Quote Originally Posted by Detroitnerd View Post
I think we're always looking for silver bullets, you know? It's just so tempting to conclude that because Portland has bike lanes that if we lay down bike lanes the prosperity will follow. For instance, in Hamtramck, they streetscaped Joseph Campau and added bump outs and upgraded street lighting. The net effect hasn't been very impressive. In fact, the thoroughfare without any of those improvements, Conant, has exploded while Joseph Campau has seen a slight uptick.

Anyway, I think that to criticize the faddishness of urban planning is to do it a service. What's wrong with a conversation about what's good and bad, what's well-implemented and poorly implemented? Seems the more input the better.
The conversion was a proposal brought forward by the Midtown people and the DPW. Public input was solicited but none was received. Sometimes the apathy around here amazes me.

Regarding Silver Bullets, Detroit needs gold ones. Comparing Detroit that has suffered 60 years of de-industrialization to a growing city with lots of economic generators is not a solution. With every industrial job shed, the region loses 2-3 others through spin offs that the industry provided. Those spinoffs included everything from waitstaff to IT professionals.

We need to learn what has worked and more importantly what has not in similar places like Flint, Gary, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, who went down the rathole before we did.