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In a splashy, multimedia spread, National Geographic reports on progress in "America's poorest big city" now that bankruptcy is "in the rearview mirror."
"Detroit Is Cool Again" says the headline above a comprehensive article by Susan Ager, a Free Press columnist from 1983-2008. "The Motor City is attracting investors, innovators and young adventurers," adds the subhead.
Susan Ager: "I am grateful to see money finally flowing in to rescue my hometown." (Facebook photo)
Ager's 4,200-word roundup in May's issue, which goes on sale April 28, is accompanied by a "Meet Detroit" gallery of 12 portraits by Brooklyn photographer Wayne Lawrence and an array of detailed maps showing "Detroit Up Close." Audio recordings accompany each portrait and street-level photos can be clicked through at the maps page.
"Die-hard natives and upbeat newcomers are reimagining Detroit, playing out their dreams, or reveling in the once-neglected city’s revival," the magazine says.
Enlargements of Lawrence's images, his first for National Geographic, go on public display Friday through May 10 at a new lobby gallery of the First National Building, 660 Woodward.
The magazine wanted to "produce an accurate, narrative exploration of what has happened to one of America’s most important cities,” says editor-in--chief Susan Goldberg, a graduate of MSU's journalism program. “The result is a story that, no matter how much you’ve read about Detroit, is a deeper, richer exploration of the city and its people than anyone else has done.” (She's quoted in a MSU release about the downtown photo display, which it helps present.)
The elaborate presentation's maps section includes interactive close-ups of five neighborhoods: Sherwood Forest, Woodbridge, Burbank, Brightmoor and North Hamtramck (NorHam).
Here's a sampling of what Ager says in her National Geographic debut about post-bankruptcy signs of change:
The new Detroit shines downtown. Nearby areas like Corktown and Midtown radiate energy. But around this incandescence skulks the old Detroit, acres of decay and ruin, prairies where the remaining houses stand aloof from each other. . . .
I ricocheted from high hopes to despair. But the Detroiters I met, almost to a one, have faith in even an uncertain future. Indeed it’s what defines them. Those who couldn’t summon hope left long ago, if they could.
This part of National Geographic's display shows Aamir Farooqi, who buys and rehabs homes, and WSU law students Shanika Owens and Jasmine Moor (right), working on a Midtown cleanup project with the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative.
The ex-columnist, who grew up in Dearborn Heights and now is a freelance writer-editor in Traverse City, says she didn't speak with Mayor Mike Duggan, mega-mogul Dan Gllbert, other executives or foundation leaders because "my curiosity was not about the mighty directors of this unfolding drama, but the small players who are creating a new city."
Some moved in with solid plans; some nurse airy dreams; some subsist on fortitude. Others pray that their candles, so far from the changes, might somehow catch a spark. Detroit’s decay is now its engine: Nowhere else in urban America can you do so much with so little money. . . .
I am grateful to see money finally flowing in to rescue my hometown. It’s mostly white money, but — despite a lingering tangle of racial and class resentments — it appears that Detroiters, down so long, mostly don’t care. Money can fertilize growth.
The young coming to Detroit, some with money, some to make it, are seeding and fertilizing too. These millennials, many from hip, pricey places, sound almost giddy to me.
Among numerous interview subjects are Erika Boyd, 41, and Kirsten Ussery-Boyd, 36, owners of a West Village start-up business. "Their cheery, 34-seat restaurant, Detroit Vegan Soul, was the first business in a long time on a dark, soulless street," Ager writes.
Unable to get a loan, they scraped up about $45,000 to open the restaurant, painting its walls appetizing colors of avocado, cashew and sweet potato. . . .
Within blocks now are a coffee shop, a high-end restaurant, a tea-and-tarot shop, and more. But, says Boyd, the chef, “in this whole slew of new businesses, I’m the only native Detroiter.” The women see other black Detroiters stepping up. Ussery-Boyd says, “Finally the light bulb is going off: We shouldn’t leave. We should be part of this.”
Adding a personal touch, Ager reflects briefly on "the city where I was born and worked for 25 years."
After we moved away, for several years we kept a small condo there, overlooking the Detroit River. In the same way you never forget your mother, your heart never leaves your hometown.
These photos and others shot here by Wayne Lawrence for National Geographic go on display downtown Friday for three weeks.
