have just proven this point without even realizing it. The Detroit News writes that “Marianne Burrows was irritated with the recent online fundraising campaign to create a statue of the sci-fi movie icon and launched her own $50,000 drive for something she thinks is more useful: an art park.” The goal is to provide $2,000 and some empty land to 25 artists.
The irony is that Burrows apparently would not have come up with the idea of raising money for this project if she had not been pissed off about the Robocop statue.
And, in defense of Robocop, when I was thinking of ways this $50,000 could be better spent in Detroit, I was thinking of maybe feeding malnourished children or buying new textbooks and supplies for DPS students. But again, I’m not personally making the effort to raise money, so more power to Marianne Burrows for pursuing her own idea.
I don't think the Robocop statue will make or break Corktown, and if it ends up convincing a lot of people to visit Detroit for the first time so that they can discover that it's much more than a place with a Robocop statue, I think that's a good thing.
It is definitely possible that this only happened because the idea of a Robocop statue is kind of stupid and therefore spread quickly on the internet. In the end, if it turns out that people are more willing to donate money to a statue of Robocop than to more useful things, I think that says more about humanity than about this statue.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Mick Vranich, "Radnik Pisar"
Last year, I was at a used book sale in Livonia and came across a copy of Radnik Pisar by Mick Vranich. Although I was not familiar with Vranich, I was in the middle of a poetry/small press phase (it happens), so I was pretty excited to find a book by a Detroit poet.
The book was published in 1983 by 2x4 Press in Detroit. The author bio on the last page reads, "Mick Vranich was born in 1946 downriver from Detroit. At eighteen, he was a general laborer at Zug Island; at twenty, a scrapballer and hooker at Great Lakes Steel; later, a squaring shear operator at Ford Stamping Plant. Other jobs include driving 130,000 miles delivering car parts in San Francisco, where he wore out three trucks. His first book, Salad Surreal: Discernible by Distortion, appeared in 1971. Vranich presently lives in Detroit and makes his living as a carpenter."
A note on the first page says that "Radnik Pisar" is Serbian for "Worker Writer," and Vranich definitely seems to embody the persona of the introspective laborer, alone with his thoughts. In "Scrapballer," he describes the beginning of the night shift at the steel mill, when he cleared his mind of thoughts of home and "poured a cup of coffee from my thermos and lit a cigarette and watched the steel spooling."
Vranich's writing style is some mixture of vague abstraction and the intense straightforwardness of Charles Bukowski, and it's usually very visual and chaotic. I don't want to try to speak for Vranich or make some grand statement about what he's trying to communicate, but I can say that the world often seems very hostile, lonely, and paranoid in these poems. Some take place from inside the home, sensing an unwelcoming world outside, and in others, the conflict and confusion seems to come from inside the poet's own head. That working class Detroit imagery permeates many of them, as in "Invade the Will," when Vranich is "walking on ice to the beer store / with a bag full of cans."
My favorite is a very brief poem called "Saxaphones in the Sunlight" --
"i think i'll take a walk
it's very bright outside
i know i have the ability
to walk in the streets
i have seen me there
i hear saxaphones in the sunlight
i hear warnings outside the door."
it's very bright outside
i know i have the ability
to walk in the streets
i have seen me there
i hear saxaphones in the sunlight
i hear warnings outside the door."
***
Vranich worked as a carpenter until February 2010, when he was seriously injured in a fall at a construction site. He died on March 29. Photos from the April 4 memorial can be seen at Tribes of the Cass Corridor, and the Metro Times printed some remembrances on March 30.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Grand Circus Park Revival
Grand Circus Park is experiencing a bit of a rebirth with news over the last couple months that three buildings on its south end are undergoing major redevelopment.
2007 photo of Grand Circus Park. The Broderick Tower is the taller building with the Verizon ad, which covers up the much more visually pleasing whale mural. To the immediate right is the David Whitney Building, and to its left is the Madison Building. Photo by Mike Russell, available under a Creative Commons license.
1. The Broderick Tower is being renovated by Motown Construction Partners and will have 127 apartments with a restaurant and lounge on the first few floors. Construction is expected to be done by September 2012. Although there have been attempts to rehab the Broderick in the past, this time the developers have more solid funding sources, including historic tax credits, according to Buildings of Detroit.
2. Across the street, the David Whitney Building is being purchased by a group of investors called the Whitney Partners on a loan from the Detroit Development Authority. There will be retail space on the first few floors along with some mixture of commercial and residential units. The building was constructed in 1915 and designed by Daniel Burnham, the architect/urban planner who did such minor things as creating the master plan for Chicago. According to the Free Press, "plans include restoring the Whitney's original classical architectural ornament that was stripped away a half-century ago." (Detroit Free Press)
3. The Madison Building was purchased by Quicken Loans, who will "rehab its upper floors into a hub for high-tech start-ups" (Model D Media). Quicken Loans has been pushing for development in Detroit for a while and moved its headquarters downtown last year.
2007 photo of Grand Circus Park. The Broderick Tower is the taller building with the Verizon ad, which covers up the much more visually pleasing whale mural. To the immediate right is the David Whitney Building, and to its left is the Madison Building. Photo by Mike Russell, available under a Creative Commons license.
1. The Broderick Tower is being renovated by Motown Construction Partners and will have 127 apartments with a restaurant and lounge on the first few floors. Construction is expected to be done by September 2012. Although there have been attempts to rehab the Broderick in the past, this time the developers have more solid funding sources, including historic tax credits, according to Buildings of Detroit.
2. Across the street, the David Whitney Building is being purchased by a group of investors called the Whitney Partners on a loan from the Detroit Development Authority. There will be retail space on the first few floors along with some mixture of commercial and residential units. The building was constructed in 1915 and designed by Daniel Burnham, the architect/urban planner who did such minor things as creating the master plan for Chicago. According to the Free Press, "plans include restoring the Whitney's original classical architectural ornament that was stripped away a half-century ago." (Detroit Free Press)
3. The Madison Building was purchased by Quicken Loans, who will "rehab its upper floors into a hub for high-tech start-ups" (Model D Media). Quicken Loans has been pushing for development in Detroit for a while and moved its headquarters downtown last year.
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