Create Detroit Event Set for March 3 & 4

Interview with Richard Florida of the Rise of the Creative Class

Detroit and Michigan's Historic Preservation Irony

Gay Marriage and Economic Development

Blight, Sprawl, and the Bully Pulpit

Guest Column: U-M Team Tackles Land BANK ISSUE

by Amy Brooks, Demetria Collins, Barbara Eichmuller, Melisa Tintocalis and Simon Van Leeuwen of the Taubman College of Archecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.

Create Detroit Event Set for March 3 & 4

On March 3 & 4th “Create Detroit,” will introduce the Detroit region to Richard Florida author of “The Rise of the Creative Class.” Mr. Florida will address a large audience in the historic Orchestra Hall on Wednesday evening and will lead 300 community leaders the next day in a “Regional Transformation Process” (RTP) at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.

Juergensen & Associates is excited to join Wayne State University, the College of Urban, Labor & Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA) with the Richard C. Van Dusen Forum on Urban Issues; the Detroit Regional Chamber; Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC); The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth; and Detroit Renaissance among many others as sponsors of the event and pleased to also be part of the organizing committee for this unique view of our city and region.

Create Detroit is expected to be a catalyst for positive change in our region and we hope you also choose to be a part of the event. Registration information is available at the link above.

The Mission of Create Detroit is, “to capitalize and enhance Detroit’s existing creative and entrepreneurial community in order to attract a dynamic new workforce and foster economic development in our region.” Unlike other efforts, Create Detroit seeks to build an action plan for regional leaders to transform Detroit into the vibrant place that can successfully compete in the new economy.

The program is also intended to bring together a leadership group that can steward the action steps and in other places like Albuquerque, New Mexico, Greensboro, North Carolina and Green Bay, Wisconsin the RTP effort has been a catalyst for change in those communities.

As economic development professionals, Juergensen & Associates has been working for nearly two decades working to improve the sense of place and the climate for investment in our eastside community and throughout Detroit. In addition to managing the disposition of state-held tax reverted property through the Revitalife Program, J&A has been active in helping develop an effective urban revitalization policy through our relationship with MSHDA.

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Interview with Richard Florida of the Rise of the Creative Class

At the 2003 National Main Street Conference, we had the opportunity to share a late beer(s) and our similar perspectives at a small Irish pub in downtown Cincinnati.  In anticipation, of the Create Detroit event, Richard Florida and his colleague, Rod Frantz agreed to a more formal dialogue for the February Issue of the Juergensen Report.  Below is the transcript of the conversation: 

Juergensen Report: You are coming to Detroit in March for the Create Detroit event, give me an idea of what participants can expect from the events – both your key note and the Regional Transformation Process the next day?

Richard Florida: The speaking event at the Max on the evening of March 3rd is me telling the audience about the inspirations and impetus behind The Rise of the Creative Class (tROCC) and taking some time to expand on the central themes and ideas. I’m also using these speaking events to develop some of the themes of the book I’m currently writing.

The RTPs are an interactive, community focusing exercise that was developed by George Borowsky, who will be in Detroit with me, and the Catalytix team to help communities take their own pulse vis-à-vis the Three Ts of economic development from tROCC, Talent, Technology and Tolerance.

I want to stress that this is a community effort, so it’s vital to the integrity of the results that we have a fully inclusive representation of the Detroit community. My feeling is that Create Detroit has been conscientious about ensuring that all elements of the community have a seat at this particular table, so the results should be an accurate diagnosis of Detroit using the Three T metrics. Actually, we’ve added a fourth T, which is “territory assets” or what assets make each community unique and different, but it doesn’t sound as cool to say, “The Four T’s, etc .” These RTPs are designed to be honest, engaging and fun assessments of each communities strengths and weaknesses.


JR: How do you think the Regional Transformation process will act as a catalyst for change in Detroit, based on your experience with the RTP process in other communities, what can we expect in terms of outcomes and what has been the long-term impact in the communities that you have worked?

RF: I think it would be a mistake for anyone to think that my team and I are coming to town to “fix” Detroit. What we would like to see happen is for Create Detroit and other grass roots organizations take ownership of initiatives that result from the RTP, to work on issues defined by the RTP to make Detroit a better place for everyone to live, work and play.

