Daily Detroit

"Weather and sex are huge factors."

That's the, uh, money quote from a Sports Illustrated piece about the best and worst NFL cities as perceived by free agents. Detroit fares poorly, ranking in the bottom five for NFL cities, dinged for its dysfunctional locker room but also because we're seen as having boring nightlife. We discuss.

A second white Detroit police officer has lost his job in the wake of the release of a Snapchat video mocking a black motorist. The video showed a 23-year-old woman walking after a traffic stop with captions including "What black girl magic looks like" … and "Celebrating Black History Month." The officers were also heard making disparaging verbal comments in the video.

President Trump has released his budget proposal for fiscal 2020, and it once again does not reflect well on the Great Lakes. Trump's budget would slash $270 million in funding from the $300 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, virtually wiping it out. But the proposal doesn't have much chance of passing.

We cover a new report from a transportation research agency that adds heft to calls for drastic measures to fix the damn roads. Specifically, it says Detroit-area drivers pay an extra $824 on average for costs that are attributable to our decrepit roads. Statewide, the average is $646.

One of just three known remaining log cabins in Detroit has met the wrecking ball. The cabin measured 16 feet by 20 feet and it is believed it may have pre-dated the Civil War.

Detroit's Motown Museum says it has received a $1.5 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to broaden programming as part of its ongoing $50 million expansion campaign.

The daughter of a Funk Brother has been picked on "The Voice," making it two women from our area that are on teams on the hit NBC show. Beth Griffith-Manley picked Kelly Clarkson over John Legend as coach for the season after impressing the judges with her rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Until you come back to me." Griffith-Manley is the daughter of Johnny Griffith, who was a keyboardist with the Motown label's backing band.

And, Ridesharing service Lyft has teamed up with Budweiser's new Non-alcoholic "Prohibition Brew" for a discount code in Metro Detroit this Saturday and Sunday. Just use promo code PROHIBITIONDTW — that's all one word, all-caps — to get half off one ride, up to $8 off.

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It's been a looooooooooonnnnnng winter, comrades. So your intrepid Daily Detroit team was intrigued to see a new sign outside the former Palmer Park Golf Course HQ announcing that something called the Detroit Exploration and Nature Center was coming to our favorite local park.

On this episode, we stop by the still-nascent nature center and walk deep into the heart of the Detroit wilderness with naturalist Jac Kyle, a recreation instructor with the city of Detroit's Parks and Recreation department.

Kyle has been working in Rouge Park, where the city last year resurrected its overnight group camping program at Scout Hollow. She talks about what she and the city are envisioning for programming at Palmer Park, which features a mature hardwood forest book-ended by the former golf course meadows.

Palmer Park has a rich history that dates back to the 19th century, and today, it boasts a surprising array of wildlife, from wild turkey and fox to raccoons and opossum. So join us for a little walk in the wintry woods and learn about one of Detroit's unsung natural gems.

So enjoy our mini audio documentary! If you like what you're hearing, be sure to tell a friend about the show.

Also, you can help keep this show going by supporting our Patreon.

Though it's still technically winter, it's never too early to look ahead to springtime. And in Detroit, the pace of restaurant openings is continuing apace.

On this episode, Daily Detroit's Man About Town, Devon O'Reilly, joins us to rap about all the latest restaurant news in town. For starters, there's a lot of Detroit-style pizza coming, with Shield's Pizza coming to the Maccabees Building in the Cultural Center, Buddy's headed downtown and newcomer Michigan & Trumbull headed closer to its ancestral home of Corktown from Pittsburgh, according to Eater Detroit. Devon and I also compare tasting notes on Mootz Pizzeria, the newest addition to the Z Garage/Belt Alley, which is serving up New York-style 'za.

We also discuss the emerging mini-district between the Shinola Hotel, its new restaurant San Morello, the Element Detroit hotel in the Metropolitan Building, the Brakeman beer hall and Queens Bar. And we head uptown to spend some time discussing what's happening on the Livernois Avenue of Fashion district, including the forthcoming Bink's Grill and new location for Brixwine bar.

Lastly, we discuss the noteworthy restaurant closing of Farmers Restaurant in Eastern Market.

All that and then some. Click on the player above, tell your single friend about us, and don't forget we have a Patreon campaign that will totally help you score a date.

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 8, 2019.

Today we're talking about the skills gap in Metro Detroit when it comes to coding and development.

Our conversation today is with TechElevator's CEO Anthony Hughes. His company has job training centers in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and are opening up right here.

We go over what skillsets are actually in demand (like Java and .NET), what it takes to get a job in these fields, and my skepticism of some training programs.

The interview was recorded at Automation Alley in Troy.

For more information, you can learn more at https://www.techelevator.com/

Happy Hump Day, errrrybody.

Today's episode features a series of conversations.

There's big news for downtown Detroit's emerging retail shopping scene, as fashionable Swedish retailer H&M is planning to open a store on Woodward Avenue this fall. Daily Detroit's retail maven, Shianne Nocerini, joins Jer to talk about it.

Jer then talks with me all about Mayor Mike Duggan's State of the City address last night.

I update you on medical marijuana. Dispensaries operating under temporary licenses will now have a hard March 31 deadline to get licensed or face closure. Plus a few other things to know about this industry.

