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Density of Vacant Lots and City-owned Property
Ultimately, it seems that the City of Detroit becomes the owner of the the city's most vacant areas. This map attempts to illustrate this point. Look at the close correlation between the areas with the...
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Michael Kelly & Matthew Tatarian
Detroit faces serious challenges from property speculation. Investors such as Allen Shiffman, Matty Moroun, Michael Kelly and Matthew Tatarian often buy property from the city and county at steep...
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Michael Kelly & Matthew Tatarian, Continued
This map may offer more concrete evidence of Michael Kelly and Matthew Tatarian's business model. This map, created using SEMCOG and City of Detroit Assessor data, shows the properties owned by Kelly...
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Detroit's Liquor Stores
According to liquor license data provided by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, Detroit leads the state in liquor sales and active liquor licenses. Not only does Detroit have the most active...
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Last House on the Prairie
Journalists - and particularly out-of-town journalists - seem obsessed with the life of the city's most isolated residents. A typical news story about the city's developing right-sizing plan almost...
View ArticleStay Tuned
We're famous! The wonderful folks at model D featured this blog in last week's buzz section. I'm afraid I'm slightly tied up with work and school matters this week, so I'm unable to post, but be sure...
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Space-age Transit
In honor of Metro Detroit’s ongoing transit-planning process, this is the first post in a series looking at previous transit planning efforts. Although the city has a storied – and well-documented –...
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Grease and desist
Last week, the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine urged Mayor Bing to place a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in the city. This group repeatedly cited the fact that Detroit was home...
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Shutter ball
Forty-five years ago, bowling was a major part of Detroit life. In 1966, residents were so taken by the game that the City Council passed an ordinance – DCO § 38-5-5 – that specifically banned...
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The Food Grasslands of Detroit
Despite the successes of many of Detroit’s grocery stores, dozens of researchers, journalists and bloggers have helped brand Detroit a “food desert,” a place where residents cannot access fresh food....
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Preyday Lenders
Payday lenders – or “deferred presentment service providers,” as they call themselves – are painfully pervasive in the city. While 15 states have banned payday lending, Michigan embraced the payday...
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Ruminations on Rightsizing, Act I
In this first part of a series of pieces about Detroit’s evolving land use plans, I want to weigh in on the issue of population density. Issues based on this simple metric are at the core of the...
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The High Cost of Free Walking
“If you seek a plenty of parking, look about you.” While Michigan is home to 14,037,931 off-street parking spaces, well more than 5,000 of these are within a half-mile of Comerica Park. And while...
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