Brandon’s Back!
Posted by Brandon | Filed under life, people, politics
Urbane on Washington
I’m back!
After a hiatus of several months, I’m happy to announce I’ll be blogging again for The Urbane Life. I hope to continue covering gay rights issues, an issue that is particularly exciting right now. My goal is to post at least once a week. I’m also planning to continue covering politics, zeitgeist, art, gadgets, and more. If you have any special requests, please let me know.
For now, here are a few of my favorite posts . . . Let me know in the comments if there is anything you would like to write about!
Noble Fish: The Best Damned Sushi in Metro Detroit
LGBT: Gays & Catholics in SE Michigan
Tags: Arts, ferndale, gay rights, politics, urbane on washington
Do you text and drive? After July 1 it’s gonna cost you
Posted by scasola | Filed under Apartments Birmingham MI, Apartments Clawson MI, Apartments Ferndale MI, Apartments Royal Oak MI, Apartments Troy MI, Clawson Neighborhood, Detroit MI, Ferndale MI, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak, Royal Oak MI, UrbaneApts, events, life, people, politics, technology, travel, trends
In a lot of ways, Michigan is just following suit. Twenty-two other states have already made it official and banned texting while driving. Tomorrow, on national television, Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to sign a bill that will ban Michigan drivers from doing the same. As of July 1, texting while driving will be illegal across our state.
The signing – set for 9:30 a.m. at Detroit’s GM Renaissance Center Wintergarden – will be televised for an upcoming Oprah Winfrey special titled No Phone Zone.
What does this mean to drivers who can’t put down a Blackberry while behind the wheel?
If you’re lucky, it will hit your wallet first. Violators can be fined up to $100 for a first offense or up to $200 if caught again. The ticket doesn’t involve points or become part of a driver’s record.
The law prohibits reading, typing and sending text messages on a wireless device while driving. And police officers are going to be on the lookout. They don’t need another reason to pull you over. Dash-mounted navigation systems are still A-OK according to this law, but if you use cell phone navigation features – like I have – you may be at risk.
The law makes a lot of sense. Texting is a serious distraction for drivers. But I can’t say I haven’t done it. At a time when we’ve become so attached to our cell phones, it’s hard not to reach for them when we receive a message. I’ve been known to peek at or return a text while paused at a stoplight.
Have you read or sent text messages while behind the wheel? Have you ever been involved in an accident with someone who was distracted or using a cell phone? What are your thoughts on the ban?
This post brought to you by the good folks at Urbane Apartments and the Urbane Lobby. We would love to connect with you on twitter at @UrbaneLife.
Tags: Blackberry, Detroit, Gov. Jennifer Granholm, michigan, Michigan law, Oprah Winfrey, texting and driving, texting ban in Michigan, texting while driving, Urbane, urbane apartments, Urbane Lobby, UrbaneLife
Is Ferndale our ‘Great American Main Street?’
Posted by scasola | Filed under Apartments Ferndale MI, Cool People, Detroit MI, Ferndale MI, Urbane, UrbaneApts, events, life, politics, uncategorized
Last night’s Ferndale Downtown Development Authority Appreciation Awards – held at Rosie O’Grady’s – offered a proverbial pat-on-the-back for the businesses that give Ferndale it’s flair. In addition to recognizing individual and business contributions, DDA Chairperson Veronica Lujic announced the exciting news that the metro Detroit suburb is in the running for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Great American Main Street Award.
Downtown Ferndale is one of 10 cities in the semi-finals across the country and has a shot at being the first in both Oakland County and the state to earn such esteem. “This is the Oscars, the Emmy’s, the Tony’s for a downtown district,” said Lujic. Next month that list will be narrowed to its Top 5.
Ferndale’s friendly, walkable downtown initially drew me to become a resident. And though I’ve seen businesses come and go over the years, I still enjoy the chance to walk to Western Market for groceries, catch a show at the Magic Bag and meet friends for dinner at Anita’s Kitchen or drinks at The Emory. Parking is never an issue for those of us lucky enough to live within blocks of the downtown district.
And according to Executive Director Cristina Sheppard-Decius, over $4 million has been invested in downtown Ferndale over the past year – bringing in everything from new bike racks, trees, businesses and jobs.
