Woodward East was the name of the original plan to remake and save what latter became known as Brush Park. The project was a major recipient of the bicentennial money that came to Detroit from the feds, and was indeed run by Mayor Young's girlfriend of that time, Joyce Garrett. It was basically a scam, and, other than the aforementioned brick pedestrian malls and a few other dubious 'improvements', most of the money simply disappeared without a trace. When this missing money was noticed, the news was, as I remember, pretty quickly swept under the rug and all professed their ignorance of what hat happened to the missing funds.
As a result, the emptying out of what had been an occupied, albeit poor, neighborhood up until that time was set in motion. Historic houses were left empty and open on now closed streets that filled up with street people. People who were trying to rehab the old homes found themselves abandoned by the city, dangerously isolated, and without the funds they had been promised. And the whole thing turned into perhaps the greatest missed opportunity in a city whose modern history seems to be made up mostly of missed opportunities.
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