It would be the height of arrogance to think that any consultants can come in and effectively address the challenges that Detroit faces today; the sort of meaningful change that will enable a vibrant future for Detroit can only be engineered by the people living here, and I mean all the people, coming together to determine their future.


JR: In various planning meetings and events, I’ve heard you suggest that Detroit has a great potential to become a haven for the Creative Class and to be the “comeback” city of this decade. What are the elements that you see that might make that a reality?

 

RF: Detroit has a wealth of assets in all Three Ts, the challenge is to develop a new lens through which to view those assets, grow them, maximize them and overcome your challenges. You have a world renowned reputation for manufacturing and design innovation, your long history of musical innovation is second to none in the world.

When I think about Detroit I think about your blues and jazz roots, the world adored Motown sound, your incredible history of rock innovation and your current crop of award winning artists, from Eminem and Kid Rock to the White Stripes and on to your whole techno scene, which really dominates that field worldwide.

If you want to invigorate the global perception of Detroit, change the name of your airport, which is really fabulous, by the way, to the International World Music Innovation Airport! Beat Austin at its own game.

JR: Diversity and tolerance is a key component in attracting and retaining a creative economy. Metropolitan Detroit is one of the most segregated communities in the nation with the city being predominantly African-American and the suburbs largely white. In light of this reality, how does the Creative Class approach help to remedy the diversity question for a community such as ours?

RF: We are at a point in our evolution that we simply have to learn to live together and to trust that each other’s aspirations for our city, our lives and our children’s lives are more similar than they are different.

We’ve done work in Baltimore, where the Mayor’s slogan for the city is “Believe.” I was out with him one night and he told me that he felt the greatest lesson that the people of Baltimore could learn is to believe in each other again, to believe that the City of Baltimore, which has been very hard hit with job loss, drugs and urban decay, can turn itself around if only the people of Baltimore will believe it can be done by working together. That’s a very profound idea and it seems to be working.

The whole point of diversity is to celebrate our differences while acknowledging our common humanity.  Detroit isn’t only a black and white city, you have one of the greatest Middle Eastern populations found anywhere outside of the Middle East with growing Hispanic and Asian populations. The multi-cultural popularity and success of hip hop is a sign that the younger generations are ready to move beyond some of the divisions of their elders.

JR: The presence of gays and lesbians serves as a proxy in communities that attract economic development. And, as we all know, gay marriage is in the headlines and expected to be a big issue in the upcoming Presidential election. With the reaction of states including Michigan, to ban gay marriage, how do you see this image playing out and what kind of a detrimental impact would you expect on economic development for communities or states that pursue these policies?

RF: No one has yet measured the economic impact on states that enact DOMA laws, but my intuition tells me that those places may as well hang out huge banners saying, “If you are not like us, you are not welcome here.”

I get e-mails from people and hear from people in interviews all the time that gay rights is a litmus test for tolerance and if a place isn’t tolerant, they’re not interested. The bottom line is that it’s impossible to see how this could have a positive economic impact.



JR: I know you are a big music fan, have you picked up the new Iggy Pop album, Skull Ring yet? It is his best work since American Caesar. You (and Rod) speak reverently of the White Stripes and other Detroit musical acts.

RF: I have Skull Ring and like it a lot, but the first three Stooges records are the definitive deal for me. You practically invented punk music in Detroit!!!

JR: How does a vibrant music scene help build and encourage job growth?

RF: This is an issue that we’re only beginning to study. If you look at London in the Sixties, Manhattan in the Seventies and Eighties and Seattle and Austin in the Eighties and Nineties there is a clear pattern that emerges that would seem to suggest that cities with innovative, vital music/arts scenes also develop entrepreneurial and technical innovations in tandem with the music/arts scenes. That’s not to say that cities w/out thriving music/arts scenes don’t innovate, but the cities I mentioned experienced Renaissances! This supposition bodes well for Detroit, which has always been an ecosystem for great musical innovation. I hope to have a more definitive answer for you in the next book!

JR: Thanks Richard, we look forward to your remarks at the Create Detroit event.

