For months, neighborhood residents have been fenced out of their longtime oasis at Second and Selden in Detroit, Robert Redmond Memorial Park, which sits at a junction of the old, impoverished Cass Corridor and ascendant Midtown.
Rumors flew that the plaza, which had benches, lights and a gazebo, was to be replaced, especially when the buzzy new restaurant, Selden Standard, arose next door.
Turns out Midtown Detroit Inc., the nonprofit development group that is helping to revitalize the area, is spending $250,000 to restore power, repair lights, trim trees, remove graffiti, reinstate fixtures and power-wash the park, Bill McGraw reports on Bridge Magazine.
According to the blog Telling The Stories About Detroit’s Parks, the city-owned property is named after Robert Rene Redmond, a social worker and director of the local senior center, who was shot to death nearby in 1976 while trying to disarm a friend. The outgoing Williams says he can’t wait for the fences to come down. Listening to music through his headphones and often singing, Williams says he has gone from 317 to 263 pounds while “shaking my behind.”
