http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...oods/95425396/
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I applaud the city planning department on their efforts to improve the Fitzgerald area. Poor planning, when much of this area was developed, is definitely to blame. If you look at a Google map of the area near Marygrove you will see that the side streets of Grove and Florence stop at Prairie. The remaining streets to the west, San Juan, Lilac, Tuller, Turner, and Woodingham are these super blocks that extend from Puritan all the way to McNichols [[Six Mile). That's a full half mile. If you notice the street configuration north of McNichols, there are three east-west blocks that intersect the north-south streets, allowing for easier walkability. In fact, the best walkability on the west side of Detroit in my opinion belongs to the streets bordering McNichols and Fenkell [[Five Mile) and Wyoming and Coyle. Puritan, which is 5 and 1/2 mile is a commercial strip so that those living between McNichols and Fenkell never have to walk more than two blocks to get to a commercial strip. The Fitzgerald neighborhood needs some east-west walk-ways to make up for the lack of appropriate side-streets.
This is the closest I've seen to a Comp Plan for Detroit. It's a good start.