Finally, Shi and Jer talk about Empty Bowls Detroit, which is this Friday night at Shed 5 in Eastern Market. The annual event raises money for Cass Community Services. Those two will be serving up hot soup from local restaurants at the event, so if you are there, be sure to stop by and say hi.

Find Daily Detroit wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. And check out our Patreon campaign. Keep on keepin' on!

Governor Gretchen Whitmer today released her first proposed budget before a joint meeting of House and Senate appropriations committee members, and she's targeting investments to three problem areas for Michigan: roads, K-12 schools and contamination threats to drinking water resources.

In a nutshell, the governor proposes to raise gasoline taxes in three installments of 15 cents to an extra 45 cents by October 2020. To pay for it, she'd undo some of the tax reforms championed by Gov. Rick Snyder, her predecessor.

It's a big pill to swallow, but there can be no doubting that Michigan has racked up a massive bill all these years of kicking the can down the road.

On today's show, we also run down some of her other proposals, including boosting funding for K-12 schools and creating a free community college program for Michigan high-school graduates.

There's news about a new demolition contract for Joe Louis Arena, with the wrecking ball arriving this spring.

A new $30 million skilled-trades training center is planned in Detroit.

Jer also gets nerdy about the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservancy, which will be closed until July, maybe even on weekends, due to some major reconstruction work.

And a shout-out to Shelby Township's Alena D'Amico who has made it on The Voice!

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On today's show, we have some fun discussing the return of the WLLZ call letters to Detroit's FM airwaves, and by listener request we talk about the elephant in the room, the so-called District Detroit, in the wake of the big story that ran over the weekend in Crain's.

First up is a new Patronicity campaign to help restore Hamtramck Stadium, which hosted Detroit's various Negro Leagues baseball teams during the 1930s. Hometown rock star Jack White ponied up $10,000 to jump-start the campaign, which seeks to raise $50,000 to restore the playing field and install signage.

Elsewhere:

Former Detroit Red Wing and NHL Hall-of-Famer Ted Lindsay has died. In addition to winning four Stanley Cups with Detroit, he played a big role in helping players to form a labor union.

Detroit's Wheels is back after IHeartMedia converted 106.7 over to the revered call letters WLLZ, giving it a classic rock format that frankly sounds different than the old classic-rock format of old.

The Detroit Economic Development Corp. is looking for a developer for three buildings in the old Rivertown District.

And we unleash many months worth of thoughts and observations about the District Detroit, the Ilitch family's planned mixed-use, walkable and vibrant urban neighborhood surrounding the Little Caesars Arena. Do yourselves a favor and read the Crain's package, which does a great job shedding light on a project that has so far delivered little other than a new arena and ample, overpriced parking.

As always, thanks for listening to Daily Detroit. If you wanna do us a favor, tell a friend about us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or support us via Patreon to help keep the shows coming.

Yes, there's a "beach" you'll be able to visit in Detroit through the middle of April.

The Beach Detroit is located in 1001 Woodward, and it's a fanciful experience.

Sven and Jer chat with Alex Mustonen of Snarkitecture, the creative group brought in to create the beach.

Snarkitecture is a New York-based collaborative design practice established to investigate the boundaries between disciplines. The name is drawn from Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of The Snark, a poem describing the "impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature." In its search for the unknown, Snarkitecture creates work that includes large-scale projects, installations and objects. The worked with the local Library Street Collective to make this project happen.

Time at the beach is free, but tickets are encouraged. You can go to TheBeachDetroit.com to book ahead of time and get more details.

Thanks for listening and don't forget to tell a friend about the show.

We spent the day at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Detroit Policy Conference.

Though we'll be sharing more of the interviews in their entirety in future episodes of the podcast, we asked six different leaders of different kinds what their vision for Detroit is for 2030.

Our guests include:

• Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II
• IT in the D's Bob Waltenspiel
• Rush Hasan, Business Development for The Reef, one of Michigan's largest dispensaries
• Glenn Stevens, Executive Director of MICHAuto
• Courtney Smith, Founder of the Detroit Phoenix Center
• Governor Gretchen Whitmer

Thanks for listening! Be sure if you like the show to subscribe free wherever fine podcasts are found.

We recorded today's episode at The Rattlesnake, which is joining as a sponsor of your Daily Detroit.

We have some more tasty more details on the new Buddy's location in downtown Detroit.

Elsewhere, we discuss Campbell Soup Company's planned sale of Ferndale's Garden Fresh to a company based in Quebec, Canada. Co-founder Jack Aronson had bid to buy back his old company, but couldn't seal the deal.

We also cover the Big News out of Sterling Heights, that a Target is closing down. How big, you ask? Big enough that the mayor, Michael C. Taylor, issued a statement about it.

Two other news bits:

• Developers opened a new $7.2 million affordable housing in a handsome old multi-unit apartment building in Detroit's North End
• And Meijer has announced a new program to encourage people to safely discard unused or expired prescription drugs at pharmacy locations

We then speak with the Rattlesnake's Executive Chef Jeff Lanctot all about the venerable riverfront institution and its participation in Detroit Restaurant Week, which runs through March 2 (take it from us, the food is very good, we wouldn't let them on if it wasn't). Michelle Taylor, the director of catering, also joins us.

Be well, faithful listeners! Thanks for supporting Daily Detroit.