The Rise of Corktown

[BrushStart]

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...solid-base-for

There really isn't anything else to say.

[stinkytofu]

Call me a slappy, but the momentum Midtown/WSU/Wayne State, downtown, and Corktown are showing is really exciting.

[Homer]

The article states Greg Mudge purchased his Corktown building. Then quotes him saying he didn't want to sign a new lease.[[?)
Little bird says it's more about the landlord.

[DetroitPlanner]

The article states Greg Mudge purchased his Corktown building. Then quotes him saying he didn't want to sign a new lease.[[?)
Little bird says it's more about the landlord.

I just read this article and noticed this whoops too! Does he own it or not!?! Way to check facts Crain's editors!

[Fnemecek]

Call me a slappy, but the momentum Midtown/WSU/Wayne State, downtown, and Corktown are showing is really exciting.

Okay - you're slappy.

[DetroitDad]

Call me a slappy, but the momentum Midtown/WSU/Wayne State, downtown, and Corktown are showing is really exciting.

Agreed! I think Downtown and Lafayette Park have been doing alright as well.

[Danny]

ERIN GO BRAUGH! [[Ireland Forever) My family used to live in Corktown in the 1960s to 1990s just near Mexican Village. Keep Corktown alive and well.

[Planner3357]

The area really is coming along. I currently live right downtown, but when I am ready to purchase a home/condo, I am going to heavily consider Corktown. Now, if only I can convince the wife of the same.....I need to prove to her that this is a good place to live...my only concern is the school systems still....maybe private school is an option? I don't know.

[French777]

Well isnt a Cornerstone school opening up on the Tiger Stadium site?

[DetroitPole]

The area really is coming along. I currently live right downtown, but when I am ready to purchase a home/condo, I am going to heavily consider Corktown. Now, if only I can convince the wife of the same.....I need to prove to her that this is a good place to live...my only concern is the school systems still....maybe private school is an option? I don't know.

Most Holy Trinity. I guess for high school - Cabrini downriver? If you're really against Papism and you're loaded, you can do Waldorf or Friends School.

My main concern for the greater downtown area is that crime is still sky-high. Until it is brought to reasonable levels, no reason to get slappy.

Reasonable levels? No more broad daylight shootings of innocent people each week. Not too much to ask, and I don't care what anyone says about living in an urban area, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

[English]

It's the economy. The last time crime was like this [[and actually, even worse than this), I was a teenager and we were coming out of our last major recession. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, crime was seriously off the chain. People were getting carjacked and killed on a regular basis. My dad even foiled an attempted carjacking in our driveway in either '94 or '95.

Crime dropped in Detroit towards the late 1990s, and one of the reasons I believe it did was because the economy was better. 10-12 years ago, there was quite a bit of optimism about the city's prospects.

As I said at length on another thread, we can't just wish that crime would go down. We need proactive solutions and deterrents, and we need people to put as much effort into those as into urban gardening and microfinanced small businesses.

[HarperNottingham]

That's by no means a done deal.
The DEGC has yet to indicate its preference for any redevelopment proposal at Michigan and Trumbull.

Someday it may.
But when is anybody's guess.

[bailey]

Reasonable levels? No more broad daylight shootings of innocent people each week. Not too much to ask, and I don't care what anyone says about living in an urban area, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

Are there really THAT many random shootings of "innocent" people? seems like a pretty rare event when the victim is a stranger to the shooter.

[casscorridor]

Crime has little to do with greater Downtowns development issues. What is far more important issue is the lack of density, walkability, transit and ammenities. In fact, I'd say it is the most important issue.

Education, crime, employment and other issues will continue to be problems even as density/transit problem is solved, as seen in other major cities.

[rb336]

My main concern for the greater downtown area is that crime is still sky-high. Until it is brought to reasonable levels, no reason to get slappy.

Reasonable levels? No more broad daylight shootings of innocent people each week. Not too much to ask, and I don't care what anyone says about living in an urban area, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

What are you considering "greater downtown"? Do you have stats for the crimes in those areas that support the downtown is crime-ridden hypothesis?

[JStone]

Corktown is the single greatest neighborhood in all of North America -PERIOD.

RISE! RISE!

[fryar]

I was a little surprised by that statement about downtown as well, but maybe it's a question of what is meant by "greater downtown." Downtown always struck me as the kind of place you would get better services.

When English says things were bad during the Bush Sr./Clinton recession, were they as bad as now? My suspicion would have been that crime is worse now, as urban flight has continued and so on.

And yes, I plan on having a closer look at Corktown, one hears many good things about it on here [[even when one is only lurking for an extended period of time).

[fryar]

Crime has little to do with greater Downtowns development issues. What is far more important issue is the lack of density, walkability, transit and ammenities. In fact, I'd say it is the most important issue.

