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Category: Housing

This old house - just "let it go?"

Let's take a break from the Theatre of the Absurd that is our city government and look at the latest scary figures from the foreclosure situation. Yikes.

Once again, it appears that though this is a national crisis, Michigan stands alone. The article claims it's no longer all about subprime mortgages but "homeowners who had solid credit but took out exotic loans with ballooning monthly payments."

I don't buy that - not in Detroit, at least. Sure, I recall a few years ago chatting up a Grosse Pointe mortgage broker who was raving about his interest-only loan like it was the best thing since sliced bread, and I found myself thinking he must be crazy. Turns out I was right, and unless he wised up and refi'd soon after, he's probably losing equity so fast he can hear the sucking sound in his basement.

Now, I don't have any more firm figures on what I suspect is the real situation, because on paper, a foreclosure is a foreclosure regardless of the reasons. But from what I've heard on the street, it's a different and more desperate situation here: People either can't make their payments because they've lost their jobs and incomes, or they can afford them but are simply walking away to cut their losses in a can't-sell market.

When I moan to friends about how we paid more for our house ten years ago than a stunning, much-bigger place two blocks away was listed for this summer, I often hear the same exasperated response: Just let it go.

I personally know several people who've done that - quit making payments and take the year or so that it takes the bank to send the repo man to save up what cash they can, find a nice rental in a nice neighborhood and say "good riddance" to a sinking ship.

These are responsible people, mind you, not the type to find their lender from a hand-printed posterboard next to the I-94 onramp. Two friends were all too pleased to let HUD reclaim their cute bungalow in Harper Woods because it freed them to get into a primo loft downtown. Another in Grosse Pointe Park notes that his house is worth half what it was five years ago; why hold onto it? Another in St. Clair Shores looked back in his filthy living room while moving out and joked "hey, at least I don't have to clean up the place."

"Just let it go." Your credit is wrecked, your nest egg (whatever there might have been of it) is wiped out and you probably won't be able to get a loan for a used car now, let alone another house to start over - but at least you're free of that burden that looked so good when you bought it. It goes against all logic and good financial sense, but whoever predicted we'd be in the mess we're in now?

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Category: Events

Farmer's Market comes to Wayne State campus

SEED Wayne, a Wayne State University group dedicated to fresh, sustainable food systems in Detroit held the first 4th Wednesday Farmer's Market right where I never thought I'd see one -- smack in the middle of Cass Avenue.

The market was small, only a dozen or so vendors were set up in small tents, but there was a decent sized crowd when I stopped by.

Local vendors such as Avalon International Breads, Grown In Detroit and the Capuchin Soup Kitchen's Earthworks Urban Farm offered up plenty of fresh produce and other merchandise.

Given the lack of full-service grocery stores in the city, markets such as this offer Detroiters a chance to purchase fresh, healthful goods right in their own backyard. Plus, following the trend in farmer's markets to allow those who benefit from food assistance programs to purchase locally grown produce, most of the market's vendors were accepting Project FRESH coupons.

This was the first of two pilot markets to be held this summer, and the fate of future 4th Wednesday markets hangs on the success of the pilot.

The next chance to check it out will be Sept. 24. The market will be open from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Category: Neighborhoods

Rec Centers to get new hours

The Detroit Recreation Department has reduced hours through Sept. 7 to allow for cleaning and sprucing up recreation centers.

The annual reduction is needed to keep the centers maintained, city recreation officials said. It also allows staff an opportunity to attend training sessions.

The Seniors Food and Friendship program is not affected by the reduction. In addition, all lease or rental agreements for recreation facilities will be honored.

Centers will resume regular hours on Sept. 8.

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Category: Scenery

What's Israel got to do with it?

Today, my daily Woodward drive was full of strange scenery.

This morning there was an upside-down fire truck.

This evening, several blocks south of the Michigan State Fairgrounds were six Detroit Police officers, all on horseback. Sure, Detroit Police aren't all that strange a sight, not in this area, but I normally see them on four wheels as opposed to four legs.

The strangest, though, was directly in front of the bus terminals at the Fairgrounds, where many people were waving signs urging me to "Divest from Israel" and to boycott Israeli terror.

At the risk of sounding naive, I'm not very worldly, so I'm not sure what, if anything, this protest had to do with the upcoming Michigan State Fair.

Anybody out there know what was going on?

Category: Grandmont Rosedale Minock Communities

Minock Park group to meet at new GRDC headquarters

FYI: Minock Park Block Club (bounded by Evergreen to the east, Outer Drive to the west, Grand River to the north and Fenkell to the south) is reorganizing the monthly meetings to be held at the new Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp. headquarters on Grand River just east of Evergreen. Residents within that area are invited to participate in the Minock Park Block Club and bring their neighborhood concerns to future meetings.