Here are a few award highlights from last night’s event:
- Best Historic Renovation – Rosie O’Grady’s
- Best Window Displays (2007-2009) – Pinwheel Bakery
- Best Independent Retailer (2007-2009) – Detroit Comics
- Best New Independent Service Business (2007-2009) – Blumz by JR Designs
- Spirit of Ferndale Award – AJ O’Neil of AJ’s Cafe
All the fervor led me to wonder, what do you think makes a thriving downtown district? What do you look for in an ideal downtown?
Tags: downtown Ferndale, ferndale, Ferndale Downtown Development Authority, Great American Main Street
Royal Oak’s Emagine project stirs up local government
Posted by s_casola | Filed under Apartments Birmingham MI, Apartments Clawson MI, Apartments Ferndale MI, Apartments Royal Oak MI, Apartments Troy MI, Cool People, Ferndale MI, Royal Oak, Royal Oak MI, Urbane, UrbaneApts, movies, people, politics
During a recent meeting of the Royal Oak City Commission, members approved the first reading of a proposed ordinance that could limit the power of the city’s Downtown Development Authority. The debate – spurred on by a $300,000 tax rebate the DDA approved to help usher in Royal Oak’s Emagine entertainment complex – has pitted city commissioners against one another.
The Versagi Voice detailed the ordinance amendment, commissioners opinions shared during the meeting on April 3, as well as reactions from the community.
Commissioner Jim Rasor, one of two dissenting votes that night, shared his opinion in an e-mail to press, including UrbaneLife. Rasor believes the DDA acted properly in granting the tax rebate. He said: The DDA did not vote to give Emagine DDA money for construction of the project. This is not a $300,000 ‘gift’ to Paul Glantz, Emagine’s owner.
“This is a $300,000 tax rebate to Emagine, only when they complete their project, and only from the DDA portion of the tax revenue that Emagine will be paying. Indeed, the money will come from Emagine’s tax payments, and will reimburse Emagine for improvements to the public right of way –streetscape, benches, trash barrel, bike racks, streetlights – that the DDA would have had to have paid for if Emagine did not do the project. After the $300,000 is rebated, DDA then collects its full amount of tax every year, like clockwork, from Emagine.”
Rasor went on to clarify that this type of rebate was also granted to new additions like L.A. Fitness and Lockhart’s BBQ in Royal Oak. He noted that without a DDA to facilitate the development of Royal Oak’s downtown, those tax dollars would not exist in the city’s General Fund but instead be re-routed to taxing authorities like Oakland County, The Detroit Zoo or Oakland Community College. “Without a DDA, downtown property would receive a tax decrease of 2 percent, which is the extra that downtown building owners pay for having a DDA,” said Rasor.
As Urbane Apartments are headquartered in the downtown area and have neighboring properties in Ferndale, Clawson, Birmingham and Berkley, we do have a vested interest in maintaining a thriving downtown district.
Business owners and residents alike flock to this area for its mix of independently-owned eclectic shops, restaurants to suit any appetite, parks and entertainment venues. The addition of Emagine Royal Oak fits perfectly into the overall plan to further develop our city. The two-level movie theater and boutique bowling alley will only add to the value we already experience when living in, working in or visiting Royal Oak’s entertainment district.
What’s your take on the Emagine Royal Oak project – and the direction in which the City Commission seems to be moving when it comes to the DDA? Ultimately these decisions have the power to impact us us. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Whatever your opinion on this issue, the City Commission also welcomes comments and concerns alike at its next meeting, 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 19, 3rd Floor, at City Hall, 211 S. Williams Street, Royal Oak.
Tags: Berkley, Birmingham, Clawson, Emagine, ferndale, Jim Rasor, Royal Oak, Royal Oak City Commission, Royal Oak DDA, Urbane, urbane apartments, Versagi Voice
The Detroit Reading Corps needs 100,000 tutors. Are you one of them?
Posted by Ashley | Filed under Cool People, Detroit MI, events, people, politics
If you can read this sentence, then you’re qualified enough to help a child learn to read.
On the heels of a 2009 study showing that Detroit children ranked lowest in the nation on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, DPS emergency financial director Robert Bobb has asked for the help of residents across Michigan to get these students up to speed–and stop the cycle of poverty before it begins.
