No welcome wagon awaited the family that moved onto Parkside in 1968. One of just three black-owned homes on the block, it became not only a place to eat and sleep, but a sanctuary for four small children’s safety against harassment outside. Frequent vandalism made the message even more clear: Myla Perkins and her family […]
All Jevona Watson really wanted was to see a new coffee shop open its doors in her neighborhood. A resident of the Bagley community near Livernois Avenue and McNichols she could’ve started an online petition and invited any of the well-known java chains to the area. She might even have looked into becoming a store […]
About four years ago the Hardest Hit Fund Demolition program was announced in the Fitzgerald neighborhood on Turner Street next to Maggie Lee’s Community Center. I was asked to speak in front of the press to welcome everyone to the neighborhood and talk about how the program would create change the community needed to make […]
There are certain things Marvin Beatty keeps to himself when he shops in the suburbs. One of those things is his zip code. A common corporate practice requires cashiers to ask patrons for information that locates a retail customer base. The problem for Detroiters shopping outside the city, Beatty says, is sharing data about how […]