loving Midtown

city life is good… walked down to the Catholic Church to give out groceries, then headed to the bank to deposit a check… thought about going to Starbucks but instead walked north to get something with more substance (Mcdonalds?)… ended up at the Detroit Historical Museum and then back home… the best thing about all that is that i traveled to all those places on foot!!!

living in Midtown is great… and the longer we’ve stayed here, the better it’s gotten… a handful of retailers have moved into to the area (Thai restaurant, Cell phone sellers, Starbucks, FedEx Kinkos) and i imagine that only more will be coming… it’s prospects like that, along with the ones in Downtown, that make living in Midtown exciting… i’m interested to see what it’ll be like in 5 years around here… one of the great things about Midtown is that it has 3 good museums (2 of which are outstanding)… we’ve been here for about a year and i’m a little bummed because i haven’t even taken advantage of all this area has to offer… i’ve been to all the museums, but not all the galleries and haven’t been to the Orchestra Hall or seen a play done by the WSU theater folks, nor have i seen a show at the Majestic or bowled at the Garden Bowl…

well that settles it, it’ll be my goal to make it to all those places before next September… shouldn’t be too hard right??? then again, i know several people who’ve lived in Detroit all their lives but never went to the Henry Ford/Greenfield Village… that’s just crazy… that’s like living in Orlando and never going to Disney World…

talking helps

the last few weeks have been encouraging as a resident of Midtown Detroit... been talking with various peeps around town who know people who are trying to do stuff in the city...

found out that the building across the street will not be turned into lofts, but instead will be retail and that they have 3 tennants (out of the 5 needed) lined up, one of which is a restaurant... i guess i'd rather have lofts, but something is better than nothing and more activity in the area is good... i hope they're good retail tennants too... the kind that brings good folks around my 'hood...

also heard that things are going forward at a few places on Woodward... the space between the Mobile gas station and the Whitney (between Forest and Canfield) has plans underway by Wayne State... i've also heard that the buildings on the west side of Woodward between Alexandrine and Selden are going to be worked on, which is huge because that's a part of Woodward that is in dire need of help...

looks like development is moving further south down Cass as well... on the southeast corner of Cass and Alexandrine the building there is getting fixed up by some business (can't say what/who) and also the building on the northeast side of Cass and Parsons has some stuff in the works too...

hearing all this is really encouraging... will all of it go through??? i doubt it, but if any of these can go through in the near future, it'll do a lot for Midtown morale... i think at least...