In terms of performance levels in the fourth grade in Detroit on the math test, 69 percent of students scored at a below basic level. In terms of performance levels in the eighth grade in Detroit, 77 percent were below basic.
“These scores confirm that we have a reading emergency,” said Bobb. “We want people to have not just a sense of urgency after seeing these scores, but a sense of outrage over these scores. But we do not want these scores to paralyze us. On the contrary, knowing where our children are academically provides us the opportunity to strategically develop and tailor our academics to the specific needs of Detroit children,” he said.
100,000 volunteers. That’s how many tutors are needed to ensure that every single young Detroit schoolkid will be able to read at grade level by the third grade. Bobb says that anyone can become a tutor with about four hours of training. Even you. Even me. It only takes one hour per week to make sure that child will be able to read in 2011.
“We are doing everything in our power to completely remake the academic program in Detroit Public Schools, and we are asking the community to join in the fight to ensure our children have every opportunity to be successful. Please volunteer with us and help a child learn to read.”
I’m someone who talks a lot and thinks a lot about Detroit. I used to live there. But what have I done that really matters in the city? Voting? Patronizing a few bars? Buying groceries or hosting a dinner? That doesn’t change a city. Helping a child read changes things. My pledge for 2010 is to stop talking, and start working. This is real.
Sign up TODAY and tell a friend! Join us at the Reading Corps Orientation & Rally on Saturday, January 23rd from 9 a.m. to noon at Renaissance High School, 6565 W. Outer Drive. This session will include information on background checks, training and materials and much more.
Click here for more information and to volunteer: http://bit.ly/dpsreadingcorps
Read more about the Reading Corps here:
REFRESH EVERYTHING: Pepsi to Shun Super Bowl Ads and Save the World
Posted by Ashley | Filed under Apartments Birmingham MI, Apartments Clawson MI, Apartments Ferndale MI, Birmingham MI, Cool People, Detroit MI, Ferndale MI, Health Care Reform, Rambalings, Royal Oak, Royal Oak MI, Urbane, UrbaneApts, UrbaneTV, art, design, eco, events, fitness, food, life, marketing, music, people, pets, politics, technology, trends, uncategorized, video
Nothing kicks off a new year quite like the countdown to Super Bowl. For non-football fans, the advertising arms race to create the biggest, baddest and boldest TV commercials is an all-consuming media maelstrom. We learn something about America, for better or worse, every year during that Sunday sports spectacular. Super Bowl commercials create inescapable social memes (Budweiser frogs, anyone?), launch household pitchmen (from Wiliam Shatner to the GEICO gecko), and even inspire watershed cultural moments (Madonna’s interracial kiss during the Pepsi “Like a Prayer” ad).
That’s why Pepsi’s new advertising push for Super Bowl XLIV is so big, so bad (as in good), so bold…and so brave. This year, the soda-pop juggernaut’s television advertising budget for Super Bowl is $0. Yep, you read that right. In the biggest showdown between social-media marketing and traditional TV ads to date, Pepsi will give away over $20 Million in advertising dollars to fund “good ideas, big and small, that make the world a better place”–and it’s all happening at their new do-gooding website. The Pepsi Refresh Project will disperse grants in the amounts of 10 5k grants, 10 25k grants, 10 50k grants, and 2 250k grants every month of 2010. The best part? It’s all interactive. Anyone over the age of 13 can submit an idea, along with video, photographs, and anything else to convince voters to click your button.
Wait, voters? It gets even better. Pepsi will accept up to 1000 submissions every month, and host a public vote so we can pick the winners. Remember Mountain Dew’s Dewmocracy campaign? I think the Refresh Project just blew it out of the water. We’ll have to use Facebook, Twitter, Flyers, Foursquare, and whatever else we have at our disposal to win.
Got a great idea? Wanna make things better? I do. It ain’t easy being a Michigander these days. We’re hurt, we’re struggling, and many of us are hungry, out of work, or scared to death. I’m here to propose a challenge to all of you Urbane Blog readers out there. Let’s win this thing for Michigan.
