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Detroit's Finest Landmarks Receive Controversial Super Bowl Cleanup

Posted by: Mike Lydon
Thanks to: Mike Lydon
24 December 2005 - 11:00am

The City of Detroit's effort to put a better face on the downtown for Super Bowl Sunday has its share of critics, as most of the $12 million set aside for streetscape and building facade improvement has gone to locations that need it the least.

"Millions of dollars from a city program intended to fix up ratty-looking storefronts in advance of the Super Bowl have instead been spent on some of the most prestigious and best-kept buildings in downtown Detroit.

Meanwhile, many decrepit storefronts along Woodward Avenue and surrounding streets near Ford Field remain in disrepair even though that was the initial target area.

"You want to take very scarce, very precious redevelopment funds and make sure they're used to get the greatest public benefit," said George Galster, an urban affairs professor at Wayne State University. "It certainly doesn't help to provide additional improvements to buildings that are already in good condition."

Full Story: Posh spots get fix-up cash
Source: The Detroit News, December 23, 2005
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All of that only scratches the surface of what's wrong with this study. The idea that complex urban development patterns and human behavior can be meaningfully studied according to one primary criteria — density — is wrong from the start.
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