Hold on to your hats- you've found another liveblog where Deadline Detroit chronicles an event you would probably be bored at, but might be important. Announcements! Changemakers! This time, we're at the Downtown Detroit Partnership's annual luncheon show meeting in the Ren Cen's Marriott Ballroom with about 900 of our closest friends. See -- not dull at all! We're told the DDP will be announcing its vision for Downtown Detroit in 2016 and that Rick Snyder, Dave Bing, and Bob Ficano will be joining us.
1:50 PM: DDP's New Look
The DDP unveiled a new logo to represent the "building blocks" required for downtown to grow. The lower-case "d" built from triangles was designed by Dandelion Detroit, the consulting firm thrust into internet notoriety by the "White Detroit Entrepreneurial Guy" meme.
That's all folks! Thanks for virtually attending the annual DDP meeting with us -- we'll meet you back here for the next one.
1:30 PM: What Have We Learned So Far?
1) Snyder is advocating public and private partnership to revitalize areas of Detroit, not just limited to downtown. He imagines improvements will spread to neighborhoods through programs like "Pathways To Potential," which puts state-sponsored human services workers in schools.
2) Wayne County Exec Bob Ficano recommends that, along with the new bridge to Canada, the state give further support to new rail crossings. "Right now, anything that goes through, goes to Port Huron and has to get shipped back," to Detroit because the current facilities cannot accommodate double-stacked trains. The new tunnel plan currently lacks about half of the $400 million price tag.
3) The DDP's plan for 2016 involves increasing the number of residents, employees, and businesses operating downtown. (Go figure.) Through a variety of initiatives, including D:Hive, Intern In Michigan, D2D and Opportunity Detroit, the DDP expects to add 1,200 new residents (for a total of 7,000), 1,000 new units of housing, and 15,000 employees (for a total of 100,000) to the Central Business District. Construction on the old Hudsons site, the Whitney, Capitol Park, and the East Riverfront will be imperative to this.
4) The M-1 rail "is happening and is real." The DDP expects construction to begin this summer.
12:50 PM: Welcome To The Dan Gilbert Show!
In which Dan Gilbert hosts a talk show with Rick Snyder as a guest. If the Dan Gilbert Show had a set, it would have a fireplace (and probably something neon) where Gilbert could hold casual chats. As a "temporary journalist," Gilbert says he did a little research "on Wikipedia."
Gilbert opens, "How's that EF... EFA.... EFM thing going?"
"Starting with the easy questions, huh?" Synder says. (It's going well, he says.)
Throughout Gilbert's questions, Snyder stresses a partnership between the Detroit and Michigan, and business and government to revitalize downtown. "The public sector is with you," he says, although no new specifics are given.
12:45 PM: The Mayor Is In The House
Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano tell us that the DDP is awesome. Good to know.
Mayor Bing also says the DDP is awesome. I see a trend here!
Bing continues to tell us that the privately funded fleet of police and EMS vehicles were actually his idea. Bing recounts the DDP and its downtown stakeholders approaching Bing to ask, "What can we do for you?" Bing naturally asks for money and voila! We have the new safety fleet.
The new vehicles are one part of a two part plan, but we don't get to know the second part until "a big press conference" next week.
12:15 PM: Downtown Detroit: A Poem
With apologies to Dr. Seuss
Do you like downtown Detroit?
You will like it
You will see
It is a place of opportunity
It's safe. It's clean. It's
inviting and we
Know it's the place to be
We're given an enthusiastic reading of "Do You Like Green Eggs And Ham?" rewritten for Downtown Detroit by Cynthia J. Pasky, DDP board chair and president and CEO of Strategic Staffing Solutions. Halfway through, the audience clapped. We're told "Oh no, we're not done yet!"
11:57 AM: We're told by a deep-voiced announcer, "The show will start in three minutes!"
A show, you say? Goody.