If you’re still reading this blog, it’s because you care about where you live. You love Metro Detroit, and you’re connected enough to think about improving our quality of life, and sustaining our economy. This is our chance. For all those times that you’ve wished you could change your world…now we can. Power to the people.
In the next month, we’ll be using the Urbane Blog as a forum to come up with some great ideas for Pepsi Refresh grants. Stay tuned this week for more information about how to get your ideas to us, and how we’lll vote for our favorites every month. If your idea wins, you’ll have the full-throttle marketing machine of the Urbane Way behind you–logistics, proposal-writing, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, video…if we have it, we’ll help you get the word out, and get our people voting.
Stuck on ideas? Yeah, me too. There are six different categories on the Refresh Everything website: Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods, and Education. Below, you’ll find a few sample ideas for each category to get your brain cells moving. You can also check out the Pepsi Refresh Project Blog for a ton of really cool ideas, plus a toolkit to help you figure out how to put it all together.
Jan 13 is just about two weeks away. Together, we’re so much stronger than we are alone–and this is our chance to do some good. Let’s band together, and make it happen.
Sample ideas:
Health: Obesity is a crucial health problem. Can we help fund an after school fitness program in our community? Or connect local farmers with schools, so cafeterias begin serving organic and fresh food at lunch? What about free phys-ed classes for senior citizens?
Arts & Culture: Every artist needs a place to live and create, and most of them are penniless. We could start a land bank to buy abandoned and foreclosed properties in Detroit and surrounding areas. Then, we could lease the properties for really cheap to artists from around the world. The caveat–they have to sign a 3 year lease, and pledge to clean up, repaint, install new floors…whatever it takes to make that home liveable. What does that create? A community of creatives, a neighborhood reborn, and houses restored uniquely and with care. When the artists are ready to move on, they can be kept in a trust for other creatives, or sold on the open market. Or we could start a movement to build public sculptures all over our downtowns. Create a Heidelberg project in the streets. A community School of Rock program to teach the next generation of rockers, guitars included.
Food & Shelter: There’s plenty of empty buildings in the area, and thousands more men, women and children without homes this winter. We could rent these buildings out and turn them into temporary winter shelters for our local homeless. Or start a Sunday dinner soup kitchen so every hungry person in our community could get a delicious warm meal one night per week.
The Planet:Let’s help Royal Oak go solar! We could request a grant to outfit houses, storefronts, and restaurants with home solar panels or windmills. Or what about starting a massive city-wide recycling project? Or even painting 100 rooftops white to reduce energy costs.
Neighborhoods: Community gardens. We could request the money for tools, buying the land, bulldozing an abandoned building, and seeds. Plant wildflowers, or even a food garden. That food could be donated to a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Or renting space in an empty storefront downtown for a kids’ community center. A greenway connecting Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale, Clawson, etc. (like the Dequindre Cut) for bicyclists and pedestrians only. Even safe bike racks in all of our downtown areas.
Education: Operation Kid Equip is just one charity that helps get school supplies to Oakland County kids without the means to get what they need for school–from pencils to backpacks. That’s one cause we could certainly support. Or what about starting our own Big Brothers, Big Sisters chapter with Urbane residents and friends? Or adopting an elementary school in Detroit, and helping them clean up and build a new playground. Is there empty land in Ferndale that could be recreated as a Field of Dreams for local kids?
Start dreaming! And please leave your comments and ideas here. We want to hear all the input, thoughts, inspiration, questions, and directions you can give.
Vitamin Erin…An Hour with Positive Detroit’s Erin Rose
Posted by Ashley | Filed under Cool People, Detroit MI, Ferndale MI, drinks, food, life, marketing, people, politics, technology, uncategorized
An Hour with Erin Rose…part of your daily positive-thinking diet.
Erin Rose, the brainchild behind the all-good-news media site Positive Detroit, is more chock-full of favorite local things than Mary Poppins. Click here to see what the fuss is all about: Positive Detroit
Erin’s Love list#1:
Magazines (the glossier, the better)
Social networking (and learning from all of Detroit’s great net pioneers on the interwebs)
Garden Fresh Gourmet salsa. “Made in Ferndale! With fresh-cut jalapenos.”