Editors Note: The intereview was made possible by Rod Frantz of the Creative Group.  For those of you who don't know, Rod was once a member of the Urban Verbs, an influential, if short lived, new wave band from the early eighties.  Wounded Bird (www.woundedbird.com) records recently reissued the Urban Verbs self-titled debut album.  

Detroit and Michigan's Historic Preservation Irony

Two weeks ago, the City of Detroit’s Historic District Commission quite bravely issued a reprieve for the historic Madison Lenox hotel. Defying both the Mayor and Illitch Holdings’ request for demolition, the commission stood firm and rejected the request to demolish the historic hotel and replace it with a parking lot. Ironically, just two blocks away the Hilton Garden Inn hotel is being constructed on land most recently used as a parking lot.

Isn’t a restored historic hotel a more appropriate and critical element of a vibrant walkable entertainment district and add greater value to the community over the long-term than a parking lot for 85 cars? And what does it say about the value of real estate when the highest and best use of a property is surface parking and that the Downtown Development Authority supports that notion with a $700,000 loan for demolition? Wouldn’t these precious public resources be more appropriately used as a loan for revitalization of the building?

Other ironies abound. When will we begin to understand that historic preservation has actually been the economic engine of many of Detroit’s most important projects? The $115 million public investment in Comerica Park and the $125 million public investment for the adjacent Ford Field that followed would not have happened BUT FOR the Illitch’s foresight to restore the Fox Theater (slated at one time for demolition) that created an entertainment district.

The $220 million Max M. Fisher Music Center along with the $122.5 million Detroit Public School’s School for the Performing Arts and the new home for Detroit’s Public Television station would not have happened, BUT FOR the adjacency to the restored Orchestra Hall, destined for the wrecking ball 20 years ago.

Further north, the $8 million Inn on Ferry Street has become the pride of the cultural center and the jewel in the crown of the University Cultural Center Association. I don’t think there is anyone that wanders down East Ferry Avenue and suggests, “I wish they’d torn those buildings down.” Quite the contrary, the investment in those properties has had a positive ripple effect in investment throughout the neighborhood.

A restored Opera House, a restored Music Hall along with a restored Gem, Elwood and Fox are part of the backbone of a vibrant district and the Madison-Lenox needs to be part of that fabric. Restoring the hotel won’t be cheap or easy. A fire and years of neglect have left the structure in poor condition for certain, but if we can muster the leadership and commitment to spend millions of public dollars to support the construction of a pair of stadiums, can’t we tap into that same leadership structure to restore a modestly sized historic hotel?

In Michigan, we lag behind other states when it comes to touting and preserving our historic and cultural resources, although the news isn’t all bad. The State Historic Preservation Office has had some success. Michigan’s Historic Lighthouse Project has preserved Michigan’s 120 lighthouses and helped to boost historic tourism, which is a growing industry. Historic tourism should be enhanced, and federal resources are available to support local efforts.

According to the Tourism Industry Association, on average, historic tourists spend 40% more ($638 per trip vs. $457 per trip) than typical tourists. Additionally, historic tourists are likely to extend their stay as a result of a historic or cultural activity – which includes historic tours, events, and museums – offering residual benefits to those institutions and neighborhoods.

Over the last 30 years, historic preservation efforts have created 22,252 jobs and generated $1.7 billion in investment. In the years between 1999-2001, after Michigan enhanced the historic tax credit to 25%, $8 million was used for historic preservation efforts in 205 projects across the state. Over the last 15 years, $807 million in tax credits were used for 611 projects. At somewhere between a 2:1 and 3:1, the relationship of tax credit equity to other private investment, clearly demonstrate that preserving old buildings is also sound economic development.

Given both the intrinsic and economic benefits of historic preservation, Michigan can do more to unlock the private investment in historic properties. In tough budgetary times, it's hard to talk about additional tax credits but given the sheer leveraging benefits, the Governor and state policy leaders should consider increasing the value of the historic tax credits for investments in historic buildings.

Additionally, as state revenue sharing continues to challenge local government, the state could assist counties and municipalities by creating a sale/lease back provision that allows for restoration of their public buildings (courthouses, city halls, recreation centers, etc.) using a strategy applied years ago to the Wayne County Building in downtown Detroit.

