about rapidly gentrifying urban outliers like Staten Island
or rapidly deconstructing clusters like the other 135.8 miles of Detroit.
Urban observers who can write are especially welcome
Sunday, May 12, 2024
BLKOUT Walls murals
Next Festival September 7 -17 2024
BLKOUT is a collective of black artists who are brightening up the North E nd, Highland Park and Downton. Their website https://www.blkoutwalls.com/muralmap states that
" BLKOUT Walls is an annual street art festival that activates the city of Detroit by bringing together art and community"
For instance, right next to the new Detroit Peoples Food CO-OP market (at 8324 Woodward)
is is the Turkey Grill (8290 Woodward) with this large mural with a title referring to the food available
Let me get umm…
By Sydney G. James&Ijania Cortez
My Favorite is the J Dilla tribute on Holbrook and Oakman
on the back side of the building is another BLKOUT mural " Matriarchy
artists go to do legal graffiti, have a party, and meet up. You can go too. It is located on one of the last cobblestone streets near the Jeffries. In fact, Forest street ends here, and Humboldt street is the cobblestone street. Skateboarders are waiting for the receiving docks to be fixed so they can run again.
The days I have visited, I got invited to a party later. SO the nice thing to do is go and bring some corn to roast, or bring some Gatorade. I am not sure about alcohol-Humboldt Forest is a privately owned space, and they want to avoid police, so not bringing anything that can be confiscated is a good idea.
It is quiet, like an art gallery, but outdoors. People do live nearby, so be respectful.
Food Deserts and the suprising effort to address the lack of fresh veggies
Organizations Evolve. Remember the Black Panthers? They scared conservatives and political establishment institutions: example :FBI.
https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro The Panthers were responsible for the Head Start Program which addressed kids not having breakfast before they go to school. It all started with a breakfast program in California and spread nationwide. http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/home/home.html
The government broke up the movement.
Now, in the 21st century, there are more movements against killing black men specifically, which the Black Panthers did not address. Black Lives Matters scares people because it is bigger than anything the Panthers managed to do. Like the Occupy Movement, it has evolved into smaller community efforts, not necessarily political, but practical. You would never know how new movements evolve, unless you were politically sophisticated and did not get your information from other people, but attended city meetings, or read articles from independent media like documenters.org or metrotimes.com.
LOCAL EFFORTS: ADDRESSING FOOD INSECURITY
Last year, Keep Growing Detroit says it had 60 CSA members: https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit-guides/csa-subscriptions-from-these-detroit-farms-are-like-mystery-boxes-of-locally-grown-produce-33305344
with half of the subscriptions going to Detroit families experiencing food insecurity in partnership with Black Lives Matter Detroit. Black Lives Matter Detroit pays for the families’ CSA subscriptions, and the boxes are delivered to their homes by volunteers. The effort by Black Lives Matter Detroit is addressing Food Deserts since there is no major chain supermarket in most neighborhoods in Detroit.
OTHER MOVEMENTS
As for the Occupy movement- it died. Even the effort called Occupy the House (fighting high-interest rates on Mortgages and unfair lending practices) died. https://detroitgetlucky.blogspot.com/2021/12/10-years-after-occupy-detroit.html
In Detroit this took on a special significance since it is the city that created a working wage, unions to protect that wage, and had plenty of housing that was later abandoned. This housing was in certain neighborhoods and salvageable. Occupy The House tried to address this. See the above link.
Renaissance City.Motown.Motor City.Arsenal of Democracy Detroit is ready for a Post Covid.Future
if you want to build it on an empty lot
2019
2011
2010
2008
The pictures tell a sad story but this is even sadder: Detroit charged its remaining citizens too much for their aging houses and cracked streets. They let the pensioner or that vet only drawing social security pay to the tune of 600 million dollars to make up for the short fall. The schools closed anyway. People of course walked away from their properties. Or Died in a cheaper place like the tiny southern town they originated from... So much so the city population was based on money from those no longer working :
The auction of properties improved. Rehabbed and ready houses hit the list. Foreclosures held by the city hit another list. Detroit Land Bank lists still needs improvement however. There are not enough people interested in buying a side lot to their property just to pay taxes on a Bigger Yard.
The links are here- Look for yourselves at the colored links. Just know that you need 25K in a Chase account just to start bidding. Unfortunately the houses in most of these auctions whether Rehabbed and Ready/Foreclosure or As is Lots/Derelict houses are in neighborhoods that are much more populated by housing valued well below your purchase. The following snapshot of a Foreclosure.com list tells me that 90K for a house is too much to pay in a residential neighborhood that does not have many mom and pops and no National chains nearby on a shopping avenue.