But more than anything, Erin Rose loves living in Michigan. “And the Tigers,” she says. “I love the Tigers more than almost anything.”
Other than willing the World Series to Detroit, this Natalie Portman-lookalike has one heckuva goal–spreading the Good News about Michigan to every news-reader in the 248, 586, 734, or 313 area codes (and anyone else who cares). Rose, a mortgage broker by day with no computer programming background, spent much of these last two years plugging away at her website, positivedetroit.net. Half blog and half news-media aggregator, Positive Detroit is a bountiful daily update of honest, friendly and free news about the great state of Michigan. It’s impossible to read without smiling. Try it.
Recent headlines from the PositiveDetroit.net blog:
1. “Detroit to be the Hub of a National Research Project Studying Social Media”
2. “When the Underdog Wins: Or Why I Love Detroit”
3. “Curtis Granderson Recognized as Man of the Year by Major League Ballplayers”
But don’t think Erin Rose is just made of sunny skies and cheery PR releases. This Flushing native is a (wo)man on a mission, marching against the Forces of News Evil, whom she says deliberately spread bad news about Michigan to sell ad space and newspapers. Rose says these titans of local media (who shall go unnamed) are just ignoring the real stories.
“Look at the story on Le Petit Zinc,” she says, referencing an NT Times op-ed written by Team Detroit president Toby Barlow; a lovely little tale about the neighborhood forces which came together to help a French bistro open shop in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. No newspapers here are writing about Le Petit Zinc, but the New York Times sure found it interesting enough. Projecting Detroit’s image to the world is something Erin thinks very long and hard about. “We are not the armpit of the US,” she says. “And I have no interest in any journalist or news outlet who portrays us to be that way.”
(Author’s note: According to the author, 92% of local news stories make her wonder whether she’s living in Metro Detroit, or a post-apocalyptic wasteland. From the writing, it really can be hard to tell.)
If you want to hear Erin’s pitch (it’s pretty funny), her mission statement, her raison d’etre, it pretty much goes something like this: You are in an abusive relationship with your local news source. “And,” she says, “you need to leave NOW.”
Yes, it’s true. Day after day, night after night, you plug in, turn on the station, flip open the paper, or tune the dial; hoping that it finally changes. But every time you’re beaten down; by shoddily reported half-stories, shamelessly sensationalized scare tactics for the ratings, perpetuated by people who don’t care about where you live and don’t believe in making it better. It makes you sad, and pissed off, and freaked out. Erin says it’s an abusive relationship. Bet you thought you were too smart to fall into that trap? The (news) cycle of violence? Yeah, us too.
“If your friend was in a relationship with someone negative; anyone who made them feel terrible and bad, you would tell them to get away from it. Right now. You’d say they were with someone who was verbally abusive. Well, that’s what your news source is doing to you.”
Erin’s Love List #2:
-The Emory in Ferndale, “It’s kind of the reason why I moved here. Don’t write that down.”
-Detroit’s new Riverfront, “So beautiful. So beautiful. Anyone I’ve ever met who’s not from Detroit raves about it.”
-Eastern Market. Self-explanatory.
It’s pretty fun sitting next to an local social media innovator. The true beauty of her website is that she reproduces the positive articles in entirety…so you’re never redirected from Positive Detroit to Negative News World. If you feel physically ill reading the poisonous comments section on your online newspaper, welcome to the solution. This feel-good net medicine is why Miss Positive has racked up (as of 11/9/2009), a holy-smokes 2,413 followers on Twitter (She tweets under the moniker Positive Cities). Her ideas can range from the simple (first Tweeter to use the #+Detroit tag) to the silly (first local blogger to live-blog and Tweet the Tigers’ Opening Day, in 2009). She’s got some ideas for her website that I wish I could write down, because they’re so good and juicy, but she swore me to secrecy. But there’s one thought that she’s not shy about sharing.
“In ten years, you are not going to believe what Detroit is going to be like. Detroit hasn’t seen their prime yet. They’ll see it soon.”
Prophesizing seer? Positive-news-swilling Kool-aid drinker? I pressed Erin for experiences, reasons, memories. What would make her believe Detroit was really…I don’t know, the next LA or Atlanta? She had two stories to tell me: two little stories that, she says, help make her a believer.
