What are your favorite Detroit’s gems?

From restaurants and bakeries, to museums and stores, and everything in between…we’ve got ‘em all around our region.

All next month, Detroit 2020 will be highlighting these gems.
What are the ones you’d like others to know about?

Let us know in the comment section below! We may select your gem for a Detroit 2020 story in June!

And this weekend, the Detroit mower gang is staging what they call the biggest, baddest mowing event ever.  For that, Detroit 2020 is naming them our Persons of the Week.

For three years, this group of volunteers on lawn tractors has given Detroit children places to play.

Their routine has been to mow the grass in one or two parks every other Wednesday.  The mower gang has made a big difference in parks and playgrounds the city no longer has the money or manpower to maintain.

Mower Gang leader Tom Nardone tells us, “I don’t really pay attention to the politics of it all, I just know the grass is long, right? That’s all the input I need.  The grass is tall, come out and mow it.”

This weekend, they’re taking things to a whole new level.  They plan to mow 24 hours straight, covering as much parkland as they can. Members will bring their own lawn tractors, push mowers, weed whackers, blowers, and work gloves.

They’ll start at nine o’clock tomorrow morning and mow at one park, then another and another.  A quick break for lunch and they’ll be back at it.

The gang will have dinner together,  maybe mow a little more,  then spend the night in their home park.

Six o’clock Sunday morning they’ll go back at it until ten o’clock.

They have sponsors donating food, beverages and equipment.  Husqvarna even provided a lawn tractor.

But it’s the time, determination, and work of the mower gang that will really make a difference all over the city.

According to Nardone, “Anything is better than nothing.  You pick up that one piece of trash you’re a hero to somebody and what I get out of it is every time we do the swing sets, every time we do the play sets, there’s always kids that come out.  It never fails that you see the result right away.”

So, for seeing a need, and meeting it, we name the Detroit mower gang our persons of the week

Pastor Cass Hudson acquired the property in the 10-thousand block of Orangelawn Street in Detroit this past December.  Since then, he estimates thieves have broken into the place at least a dozen times, causing as much as $100,000 in damages.  They stripped the organ in the church, stole all the plumbing out of the bathrooms, and ripped out so much electrical wire the building no longer has electricity.

Pastor Hudson says he isn’t mad at the people responsible because that would cut him off from loving them, which he believes they need.

Despite the extensive damage, Pastor Hudson hopes to have the shelter open in July.

The Mackinac Policy Conference taking place May 29th through the 31st has largely been a Detroit affair.

That has changed.

A group from the west side of the state will be attending the conference in hopes of reaching out to help Detroit and Michigan.

Jeff Vaughn traveled to Grand Rapids to meet with the leaders of the West Michigan Policy Forum.

“We need Detroit if Michigan is going to be successful”, says Jared Rodriguez, President of the West Michigan Policy Forum.

Things are good in Grand Rapids. The 2012 Census shows the metro area has topped one million residents for the first time and the majority of its growth is coming from young people.

Kent County is leading the state in natural population growth.

Unemployment is only 8.8 percent.

The economy is good, and the people feel like they are a part of a team. “Community is power”, says Andre, a long-time Grand Rapids resident.

Things are so good in Grand Rapids they want all of Michigan to join the party, including Detroit.

“They can learn a lot from Grand Rapids”, says Richard, a Grand Valley State student from East Michigan.

The West Michigan Policy Forum has three goals:

-Support urban cores

-Improve transportation and its infrastructure

-Draw talent

Helping reach those goals is a group of business leaders from west Michigan.

42 North CEO Mike Jandernoa will be making the trip to Mackinac with a message of Michigan unity.

“There’s an energy and enthusiasm that wasn’t there before and outside of Michigan is starting realize that.”

But for business to flow to Michigan, money needs to follow.

Jim Dunlap is a Grand Rapids Huntington Bank exec dedicated to supporting Michigan growth.

He says Huntington has delivered $2 billion worth of loans and that has attracted business to the state.

“They could be somewhere else. They pick Detroit”.

But Dunlap says the state needs more than money, it needs a “positive attitude”. When asked about over rivalries, Dunlaps says, “I don’t believe it’s fashionable, it’s absolutely not appropriate”.

But there are people that still cling to the past.

“We’re better than they are because Detroit is a hole in the wall”, says Andre.

“If Detroit can’t help themselves, I don’t know if other people are going to help them”, says Richard.

