Daily Detroit News Byte

Welcome to the Hump Day edition of your Daily Detroit, in which we run down the news that businessman Roger Penske is pouring $5 million into the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood on Detroit's east side. It's part of the city's Strategic Neighborhood Fund. Jer also has a conversation today with Rob Sadow, the co-founder and head of Scoop Technologies. It's a carpooling app that connects drivers, riders and designs routes. They've teamed up with the Bedrock family of companies to help employees ease their commuting and parking woes. Could carpooling be a thing in Detroit? Pretty interesting question in a region without comprehensive mass transit and long commutes, often to a central downtown. We also discuss two other bits of news: A Detroit charter school connected to an investment fund run by tennis star Andre Agassi is closing, another example of Michigan's dysfunctional charter school system [Chalkbeat Detroit] And Detroit could get a whopping 60 new liquor licenses [Crain's] Thanks as always for listening

Baker's Keyboard Lounge and, more recently, the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe in Grosse Pointe Farms are famed venues for jazz in Detroit. But another venue played a huge role in that scene for decades: the Blue Bird Inn. Located at 5021 Tireman on the city's west side, the Blue Bird Inn was a major nexus of Detroit's swinging post-war, pre-Motown jazz scene, a black-owned business that hosted the likes of Charlie Parker, Donald Byrd, John Coltrane and Miles Davis and playing a role in developing local talent like Yusef Lateef as well. It's been closed and abandoned for years. But after being purchased recently by the Detroit Sound Conservancy, it's poised to make a comeback. On today's episode, we speak with DSC founder and director Carleton Gholz all about the past, present and future of the Blue Bird Inn. The nonprofit plans to seek more grant funding to renovate the buiding, with the goal of eventually reopening it as a jazz club and housing its own headquarters there as well. Thanks for listening to Daily Detroit.

Welcome to a Car-a-Palooza edition of your Daily Detroit. Today, we dive into the news that Dan "Dantroit" Gilbert is lining up a petition drive effort to force the issue of reforming Michigan's no-fault auto insurance system. If successful, it could allow Republican lawmakers, who already have passed essentially the same proposal, to approve it with simple majority votes. Will this ratchet up pressure on Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and lawmakers to cut a deal? Staying with cars, Ford employees came to work Monday to an email in their inboxes from CEO Jim Hackett outlining plans to whack 7,000 white-collar job cuts by September. And we discuss Michigan Auto Law's list of the most dangerous intersections for 2018. We run down some non-cars stories as well: The University of Michigan might open a manufacturing R&D center in Detroit … on the #FailJail site? [Crain's] Livonia could get Aloft and Element hotels as part of a proposed six-story development. [Hometown Life] Madonna University broke ground o

Detroit's had a long journey since it was founded as a frontier outpost by the French. There's been a lot of books about more recent Detroit history. Think 1900 forward. But not so many that look at the first years of Detroit, ones that were formative to the city we know today. R.J. King — an award-winning journalist, author and editor of dBusiness — joined me in the studio today to talk about his new book, "Detroit: Engine of America." From the description: As the populace sputtered and grew, they developed the machinery and skilled trades that produced in volume wagons, stagecoaches, steamships, hearths, locomotives, boxcars, furniture, stoves, equipment, marine engines, pharmaceutical drugs, and finally, the horseless carriage. Detroit's grit and brawn ignited what is the first city in the Midwest, ingenuity and self-sufficiency thrust it on the world stage. R.J. King So if you're into Detroit history and the "how" of Detroit happened and found success, have a listen. If you're interested in the book, you

On today's episode, we speak with Casper van Alfen and Joanna van der Leun of the Motown Movement. That's the organization founded by architecture students from the Netherlands that bought an abandoned home in Detroit for $1,000 and have been fixing it up with the help of local nonprofits and with the goal of making it into a model of accessible and affordable environmental sustainability. Van Alfen and Van der Leun are students at Delft University of Technology in Delft, which is about halfway between the Dutch cities of The Hague and Rotterdam. They talk about how sustainability fits with an impoverished city where many residents worry about more fundamental economic issues of survival, what they've learned about Detroit since they've been here, and some setbacks they've suffered along the way. And yes, the project has even survived an arson fire. Appropriate for something in Detroit where our motto is, "We hope for better things; it shall arise from the ashes." It's an interesting conversation about an int

Gerrymandering — the practice of drawing state legislative and congressional districts to favor one political party over another — is back in the news. Republican state lawmakers are proposing measures to weaken efforts to overhaul the process by which these maps are drawn. That's despite a recent judicial order to design new district maps for 2020 and voters' approval last fall of Proposal 2, which transfers the process to a redistricting commission. But old habits die hard, as they say. So Jer talks Gerrymandering. Also on today's show: The hulking McLouth Steel plant on the Detroit River in Trenton is now a federal Superfund priority site, making it eligible for federal dollars for environmental cleanup. Authorities raided the home of Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith over possible misuse of public forfeiture funds. Developers recently broke ground on the construction of the new Oakland County Business Center, which will rise on the site of what is currently the Summit Place Mall in Waterford Township.