Erin’s Love List #3
1. The Cupcake Station in Birmingham
2. The Yardbird Sandwich with Mac & Cheese at Slow’s BBQ in Detroit (just written up in Bon Appetit magazine
3. Old Tiger Stadium (note, this is a major love. MAJOR. I’m just going to quote Miss Not Quite So Positive Here about tearing down the facility: “It’s sacred ground. Every great baseball played there, not even just the ones who played for the Tigers. Babe Ruth ran the bases. Mickey Mantle. Joe Dimaggio. And they tore it down. It’s disgusting. It’s a travesty.”)
The first story happened during March Madness, when Ford Field hosted NCAA’s Final Four. Snowstorm. Erin, a former Spartie, had tickets, and met a friend from Chicago for the game. “So I come downtown, and everyone is in green, and it’s one giant party. The whole town was happy, and friendly. And it’s snowing, and we’re walking to Greektown. My friend stops in front of the Old Shillelagh and says, “This looks like…”, and I finished her sentence. “Chicago.” Erin pauses and smiles at the memory. “I had a perma-grin for the whole day.”
The second story is short. She tells me about a guy she met a few weeks ago at the Harvest Beer Festival in Eastern Market. Antonio was friends of her friends, a Brazilian MBA student on a full ride to WSU’s School of Business. Talking to Antonio, Erin remembers, “He said he loved living here. LOVED it. He said he’d made the best friendships of his life, had so many unique experiences, and just loved the people and the community here. And he’s from BRAZIL. Because the people are great, it makes the whole community, the whole experience good.”
Erin seems to love retelling tales about outsiders she meets who come to Detroit and find perfection where it’s least expected. Perhaps it’s symbolic of her overwhelming belief that the 21-40 generation will save Detroit: “There’s so much diversity of culture and thought in our generation. We see past skin color. We have a fighting spirit, and we’re not willing to setlle,” she says. Perhaps it’s because that story of the outsider is so familiar to this Flushing girl, who sought and found a thriving community and a new life in the city. And because that outsider is now not only an insider, but a crusader for her neighborhood, county, city, state. It’s a feel-good story, for sure, and like everything else on Positive Detroit, thinking about it just makes you want to smile.
Erin’s Love List #4
1. Oak City Grille in Royal Oak
2. Live music at Cliff Bell’s in Detroit (Live music anywhere in Detroit, actually)
3. Cafe Muse in Royal Oak
(Author’s note: She could keep listing. I’m the one who stopped.)
Liquor License Lockdown in the Royal
Posted by Ashley | Filed under Royal Oak, Royal Oak MI, drinks, food, life, people, politics, trends
Q: What’s scarier than Halloween?
A: The prospect of no new bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, or hotels in Royal Oak for another two years.
This Nov. 3, there will be a surprising option on your voting ballots–a two year moratorium on all new liquor licenses in Royal Oak. How did this happen? Well, Royal Oak’s city council deadlocked on whether to allow an Emagine theatre complex, featuring ten movie screens, sixteen bowling lanes, and a VIP bar open until 2am. Also a Gus-O’Connor type place and a Bar Louie were in the works. Well, okay. Can’t say you didn’t see that one coming.
According to the blog Protect Royal Oak, which supports the moratorium, the Emagine complex alone would require 972 parking spots alone in the Main North area, by the Main Art Theatre. Nevertheless, RO’s commission approved the license transfer from Berkley on Sept. 14, according to the Detroit News. Emboldened by the threat of a “mega-entertainment center” on Main (and with the supposed help of some pleading waitresses at Mr. B’s), opponents got enough signatures to put the question of the ban on this year’s ballot. These supporters managed to transform the issue from a “Bar vs. No Bar” debate–their blog boasts countless references to their stand against “big box development.” According to city commissioner Chuck Samchena, public safety is another main issue:
City Commissioner Chuck Semchena said anemic staffing levels in the Royal Oak Police Department have meant reduced manpower across town. The department has gone from 104 sworn officers to 80 in the last five years.
“It’s pretty well known that some types of saloons create a lot of policing, that manpower is devoted to them. The fear is we will be short of officers in the neighborhoods,” said Semchena, a former city attorney.
