Siwatu-Salama Ra is the kind of young Detroiter who inspires hope. Raised between Northwest Detroit and California, the black mom began fighting for environmental justice in the city at just 19 years old, taking on polluters like Southwest Detroit’s Marathon Oil Refinery and the Detroit Renewable Power trash incinerator. Now, seven years later, the 26-year-old…
Maggots, rotten food, unsanitary kitchens, staff shortages, calorie shortages, sick inmates, angry inmates, drug-dealing kitchen employees, employees having sex with inmates, quarantines—these are the issues that documents show and inmates say are taking place in Michigan’s prison kitchens in 2018, which sounds just like what we heard about them in 2015. That and other issues…
Quicken Loans owner Dan Gilbert—who is Michigan’s richest man and worth an estimated $6.2 billion—is requesting $618 million of state taxpayer money to help fund four downtown Detroit projects that he’s developing. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation will likely consider his request in March. As part of the PR push to gain support for the…
Earlier this year, the Michigan Legislature approved $1 billion in state tax money for Dan Gilbert and other wealthy developers. The arrangement allows the rich and corporations to collect state residents’ income tax instead of the government. On Nov. 21, the Detroit City Council approved $250 million in local tax money for Gilbert to use on four…
On Nov. 21, Metro Times and other outlets reported that Dan Gilbert requested $250 million in Michigan taxpayer funds to help pay for four projects he’s planning in downtown Detroit. It turns out that’s only part of the story—Gilbert really wants $618 million. That means Michigan taxpayers will cover nearly 30 percent of the four…
Something unusual happened on Thursday. A Michigan billionaire told the government he wants taxpayer money, and he didn’t immediately get it. Dan Gilbert—who at an estimated net worth of $5.6 billion is Michigan’s wealthiest resident—is requesting $250 million in public money to help fund four of his projects planned for downtown Detroit. He claims they’ll…
The story of greater downtown Detroit’s redevelopment is well-known. The New York Times calls us the “comeback city” and says our downtown “roars.” The Detroit Free Press characterized Midtown’s turnaround and spike in property values as “insane.“ Crain’s Detroit Business recently highlighted the ongoing “development rush” in downtown in which investment figures “jump off the…
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