Welcome back to the week! There's a lot in our latest episode. Let's dive in. - The Ilitch organization will receive another $74 million dollars in taxpayer subsidies for the District Detroit.  - John Beilein is leaving his job as coach of the University of Michigan Men's basketball team to take over as head coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. - Hazel Park is set to get a new mixed-use mid-rise development on the site of a former CVS and Movie M ania store on John R as part of a vision to create a walkable downtown district.  - A new microbrewery might be coming to Livonia. - The Hello Kitty mobile cafe is coming back to Metro Detroit, this time in a new location. - Freep Columnist Rochelle Riley is joining Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's administration to promote and grow arts and culture in the city. - And, we talk about the preview of the beautiful Monarch Club on the roof of the historic Metropolitan Building.

Today we're taking a look at a company that's making high-end leather goods right here in the city of Detroit, putting Detroiters and veterans to work. We're talking about Pingree Detroit, based just about a block away from the well-known Shinola. Pingree is a worker-owned company formed as an L3C — a special type of company that puts both the bottom line and the social mission of the company first. And when there's profits, 77 cents of every dollar is shared with the workers. Pingree founder Jarret Schlaff and our Sven Gustafson toured the facility and talked about the project, the sacrifices made to create a worker-first company, the ups and downs of business and the optimistic view Jarret has for the future. The company was founded after meeting jobless veterans in the city. You can find out more about Pingree and shop their shoes, bags and other stuff at their website. Love what we're doing at Daily Detroit? Support us on Patreon. Having reader support allows us to tell the on-the-ground stories like this

Como's, a longtime mainstay of downtown Ferndale, has been reimagined by Chef Zack Sklar. The chef is doing something really cool in elevating pizza and having some creative takes on some old favorites. But, really, how good is it out of the gate?  Join us on the podcast for an unbiased first look at the place with one of our contributors, Randy Walker. Please don't treat this conversation as a full review as places need some time to get their legs under them, but it is one of the hottest tickets in Ferndale.  And yes, you should check this place out. Also, Ferndale has some great patios. We talk about those, too.  We have pictures of the tasty dining adventure up on Daily Detroit.  If you enjoy what we do here, be sure to support us on Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit.  

Good Wednesday afternoon, and welcome to a super Detroit-y edition of your Daily Detroit. Today, we walked over to the Avenue of Fashion, where Mayor Mike Duggan came to speak about the streetscape redevelopment of a roughly 1-mile section of Livernois to calm traffic and make the commercial district more attractive to pedestrians and, hopefully, prosperous to business owners. Construction crews were already at work demolishing the 13-year-old median added by now-imprisoned former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Plans call for narrowing traffic to one lane in each direction, adding 24-foot-wide sidewalks to encourage more outdoor cafe seating, and adding sidewalk-grade bike lanes separated from the road by parallel parking spaces. All good. But reporters at the groundbreaking announcement wanted to talk about the controversy swirling around Duggan and his ties to the Make Your Date nonprofit. The Freep reports today that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is looking into the nonprofit's fundraising activities. So

Detroit: A great bike city, or the best bike city? We dive into that superwonky argument in the wake of Detroit's abysmal showing in PeopleForBike's annual rankings of the Best Cities For Bikes in 2019. Detroit scored a lowly 1.6 out of 5 stars, the same as 2018, despite all the work that's been done to install protected bike lanes, bike traffic counters and other bike-friendly infrastructure improvements. Ferndale and Ann Arbor both scored higher, at 3.0 stars each. But the organization's methodology spurred a rebuttal piece by Todd Scott over at Detroit Greenways Coalition. Who's right? We talk about it. Also on today's show: Detroit's new streetlights are already going dark, adding to a familiar narrative about the city with broken streetlights. Republicans on Tuesday approved a bill that would reform Michigan's no-fault auto insurance system, despite objections from those radical leftists at the Michigan Health and Hospital Association. The bill now heads to the state House. And we offer our suggestio

What is it with Greektown and the rise in shootings lately? We talk about that in the wake of another shooting late Sunday that injured two, though not critically. For years, the retail district was an example of safety and vibrancy in an otherwise dead downtown, but even though it's still technically a vibrant neighborhood — albeit much less Greek than it used to be — it's increasingly a scene of violent crime. Here's what else we're talking about on today's show: Longtime Red Wings GM Ken Holland is leaving Detroit for the Edmonton Oilers It looks like the city of Detroit has managed to assemble all the land needed for the new Jeep plant on the east side Beloved eatery Russell Street Deli is on the way out of Eastern Market in September following a dispute with their new landlord, Sanford Nelson We eulogize former Grande Ballroom owner and Detroit '60s counterculture figurehead Russ Gibb The first new U.S. built Great Lakes freighter in nearly 40 years is being built at a shipyard in Wisconsin And we run t

Between hiring a new head coach to replacing the turf surface at Keyworth, and preparing to embark on its first-ever season of professional soccer, 2019 promises to be the biggest, most important season yet for Detroit City FC, which plays its final preseason friendly on Saturday at the Flint City Bucks. On today's episode, we talk with soccer journalist, Outer Drive podcast co-host and Daily Detroit contributor Fletcher Sharpe about the Rouge's roster moves to date, the new coach, Trevor James, and some of the other changes fans will see at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck.

