Daily Detroit News Byte

Because of disinvestment, changing demographics and the construction of the new bridge to Canada, the Detroit neighborhood of Delray is disappearing. Local author Karen Dybis is working to preserve that history. If she's successful, she could create a template for how the memories and stories of our entire city and region can live on for future generations. In this episode of the Daily Detroit podcast, we talk about her project and the importance of saving Detroit's memories. If you're motivated to help support it, the GoFundMe link is here.

Farmington Hills-based homebuilder Hunter Pasteur Homes says it plans to build 81 new housing units in Lafayette Park on five acres near St. Aubin and East Lafayette Street, right beside the Dequindre Cut. Called Pullman Parc, the units will be a mix of townhomes, park homes and corner flats, and they'll range from 620 to 3,500 square feet and run between $250,000 and $750,000. Hunter Pasteur has worked on the City Modern development currently under construction in Brush Park. They've teamed on this project with Detroit-based Broder & Sachse and Woodborn Partners. Also on today's show: Waymo, the self-driving vehicle division of Google parent Alphabet, said it will open a facility to install its hardware and software in Chrysler Pacifica minivans and Jaguar I-Pace electric crossovers in Hamtramck Investment bank UBS has opened an 11,000-square-foot office in downtown Detroit, its first in the city Plum Market will open an eatery in The Henry Ford Museum Longtime Eastern Market eatery Russell Street Deli

On your Daily Detroit for Monday, April 22, we dig into a proposal to develop part of Palmer Park as "Palmer Square," a mixed-use development featuring luxury condominium towers, "experiential retail" and futuristic architecture. We recently aired an episode looking into the city's nascent Detroit Exploration and Nature Center, which is being run out of the former golf course headquarters. The closed golf course figures to be ground zero for a lot of redevelopment proposals, but any such proposal is bound to face stiff opposition. Also on the show: We dive into the news that Baker College has abandoned its plans to build a new flagship campus in downtown Ferndale I discuss some of the highlights of covering the New York International Auto Show And the next episode of "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" will turn its focus to Ilitchville the District Detroit, another topic we've covered on this podcast. The episode airs at 10 p.m. Tuesday on HBO. 

The news on Good Friday in Detroit was that Steve Yzerman is returning to the Detroit Red Wings as General Manager. As we do, we like to bring someone who's really knowledgable and passionate about the sport we're talking about when we cover it on the Daily Detroit podcast. For hockey, that's Walt Barnes. He's a co-host of the In The Box podcast, a seasonal show focused on hockey also on the Podcast Detroit network. I hope you enjoy our conversation. -Jer  Of course, if you love the show, don't forget to tell a friend. It's the best way to push Detroit's conversation forward. And if you're feeling extra generous, we have a Patreon where you can become a member and support us. http://www.patreon.com/DailyDetroit.  

There's a new real estate development team in town and they have grand designs for a big chunk of property in Detroit's historic Milwaukee Junction. Today we're sharing with you that story. Who are they? And what are their plans for this building in an area that's gaining steam very quickly? Amelia Patt Zamir and Rakesh "Rocky" Lala envision a $20 million redevelopment plan for five vacant buildings totaling more than 100,000 square feet. Sven Gustafson met them at the property and has the story. There are also photos of the current state of the development and rendering of what is planned for the future on Daily Detroit. If you like the Daily Detroit podcast, be sure to tell a friend! And follow us wherever fine podcasts are found. It's totally free.

On our edition of the Daily Detroit podcast for April 17, 2019: Finally, at long last, there will be one united bus fare card in Metro Detroit. It's going to be called DART and will work on both Detroit's DDOT and the suburban system, SMART. Could a high-speed rail service be viable between Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Toledo? The 110-mile-per-hour service could be. [Toledo Blade] A wild video of an incident with a tow truck, a bunch of cars and a woman bashing out the driver's side window of the truck has gone locally viral. We have the story behind it. The Detroit Science Center is free on Saturday, but you need to sign up ahead of time. The Wheelmobile is coming to Detroit, in case you wanted to be a contestant on the Wheel of Fortune. And the new off road park being built out in Oakland County needs a name. Enter your idea here. Thanks for listening to the podcast and be sure to check it out wherever fine podcasts are found.

