A Fish Farm, SHAR and Eastern Market

I saw this article in this week's edition of Crain's [[Page 4 entire page):
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...door-fish-farm

As I read it, an Ohio-based for-profit company wants to expand in Michigan to be "nearer to a customer." The company wants to start a tilapia farming operation and also an operation to make fiberglass fish farming tubs or ponds.

So, this unamed company didn't seem to have contacted the City of Detroit or the State or even the eEstern Market Corporation to discuss options for expanding here. Instead, they contacted, according to the article, SHAR to get help with expanding into the Eastern market area:

"Wozniak [[SHAR's Development Officer) said he was approached by an Ohio-based business wanting to locate a tilapia farm closer to his Michigan clients.

The tilapia farmer [[Wozniak declined to reveal the name) has been in business for 14 years and sells about 300,000 pounds of fish a year.

But the signing of a large Michigan-based client is requiring him to ramp up production to 5 million pounds, and Wozniak said Eastern Market makes logistical sense for his business since it's a food distribution hub.

"Michigan is a big market for his business, and tilapia is in demand," Wozniak said. "They approached us about Eastern Market because it will get them closer to their clients."

Nowhere in the article is a statement that SHAR owns a building and that is why they were approached. Instead Wozniak seems to be saying that SHAR will benefit somehow. He also mysteriously says that the Ohio company is not doing the expansion on its own: "Wozniak said private and public financing and grants will fund the project and are confirmed, but would not elaborate on the sources. "

Last, Wozniak says that, although the company seems to have been building the tanks previously, it now has $5 million in back-orders for tanks and so will be building a manufacturing facilty near Russel to fill the orders:
"The Ohio tilapia farm also manufactures the Fiberglas tanks it uses and is looking to build a Detroit Fiberglas manufacturing facility.

The build-out of the Fiberglas plant will cost less than $250,000 and it is planned for the north side of Detroit near the Russell Industrial Center. Wozniak said the company already has about $5 million worth of Fiberglas orders to fill. "

So, dear readers, does this sound funny and a little overdone to you? I ask because I have a dim memory of SHAR being involved in shady stuff in the distant, distant past. Not saying this is shady but a little preposturous as it is written [[unless SHAR does, indeed own the building and the company went to them because of it). Also, fish farming has a funny history here. Remember when "African Town" was going to have a shrimp farm?

Anyone here have anything about SHAR?

Speaking of SHAR:


Neighborhood skeptical of urban farming project

Suspicious eastsiders compare RecoveryPark to a 'plantation'

Christine MacDonald/ The Detroit News

Detroit — There are no libraries, schools or recreation centers in Lucy Butts' neighborhood on the near east side. And she says there are three ways out: death, jail or, very rarely, college.
The nonprofit SHAR Foundation wants to provide another path: an elaborate, $220-million farming project that would bring fresh food, thousands of jobs, dozens of small businesses and hope to a neighborhood where that's been rare for a while.
But despite optimism that urban farming could be one answer to Detroit's ills, many neighbors aren't embracing the project known as RecoveryPark. In fact, they're skeptical and often scornful, with some calling it a glorified sharecropping operation that could force out longtime residents; one neighbor referred to it as a "plantation."
"I think they have a hidden agenda," said Butts, 30, who lives on a stretch of East Kirby where most houses are occupied, just outside the project's footprint on Mount Elliott.
"The people who have been here all these years will be pushed out. I think if they make it a farm, it won't stay a farm for long. They will eventually make it something else, upscale housing. "
Project backers deny that's the case. They say they want to help the neighborhood. But the project could offer clues to the obstacles facing large-scale agricultural operations in Detroit.
Academics and media outlets including the New York Times and the BBC for years have touted farming as solution to a city with nearly 101,000 vacant parcels. But major projects, including Hantz Farms' plan for a $30 million operation, have struggled to get off the ground.
One hurdle is a restrictive state law that makes it tough to regulate urban farms. Another is longstanding bias among some residents against large commercial farms. The Rev. Jesse Jackson last year dismissed them as the solution, telling the Detroit City Council urban farming is "cute but foolish."
"It's a question of history and culture," said Ron Scott, a community activist who is concerned and is scheduled to meet with the project's organizers next month along with the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, a nonprofit community center and think tank.
"Many families were immigrants from the rural South, where sharecropping was the rule of the day."
Scott added that Detroit's long history of redevelopment projects that drive residents from their homes further fuels residents' mistrust.
Gary Wozniak, who helped conceive the project, said he expected opposition but wants to assuage fears of residents in the neighborhood whose population has fallen to about 6,000 from 9,000 in 1990.
Developers have hosted community meetings, met with residents and promised the project will preserve some of the neighborhood's unique features, even as small as the foot paths through vacant lots.
He envisions a series of farms, each no larger than 30 acres, that would weave around existing residents in the 2,400-acre project area. The total area farmed would be about 600 acres.
"People who want to stay can stay where they are," said Wozniak, the chief development officer of SHAR, a substance-abuse treatment group that serves 1,500 addicts a year at several facilities and in two prisons.
"We want to keep the people in the neighborhood because the people are the neighborhood."
The project has the backing of several foundations, including the Erb Family Foundation that has given $125,000.
"The whole idea is not to push out people … but to put vacancy to good use," Erb said. "It has such huge potential. Detroit has so many acres of vacant land. It's not that this is the only solution but it is something that could help."
'Tools to do it themselves'