Finally, like many states, Michigan has a statewide preservation organization. The Michigan Historic Preservation Network mission is dedicated to recognizing and preserving Michigan’s rich cultural and architectural heritage and was the chief steward of the state’s landmark historic tax credit. The state should support the Network and Nancy Finegood, its Executive Director will join us next month and provide her perspective on the historic preservation challenges and opportunities facing our state.

Jane Jacobs in her classic urban tome, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, said, “new ideas require old buildings.” In Detroit, this lesson is starkly clear – our historic and cultural resources add significantly more value than any sports team. Throughout our state, economic development policy focused on historic properties has the potential to open the spigot on private investment in historic districts and neighborhoods, making them the vibrant, “cool” places that will attract the creative economy.

Gay Marriage and Economic Development

The intense debate sparked by the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling and the actions of San Francisco’s mayor to issue marriage licenses to gay couples got me thinking about the intersection between economic development and tolerance toward the gay community. Tolerance, of course, is one of Richard Florida’s four “T’s” (the others being Technology, Territory and Talent), indicators that provide insight into a community or region’s ability to compete in the 21st century economy. Florida has called gays, the “canaries (like in the coal mine) of the creative economy,” an indicator of the region’s ability to attract economic development.

So, what does it say about a community that seeks to ban gay marriage as a knee jerk reaction to the actions of Massachusetts and San Francisco? In Michigan, Republican State Senator Alan Cropsey remarked on National Public Radio’s (NPR) Morning Edition that, “Massachusetts is our worst nightmare come true.” Not surprisingly, he is pushing for a constitutional amendment in Michigan to ban gay marriage.

Senator Cropsey is a conservative, whose concerns not only include gay marriage but lower taxes and a healthy economy. If Florida is correct, that gays are an indicator of a vibrant high tech economy, then it is not a surprise that the two communities leading the charge, San Francisco and Massachusetts are both highly successful high tech regions. Therefore, shouldn’t there be a natural political junction between conservatives’ concern for steady economic growth and tolerance towards gays?

Take a closer look at the two communities that are ground zero for the debate. Sure, it is easy to peg liberal Massachusetts and gay friendly San Francisco as the extreme outliers in the American social spectrum, but Silicon Valley and Route 128 outside Boston are also the high tech pantheons in the high paying, high tech world. These communities, while the bane of social conservatives, are the envy of every state economic development agency that is working to create “technology corridors,” in their states and encourage a high tech economy.

I suppose it might stretch the limits to suggest conservatives should embrace the gay community as tool for economic development. I wouldn’t expect them to be that pragmatic, and with their large constituency of social conservatives, they would risk alienating a large chunk of their support. I am only suggesting that there is a larger conflict between economic development issues and tolerance toward the gay community.

And if Richard Florida is correct, that people in creative disciplines, the entrepreneurs of the information age, are attracted to diverse communities that include a vibrant gay population, where does it leave a state that reacts to the gay marriage debate with constitutional bans and fiery anti-gay rhetoric?

If the new entrepreneurs are looking for vibrant communities to live and work, how will a state like Michigan stack up, when people like Senator Cropsey use a national spotlight to deride the Massachusetts Supreme Court as, “just shoving it in everybody's face and a pathetic abuse of judicial power.”

While Senator Cropsey and others want Michigan to reflect their social values, we need to remain cautious of the unintended consequences.

Blight, Sprawl, and the Bully Pulpit

Healthy communities require both a sound social infrastructure and a vibrant physical environment. For decades, Catholic structures and their parish communities were a critical part of the social and physical fabrics of their urban communities and recently, the Great Lakes Radio Consortium featured the “Living as One” Project sponsored by Archdiocese of Detroit. The project is a direct response to urban sprawl in Metropolitan Detroit and the church is encouraging their priests to sermonize about the need for regional cooperation among local units of government on land use issues.

It's not surprising that the flight from and disinvestment in Detroit included many historic Catholic churches in the city, some of which were sold, others are struggling to survive, while many have been closed or demolished. While some older communities still have traditional church buildings, many new suburbs built strip-mall-esque churches with little or no intrinsic value outside of their congregation.

