Signs of Hope in Detroit

Some of Detroit looks like this.


. . .but a good deal more looks like this: abandoned, wrecked, and surrounded by weedy lots where other buildings used to be. The two photos above were taken within the same half-hour, and they show locations that are just blocks apart.

Just down the street from the warehouse is the middle-finger-shaped Renaissance Center, built in the 70's to revive the city. As an indication of how unsuccessful this revival was, Chris's highschool was able to rent the top room of the tower for his class's reunion. Try that in the tallest building of any other city!

But back to the abandoned warehouse: it's located just a block away from the river - and look! A sign of hope: this building is going to be reinvented as lofts. A block away, we could see new windows being installed in another such building.


This is a garden blog, so I have to show plants of some sort. . .


I'm still wondering what sort of vine this is.

We were able to peer into the building through a busted window.

The interior looked like some level from a computer game in which you would sneak in through an overhead walk and jump down on badguys.

Right next to the warehouse was this stretch of new sidewalk. Being unused to the decaying state of Detroit, I overlooked this at first.

It's a long, thin access-way to the waterfront with gardens. A park! New construction! I can't wait to revisit this spot the next time we visit Detroit.

More info on the Dequindre Trail project, plus photos, can be found here.