Remember that beautiful old house on the TV show Rehab Addict? The one with Nicole Curtis? If you remember from that show, there was a lot of space around it. Open fields between it and some of the other fortunate old structures to survive. That's not the case anymore. City Modern is rising around it. It's more than 400 units and 24 buildings. The first part of it to open is The Lofts at 124 Alfred. On the podcast, we go to the grand opening and tell you the story of this affordable senior building with rents of just $400 a month next to a development with prices from $550,000-$850,000 (no, that's not a typo), talk with the first resident Leonard Walker and Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Mary Sheffield. We also touch on a couple other stories around town. You can find the Daily Detroit podcast for free wherever you download your favorite shows.

Tim Robinson, one half of the duo behind the recently canceled Comedy Central series "Detroiters," has a new Netflix show coming out. "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson" debuts April 23 — that's a week from Tuesday — and will feature Sam Richardson, Robinson's sidekick in the sadly discontinued sketch comedy series, plus SNL vets Cecily Strong, Vanessa Bayer and Will Forte. The trailer, which you can watch below, looks bananas. Also on today's show: Part of the long-idled Michigan State Fairgrounds has a new owner, with Magic Plus acquiring two parcels along Woodward Avenue for a mixed-use development Bedrock has purchased the Fowler Building at 1225 Woodward in downtown Detroit Jonathan Wolman, a longtime journalist who was the editor and publisher of The Detroit News, has died at age 68 And the Grosse Pointe Public Schools is facing difficult decisions about closing some of its buildings amid an ongoing decline in enrollment Thanks for listening to Daily Detroit. Find us wherever fine podcasts ar

In Detroit, we live surrounded by legends. The musical history of our city is deep, and it's in multiple genres. Today's guest is helping people keep dancing to this amazing music. Dan Austin is the voice behind the indispensable Historic Detroit, a well-connected man about town and a music fanatic who appears regularly on Ann Delisi's "Essential Music" show on WDET-FM. Today, he dropped by the Detroit Shipping Company studio of Podcast Detroit to talk all about his passion project. The Motor City Soul Club celebrates its fifth anniversary of shaking tail feathers around the city this Saturday, April 13 at the Marble Bar in Detroit. Dan tells us about the Motor City Soul Club's origins, how his love of the genre sprouted despite an upbringing defined by the likes of REO Speedwagon and Journey, and how he finds records to spin in 2019. If you're a music lover — and particularly of rare soul from the '60s and '70s — listen in. And if you're not, maybe it's time you checked it out. 

The car is synonymous with Detroit. It is, after all, the Motor City. You might even be listening to this in your car. But what if there was a different way forward than a vehicle for every man, woman and even sometimes, child? What if instead of a half hour at the gym then a half hour in your car, you could bike or walk and get to where you're going? Or, like here in Michigan, get around without paying the highest car insurance in the nation? It seems like crazy talk, I know. But it's a growing movement in car-dominated America, and here in Metro Detroit. Both the city and some suburbs are making improvements aimed at making more walkable and bikeable neighborhoods. Our guest today is Doug Gordon. He's a co-host of The War On Cars podcast and a long time advocate of city life that actually experiences the city you live in instead of whizzing past it at 70 miles an hour.

This update edition of the Daily Detroit podcast for April 9, 2019 includes… The city of Detroit's Office of the Inspector General is opening an investigation of the Mayor and city officials after a Freep report that says a charity got preference. The city and Wayne State University strongly push back on the newspaper's report. The city calls it "completely false." Two people have pled guilty (when we recorded this, they were charged) as part of a Federal investigation into the Detroit Demolition program. The feds say they took bribes. [DetNews] [ClickOnDetroit] Self-driving cars have been overhyped and a lot longer off, says Ford's CEO [Bloomberg] There's a new report looking at if Flying cars are good for the environment A newly updated map shows Detroit's bike lane expansion and more [Detroit Greenways] Parson's Chicken and Fish will head to Frame Friday and Saturday for special dinners with Executive Chef Hunter Moore. There will be frozen Negroni Slushes [Daily Detroit] Thanks for listening! 