Tiny houses Anyone ? Yes for those socialized homeless . Detroit has done this already
Loosen up the provision that states only lots of 3000 square feet or more can contain temporary machinery and sheds to house materials used to re build. It makes sense to be able to store and watch your materials on your lot just like the big developers do. Authorize the Demolition czar to make sure no one overstays their shed welcome. The tools disappear form the property once its habitable by either a business or a household. RE-zone for more mixed use and the artists will come here , the creative, the next Genius who promotes middle class living standards because they could find the energy in Detroit.to make something so cool we have a new nickname.
Covid IS SO DREARY. Can't brighten up the landscape by creating more than just murals?? If it sounds like impatience it is because the possibilities depend on a change in how gentrification etc. is viewed. We are all in this together post COVID ,
We should not look at each other as Us and Them -but survivors who want to really build something NEW TOGETHER.
Not just writing. Planning to stick around to make it happen of course. After living in NYC you see the possibilities when you come back home. The meek do not have to inherit what is left...
3 Bean Mexican Crock Pot POLAR VORTEX SOUP heats up the home!
3 Bean Mexican Crock Pot
POLAR VORTEX SOUP
heats up the home!
You can sub things in this recipe and it will still work
as long as you stick to the same measurements and ethnicity
For instance I used pork breakfast sausage I just had to roll it into little balls and brown it first. But I could also use ham. 12 ounces is 12 ounces unless you want it really meaty. Go for 16 ounces then.
The Recipe
12 ounces pork sausage
2 fourteen ounce cans reduced sodium chicken or beef broth
1 fifteen ounce can of black beans rinsed and drained
1 fifteen ounce can of garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
1 eight ounce can of lima beans
2 tablespoons of Trader Joes Chipolte Sauce
1 cup of frozen broccoli or any frozen vegetable
1 cup of diced sweet potatoes
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon organic oregano
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Brown spices in a fry pan with some oil / Do not let the spices smoke / put spices to the side
Brown the sausage in the same pan after removing spices to cool/ drain the fat
Put spices and browned sausage in the crock pot. If you are using ham or other meat make sure it has been partially cooked
Stir in the soup broth black beans, garbanzo beans , lima beans or any other beans you want to use Rinsed and drained .
If you use canned pork and beans (keep the sauce for pork and beans)
Add the potatoes (you can use frozen hash browns)
Add the frozen vegetables or you can use stewed tomatoes and one 1/2 cup of chopped green or red bell pepper . Frozen corn is very Mexican/ whereas frozen okra would be African. In any case KEEP the oregano and if you want less smoky taste use chili powder which is a little hot. You can sub sriracha for the chili powder still using 1/2 teaspoon.
Finally... Cover your crockpot creation and cook on low setting for 4-5 hours . This is how the flavors blend by simmering at this rate of 209 degrees and ending around 340 degrees after 4-5 hours. It is not boiling !!!.
If you have no crockpot and are cooking on the stove top you are still following the 209 - 340 degrees. So yes you need a cooking thermometer.And yes the meat needs to be browned/partially cooked first.
For this soup it will eventually bubble at this temperature. It is not a true boil at 340 degrees Farenheit/100 Celcius.
However you will have to often stir a stove top pot at this temperature so that nothing burns at the bottom of the pan.
There is one advantage to the stove top- the house will heat up and smell good for about 4 to 5 hours . There is no high setting for stove top cooking it is meant to simmer -- not boil.
In a crock pot leave the lid on and let it cool down enough so you can transfer it to a container that will withstand refrigeration . With a stove top method, you are simply putting a cooler pot into the fridge.
Series: Food Map of Detroit –the non gentrified version part 1 of a series
Food Map of Detroit –the non gentrified version ???What does that mean the non- gentrified version? Well lets explore all the food venues that hung in there after the factory closed,a la Detropia Like that bar that stillmakes soul food and has Live Jazz
SOme of these places are using locally sourced gardens now. Some of this is organic, but all of it requires that you walk some / ride the Dequindre cut – to burn some calories. What is so bad about that?
Motor City Soul Food is in the hood where I grew up. NorthWest Side, not far from the old Jewish Community Center. This place reminds me of New Years Day at my Aunts- Hopping John ,(Beans and Rice) , Chitterlings , mac and cheese, Collard Greens, fried chicken, potato salad, cornbread, pies, yams … like a church picnic
joint was not here…It was fun coming back to the hood – I knew the old Karps Drugstore was gone and Tom’s Tavern was still serving suds … if you like dives do stop by …7 mile near Wyoming
Do not be surprised by the plexiglass, you get your food and take it home of course. Why ? It is enough to spend $$$ on the rent/mortgage and the supplies and the food – which is why the place has not changed to satisfy those who need furniture … You should be cool, be hip and buy the product, then take your butt home.
