Been busy

Again, I apologize for not getting a post up here as soon as I should have. I have not been fallow though.

I would like to point you to a web site I have started with a couple of high school friends of mine, Kevin Walsh and Peter Kalinski. Please take some time to check out diggingDetroit.com .

The three of us were raised in the small Detroit suburb of Clawson and all three of us have great interest in the history of the region's hub: the city of Detroit.

Kevin has spent his career as an educator; initially as a high school teacher in Royal Oak and West Bloomfield and currently at University of Phoenix teaching video production. Pete worked as an archivist at the Henry Ford for several years and currently teaches history for Oakland Community College. Me, I'm an amateur historian interested in Detroit's history that isn't cars and Motown.

We've started a history blog covering interesting stories in and around the city; stories people don't know about and wouldn't expect out of the "car capitol of the world" and the cradle of Motown music.

Check out our first episode on Tommy's Detroit Bar & Grill. A cool little establishment down at Fort and 3rd Street in the space between Fort Street Presbyterian Church and Joe Louis Arena.

I have also started a Brownie troop and launched a write-in candidacy for Clawson School Board.

Lastly, I have started an entries for Shouldn't Be Secret on Upwardly Global and Arts and Scraps. Two really cool nonprofits looking to improve our communities in radically different ways.

Please stay with me, I haven't stopped this blog, just got a little distracted.

--Thomas J. Reed, Jr.
Chief Grant Consultant
Third Coast Consultants, LLC
thomas.reed@me.com

b.h.d.

It is an unfortunate truth that within the city of Detroit there remain many neighborhoods with too many blighted elements. Sometimes there is also a cadre of persons, many young, that do not see a reason to respect others’ property or question the impact of their action on the community at large.

In the Lindale Gardens community, in northeast Detroit near State Fair Road and I-75, a group and a concept has evolved to meet these challenges, b.h.d.: Bleeding Heart Design. b.h.d. has a goal to use “human-centered design methods to inspire people to become more altruistic by using public art, design and architecture as a conduit for social change.”

    

Images of the same storefront transformed in the Lindale Gardens neighborhood by b.h.d.

The above installation was created to influence community residents to think more altruistically; to consider others’ needs as well as their own as the go about their daily lives. It is a good example of the type of projects executed by b.h.d.

Titled: The We Need Wall, the meaning of the word “We” is left up to interpretation. Those that witness actually see the expressed needs of individuals and their community. The hope is that people who see this wall, and particularly those who interact with it, will begin to think more selflessly.

The stated purpose of b.h.d. is to evoke positive emotions and thoughts from those who live near or randomly encounter the group’s design projects. By stimulating such reactions, it is hoped that negative or malicious behaviors will be demoted and self-evaluation of an individual’s role in society will be promoted. In other words, b.h.d. exercises a design philosophy that actively advocates a “pay it forward” atmosphere in participating comunities.

    

b.h.d. created a community meeting place out of an abandoned field.    (photo by Fares Ksebati)

The organization has larger plans as well. The “Bleeding Heart Nexus” includes such concepts as a time bank and a network of individuals who are committed to common goals of community care and attention. The BHN would connect people, organizations, businesses and institutions while laying bare the interdependence between them all.

To learn more about the work of b.h.d. and the evolving plans of the BHN please visit bleedingheartdesign.org and follow @BHD_Detroit.

Preservation Detroit

In 1701, Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac and fifty-one other brave souls landed on the shores of the strait of Lake Erie. As a tip of hat to Louis XIV’s Minister of Marine, they named their new settlement Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit.

313 years have transpired; that’s a lot of history, a lot stuff built and occurred in a unique pocket of the planet along a shore of the largest freshwater inland sea in the world. It would be hard enough to keep track of all of that and hold tight to the important stuff but the current state of affairs makes it even harder to even catalog what we have and prioritize what can and should be preserved.

Luckily, in 1975 two Wayne State University (WSU) students formed a student organization, named Preservation Wayne, to fight the demolition of historic WSU buildings. Eventually Preservation Wayne evolved into Preservation Detroit and is headquartered in its first successful saved building, the David Mackenzie house.

The mission of Preservation Detroit is preserve and revitalize Detroit’s rich architectural and cultural heritage. Through education and advocacy, research and awareness, Preservation Detroit seeks to preserve the architectural elements and neighborhoods. This includes the redevelopment of Detroit through the restoration and re-use of the irreplaceable buildings and historic neighborhoods that serve as anchors for stability of residential areas and catalysts for economic investment.

“Detroit is one of the most architecturally rich cities in America, and historic preservation has been a huge part of the story of Detroit’s recent resurgence,” says Amy Elliott Bragg, president of Preservation Detroit’s board of directors. “People want to live in cities that have character, places that have stories to tell. Our job in Detroit is to protect that character and those stories.”

In the US, we don’t always have enough appreciation for the history we have here. In Europe, they still live in homes built during the reign of Louis XIV, here we too often are willing to sacrifice what was built by those who came before in deference to the new and shiny. Luckily, we have groups like Preservation Detroit that are willing to look out for those treasures and teach us their value.

To learn more about Preservation Detroit, visit their web site at perservationdetroit.org.