Daily Detroit News Byte

On today's episode, we speak with Diane Cross, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, about the still-unfolding transportation apocalypse on northbound I-75 in Oakland County. There, potholes have proliferated since Monday, damaging cars, forcing the closure of the freeway and creating massive traffic snarls. Cross says it's a textbook example of Michigan's chronic under-investment in its road infrastructure, and emergency road repairs are likely to continue until a planned, multimillion-dollar road reconstruction project kicks off in the spring. UGH! Elsewhere, we dive into new property values released by the city of Detroit that show rising property values in a little over half of the city's neighborhoods. That cool building current with the giant rainbow mural? That's going to become Chroma Detroit. An old school built in 1922 will get a new chapter as a INDUSTRY DETROIT. And yesterday the Element Hotel in the historic Metropolitan Building opened. In food news, San Morello, the new r

We thought when we went into the office today, it'd be a short day. We were wrong. Here's what to know around town: I-75 is crumbling. Both the Northbound and Southbound lanes have major emergency repairs underway. A highly dispiriting for Martin Luther King Jr. Day - The Detroit News reports that a former political aide to Warren Mayor Jim Fouts says the mayor called former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick the N-word on election night in 2007. More: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/macomb-county/2019/01/21/warren-mayor-jim-fouts-called-kwame-kilpatrick-n-word-ex-aide-says/2636161002/ According to PropertyShark, the difference between the median home sale prices in Detroit's neighborhoods and downtown is one of the largest in the nation. But we dig deeper into just how odd Detroit's real estate market is, with 15x less mortgages than the national average per 100,000 people. https://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2019/01/14/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-american-downtown-a-look-into-the-home-pr

Questions? Comments? Email us at dailydetroit@gmail.com  Former Governor John Engler is indeed out as interim president of Michigan State University. Replacing him will be Satish Udpa. The United Auto Workers says it plans to stage a candlelight vigil outside the North American International Auto Show tomorrow night during the Charity Preview event. A giant golden ring has been installed in Sterling Heights on Hall Road near Schoenherr as part of a beautification project. Detroit's oldest drinking establishment got some national love today. The Two Way Inn on Mt. Elliott in Detroit was just named the Best Dive Bar in the country for the 2019 Nightclub & Bar Awards. One of Detroit's Tiki Bars, Lost River, has taken a top spot nationally in Yelp's ranking of the kitschy (but fun) genre. This weekend kicks off the first Michigan Central Station Winter Festival. It will run Friday, January 18 until Sunday, January 27. If you're looking for something fun to do that will have a positive impact on projects in D

First, huge news from East Lansing, where former Gov. John Engler is expected to resign as interim president of Michigan State University in the wake of comments he made about victims of the Larry Nassar sexual-assault scandal. Engler, you'll recall, was brought in to clean up the mess after former President Lou Ann Simon resigned over her handling of the Nassar affair. But Engler last week told The Detroit News that some victims were "enjoying the spotlight." It was the latest in a long line of controversial moves and comments he made about the scandal, and we talk about why we believe he was the wrong man for the job from the outset. Elsewhere, more than 60 unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed to temporarily reopen amid a marijuana shortage. There's also big news in Ferndale, where Baker College wants to open a flagship urban campus in 2020, a move that could give the city an economic jolt. Also hoped to deliver an economic jolt is a new partnership between Microsoft and Wayne State Uni

For today's Daily Detroit, we talk everything North American International Auto Show with our Sven Gustafson who spent a couple days on the floor at Cobo Center. Topics covered include the general feel of the show, plans for next year's show that will be held in June, the Toyota Supra reveal, the new Ford Explorer, the power of the Mustang brand, the Kia Telluride, a new Ram Heavy Duty pickup with insane torque numbers, Cadillac vs. Lincoln and Ford's new partnership with Volkswagen. We also share the details on what you need to know to go to the public show later this month. 

A major water main break in Detroit is causing havoc for residents, nearly a hundred thousand downtown Detroit office workers…. and auto show attendees staying at hotels. Then, a local ice cream shop is getting a new flavor when it comes to their decor. Hopcat has a new name for their fries. And finally, I went out to Dearborn to check out historic artifacts from Michigan Central Station and give you the details on how you'll be able to see them for yourself.

On today's show we focus on everyone's favorite suburb, Funky/Fabulous/Fashionable Ferndale. There, the city is preparing to break ground on a $28 million mixed-use parking structure adorably named "the dot" — short for "development on Troy" Street. It's a major development for the city, nearly tripling parking capacity on the site, adding four stories plus one underground level of parking, adding more than 11,000 square feet of new retail space and, possibly, new office space and housing. But it also means taking downtown Ferndale's busiest parking lot offline for more than a year, adding to parking woes and stresses for local businesses. We speak with Ferndale Assistant City Manager Joseph Gacioch about the project and how a parking structure fits in with the city's vision for placemaking and a more vibrant downtown for business owners. More renderings are below. The city's website for all things the dot is here. Like the show? Monthly membership makes the world go round. Support us on Patreon.