I wonder how to live next to something that needs to be restored or torn down.... I would prefer more tiny house projects developed for the formerly homeless and more avant garde approaches to using space once land is cleared. Detroit is not ranked high in healthy walkable neighborhoods. I do not know if its the design /crime/or car culture that makes this place diabetes central.But one thing I do know- Detroit could be the Number One 21st century city of the future. Not suburban, not urban, not inner, not outer but something for all . I call it NeoUrban. A new living arrangement of people , living in connected neighborhoods. Connected walkable, safe with light rail for distances over 2 miles. See this fantasy transportation map?
Disclosure: I write a blog called diabeticslifeline.com I know that diabetes is managed by walking...
Also
My blogging is affected by the following --- I can dream of better things.
I was a kid growing up in a faux Cape Cod with a covered porch / Fixer Upper in Conant Gardens ...I used to look out my window over the city and imagine what it would look like with less houses, and winding lanes and lamps twinkling through the zillion trees. I saw the ravages of Dutch Elm disease, and left before the center fell @ 1985 for NYC. I am now back in Detroit with a unique perspective ...Isn't strange that I could see this city laid out differently years before it actually ended up with less houses?
So put in the twinkling lanes and zillion trees but add houses people can afford till death if need be...A thought : Once the mortgage is paid WHY can't we keep the taxes down? According to what I have been seeing since I left the very expensive East Coast and gentrified precincts of greater NYC ,
Detroiters pay way more than their houses are worth. I live in Oakland county and its also crazy here- we in Oakland are often paying more taxes than owners in Brooklyn Heights mansion owners who are blocks from the Riverfront with that crazy quintillion dollar view...
WHY SO MUCH $$$$ for Less in Mitten Land???????????
If the house is tiny /the taxes should be tiny -until your time is up! if only they would Chant this in the streets.... -regenerate cities- go tiny /rise up Detroit/time to be shiny/lets go people/lets be lively Disclosure: I have seen the marches in Buenos Aires circa 2003 - 3 points This is what will it take to deliver some fairness to the 99%-
Try to sell so that Tiny houses paid in full (no mortgages ) and at the same time , homeowners of tiny houses billed yearly for taxes held to a rule of 15 % of the occupants future earnings(social security, etc) No Increases!!
Use the 15% taxed of all homeowners of green/tiny houses for only 1 thing -the $$$ pays for school ... other taxes levied from other possible sources go to other structural needs of a city , and are subject to legislation
Social Contract of the Neo-urban city: All house taxes Must support the Year Around school for anyone who wants to learn (Mandatory 1-12 grades) . Learning as facilitated by Free Internet will be made available for all future generations to be educated to a BS or BA level Just make it non negotiable and not something voters wrangle over : Millages are stupid.
The third coast is the trendsetter for the rest of the country, and Detroit is the neo-urban leader...
Why should Detroit go tiny since NYC is not going tiny ? East Coast Cities like NY are going up (not tiny...) NY is building above existing buildings like Bladerunner - using the air space . (Maybe has to do with the rising ocean...) See the picture below??. I lived right around the corner from this house in Brooklyn . The other boros: Staten Island, Queens, The Bronx& Brooklyn are not as overbuilt as Manhattan .The possibility of space sans demolition makes these areas open to experimental container green housing. Puerto Rico take note ...Cheaper and Hurricane Proof Housing is available using your imagination and going tiny with railroad containers -cheaper than traditional materials (and can be installed quickly...before the next hurricane season......
see the video below in Williamsburg Brooklyn
(I lived near here in 2011, and passed by it often...)
If tiny is the new black then Square feet is the new bitcoin - unpredictable income equals instability for fboth the 1% and the 99 %.
Why spotlight Diana and Aretha ?
Entertainers make $$$ until they do not -which is when the entertainment is no longer hot, and enters a nostalgic phase. That is when the downsizing should occur - 2 homes and a lot can be a bit much- no?
Having a lot in Palmer Woods off the Golf course is also sensible.
Having a home in Bloomfield Hills is also sensible.
But not being able to maintain all three at the level of no worries would be the goal, especially as one gets older and works less. Something has to give. Guess what is teetering/ hovering above the swirling edge of the default drain? Guess where the property of the stars is that requires a Small infusion of liquid money in order to keep it off the Taxman/Auction list?? 18281 Hamilton Avenue- 1 house from 7 mile is just a cute lot Only .58 of an acre - the right size to put a tiny home cluster of 2 or 3 homes
and give some formerly homeless a chance to start anew ...not too far from the University District and the 8 mile border- Relatively safe- near the 12th precinct police station also. One less thing to worry about, and an opportunity to do good...
Aretha's Lot......Could look like thisProject called True North Near Wayne State University
in any case, the lot is around the corner from the
Frank Lloyd Wright home on 7 mile:
The Dorothy H. Turkel House is a private residence located at 2760 West 7 Mile Road in north-central Detroit, Michigan, within the Palmer Woods neighborhood. - wikipedia
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