Saturday, August 11, 2012

Detroit Works Project, others, and you!


Detroit initiatives worth knowing:
1)  Detroit Works
[Important ongoing/upcoming events in motion] The Detroit Works project has the city municipality's attention and leans strongly toward economic revitalization.  It takes public recommendations, and would certainly benefit from balanced perspectives in community and environmental development toward comprehensive sustainability.

Schedule of events/strategic sessions (soonest August 14th at 2929 Russell Street the full schedule is in the link below, and pasted for viewing-purposes only at the bottom of this post):
http://detroitworksproject.com/engagement/how-to-engage/

2)  Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD) framework
Thomas Stephens, a long-time Detroit community advocate (he gave strong comments at last year's EPA Enviro. Justice conference) and policy analyst for the City pointed me to the Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD) framework, which outlines roles for community organizations and downtown development which are soundly informed by comprehensive principles of sustainability and existing visioning (earth charter, etc.):

CDAD Declaration (fair summary of principles, etc.):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/102398605/CDAD-detroit-Declaration-plus 
The Framework (Visioning--the big picture about what organizations fit in where)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/102632046/CDAD-Revitalization-Framework-2010
This was informed by local input and key principles to sustainable cities from "Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems" [see bottom of this post for the key points and book it came from], some Detroit groups were using these to guide their visioning efforts and city/community development plans.

The CDAD was supposed to do what the Detroit Works project strives to do now and had a lot of heart put into it but before it really got traction a change in City administration seems to have hampered its promotion and use.  From what I've interpreted from reading the CDAD, it leans more toward vision than direct recommended actions, but the conditions established in the document are important for the amount of consideration they give.  I'd recommend they be included in the Detroit Works plans.
Key points from Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems (8 pages of bullet points, etc):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/102626881/Cities-as-Sustainable-Ecosystems
The book from which it was sourced from:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19720427/cities-as-sustainable-ecosystems

Additional Detroit visioning initiatives:

At this point, I've counted and/or participated in four Detroit-shaping visioning events, I'm certain there are more that I'm missing.  I'm listing them here for any potential readers to consider and urge you to represent the insight from your experience as well as the insight found in these previous initiatives at the ongoing Detroit Works program.

The Engineering Society of Detroit Institute's Future Detroit youth symposium (Disclaimer: I was a facilitator there--middle school students from Detroit and Dearborn school districts came up with how and what they wanted Detroit to transform 30 years into the future. Their insight was very good, but I'm unclear if anyone followed up on the policy recommendations submitted to city administration garnered from this event.  Also, it's worth noting some important narratives were trimmed down for space concerns--some worthwhile ideas didn't make it into the final print but you can request the full drafts.):
http://bit.ly/FutureDetroitYouthSymposiumESDI

CDAD (mentioned above)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/102632046/CDAD-Revitalization-Framework-2010

Detroit Vision 2012 (I don't know what came of the event, but here's what the website says is their "takeaway" message from having it happen--I suspect the wisdom garnered from the event was a "you-should-have-been-there" case, all of the recommendations seem rather generic but the community organizations are accessible and continue to do substantial work):
http://detroit2012.org/news/takeaway/

Detroit Works (mentioned above):
http://detroitworksproject.com/

Good science considers all data, and authentic community input is no exception--I believe the time, talents, hope, and effort put into these initiatives are invaluable and should not be wasted.  With all due respect to the creators and contributors of these events, from an outsider's perspective, there seems to be a substantial disjoint between good community engagement and coherent plans for focused actions among the people responsible and capable of enacting insight.  Hopefully this will change.



The Detroit Works schedule:
Please call 313-259-4407 or e-mail Info@DetroitLongTerm.com.

Please come out and participate in any of the events listed below (note: all times below are in E.S.T.):

Open Houses will be hosted at the Long Term Planning HomeBase at 2929 Russell Street in August and September from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. with brief presentations at 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. The open houses will focus on Draft Strategies that relate to the following:
  • Tuesday, August 7: Economic Growth;
  • Tuesday, August 14: Neighborhoods;
  • Tuesday, August 21: City Systems, Infrastructure and Environment;
  • Tuesday, August 28: Land Use, Zoning and Urban Design; and
  • Tuesday, September 4: Public Land and Facilities.

  • August 9: Zion Chapel, 3000 24th St, Detroit, MI 48216
  • August 16: Highland Park Housing Commission 13725 John R.  Please note this event has been cancelled.
  • August 24: Boys and Girls Club, 20100 Schoenherr Street between E.7 Mile and 8 Mile Rd.

  • July 31;
  • August 7, 14, 21, and 28; and
  • September 4 and 11.

  • August 22
  • August 29, and
  • September 5.

Four Community Conversations about the Draft Strategies will be hosted between September 10 and September 14, 2012. They will provide another opportunity for Detroiters to connect with one another, learn about some Draft Strategies and provide their feedback. The locations and times are as follows:

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