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Today's episode gets into the need to increase Detroit's transit funding, and what advocates at Transportation Riders United (TRU) say is the path toward a better transit system in the city. Our guest is Joel Batterman of TRU. Key Takeaways: Discussing the DDOT Reimagined Plan: The city of Detroit released a plan in 2024 that would double the amount of bus service in the city, but it seems there isn't the funding for it. Frequent Transit: Advocates say that transit is considered “frequent” when a bus comes every 15 minutes, and that this is not always the case in Detroit's current system. Impacts of Inadequate Transit: Hear how a lack of reliable public transportation effects residents and limits economic mobility The Role of Funding: Discuss how Detroit invests less in transit compared to other similar metro regions, and hear more about a campaign to double the city's investment. What TRU says is needed: They'd like to see $150 million added to the current Detroit Department of Transportation budget. Links: Transportation Riders United: detroittransit.org Follow our work: On Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-detroit/id1220563942 Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.dailydetroit.com/newsletter/
The Detroit Fire Department is teaming up with the Detroit Department of Transportation and various other city departments to train employees and ensure municipal buildings and buses are equipped with automated external defibrillators, or AEDs. Plus, a federal court has dismissed all charges in a lawsuit Hamtramck Public Schools Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed filed against the teachers union. Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
Today on the Detroit Evening Report, we cover a new federal grant announced to make Detroit Department of Transportation bus fleet drive cleaner, next week's upcoming Concert of Colors and more. Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
The Detroit Department of Transportation announced this week that it has increased the daytime frequency of bus service on multiple routes throughout the city. Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to stop the redrawing of seven Michigan state House districts. Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
Detroit Department of Transportation bus drivers will receive a $3 per hour wage increase under a new deal announced by the city this week. Plus, the Gordie Howe International Bridge won't open for travel until fall 2025, months later than anticipated, officials say. Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
Charles Wilson joins Detroit is DIfferent to discuss the Detroit Department of Transportation bus system in the 1980s and 1990s. Wilson shares how as a Vietnam vet, he navigated beyond that to sustain his family. He shares stories from famous routes like Fenkell, Woodward, Dexter, and Gratiot. Wilson also opens up about how Detroit's poor busing route system kept many passengers from arriving to work on time. Learn the difference between Chicago, New York, and LA bus systems. The agreement between SMART bus and Detroit. It was an interesting and insightful interview with Mr. Wilson. Detroit is Different is a podcast hosted by Khary Frazier covering people adding to the culture of an American Classic city. Visit www.detroitisdifferent.com to hear, see and experience more of what makes Detroit different. Follow, like, share, and subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Sticher. Comment, suggest and connect with the podcast by emailing info@detroitisdifferent.com Find out more at https://detroit-is-different.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/detroit-is-different/376a90f3-d2bf-423e-9a68-4200e47753e8
Donna sits down with Detroit Department of Elections Official, Daniel Baxter. Daniel is also the Founder & CEO of the Dr. Ossian Sweet Foundation.
Detroit’s the crucible of the car in America, but the city is trying to make the streets better for the people who live here. That’s at the heart of a new program focused on those who walk, bike, take transit, or simply want their kids to have a safer neighborhood. On top of the nice-to-haves, the reality is that 100,000 Detroit residents who are old enough to have drivers licenses do not; and a quarter of households have no access to a car. Caitlin Malloy-Marcon joins me from the Detroit Department of Public Works to talk about it. You can find more about what they’re doing here: Website: http://www.detroitmi.gov/streetsforpeople Facebook: City of Detroit Department of Public Works Instagram: @Detroit_DPW Plus, stories to know around metro Detroit.
