Props for Pingree

[buildingsofdetroit]

http://freep.com/article/20091128/NE...st-to-fix-woes

Does ol' Potato Patch Pingree's plan for 1894 Detroit have a chance of fixing 2009 Detroit?

[jtf1972]

The author sure took liberties with Pingree's history... He was NOT elected on a "reform program dedicated to rooting out rampant corruption." He was a wealthy and popular businessman who had a reputation for fairness. He was asked by fellow Republican businessmen to be the candidate due to his popularity, and that they felt as one of them he would be better for their business than the corrupt Democrats that had a lock on City Hall [[and the patronage positions that came with it.) He won due to a new strategy of keying on ignored voting blocks like the Poles. Once in office he became a man of the people, pissing off quite a few of his former friends as he was not the pawn they thought they set up for office.

Yep, I'm a fan of Ping!

[buildingsofdetroit]

He's on Facebook, ya know:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hazen-...ee/21547537855

[Fury13]

I believe that Bing, in interviews, has already discounted the concept of urban farming as a plan that could help Detroit.

[Corktown Mark]

there was an outstanding book about Detroit and Hazen Pingree.
Reform in Detroit: Hazen S. Pingree and Urban Politics [[The Urban Life in America Series) By Melvin G. Holli.

[Stosh]

I believe that Bing, in interviews, has already discounted the concept of urban farming as a plan that could help Detroit.

I think he's right. Unfortunately any plan like that depends largely upon people to actually do something proactive to help themselves. Can you see anything like that happening now outside of the few gardens like Georgia Street? Do the majority of people have the initiative or the means to do this independently as it happened in Pingree's time? Is it happening now, even in the smaller scale of their own backyards?

And I'm not talking about your average gardener that does it now anyway. I'm talking about the people that need it most, the poor, and the working poor. I think a good focus would be to educate them in what needs to be done, maybe have a guy with a rototiller contracted in to do plots in people's backyards, vacant fields. Sounds like a good job for a nonprofit...

[buildingsofdetroit]

I believe that Bing, in interviews, has already discounted the concept of urban farming as a plan that could help Detroit.

According to this Bing interview in the Freep, he's either changed his mind or you got him wrong. [[http://freep.com/article/20091129/OP...s-20-year-task)

Quote: "Urban farming also has to happen. I think you'll see us, in 2010, moving in that direction."

[MichMatters]

I think a good focus would be to educate them in what needs to be done, maybe have a guy with a rototiller contracted in to do plots in people's backyards, vacant fields. Sounds like a good job for a nonprofit...

Well, you just kind of said it, yourself. There is not initiative, because most folks wouldn't even know where to start. That's why, yes, educating the city on urban farming would go a long way. Who knows if it'll take off, but unless someone gets out there with a systematic plan to take this city-wide, I don't see how it can even have a chance to. It sounds like a good job for a non-profit, but I also think the parks department could pitch in spreading the word, or the city government, in general, much in the same way Cockrel hoped to educate on recycling by starting a pilot program before he was voted out without the plan being fully realized or fully carried to fruition.

Buildingsofdetroit, I do hope Bing isn't just blowing smoke, and this will be yet another thing that gets put on the backburner. These are not silver bullets by any means, but that doesn't mean they aren't essential pieces of the puzzle.

[Stosh]

Well, you just kind of said it, yourself. There is not initiative, because most folks wouldn't even know where to start. That's why, yes, educating the city on urban farming would go a long way. Who knows if it'll take off, but unless someone gets out there with a systematic plan to take this city-wide, I don't see how it can even have a chance to. It sounds like a good job for a non-profit, but I also think the parks department could pitch in spreading the word, or the city government, in general, much in the same way Cockrel hoped to educate on recycling by starting a pilot program before he was voted out without the plan being fully realized or fully carried to fruition.

Buildingsofdetroit, I do hope Bing isn't just blowing smoke, and this will be yet another thing that gets put on the backburner. These are not silver bullets by any means, but that doesn't mean they aren't essential pieces of the puzzle.

The money isn't there for that to happen, at least through the city.

There is funding through the USDA for a few potential funding sources.

http://attra.ncat.org/funding/

I like the Yes to Carrots seed fund.
Objectives


The Seed Fund’s aims to provide:

• A community facility to grow organic fruits and vegetables season to season e.g. a greenhouse, garden or vegetable patch.
• The seeds required to grow, harvest and/or sell organic fruits & vegetables in the local community
• Environmentally-sound farming systems to grow crops [[water, germination, composting, pest-control, etc.)
• Follow-up mechanisms to ensure the project is well-maintained and lives up to the spirit of the Mission
• A sense of community

For more information on the How to Get Started, click here.

[kathy2trips]

Unfortunately, Melvin G. Holli's book has been out of print for some time. [[It was published in 1969.) I did see a used one on amazon.com.

I love Pingree: what a great character and a great mayor. He's just so Detroit....albeit an Edwardian Detroiter, but one of us nevertheless. Plus, he was a Republican. [["a-hand-not-a-handout" Republican). He loved that he looked like a dead ringer for King Edward VII. I wish we still had his store on Gratiot...it was beautiful. Quite a guy, that Pingree!

Another of Holli's books, The American Mayor: The Best & the Worst Big-City Leaders is too pricey for me [[$68.00) but more current and gives a good primer on Pingree and his approach to civic government.