Welcome to Monday, April 8, 2019. The weekend is over, that girl is totally not gonna call you, and your dreams are crushed. On today's show, Consumers Energy has issued a report into why its Macomb County natural gas storage and compression facility caught fire on Jan. 30, prompting the utility to issue an emergency request asking people to dial back their thermostats as the mercury plunged below zero. In other news, a man whom paramedics believed was suffering from a drug overdose ended up becoming combative and stole the ambulance. He was apprehended a short time later by police. Also, Shield's has opened its new Midtown location serving Detroit-style pizza. And the Detroit Shipping Company is getting a new Nepalese dumpling food stall called Momo Cha. Finally, the city of Detroit is hiring for 200 seasonal positions with its Parks and Recreation division. You can attend job fairs at the following times and locations, but you're supposed to apply online first. Thanks for listening to Daily Detroit. Tell a

People's preferences are changing. There very well may be a day in the not too distant future where a majority of people do not own their own cars. Younger generations seem to be more into the shared economy as opposed to having a love for the personally owned motor vehicle. And sometimes, even if they do love cars, they don't have the financial resources that the previous generation did. To that end, you probably knew that Detroit is major center of the development of the automobile. But we're now transitioning to developing more than just the traditional vehicle — to creating technology and solutions that helps people get around. That's mobility. Today's episode talks about that mobility industry in Metro Detroit. Not just Detroit, the Motor City… but Detroit, the Mobility City. There are numerous startups and the big players – including Ford and GM – that are serious about it and there's a lot of money being spent. After all, that new Ford campus that's happening in Corktown? That's about developing this k

On today's episode, hear firsthand what it's like to bite into a coney pasty. That's a pasty, the traditional U.P. pastry, filled with a Detroit-style coney that's meant to dip into yellow mustard. They're from Ackroyd's Scottish Bakery in Redford Township and are available for the month of April. In other news, Amtrak wants to restore passenger rail service between Detroit and Toronto in 2020. That hasn't been available since the pre-Amtrak late '60s. [Curbed] Elsewhere, late-night Detroit TV legend The Ghoul has died. During the 1970s and '80s, Ron Sweed played the crazed host of eccentric late-night programming, inserting random sound bytes into bad horror movies and blowing things up with M-80s. The Ghoul represents an era and genre of local programming that mostly no longer exists. Also: Union Joints, the hospitality group that operates restaurants like Vinsetta Garage and Clarkston Union, plans to open its newest eatery inside the expanded Little Caesars headquarters in Detroit. Motor City Casino wants

The Freep Film Festival starts next week with a gala screening April 10 for "Boy Howdy! The Story of Creem Magazine" at the Fillmore Detroit. On today's episode, we feature three great interviews to preview some of what's on offer during the festivities, which run through April 14: JJ Kramer, co-producer of "Boy Howdy!" JJ is the son of Barry Kramer, the founder and publisher of Creem Magazine, which launched in Detroit's Cass Corridor in 1969 and billed itself as "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine." Steve Byrne, the executive director of the Freep Film Festival and the arts and entertainment editor by day for the Detroit Free Press. And finally, Jennifer Washington, maker of the documentary "God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines: The Story of Detroit Techno," which explores that genre's roots in the 1980s. You can read about all this year's films and find all the showtimes at freepfilmfestival.com. Support Daily Detroit by telling your friends about us, subscribing and leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts,