Fifty years ago, every Sunday my grandparents and parents walked to St. Matthew’s parish on the Detroit’s eastside. It is where my parents were married more than thirty years ago. Today, my grandparents drive to a church a half-mile from their apartment in Clinton Township because their new church has no pedestrian access and is wrapped in a sea of paved parking.

Unlike St. Matthew’s, the new suburban parish isn’t physically integrated into the community. Not surprisingly, my grandparents are not very active in their new church and occasionally attend mass at other churches based on their schedule – action unfathomable years ago at St. Matthews.

Faith-based groups such as West Detroit Interfaith Community Organization (WDIFCO), and MOSES (Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength) have been leveraging the social justice mission of many churches and have been active for several years working to address blight and to preserve existing neighborhoods in Detroit across denominational lines.

Today, the “Living as One” project is extending its reach to the power of the pulpit to address issues of blight, disinvestment, and regional inequity that have plagued metropolitan Detroit. One of the key ingredients of the project is to promote stronger regional cooperation for more efficient land use and revenue sharing among regional communities.

An undercurrent of the “Living as One” project is the recognition that the church didn’t just follow their parishioners into the suburbs, but supported inefficient land use and promoted urban sprawl by building new churches.

These ideas are certainly not new. In 1972, a group of regional leaders published “The Regionalist Papers,” a series of commentaries on the need to promote greater cooperation to thwart white flight and economic and social segregation. Their effort, while notable, is largely forgotten. In the mid-90s, SEMCOG published the Regional Development Initiative in an attempt to address the implications of sprawl.

What is different today is that instead of sixty or so units of local government in metropolitan Detroit, we now have close to 160. We are more segregated socially, racially and economically. The Catholic Church has the potential to be a powerful voice in the land use debate, lending some moral credence to greater regional cooperation.

Now that’s a sermon I’m anxious to hear (and would stay awake for).

Mike Scholl holds a Master of Public Policy and Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan and he supports both research and policy efforts at Juergensen & Associates. He and his wife Ann are avid hockey players and he is the volunteer Executive Director of 1,000 Friends of Metropolitan Detroit.

U-M Team Tackles Land Bank Issue

Governor Jennifer Granholm signed the Fast Track Land Bank legislation (PA 258) into law on January 5, 2004. This new law enables cities and/or counties in Michigan to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the state land bank authority to create a local land bank.

Master of Urban Planning students from the University of Michigan, under the leadership of Professor Margaret Dewar and Eric Dueweke, are completing their graduate work with a class that involves writing policies and procedures for a potential land bank in Detroit. The five students are working with Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD) to find ways that a land bank could improve the disposition of tax-reverted property for redevelopment projects.

The students began their research last fall by consulting with CDAD about its position paper on "Tax Reverted Property Disposition Policies in Detroit." The paper outlines eight criteria CDAD identified as important considerations in setting up an improved property disposition system.

Next, the students contacted officials working in successful land banks in Cleveland, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Genesee County. They gathered information using CDAD’s eight points as a structure to compare how other municipalities designed their land bank programs for handling tax foreclosed properties. The team also interviewed stakeholders within the City of Detroit and Wayne County to find out what they see as important elements of a potential land bank.

A land bank authority in Detroit is a potential tool for expediting the sale of unproductive properties to qualified nonprofit and for-profit developers. The law allows land banks to sell property at less than market value and outlines a method for bulk clearance of titles. A land bank can sell bonds to raise its operating funds, and may also purchase properties to aid in parcel assembly. Land banks may not, however, use eminent domain and are subject to all zoning and other regulations of their municipalities.

Using seven months of research, the University of Michigan Urban Planning students are now working with a University of Michigan Law School student, CDAD, and others to formulate policies and procedures for a Detroit land bank as well as a proposed intergovernmental agreement with the State of Michigan. These documents will be available in April 2004.

by Amy Brooks, Demetria Collins, Barbara Eichmuller, Melisa Tintocalis and Simon Van Leeuwen For more information, the students may be contacted by email at: 634cdad@umich.edu or by telephone through the Community Partnerships Center at the Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning (734) 763-4380.