The HBO show "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" last week turned its lens on the District Detroit, the Ilitch family's mostly unrealized plan to redevelop 50 blocks as a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood between downtown and Midtown. Predictably, it did not go well for the Ilitches, who received $324 million in taxpayer assistance in exchange for what so far is the Little Caesars Arena, a Kid Rock restaurant and a couple dozen parking lots. Being opinionated on the subject, we talk about the episode, plus: 6:05 – An update on the progress of the old State Fairgrounds 6:45 – We break down the recent ruling from three federal judges that Michigan must redraw 34 congressional and legislative districts by Aug. 1 because they were unconstitutionally designed to favor Republicans. 8:07 – Jer interviews Detroit historian and civil rights author Ken Coleman about the life and legacy of Judge Damon J. Keith, a longtime federal judge and civil rights champion from Detroit who died Sunday at age 96. Also, as a heads up, ou

Today is a conversation with Howard Hertz, previewing the Detroit Music Awards that are happening this Friday. The annual event has been a lynchpin of the Detroit music scene for years. Hertz is not only the president of the foundation that puts on the event, he's an entertainment lawyer with a roster of clients that's a who's who of Detroit music. Here's that conversation with Sven Gustafson.

Because of disinvestment, changing demographics and the construction of the new bridge to Canada, the Detroit neighborhood of Delray is disappearing. Local author Karen Dybis is working to preserve that history. If she's successful, she could create a template for how the memories and stories of our entire city and region can live on for future generations. In this episode of the Daily Detroit podcast, we talk about her project and the importance of saving Detroit's memories. If you're motivated to help support it, the GoFundMe link is here.

Farmington Hills-based homebuilder Hunter Pasteur Homes says it plans to build 81 new housing units in Lafayette Park on five acres near St. Aubin and East Lafayette Street, right beside the Dequindre Cut. Called Pullman Parc, the units will be a mix of townhomes, park homes and corner flats, and they'll range from 620 to 3,500 square feet and run between $250,000 and $750,000. Hunter Pasteur has worked on the City Modern development currently under construction in Brush Park. They've teamed on this project with Detroit-based Broder & Sachse and Woodborn Partners. Also on today's show: Waymo, the self-driving vehicle division of Google parent Alphabet, said it will open a facility to install its hardware and software in Chrysler Pacifica minivans and Jaguar I-Pace electric crossovers in Hamtramck Investment bank UBS has opened an 11,000-square-foot office in downtown Detroit, its first in the city Plum Market will open an eatery in The Henry Ford Museum Longtime Eastern Market eatery Russell Street Deli

On your Daily Detroit for Monday, April 22, we dig into a proposal to develop part of Palmer Park as "Palmer Square," a mixed-use development featuring luxury condominium towers, "experiential retail" and futuristic architecture. We recently aired an episode looking into the city's nascent Detroit Exploration and Nature Center, which is being run out of the former golf course headquarters. The closed golf course figures to be ground zero for a lot of redevelopment proposals, but any such proposal is bound to face stiff opposition. Also on the show: We dive into the news that Baker College has abandoned its plans to build a new flagship campus in downtown Ferndale I discuss some of the highlights of covering the New York International Auto Show And the next episode of "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" will turn its focus to Ilitchville the District Detroit, another topic we've covered on this podcast. The episode airs at 10 p.m. Tuesday on HBO. 

The news on Good Friday in Detroit was that Steve Yzerman is returning to the Detroit Red Wings as General Manager. As we do, we like to bring someone who's really knowledgable and passionate about the sport we're talking about when we cover it on the Daily Detroit podcast. For hockey, that's Walt Barnes. He's a co-host of the In The Box podcast, a seasonal show focused on hockey also on the Podcast Detroit network. I hope you enjoy our conversation. -Jer  Of course, if you love the show, don't forget to tell a friend. It's the best way to push Detroit's conversation forward. And if you're feeling extra generous, we have a Patreon where you can become a member and support us. http://www.patreon.com/DailyDetroit.  

There's a new real estate development team in town and they have grand designs for a big chunk of property in Detroit's historic Milwaukee Junction. Today we're sharing with you that story. Who are they? And what are their plans for this building in an area that's gaining steam very quickly? Amelia Patt Zamir and Rakesh "Rocky" Lala envision a $20 million redevelopment plan for five vacant buildings totaling more than 100,000 square feet. Sven Gustafson met them at the property and has the story. There are also photos of the current state of the development and rendering of what is planned for the future on Daily Detroit. If you like the Daily Detroit podcast, be sure to tell a friend! And follow us wherever fine podcasts are found. It's totally free.