Adolph Mongo is a Detroit-based political commentator.
By Adolph Mongo
Detroit’s bankruptcy is wrapping up. The sales pitch has begun. Detroit is back. It’s becoming “world class again.”
Not so fast.
While Gov. Rick Snyder and Mayor Mike Duggan are patting themselves on the back, there’s still a lot more work to be done, particularly in the neighborhoods.
Sure, Dan Gilbert and Mike IIitch may be the big hitters, who deserve praise for their developments. But we need to look beyond Midtown and downtown if we truly want the city to succeed.
The real work now needs to be done in the neighborhoods, improving housing, opening businesses, lighting up the streets.
We need to encourage developers and investors to gentrify neighborhoods all around the city. “Gentrification” shouldn’t be a dirty word.
Right now, we’re seeing a little sparkle of hope. I call them the urban pioneers, individuals and businesses, unsung heroes if you will, who fly under the radar and are developing housing and commercial properties in blighted and crime-ridden parts of Detroit.
There’s folks like Mark Leipsitz and wife Kathy Makino-Leipsitz of Malino Construction and Eric Means of the Meansgroup, who are quietly going about their business of turning old abandon buildings into spacious living quarters and office space for business and retail use.
There’s also the Woodward Garden Development. It transformed an old blighted block on Woodward into an oasis of offices, a theater, restaurants and apartments.
For full disclosure, I’ve done some public relations work for some of these firms in the past. But I feel remiss if I didn’t at least mention them and give them their due, with hopes that other developers will join in and look beyond the glow of downtown and Midtown.
The efforts of these folks haven’t always been without challenges. Malino Construction and the Means Group have come up against critics who have been skeptical about the projects and thought they were getting involved in no-win situations, trying to transform blighted, high-crime neighborhoods into welcoming ones.
But Malino Construction has forged ahead. In Palmer Park, for example, the company is refurbishing 14 dilapidated buildings and vacant lots. Buildings that would ordinarily have been slated for the demolition block or left to rot away have been rescued.
In all, the firm has developed more that 2,500 apartment units in deserted neighborhoods around the city.
I’m not advocating that we ignore downtown, particularly when it comes to reviving old abandoned buildings. Gilbert can’t do it all.
Eric Means of the Meansgroup has battled for the rights to develop the old abandoned Metropolitan Building on John R. There were folks who wanted to tear down the building and turn it into a park.
But Means has been relentless in getting the project off the ground and has spent thousands of dollars to stop bricks from falling. He also is removing the graffiti that has been on the building for over 40 years. Work on this building is scheduled to start in early 2015.
That being said, we can’t lose focus on the great need to target neighborhoods for development.
I remember on May 1, 2003, former President George W. Bush, speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln when he declared: “Mission Accomplished”. Now 11 years later, the United States is still fighting an ongoing war in Iraq.
Duggan and Snyder recently rejoiced over the deal in bankruptcy court, and talked about very promising days ahead.
But “Mission Accomplished” will ring hollow so long as the neighborhoods in Detroit are treated like an afterthought.