A single-family home, leaning to the one side, swallowed up by the ground on Christmas Eve. It's a visual people won't forget. And it made national news. Today on Daily Detroit, we're digging into what officials now believe caused a major sinkhole in the Macomb County suburb of Fraser back in 2016.  Then we look into the wider topic of Southeast Michigan's infrastructure, both above and below ground. Like much of the country, it's been mostly neglected for decades. And the bill is coming due. By the way, you can be part of this story. Become a monthly member through Patreon http://www.dailydetroit.com/patreon.

Happy Tuesday, automatons! Today your Daily Detroit gets wonky and talks all about bike lanes and trail projects with Todd Scott of the Detroit Greenways Coalition. He put together an interesting (and lengthy!) list of bike and trail projects due to see action in 2019. They include groundbreaking at the long-delayed Uniroyal site near the bridge to Belle Isle, movement on the long-planned Joe Louis Greenway (formerly known as the Inner Circle Greenway) and new protected bike lanes on Grand River Avenue in northwest Detroit. As Scott says, it's remarkable how far the city has come with its bicycling and greenways infrastructure in just the last few years. And it's remarkable that it's all happening here in the Motor City, a place that's been indelibly built and shaped by the automobile — and not always for the better. If you're a fan of Jane Jacobs and urbanism, you don't want to miss this show. And if you like what we're doing, considering supporting us through our Patreon campaign. Have feedback for the show

On today's episode, we check in with soccer correspondent Fletcher Sharpe about Detroit City FC's new coach, Trevor James, and what it means for the club as it prepares for its first (semi) season of professional soccer. Elsewhere, I-696 has now been almost fully reopened after the long delay following a labor dispute and problems encountered by cold and wet winter weather. In Warren, construction has apparently loosed a plague of rats on Jim Fouts' fair city. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer traveled to the Affirmations community center in Ferndale today to sign her executive order prohibiting discrimination against gay and transgender state employees. Her directive goes farther than a similar order signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder during his waning days in office last month. Greta Van Fleet, the pride of Frankenmuth, will headline Saturday Night Live on Jan. 19. And we catch up on some key restaurant/bar openings and closings. Among them: Shimmy Shack is gearing up to open its brick-and-mortar eatery in Plymouth

A ritual of regional togetherness is no more. The annual "Big Four" gathering of the Detroit Mayor and the three county executives from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb will not happen this year around the North American International Auto Show. (Oakland Press) The Seller-Lehrer Family Foundation, founded by Detroit native and Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller and his partner Josh Lehrer, has given the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit a $1 million grant. It'll fund their Summer Camp and Mosaic Experience Empowerment Program. Yesterday we brought you the bizarre tale of a 48-year-old Novi resident arrested in Russia on accusations of spying. Today there's word that Paul Whelan has been indicted on espionage charges. A couple bits of news from General Motors. On Thursday, the automaker named Mark Reuss its new president to oversee autonomous and electric vehicle development. Also, GM has hit a milestone of 200,000 cumulative electric vehicles sold. That's the threshold where a 75-hundred-dollar federal tax credit for p

Happy New Year! We've made it to season 2! On to the stories: Detroit Police James Craig told the Detroit News on Tuesday there were 261 criminal homicides in 2018. That's down six from last year and the lowest number since 1966. But for now, we're going to put an asterisk on this statistic. We talk about why. We don't often wade into U.S.-Russia relations on Daily Detroit, but we are today. That's because Russia's Federal Security Service says it has arrested a man from Novi who's being accused of espionage. Russian authorities arrested Paul Whelan December 28th in Moscow, where he had reportedly planned to attend a wedding. Whelan is an ex-Marine who works as director of global security for the auto supplier BorgWarner in Auburn Hills.  The city of Detroit is cracking down on six types of businesses in the city. Used tire sales and storage Used auto sales Scrap iron and metal processors Junk dealers Auto dismantling and wrecking New major and minor auto repair places And our guest today is Emily Lawler.

The end of the year is fast approaching, and Daily Detroit is starting to look back at this crazy year, which was an eventful one for the city. On today's episode, our Man About Town, Devon O'Reilly, joins us in the studio to discuss his favorite bars and restaurants that swung open their doors in 2018. We talk about new bars like the Keisling and Lost River, plus restaurants including Empire, Urban Ramen and Bakersfield. We run down a few places that closed down in 2018, and we also look forward to what's coming in 2019.

The Empowerment Plan is a great nonprofit organization that provides jobs to homeless women making coats that double as sleeping bags and are distributed to other homeless people. The women, in turn, get a chance to find permanent housing and a new start on life. Now, the program is expanding. Daily Detroit's Shianne Nocerini went down to Empowerment Plan's Islandview headquarters to speak with founder Veronika Scott. Elsewhere, we discuss the news of layoffs at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant. Two old, long-abandoned apartment buildings in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood are getting renovated (pictures here). And if you were hoping to catch the D Drop in Detroit on NYE, you better make different plans. The event is canceled for this year. We also discuss an interesting story about what could become the state's next big cash crop: industrial hemp. MLive has the full story.