Please call the Minock Park Association Hot Line at 313-438-3447 to participate in keeping the Minock neighborhood and community clean and safe for our families.

For more information you may also contact Margaret Oldfield at 313-531-7475.

Category: North Rosedale Park Civic Association

Home tour, steak roast top September plans

September is going to be an exciting month! We will be having our annual Home Tour and Steak Roast. The Steak Roast is Sept. 12 so get your tickets now to reserve your seats and place your order. Contact Board Director Rosa Blanding to purchase tickets for $20 each. This year we will have a choice of succulent salmon or, of course, juicy steak. The evening will include live music and our third annual silent auction. Come early to get your bids in on the items you want!

One week later is the Home Tour on Sept. 20. From 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. you will have the opportunity to tour inside some of the finest homes in the neighborhood. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 on the day of tour and can be purchased through the ticket hotline (313) 835-1103. Visit the Home Tour Web site for more information. These are two events you do not want to miss!

Category: Housing

No boards on my block!

I had been in denial about the decline in my neighborhood for some time, but it finally hit me this morning. I pulled out of my driveway and felt a lump in my stomach when I saw it: a house on my block was covered with plywood.

"We don't board up houses in East English Village," our association president, Bill Barlage, says. Sure, there are empty houses, being in one of the worst foreclosure ZIP codes in the nation, but we have other, less crude ways of dealing with them.

For one thing, we use the cutesy term "Emma's House" and we neighbors are encouraged to "adopt" them, cutting the grass and picking up flyers from the porch and whatnot. One of the guys on my block regularly parks in the driveway at the empty house next door to make it look occupied. We also ask the Evictorman - if you catch him in the process - to leave the blinds or drapes up when emptying out a place.

But there it was this morning, blasting out its hideous message: "Vacant house that nobody wants!" Why not just put a big sign up reading "Opportunity for copper recyclers and pharmaceutical distributors"?

I don't know if I'm more saddened or angry. Who owns this house? Is it a bank that doesn't want to deal with yet another foreclosure? Is this someone's sick idea of "managing" the place? It's a nice house otherwise, but what hope is there to sell it looking like that? Most importantly, how dare they bring that onto our block?

We have nice old houses and responsible, caring neighbors who work hard to keep them looking that way. We plant trees and flowers and pull weeds. We pick up the garbage that knuckleheads drop from their car windows as they speed through. We fix broken windows, keep our pets in the yard and watch out for each other. We don't deserve this.

Category: Government

Detroit to hire elections workers

Detroit's Department of Elections will be hiring people to work as poll workers in upcoming elections. The job pays $75-$150 per day.

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, at least 16 years old, live in Wayne County and be proficient in math and English. Applicants who are 18 years or older also must be a registered voter.

Those interested must apply in person from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. beginning Friday at 2978 W. Grand Blvd. in the New Center Area.

High school students can apply between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. and must have valid identification.

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Category: Transportation

Is it Saturday yet?

No. No, it isn't. Which means that, technically, the Woodward Dream Cruise hasn't even begun.

Someone forgot to tell the cruisers, though.

Those of us who live mere inches away from Woodward Avenue either wait all year to celebrate the event being right on our front lawns, or get the heck outta town at the first sounds of a rumbling motor.

Normally, I'm the latter. In fact, last year I spent the weekend posted on my front porch hollering things like "Slow down! This is a neighborhood!" or "Hey, jerk-face, does that look like a parking spot?". This year, thanks to the expanding seediness and constant sounds of engine gunning, I was looking forward to playing a new game - Cruiser or Beater?

I've been sucked into the excitement, though. This afternoon I got out of work early, my house was begging to be cleaned and the sun was just a-shinin', so I decided to take a stroll.

Woodward remained a mixture of normal traffic and a few cruisers but Nine Mile just east and west of Woodward was packed with activity. Head west into the kids' area and you can ride a Mustang. Not the car, but the mechanical horse. East of Woodward was the emergency vehicle show, with fire and police vehicles both old and new. Highland Park's vintage paddy wagon was my hands-down favorite.

Click the picture to see some of my camera-phone masterpieces.

Category: Memories

That Juanita sure is Mad about Detroit

"I'm from Manhattan, but Don here comes all the way from Detroit. Automobiles!"
- Juanita Carson, of AMC's Mad Men, showing off her date for the evening

Isn't it nice to put aside stories about houses selling for $1, trouble within Detroit Public Schools and, of course, mayoral scandal?

Isn't it nice to know someone thinks Detroit is more glamorous than Manhattan? To watch TV and hear a character say something positive about Detroit?

It sure is nice. So nice, in fact, that it is easy to forget - at least for a precious few seconds - that the darn show is set in 1960.