Wozniak's effort began in 2008 as a way for his nonprofit to provide jobs for hard-to-employ clients.
It's since broadened to a massive development that includes indoor and outdoor farming, food processing centers, a fish farm, an equestrian center, job training, clothing manufacturing and a small business incubator.
Grains such as hops could be grown on trellises surrounding a large vacant building and sold to microbrewers. Mushrooms would sprout in vacant homes. And recovering addicts and nearby residents could work the farms for $10-$13 an hour and sell wares nearby at Eastern Market.
"We are empowering the community by giving them the tools to do it themselves," Wozniak said. "If we create jobs for people in the neighborhood, then housing will follow. That's inevitable."
But the project doesn't have major funding secured yet — and land acquisition has been slow.
RecoveryPark wants to start farming 22 acres on mostly vacant land leased from the city and the Detroit Public Schools.
Wozniak said he hopes the leases would lead to major backers for the 10-year project that eventually could include buying houses from some residents or swapping land with those who want to leave.
Dan Lijana, a spokesman for Mayor Dave Bing, said city officials plan to meet with the nonprofit and are working to retool ordinances to better regulate farms.
One hurdle is the Michigan Right to Farm Act, a 1981 law designed to prevent rural farms from being gobbled by suburban development. It allows farmers to choose their own crops and types of agriculture. That means Detroit officials would have no say in regulating activities on commerical farms that some may deem objectionable — like pig farming.
Wozniak said his project has no immediate plans to buy private property. State law bars seizing homes for non-government projects, but many residents still aren't convinced.
Neighbor Pauline Butler said she's attended several community meetings and was told by staffers that the city plans on "downsizing" the neighborhood, reducing services and cutting off electricity or water. She compared the project to a "plantation" farmed by "heroin addicts casing my house."
"They are instilling fear in everybody so they want to leave," said Butler. "We don't want to stop them from making Detroit a better place.
"But our house is our American dream."
Wozniak said his staff never made any threats and doesn't want to force out residents.
Carolyn Leadley, 28, relocated from Detroit to the area two years ago to join other grassroots gardeners — unrelated to SHAR's proposal — whose crops include heirloom tomatoes. She said RecoveryPark officials haven't done a good job communicating their intentions.
"It's very intimidating for such a large organization coming in and making decisions on how my neighborhood looks," Leadley said.
A new food source

Not everyone is upset. Nearby business owner Gary Corsi said the proposal is necessary for an area desperate for jobs and more residents.
"I wish they would hurry up," said Corsi, owner of People's Restaurant Equipment Co., which has been on Gratiot for 93 years.
"The city needs so much. They are going to do something with the land. Right now it's just field of weeds."
Resident Rozell Chappell agreed, saying he'd love to see the rundown houses on East Kirby torn down and gardens put up around existing residents.
"That would be something to do," said Chappell, who said he'd be interested in maintaining a garden after recently retiring from his job at an auto supply manufacturer. "People want to get a chance for fresh produce."
The project has several prominent partners including the University of Michigan-Dearborn, University of Detroit Mercy and Forgotten Harvest, according to the RecoveryPark website.
Wozniak blamed some residents' concerns on the lack of results despite three years of discussions.
"There have been so many proposals and they don't see a shovel in the ground yet," Wozniak said.
State Rep. Maureen Stapleton, D-Detroit, attended a public hearing in June at the behest of skeptical neighbors. She hasn't taken a stance, but said fears are growing out of control.
"There's been lot of misinformation, a lot of hysteria," she said.
cmacdonald@detnews.com
[[313) 222-2396

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110819/...#ixzz1VTqqSzmZ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pcm

Speaking of SHAR:


Neighborhood skeptical of urban farming project

Suspicious eastsiders compare RecoveryPark to a 'plantation'

Christine MacDonald/ The Detroit News

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The Onion could do a daily article themed "Detroit Skeptics"

"Detroiters skeptical about urban farming"
"Detroiters skpetical about transit"
"Detroiters skeptical about amending city charter"
"Detroiters skeptical about Book Cadillac renovation"
"Detroiters skeptical about incentives"
"Detroiters skeptical about new plan to attract residents"
"Detroiters skeptical about Police Chief's policy on burglar alarms"
"Detroiters skeptical about plan for Whole Foods"
"Detroiters skeptical about plan to build port on river"
"Detroiters skeptical about Broderick Tower renovations"
"Detroiters skeptical about city council restructuring"
"Detroiters skeptical about city council status quo"
"Detroiters skeptical about school board platform."
"Detroiters skeptical about school board resignation."
"Detroiters skeptical about plan for new ballpark."
"Detroiters skeptical about casinos coming to city."
"Detroiters skeptical about Wayne State's plan to build dormitory."

etc. etc.