It's April, and that means baseball season has arrived to help chase the final remnants of winter out of Detroit. The Tigers play their first home game of the season on Thursday when they host the Kansas City Royals, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m. First on the podcast we checked in with Chris Brown, host of the podcast Locked on Tigers and a writer for Tigs Town, for his rundown of the Tigers' 2019 roster and their prospects for the season. Opening Day is practically a holiday in Detroit, of course, so in today's episode, we talk to our Man About Town, Devon O'Reilly, to get his picks for where to go and what to eat around town before and after the action on the field. Some of the ones you'll want to check out include: Nancy Whiskey The Detroit Shipping Company The Skip The Brakeman Queens Bar (no TVs, but good drinks at a reasonable price) Mootz (for grab and go slices with drinks) Slices (for grab and go slices without drinks) Don't forget, be safe! If you've indulged a bit too much, you can gra

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has asked the state's insurance regulator to audit the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association after it said on Wednesday it would raise its annual fee by 14.6 percent, or $28, to $220 for every insured vehicle in Michigan. The fees go toward covering catastrophic medical claims from auto accidents, but the MCCA has never been particularly transparent about how it operates, its finances or how it sets its fees. So says our guest on today's episode, Bobby Raitt, a principal at Michigan Auto Law in Farmington Hills who has worked with lawmakers in Lansing on auto-insurance reform since 2005. "It's important, it's meaningful and hopefully it's a good start" toward fixing Michigan's broken auto insurance system, he said. Michigan has the nation's highest auto insurance rates, and nowhere is insurance more expensive than in Detroit. The announcement of the fee increase follows a study from the University of Michigan that found auto insurance is well above what is considered affordable in 97

If you've ever event spent any time outdoors within a mile's radius of it — say, in Midtown or Eastern Market — then you've no doubt smelled the sickly sweet odor of the Detroit trash incinerator. Well, no more. Detroit Renewable Energy, the umbrella organization that owns and operates it, says it is shutting the incinerator down 33 years after it first fired up because of finances and complaints from the community. Operations will cease this week, but it'll take up to 90 days to fully power the trash-to-energy facility down. Mayor Mike Duggan says he's committed to making sure the site never again serves as a waste incinerator. What's next for that property, which is owned by the city, isn't yet clear. One novel idea comes from our friend Frank Nemecek over at the Warrendale Blog: Make every strip club in the city move there, like an amusement park of T&A. Moving on: The measles outbreak is now 22, which is an incredible thing to write in the year 2019, when we're also developing driverless automobiles

Welcome to your Tuesday edition of Daily Detroit, where we deliver two pieces of big news: 1. Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson says he has stage four pancreatic cancer and won't seek an eighth term in 2020. 2. DTE Energy says it expects to sign a deal with the city to swap a decommissioned power plant on the east riverfront so it can be used to store Jeeps built at a new factory being pursued by parent Fiat Chrysler. [Freep] Why is this sad, you ask? This is the important line. FCA said it needs DTE's Conners Creek land for storage of vehicles for the Jeep plant to be built at Mack and St. Jean. - Detroit Free Press n my opinion, this somehow feels quintessentially Detroit, a repeat of what we've always done: surrender to the automobile. Weren't we supposed to be trying to reclaim our riverfront? And wasn't DTE Energy crowing about redeveloping that parcel? (Why yes. Yes, they were.) In other news, measles cases are on the rise in Oakland County after being traced to a man who visited the area fro

At least three boutique hotels are coming to Detroit, bringing a dose of luxury to still-gritty parts of the city. The Mid will take shape next to the old hammer-and-nail building on Woodward, while the West Elm Hotel will incorporate the old Bonstelle Theater several blocks south. And downtown, there are plans for a new 154-room hotel at 600 West Lafayette, plus the old Park Hotel downtown just sold to a hospitality company, suggesting yet more hotel rooms could be possible. Most of the hotels include mixed-use space, including some high-end "luxury" housing. On today's show, we talk about what's driving that, and why the spate of recent hotel development still isn't enough to start landing us the really big mega-conventions and sportsball events. And on a tangent, we also dive into the idea that Detroit needs more Kroger or Meijer stores. FYI, there are some solid grocery stores here. In other news, Sterling Heights has announced the five finalists for naming the so-called "Golden Corridor Icon" of Hall Roa