September 28, 2025
Why are people so afraid of change?
A proposed rezoning in Royal Oak has sparked a dubious defense of single-family residential housing.
urbanism
June 13, 2024
Manhattan, Paris, Ferndale and why we can’t have nice things
The indefinite postponement of congestion pricing in New York City is emblematic of a larger issue: America has lost the ability to dream big and do great things. It contrasts with progress made here in Ferndale and in much more cosmopolitan cities like Paris.
July 12, 2023
Is car-free Mackinac Island an urbanist paradise, or just a replica of one?
Mackinac Island is a tourist destination famous for fudge, horse-drawn carriages and prohibiting cars. But is it also a model...
May 27, 2023
In praise of the all-too-rare neighborhood business
The nicest surprise of the spring so far for me has been the opening of a new coffee shop down...
August 11, 2022
If Northville can ban cars downtown, what other cities in Detroit could follow suit?
Recently, I tweeted out a story that said Northville, an affluent suburb of Detroit, had voted to permanently make its...
June 21, 2019
LISTEN: How the Detroit suburb of Oak Park is sprucing itself up
For years, Oak Park was seen as an unassuming and tired inner-ring Detroit suburb. Its biggest claim to fame was...
January 25, 2019
Map envisions 1919 Detroit subway plan, and we’re left to wonder: What if?
Now this is interesting. A friend found this on the r/Detroit Reddit, a graphic imagining the city’s 1918 subway plan,...
January 16, 2019
What to know about ‘the dot,’ Ferndale’s new mixed-use parking structure
On a recent episode of the Daily Detroit podcast, I spoke with Ferndale’s assistant city manager, Joseph Gacioch, about the...
June 6, 2018
LISTEN: Talking the Rethink Royal Oak project with economic development manager Todd Fenton
If you’ve been to downtown Royal Oak recently, you’ve no doubt noticed lots of construction, as the city grows upward,...
May 30, 2018
PODCAST: Viranel Clerard aims to chronicle Detroit’s exploding mural scene
If you spend any time in Detroit, you’d have a hard time not noticing all the incredible murals popping up...
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