I've lived here 20 years and recognize that we have seen a lot of promises that don't turn to fruition. I also know that we have seen some changes for the better.

"English", in one of her more eloquent posts, refers to a low-grade PTSD that one gets after being raised here. I totally agree. My version of it is much weaker, since I was privileged enough to spend more time in the Catholic school system rather than DPS. But I know *exactly* what she's referring to because it wasn't until I got to school in Ann Arbor for college and remember thinking, "Wow...everyone here is so much less angry and jaded." "People here seem to be much more pragmatic and logical."

When I moved back to the city 3 years ago, a woman gave me the evil eye when I parked next to her in a public parking lot. I don't know if it's because of the color of my skin or because I was parking in "her spot" or what. But the message I got was, "I don't know you. I definitely don't trust you. And don't you dare cross the line or you will pay."

At first I thought, "WTF?!" Then I took a deep breath and imagined that whatever bad feelings I was experiencing in that moment had to be far, far better than whatever experiences drove her to be treating me like that.

Obviously, there is corruption in politics. And Detroit seems to attract more than its fair share of poor leadership. But the reality is that the problems facing this city are gargantuan in scale. It makes the fable about "3 blind men and an elephant" and puts it on steroids. You're talking about a city whose views are so diverse that it reads not just the Detroit Free Press and News but also Crain's Detroit Business and the Michigan Chronicle and [[gasp) the Michigan Citizen. Our problems are so massive that even your best-case-scenario is to take 5 steps forward and 3 back. No matter who is in the mayoral chair or the city council...there are large chunks of people whose suffering will not get better. There are entire neighborhoods of people who aren't educated enough to live functional lives in our modern world. These issues are not fixable in 2 years or 4 years and maybe not at all.

I think a level of healthy skepticism is not just normal, but powerful. But my gut feeling sometimes is that Detroiters take it to a level of paranoia. And that paranoia makes advancement like pushing a wet noodle up a muddy hill.

English, I think you're onto something with this PTSD theory, and we need to start finding solutions to heal from it, because we as a community need to work together and get moving to solve our biggest problems.

Can you imagine two extremely paranoid people in a simple transaction at a taco truck?

"I want your tacos but is that meat safe?"
"I'd tell you but I'm not sure the cash you're paying me with is real."
"Well I'm hungry but I think you're part of the ______ conspiracy to take my jobs/home/medicare."

All this time wasted while other cities and regions are busy doing business, using trade to advance and develop....

Long rant, I know. But any time I hear a story or read a post about how "so-and-so is skeptic about so-and-so", I just get fed up. What CAN WE DO TO HEAL from the low-grade emotional dysfunction and mental illness that pervades at a societal level?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by corktownyuppie

The Onion could do a daily article themed "Detroit Skeptics"

"Detroiters skeptical about urban farming"
"Detroiters skpetical about transit"
"Detroiters skeptical about amending city charter"
"Detroiters skeptical about Book Cadillac renovation"
"Detroiters skeptical about incentives"
"Detroiters skeptical about new plan to attract residents"
"Detroiters skeptical about Police Chief's policy on burglar alarms"
"Detroiters skeptical about plan for Whole Foods"
"Detroiters skeptical about plan to build port on river"
"Detroiters skeptical about Broderick Tower renovations"
"Detroiters skeptical about city council restructuring"
"Detroiters skeptical about city council status quo"
"Detroiters skeptical about school board platform."
"Detroiters skeptical about school board resignation."
"Detroiters skeptical about plan for new ballpark."
"Detroiters skeptical about casinos coming to city."
"Detroiters skeptical about Wayne State's plan to build dormitory."

etc. etc.

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A brilliant start to what has my vote for the post of the month... may I please quote you?

Somehow, metro Detroiters believe that we are unique. Is there a solution that has actually worked in many other cities? Oh, no! It won't work here! Why? Because we're SUPER DUPER SPECIAL. We had the auto industry, and no one else relied on one industry like us! Our black-white relations were worse than yours, Other City USA! You don't have the winters we do! We're too spread out for transit!

A ruined central city and a cookie cutter ring of gilded prosperity? Forever and ever?

Sure! That's how things are supposed to be! It's those other cities that are odd. Sure, our college-educated kids are moving to those places, but they'll be back when they want to raise kids!

It's sad, corktownyuppie. Personally, I think it's mass delusion. I believed all this stuff until I actually left Michigan and realized there was a big world out there. Perhaps what worked in other cities just might work here?

Well, let the naysayers say "nay," my friend. Let them point and laugh as we plant fresh seeds and build our city anew.

This article is pure Detroit. It starts by outlining the terrible quality of life in the neighborhood and ends with residents talking about leaving them "alone". They acknowledge their way isn't working but don't want figure out the root cause. Danny is kind of right sometimes, some people love their ghettohoods...
They waiting for Jesse Jackson to save the day? I'm still waiting for any idea's he has for helping Detroit..."crickets"...

I met some SHAR people once at the DYC. They were kind of holy-rollers, talking about alternatives to drugs and alcohol. I was like, "I'm going to the bar. See ya."