The article didn’t ponder whether 78,000 square foot development like Emagine could create jobs and add to the city’s tax base (thus creating a few new roles on the R.O. Five-Oh). It’s opinion time. This ban is a bad idea. It’s bad because it doesn’t just punish giant corporate developers. It means nobody can open a bar, restaurant, or entertainment attraction in the city–not your friend the young chef, not the older couple with plans for an Italian joint, and certainly not the destination hotel City Council dreams of installing downtown. In theory, it’s much like this winning law that helps keep renegade day care centers off the streets.
Opponents of the moratorium have created a great new website called Friends of Downtown Royal Oak. They have some interesting statistics to add to the debate: for example, crime in 2008 was down 41 percent in Royal Oak. (So much for all those saloons.) There’s also this gem of a slideshow, which alleges that, in the hopes of stifling competition, several Royal Oak bar owners supporting the ban donated $5,300 to several members of city council. What’s more damning? Those bar owners aren’t even Royal Oak residents.
I look forward to getting some good criticism and opinions on this post, and I really welcome hearing from proponents of the ban. Nevertheless, I think the moratorium on liquor licenses is a terrible idea. Destroying competition and future business opportunities is the LAST thing any Michigan city should be doing right now. New bars, restaurants, hotels, bowling alley: they all help in several ways:
- creating “buzz” in the local media to drive visitors,
- contributing to the tax base, and
- providing jobs (!!!)
Most importantly, they help establish Royal Oak’s claim as a truly walkable, thriving, diverse, modern community. Any moratorium on liquor licenses will destroy competition. If you want to help Berkley or Ferndale establish their claims as the top entertainment destinations in Metro Detroit, this is the best way to go about it. There are enough empty storefronts already in the Royal without anyone’s help.
What good comes from a 2-year ban, anyway? And what’s next? A town-enforced vow of sobriety? Will young Royal Oak denizens now spend Saturday nights playing Yahtzee or sitting in on knitting circles? Nah. If Royal Oak continues in this vein, they’ll just move out. I can’t imagine any hip, booming district or neighborhood in San Francisco or Portland, Austin or NYC pulling this kind of stunt.
I read the NYT and the NYer pretty regularly–seems like a new gastropub or sustainable eatery opens just in Williamsburg every week. That’s what makes Brooklyn the most exciting new destination in North America for food and drinks, as well as a great community for raising a family. Why we would do exactly the opposite of what every progressive city in the country advocates is beyond me.
A final note: I am not necessarily advocating for the Emagine development (or sayin’ we should try to be exactly like NYC). I think the Main Art should be respected and protected–after all, it’s anchored the downtown strip for years. I am wondering whether the magician developers of Emagine will now conjure up a new parking garage to avoid a horrendous parking and traffic problem downtown. But I think we elect our local representatives to make these decisions on a case-by-case basis. You don’t like the Emagine development? Great. Protest it. But destroying every potential business venture downtown for the sake of one defeat, truly, seems like cutting off your entire head to spite your face.
What’s scarier than Halloween? A downtown that looks like this:
Image courtesy of Friends of Downtown Royal Oak
Bikes and Ferndale Elections
Posted by Eric Brown | Filed under Apartments Birmingham MI, Apartments Clawson MI, Apartments Ferndale MI, Urbane, UrbaneApts, politics
Our friends over at m-bike.org recently posted the below article on their blog titled Ferndale City Council Elections: Yes-No, and we thought you may find value in what they had to say and their position on bike friendly communities.
Many city council seats are up for election this November 3rd. This is a great opportunity to elect people to a decision making body that can a city more bike and pedestrian friendly.
There are two seats being decided in Ferndale. And among the four candidates running, two are on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to supporting biking.
No for Gagne
Tom Gagne, the self-proclaimed “most argumentative” candidate, is someone cyclists won’t want on Council.
Gagne wants to increase development on Hilton. He’s been quoted in the Daily Tribune saying”
What are we going to do about Hilton Road? It’s a thing of beauty that lives in the shadow of Woodward. I’d like to let developers know that bike lanes on Hilton Road aren’t permanent.
Hilton Road underwent a road diet, which took it from four lanes to three with bike lanes added. Road diets reduce crashes and excessive speeding (and noise), while making it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.