On today’s show, there is more Coronavirus news to update you on, plus other stories: Detroit is getting a better hold on the virus thanks to testing. But, the disease is spreading west, MLive has a great interactive map to show how counties near Grand Rapids are seeing an uptick in cases. Link: https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/05/eight-weeks-after-michigans-first-coronavirus-cases-an-animated-map-tracks-its-spread-through-the-state.html Mayor Mike Duggan says that Detroit’s three casinos will likely not be able to fully re-open until there is a vaccine. The TCF Center’s field hospital will be put on pause once the single patient that is there is discharged. The hospital will not be taken down, just in case of future waves. The temporary hospital at the Novi Suburban Showplace will remain open. Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said that police will begin to enforce social distancing and mask compliance. The controversial conservative Royal Oak City Commissioner Kim Gibbs is in the news again, this time for allegedly shoplifting from a local Meijer. General Motors has managed to have a profit for the first quarter, even though the pandemic has hurt sales. Most GM plants in the U.S. and Canada will restart production on May 18, 2020. And FCA is also set to reopen that week. The Old Rouge Steel Mill, which was part of Henry Ford’s former sprawling complex that opened in the 1920’s will fall silent this July. AK Steel announced in a warn notice to the state that it plans to shutter the steel mill and 343 people will lose their jobs. Michigan Medicine, which is made up of the U of M Health System, Medical School and Research facilities is laying off or furloughing 1,400 employees in the wake of reduced revenues due to the Coronavirus. Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller is suiting nine major disposable wipe makers because the “flushable” wipes do serious damage to sewer systems. The City of Detroit has a new Executive Director of Transit, C. Mikel Oglesby will oversee the Detroit Department of Transportation and the Detroit People Mover. The James Beard Finalists have been announced and a few of the finalists call Michigan Home. The popular Birmingham restaurant Hazel, Ravines, and Downtown has reopened with lobster rolls to go and a limited menu. You can order your lobster rolls here: https://www.hrd.kitchen/ Hudsonville Ice Cream has released two limited edition flavors for summer, American Fireworks and Blueberry Cobbler. Finally, the Detroit Kite Festival has created an online store where you can buy kites, apparel, and DIY kite kits. The festival is still tentatively scheduled for July 12, but that can change. Store: https://detroitkitefestival.org/kite-shop Like what we're doing? Find us valuable? Independent media requires independent funding. Join us as a member at http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit
On today’s show, more on what’s happening with this extraordinary and still-unfolding situation involving the Coronavirus. The Detroit Department of Transportation had to shut down bus service Tuesday. The good news is service returns at 3am. Governor Gretchen Whitmer finds herself in president trump’s twitter crosshairs over coronavirus. Plus, the state will temporarily allow curbside medical marijuana pickup for licensed patients. Snd Sven speak with Dayne Bartsch, the managing partner of Eastern Market Brewing and the new Ferndale Project about what he’s doing to try and ride out the disruption of being forced to close down beer and food service. Plus, we want to hear your stories. Email us at dailydetroit - at - gmail.com.
Today, we take you to Motor City. Once a symbol of the dynamic U.S. economy, Detroit, Michigan, has gone through a major economic and demographic decline since the 1960s. The drastic drop in population created acres of emptiness—vacant lots, abandoned buildings and food deserts. Detroit’s art scene is known for countering negative growth with a resilient DIY attitude. While locals respect and sustain the history of innovation in the place they call home, the gritty urban landscape has begun to attract newcomers. Creatives from other cities are heading here to seek affordable studios and fresh opportunities. Education is evolving along with Detroit’s cultural character. At Wayne State University, degree programs are increasingly geared toward next generation art and design. Students taking the course Design for Urban Mobility work with local entrepreneurs to solve design problems. Past clients have been Detroit Bikes and the Detroit Department of Transportation with the Rehab Institute of Michigan. In fall 2019, juniors and seniors majoring in Industrial Design join forces with Dazmonique Carr, founder of Deeply Rooted Produce. In our conversation with these emerging designers, we discovered firsthand the impact of an educational opportunity that invites students to make a difference. Responding to the call, they are enabling and supporting mobility throughout the city—with actionable ideas that promote self-sufficiency and health literacy. Wayne State—Designing for Urban Mobility is one of our 2020 Student Edition episodes. Sound Editor: Anamnesis Audio | Photography Monica McGivern, except where noted Related Episodes: SAIC—Imagining Tomorrow, OCAD University—Curating in the Digital Realm Related Links: Industrial Design, Wayne State University, Deeply Rooted Produce Design for Urban Mobility is a course offered through Wayne State University’s James Pearson Duffy Department of Art and Art History. Students taking the course consider a variety of questions of how products, spaces and experiences enable and support our mobility through urban space. Each semester—often through client-based projects—they explore four distinct but interrelated concepts of urban mobility: mobility and community, mobility and discovery, mobility and economic vitality, and mobility and social justice. Deeply Rooted Produce, founded by Dazmonique Carr, is a mobile market with a mission: to provide fresh fruits and vegetables sourced locally and support Detroit’s economy towards self-sufficiency and health literacy. The market’s purpose is to Increase access to healthy foods without sacrificing quality for affordability. DPR Promise: Provide H.E.L.P. (Health Education Literacy for People of Color) Siobhan Gregory, a senior lecturer at Wayne University, an industrial designer and applied anthropologist, living and working in Detroit. Her research focuses on the progress of a more human-centered design practice. In the business sector, she pulls from anthropological theory and methods to help organizations. The Student Edition began in 2019, with visits to art schools and universities in the United States and Canada, where we began recording voices of the future. In 2020, we present the first episodes in our Student Edition—conversations about creativity with emerging makers and producers. Given opportunities to explore and experiment, students are discovering how they can shape the world they live in. What issues and ideas spark their creative impulse?