West Michigan leaders insist Detroit will come back. “Our leadership will continue because failure is not an option to Michigan”, says Jared Rodriguez.

Click here for more on The West Michigan Police Conference.

Click here for more on the Mackinac Policy Conference.

Spend enough time along the Livernois corridor and you may begin to think of this area as “the next midtown”

“Potentially, yes,” says Virginia Stanard, Director of Urban Design at the Detroit Collaborative Design Center at University of Detroit Mercy.  “This area has a lot of the same ingredients as the midtown area.  We have institutions, we have a strong neighborhood base, and we have a lot of strengths that are coordinated as well. “

Wayne State brings students, stability and stature to Midtown.  But the Livernois corridor has both Marygrove College and the University of Detroit Mercy.

Stanard says, “I think that people are excited to get their hands dirty and work on some projects and really move the city forward and it’s an exciting time to be in the city.”

Stanard is currently involved in setting up the Livernois community storefront in a vacant shop on the Livernois Avenue of fashion.  “This will be a place where the community can come, meet one another, converse, learn about what’s going on in the neighborhood.”

The Livernois corridor also has retail – much like midtown.   The shops along Livernois won’t necessarily replace malls and big box stores for neighborhood residents, but they are a welcome addition.

“I think its re-thinking, really providing many options for the way we shop, the way we live, the way we play’” according to Stanard

And the way we dine.

1917 American Bistro is an important part of the neighborhood.  Owner Donald Studvent is optimistic about his part of Detroit.

He says, “ Things are growing, things are changing.  I’ve seen the growth at my business, 1917 American bistro and I’m excited about it.”

The Detroit Future City plan suggests that this part of town be developed as an employment center.   Stanard thinks this could prompt the development of different housing options in this area of mostly single-family homes.

“Because this is a central work zone and a place where students gravitate and we already have a strong residential community, I think it is an area we could explore high density or multiple kind of housing options in this area.”

But the key to the continued success of the corridor is cooperation

“So the business community, the philanthropic community, the faith based community, the residents and CDC and community groups, it’s that collaboration working together that I think really helps jump start improvements.”

That’s beginning to happen in the Livernois corridor.

“We have institutions, we have a strong neighborhood base, we have a lot of strengths that are coordinated as well, could be as strong as the midtown area and we are really getting there.”

The former Pontchartrain has a new owner and a new look.  And the year- long renovation process has been more than a cosmetic facelift.

Because, as you may remember, the final months of the Pontchartrain were plagued with a wide variety of systems problems.

But Assistant General Manager Nick Knight told us, “We actually addressed completely renovating the fire suppression system, ventilation throughout the building, heating pumps, everything is brand new and ready to run.”

But it’s the new design that will attract the attention of guests – beginning with the check in desk.

Each of the hotel’s 367 rooms has been completely updated, including the 88 suites in the new floor plan. And the concierge floor has its own lounge area.  Look out the massive windows and you see Detroit at its best.

According to the Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau, hotel occupancy in metro Detroit was about 62-percent last year.  So were these new hotel rooms needed?

Nick Knight says, “Absolutely, and we need more.  We’re trying hard to make this the convention city that is deserves to be and adding this room count to the repertoire will really help and I’d like to see more coming.”

For those of us who live here, it’s not as much about the hotel rooms as it is about the restaurants and entertainment options.

When the hotel opens there will be the Jefferson House restaurant on the ground floor as well as the Urban Cellars bar.

Justin Vaiciunas is executive chef.  He told us, “I want to bring the Chicago, the New York, the L.A. dining experience to Detroit. And I feel there’s enough growing population of foodies in this town that want to accept that and enjoy it.”

That means you can expect menu items like a very different kind of crab cake.  “It’s a Japanese pancake that we’ve turned into a crab cake.”

We want to give something more than just a plate of food to the guests.  We want to make it an experience.

That’s especially true for the “Top of the Pontch” restaurant which will open on the 25^th floor in late summer or early fall.  It will have very high end fine dining, but still have the casual feel to it because, “We don’t want to discourage anyone from coming.”

In fact, the goal is to get people from the entire region to come down to the Crowne Plaza

Vaiciunas says, “We need people down here and the more people we bring down here, Detroit thrives as a city and that’s the ultimate goal.”

The official opening date is set for the beginning of July – but Knight and his team are working hard to be able to welcome the first guests on May 30^th.

It’s likely Detroit will welcome them.

Tens of thousands of people will converge on downtown Detroit Saturday for the annual Race for the Cure.