Education, crime, employment and other issues will continue to be problems even as density/transit problem is solved, as seen in other major cities.

I agree in general, which is why I favor improvements in downtown or the Woodward light rail even if an additional ambulance or two might prove useful as well. But those issues being addressed as well will surely make a difference to a lot of people's willingness to move to corktown, downtown, or Detroit in general.

[English]

When English says things were bad during the Bush Sr./Clinton recession, were they as bad as now? My suspicion would have been that crime is worse now, as urban flight has continued and so on.

Per capita violent crime was worse, but there were more people living in the city back then. I've lived in both Detroits, and the violent crime was worse back then. My guess would be that property crime is absolutely higher nowadays, but no one can tell me that the murder and attempted murder rate today is anything like the late 80s and early 90s. The crack years had to be lived through to be believed.

I'm having trouble finding stats at my fingertips, but here's one report:

"In Detroit, the crime rate tends to track closely with the unemployment rate. This can be seen when analyzing robbery and homicide rates over time. *One exception,however, is the homicide rate during the crack cocaine epidemic years, 1984-1990. The robbery rate shows a strong correspondence to the unemployment rate. The robbery rate usually increases the year following an increase in unemployment. The murder rate also trends with unemployment, but not as closely."

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...PEI4rcqfcxiuIw

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter if it's 1980 or 1990 or 2000 or 2010 in Detroit. The crime rate is unacceptable. And it ought to be addressed.

[EastsideAl]

Crime was far worse in the mid-to-late '80s and early '90s. The economy was terrible then too, but there was also the crack explosion which brought all sorts of violent crimes to our neighborhoods.

I remember one memorable night when some "Best Friends" came to empty out the house behind us with burning mattresses and automatic weapons. As bad as things can be in spots now, there's really nothing like that going on these days.

Crime was also worse I think during the '70s recession, which sadly coincided with a heroin boom.

[mwilbert]

It isn't important for this discussion, but if people are interested in a more recent version of the Detroit Crime Barometer than the one English posted you can find one here:

http://urbansafety.typepad.com/files...-sept-2010.pdf

[English]

^ Thanks, mwilbert. My question is this: why do people think that the Detroit of today is more dangerous than Detroit 1990? Even many Detroiters and recent ex-Detroiters believe this. My family is terrified at the prospect of me purchasing a home in Midtown or Corktown or Lafayette Park in 2010, but let me ride the DOT *and* go here-there-and-everywhere before curfew during the crack epidemic. It just doesn't make sense. I am in my 30s now and was in my teens then. What gives?

[mwilbert]

My question is this: why do people think that the Detroit of today is more dangerous than Detroit 1990?

I don't know the answer to this, but I will throw out five hypotheses, none of which I am at all convinced of--not only am I not sure they explain people's attitudes, I'm not even sure some of the underlying "facts" are actually true. This is strictly wild-ass guessing.

1) The media environment is different than in 1990, and crime is reported on more often and more sensationally than it was then.

2) Outlandish [[unmotivated, excessively violent, weird) crime is more common than it used to be, and peoples perceptions are disproportionately affected by outlying events. Also goes with the previous idea.

3) Crime in the most of the rest of the country has been falling faster than in Detroit, so even though crime rates in Detroit are falling, they are comparatively worse, and people's perceptions reflect that.

4) Crime is actually higher now, but either the police are not keeping the statistics properly or people aren't reporting a lot of crimes because they think it is pointless.

5) People are bigger 'fraidy-cats than they used to be, so they are less tolerant of the safety deficit in the city relative to other places, even though the city is safer now.

[DetBill]

I agree with comments said above, as a downtown dweller since 1988 [[ with the exception of 3 yrs in the burbs from 02-05), violent crime is way less that in those earlier years,, we were very used to it then [[ maybe just a bit nieve) but it was a common occurence to hear about murders etc downtown,, its now much less, generally car breakins/thefts/petty robberies is what we hear. Then that was very common also. For some reason we just accepted it then as a fact. I believe downtown crime stats arent that bad by any means from what I have seen from stats reports. We certainly have a far way to go and improve but our society seems to be crime burdened and the economy is a major contributor. We need to strive for improvement, and to those who think we are the only ones. Just pick up a cleveland and pittsburgh newspaper, Just got back from both places, murders in both places downtown, in pitts a man was killed in his auto repair garage downtown last week by an intruder who wanted his wallet. A fellow employee shot the intruder. This sad stuff goes on, and on..

[English]

Thanks, mwilbert. I guess I've got a soft spot for Corktown; I never lived there, but my dad worked at two places on the fringes of it. Mom met him @ Roosevelt, and he died 8 hours after his afternoon shift at the Main Post Office almost 20 years later. So while it's never an area that I've lived in, it's one I know a little bit.

Still not over the loss of Tiger Stadium, though... I don't think I'll ever get over what was done.