From the publisher: Kenneth Charles Springirth (born 1939) is a United States author, activist, politician, guest-speaker, photographer, and railroad historian. Detroit's Streetcar Heritage is Ken’s photographic essay of the Detroit, Michigan, streetcar system. Replacement of slow moving horsecar service began with the opening of an electric street railway by the Detroit Citizens Street Railway in 1892. By 1900, all of the Detroit streetcar systems were consolidated into the Detroit United Railway (DUR). Following voter approval, the City of Detroit purchased DUR in 1922, becoming the first large United States city to own and operate public transit under Detroit Department of Street Railways (DSR). Between 1921 and 1930, DSR purchased 781 Peter Witt type streetcars. Although DSR purchased 186 modern Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) cars between 1945 and 1949, many streetcar lines were converted to bus operation. The last streetcar line on Woodward Avenue was converted to bus operation in 1956 with 183 PCC cars sold to Mexico City. Detroit's Streetcar Heritage documents the city's streetcar era plus scenes of the PCC cars in Mexico City, the Washington Boulevard Line which operated from 1976 to 2003, and the QLINE streetcar which opened in 2017 on Woodward Avenue linking Grand Boulevard with downtown Detroit. Martin’s interview with Robin Green was recorded on January 15, 2019.
Busy show for you podcast listeners today. Ford is laying off 1,000 employees at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant, but offering them positions in other Ford plants, with about half expected to take jobs at the Livonia Transmission plant. Meanwhile, GM is adding 1,000 jobs at Flint Assembly to make heavy-duty Chevy and GMC trucks. Those jobs will be offered first to workers affected by the looming closure of four plants in the U.S., including two here in the Detroit area. Elsewhere, Ferndale is doubling rates for all downtown metered parking starting April 1. That’s to help pay for the dot, the new $28 million mixed-use parking deck that just broke ground. We talked about that project recently with Ferndale’s assistant city manager, Joe Gacioch. The Ambassador Bridge will slash toll fares by $2, from $4.60 to $2.60, in both directions starting Feb. 18 Turning to buses, the suburban SMART bus system is proposing a new fare system that would eliminate transfers and bring fares in line with the Detroit Department of Transportation. You can email your feedback to publichearing@smartbus.org, or attend one of the following meetings: Wednesday, February 6Dearborn Transit Center, 21201 Michigan Ave., 5:30 p.m. SMART downtown offices, 535 Griswold Street, Suite 600, Detroit, 12 p.m. Thursday, February 7 Royal Oak Transit Center, 202 Sherman Drive, 5:30 p.m. Lots more in the show, and be safe out there with the ice tonight. Find Daily Detroit wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Don’t forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
This is your show for Tuesday, August 28th. - You can say goodbye to the familiar Green and Yellow stripes on Detroit buses. In a parking lot on Gratiot outside of Mike’s Fresh Market, the city of Detroit today unveiled new buses, new services… and a new brand for the Detroit Department of Transportation. We talk to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. - The redevelopment of the shuttered Northland Mall is proceeding — if slowly. Fox 2 News reports that crews have demolished the old Firestone car service center on the 125-acre property. - A market research and consulting company, Gongos, formerly based in Auburn Hills opened its new headquarters today in downtown Royal Oak, where it is moving around 120 employees. - A unit of Subaru plans to expand its R&D operations in Wayne County after winning grants from the state. - Ferne Boutique, a contemporary women’s clothing and accessory store, has opened in the New Center neighborhood of Detroit. Shianne Nocerini has the story. - An appearance by English industrial metal band Godflesh was enough to entice a couple to leave their 11-year-old daughter unattended at home in Houston while they made the roughly 1,300-mile drive to see the band at El Club last week in Southwest Detroit. Like the show? Don't forget to subscribe (it's free!) in Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or your favorite podcast app of choice.
This is your show for June 25, 2018: - The Detroit Department of Transportation plans a series of public meetings to share details and gather feedback about changes it plans to make to DDOT bus service starting in September. That’s when DDOT says it plans to start rolling out improvements to its 10 24-hour bus routes including Wi-Fi service, upgrades to bus stops, improved buses and easier fare payment. - A number of Detroit businesses won grants or interest-free loans totaling $1.2 million dollars over the weekend at Quicken Loans Demo Day. We're joined by Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC to talk about his experience winning his $50k award. - Detroit’s historic United Sound Systems recording studio is for sale for $1.5 million. The two-story 9,700 square foot brick house near Wayne State University and the New Center is said to be Detroit’s oldest and still-operating independent recording studio. - A restaurant roundup of Chick P and Clementina in downtown Detroit and the purchase price for Como's, which isn't so outlandish in Ferndale's hot restaurant scene - Fletcher Sharpe joins us as he does every week during the season for the Detroit City FC coverage of the week before and the week ahead. Of course, we also get into some World Cup discussions as well. - And, it's going to hot this weekend. Really, really, hot.