Developers on Monday took the wraps off the redeveloped Metropolitan Building, which will re-open soon as the 110-room Element Hotel by Westin after four decades of abandonment. As Dan Austin of HistoricDetroit.org tells us, she's a "real looker" of a building, with a triangle-shaped footprint and terra cotta tiles adorning its impressive facade. But the Metropolitan survived several scrapes with demolition over the years — plus an effort to decontaminate it of radioactive elements back in the '90s. Also joining us to discuss the project and some of the redevelopment challenges is David Di Rita, founder and principal of Detroit-based Roxbury Group. Along with Detroit's Means Group, they steered the $33 million renovation projection, which is quickly nearing completion. Di Rita takes us on a virtual auditory tour of the refurbished interior. He also goes into detail about the forthcoming rooftop bar (!!!). And while you're at it, consider supporting Daily Detroit on Patreon. If you have questions about the sho

It's Monday, Dec. 17 in the mystical land known as Detroit. Here's what you get when you listen to your beloved Daily Detroit podcast today: Lincoln has made good on its pledge to reintroduce suicide doors on the Continental luxury sedan. The 80th Anniversary Coach Door Edition is an homage to the first Continental introduced in 1939 and to the center-opening doors that graced the car during the 1960s. Just 80 examples will be made for 2019. Elsewhere, unpredictable winter weather continues to defy MDOT's ability to predict when I-696 construction will wrap in Macomb County. The QLine is offering free rides for the holiday shopping season, and Detroit's historic Grande Ballroom, home to many a legendary show from the MC5, The Stooges, The Who and others, lands on the National Register of Historic Places. We cover two bits of business news: High-end clothier The Broadway will close down for good after 43 years in business in downtown Detroit so its owner can retire. Over in Corktown, Cork and Gabel will open t

The big news around Detroit today is the groundbreaking on the Monroe Block. That's the two-block site adjacent to Campus Martius where Dan Gilbert and Bedrock plan an $830 million development to add 1.4 million square feet of housing, office, retail and public space. On today's podcast, we discuss the Monroe Block's colorful history as a theater district, its mostly moribund present and its potentially very exciting future. Gilbert, through Bedrock Detroit, plans to build two new towers — a 35-story office tower, and a 17-story residential building — with a more than 1-acre central courtyard featuring landscaping, seating areas, a catwalk and retail and food amenities. It will incorporate Farmer Street, which bisects the Monroe Block, but close it off to vehicle traffic. The architects were asked to adhere closely to good urban-design principles. The result is an attempt to connect different downtown districts, bring in a mix of uses and create vibrant open spaces. It's something that a lot of downtown Detro

On today's show: In Michigan, drug overdoses kill more people than traffic and gun deaths combined. Nearly 2,700 people died from overdoses in 2017, and more than 1,900 of those deaths were because of opioids. But there's a new coalition that's been put together fund treating this problem.  Michigan is beating Ohio.. this time for getting a headquarters of a company to move here. In downtown Detroit, the Green Room Salad Bar says it's found a new home after being evicted from the Ford Building on Congress back in the spring. Ferndale restaurant The Conserva says it's planning to close after two years in business. The House of Vans pop-up festival is coming to Detroit for a four-day stretch January 24th through the 27th. Listeners to this show know that Detroit's food and booze scene has been growing like crazy as of late. So much so, it now has its own awards. That's the Golden Jigger, a creation of Nick Britsky of Nick Drinks. The winners are a who's who of hospitality around town. We talk with Nick Britsky

It's a sad day for Detroiters who were fan of the TV show of the same name. Comedy Central today opted against bringing the buddy comedy "Detroiters" back for a third season, co-star Sam Richardson announced via Twitter. On today's show, we wax nostalgic about the beloved but short-lived show. Jer speaks with David Demuth, president and CEO of Southfield-based Doner, the real-life ad agency that was the arch-nemesis of the show's fictional Cramblin Duvet advertising firm. How'd the show settle on Doner as its foil? Elsewhere, we report on the other news that has Detroit talking — that HopCat is doing away with its popular Crack Fries out of deference to the reality that crack is a horribly addictive drug that has devastated families and whole neighborhoods in places like Detroit. The actual fries and recipe will remain, however. Which leads us to talk about our favorite fries. Yes, our show today gets absurd, fast. Elsewhere, we run down: A new snow-plowing protocol in the notoriously under-plowed city of De

Happy Monday, worker drones! On today's show:  Detroit's Strategic Neighborhood Fund gets a $35 million infusion from seven companies in what's said to be the largest corporate donation to Detroit neighborhoods, ever. The city will splash the cash in seven new east- and westside neighborhoods to strengthen housing and commercial districts. It's part of Mayor Duggan's "20-minute neighborhoods" initiative, which aims to redevelop neighborhoods into places where residents can walk or bike to do their errands, get to transit and visit a park within 20 minutes. Elsewhere, downtown Royal Oak is getting a new taco joint. Columbus, Ohio-based Condado Tacos aims to open next spring. And last but not least, we speak with Rick Sperling, who has announced his retirement after what will be nearly 27 years leading Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit. Sperling talks about how the nonprofit arts and youth-development outfit has evolved from when he founded it in 1992 and what he's most proud of. Find Daily Detroit wherever you g