A Main Street Succeeds in Tough Times
One small Michigan city is focusing its efforts on building a strong downtown. A look at some of the challenges and opportunities facing Niles, Michigan.
On the Road
Good Signs or Bad Signs in Indiana?
I sat in on a meeting of the Elkhart County, Indiana, Plan Commission. On the agenda: a proposed zoning amendment to regulate digital electronic signs. It’s a fascinating, and challenging issue — one facing communities across the country.
Not Giving Up On Flint — Part II
While Flint, Michigan, has received lots of negative attention in the media — in some ways becoming the poster boy of urban disintegration — what’s also clear is that there are many who are not giving up on Flint.
Not Giving Up on Flint — Part I
This is the hard reality of Flint, Michigan, today. Population falling from 195,000 in 1970 to 117,000 in 2006. Abandoned housing units since 1970: 31,200. A staggering 32 percent of all residential parcels in Flint are abandoned. Can anything be done?
Campus Martius Park in Downtown Detroit
Can a privately managed urban park in the center of downtown Detroit help spur the city’s recovery?
A Suburb Plans for Change
Troy, Michigan, is a spread out, auto-oriented suburb northwest of downtown Detroit. You’ll find many elements typical of the suburbs that boomed in the 1970s and ’80s. But Troy has felt the impact of the sharp decline of the automotive industry. A look at how Troy’s planners have responded.
Preservation or Demolition?
For generations it was one of the iconic images of Detroit: the majestic Michigan Central Railroad Station & Tower. The image of the Station today still carries a message — but it’s a message of a city in decline. But does that mean the best solution is for the City to tear down the structure?
When Rouge Turned Green
Instead of closing down its River Rouge assembly plant in Dearborn, Michigan, Ford Motor Company has reinvested it — with an emphasis on energy-saving technologies, including an enormous green roof.
Hudson’s Star Attraction
How the public library has become the community hub for the town of Hudson, Ohio — and the key to a strong downtown and main street..
Audacious … or Realistic?
I met with planners trying to deal with the large amounts of vacant land in Cleveland’s inner-city neighborhoods. Their approach to turn things around: implementing creative, green-oriented strategies.
A Planner Should Be Flexible
“Flexibility … that’s the most important part of my job,” Shaker Heights Planning Director Joyce Braverman told me. She even carries a small reminder of this in her purse, the world famous — and very flexible — Gumby.
Gateway Art
An amazing, student-initiated art project along 1200 feet of U.S. Route 322 at the gateway to Meadville, Pennsylvania shows how college, community, and even a state department of transportation, can creatively work together.
College and Community
Too often these days, you hear about frictions between colleges and the communities they’re located in. But my visit to Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, proved this doesn’t have to be the case. Indeed, the relationship between Meadville, Crawford County, and Allegheny College is best viewed as a partnership that brings benefits to all.