And the Hilton road diet doesn’t displace motor vehicle traffic. Hilton near Nine Mile has a daily vehicle count of around 7,000. The vehicle counts on Hilton could more than double and the current lane configuration would not be a problem.
Clearly Gagne is uninformed about the benefits of the Hilton road diet. There is no justification for suggesting their removal.
But perhaps what’s more troublesome is he’s equating development only with motor vehicle travel. Wouldn’t it be better if Hilton development catered to the neighborhood? Imagine if the Hilton were lined with more businesses and destinations that residents could bike or walk to and spend their dollars locally?
Yes for Piana
Melanie Piana is also running for a seat on the Ferndale City Council.
Her priorities include supporting “pedestrian [and] bicycle friendly… improvements to build our community.”
Her Facebook page includes the photo on the right.
According to Piana, “I commute to work by bike on weather friendly days. It’s easy when the office is only a mile away.”
And in speaking with Piana, it’s clear she understands the value in building safe bicycling and walking communities.
She’s also endorsed by the Eccentric.
Tags: Bike Lanes, Bike Paths, ferndale, Ferndale City Council Elections
LGBT: National Equality March
Posted by Brandon | Filed under events, life, politics
CR: Brandon Edward Miller
I had the chance to attend the National Equality March in Washington, DC this past Sunday. Around 150,000 gay, lesbian, and transgendered people (along with numerous straight allies) marched from the White House to the Capitol in support of equal rights for all Americans. The March came a day after a passionate speech by the President in front of 3,000 well-heeled members of the Human Rights Campaign (noticeably devoid of concrete details and deadlines, it sounded more like another campaign speech than an address by a Democratic President with large majorities in Congress).
I think this march represents the passing of the torch. The points of power are no longer in the halls of Washington or large metropolitan areas. It’s decentralized now. You have young activists and gay people from all walks of life converging on Washington not because a national organization told them to, but because they feel the time is now. –Corey Jones, activist and blogger at Towleroad.com
More after the jump . . . Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: gay, lgbt, national equality march, politics, washington dc
Department of Uncommon Sense
Posted by Brandon | Filed under life, people, politics, video
So, Michigan’s Department of Human Services apparently has nothing better to do than to go after moms willing to watch other moms’ kids while they’re waiting for the bus. Lisa Snyder of Middleville recently received a letter from the DHS stating that she either needs to get a license to run a daycare or she must cease watching three neighborhood kids for 15 to 40 minutes, for free, while they wait for the school bus.
To me, this is just a friend helping a friend. –Lisa Snyder to Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today
Check out Snyder’s interview on Today, above. State Representative Brian Calley, R-Portland, also appeared on the show and he indicated that he is sponsoring legislation which would allow Snyder and others to watch a friend’s child for free. Who knew it was illegal?
There are obviously reasons that bona fide, profit-making daycare operations should be licensed and supervised by the state. What is irritating about this story is that some bureaucrats without much common sense are wasting precious state resources which could go to monitoring foster parents, looking into allegations of child abuse, or investigating illegal daycare centers to harass some women who are banding together to protect their children and their jobs.
What do you, dear UrbaneBlog readers, think of this story? Also, feel free to call the Barry County DHS Office to let them know what you think about their policy at (269) 948-3200. It’s particularly ironic that when you visit the DHS website, it features a document that “outlines resources for families struggling to make ends meet.” Why don’t they start by not harassing hard-working Michigan families?
Tags: department of human services, department of uncommon sense, legislation, michigan, nbc, today
Guest Post On Health Care Reform
Posted by Eric Brown | Filed under Health Care Reform, politics
Former Oakland County GOP Chairman Paul Welday of Farmington Hills, running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan’s 9th Congressional District has posted the below Guest Post. We hope you enjoy it, and perhaps we can engage a spirited conversation and debate.
FIVE FUNDAMENTAL REFORMS TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE
America provides the best health care in the world, but yet is still in need of reform, particularly in those areas where the problems are most acute: access due to problems with the individual health insurance market and overall cost containment. Unfortunately, the Obama-Pelosi plan does neither and at best throws the baby out with the bathwater.
More after the jump!