The person behind it is Detroit 2020′s Person of the Week.

They gather to run or walk as survivors—or supporters—and too many times—in memory of lives lost to breast cancer.

Each year thousands fill the streets of downtown Detroit for the Susan G. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure.

“The disease means a lot to me personally. I’m a 22 year breast cancer survivor,” said Maureen Keenan Meldrum. A survivor—and for 22 years—”Mo” Meldrum has focused her energy on fighting this disease as chair of the Detroit event.

“There are 2.9 million survivors in the United States today so we’ll be celebrating that survivorship. We’ll also be celebrating the lives of those who are lost to this disease, 40,000 every year in the United States alone,” Meldrum said.

“I think we are trending up over last year by between 5 and 10 percent,” she said. Which means some 40,000 people will lace up their shoes to raise millions of dollars for local programs and to fund research to find a cure.

“We never know how many people will register on race morning. Everyone is welcome, that’s for sure,” Meldrum added.

For her dedication to the cause—Detroit 2020 honors breast cancer survivor—and Komen Detroit Race chair—Maureen “Mo” Keenan Meldrum as our Detroit 2020 Person of the Week.

Click here to go to the Race for the Cure website.

Add Pot & Box to the list.

Kyle Wiswall of Pot & Box told Detroit 2020, “We have traditional florist products but we do much more than that, we do floral design, container gardening.”

And soon they’ll be doing it in Corktown.

But for now—the D:hive location on Woodward is home.

D:hive’s April Boyle told us, “We’re offering two months of rent free space inside of D:hive for a business or an idea to pop up and test the market and interface with customers and create a really unique retail experience.”

Kyle Wiswall works with Pot & Box owner Lisa Waud.  The Detroit store will be her second location.

Wiswall says, “It takes these external risks out so you can really test your business idea, so you can really fine tune what your message is, what your product is, I think that’s extremely valuable  and it is something that’s very rare and we’re pretty lucky.”

Pot & Box is the first business for the Pilot Program.  Boyle says,  “What we’re hoping is that through the success of the Pilot Program and each project that comes through that we can move them into a permanent retail space out into the neighborhoods, into the shopping districts and entertainment districts.”

And now D:hive wants to give other entrepreneurs with a dream the same opportunity of two-months free rent and support.

“We’re trying to empower Detroiters to create jobs for themselves,”  Boyle says, “And in doing so they’re going to transform the street into these shopping districts and retail districts that will draw from the entire southeast Michigan region.  We haven’t seen energy like this is a long, long time and it’s just a really exciting time to be in Detroit.”

Click here to learn more.

A survey done last September for the Detroit News found 40% of Detroiters planned to move within five years.  But not everyone can afford to leave.

Reynolds says, ” I do have clients who are stuck but then on the other hand you have working middle class people who do have the opportunity to make that move.”

That means many poor people stay while middle class residents leave — taking precious tax dollars with them.

“Middle class people both black and white have left,” according to UDM professor and former Detroit Police Chief Ike McKinnon.  The primary reason, according to McKinnon and the Detroit News survey is crime.”

McKinnon told us, “Probably the greatest problem that we have right now is this increase or the influx of more drugs into the city that’s causing the crime problems we have in the city.”

Reynolds is not only an expert in real estate, he knows more about crime than he would like.  He was living with his family in East English Village on the city’s east side when a neighbor called him at work.  She said, “‘Steve, do you have anybody doing work in your home?’  I said no.  No one is doing work in our home.”

His house was being broken into.  It was the third time burglars had attempted to get into the home.  This time they succeeded in stealing several valuable items.  Earlier his truck had also been taken from his home.

“That was really disturbing to my wife, to myself and we had to think at that time what was the best decision for us.”

The decision was to move to West Bloomfield.  The family was happy there for four years.

“But it was missing one thing,” Reynold said, “We’re missing family– that community feel with neighbors.”

He says that sense of community is what the city needs right now, “Everyone together rolling up out sleeves and working to bring the city back.”

So three months ago the Reynolds family moved to the Palmer Woods neighborhood of Detroit.  They enjoy the tree-lined streets, the beautiful big houses and the neighbors who invite them for barbeques.

They also see their new home as an investment in the city and their future, ” We looked at the trends with real estate and what was going on. ”

The latest trend shows home values have gone up ten percent in April compared to a year earlier.

Reynolds thinks its a trend that will continue.  In fact, he’s banking on it,

“I see a change is going to come.  I’m living proof.  I’m here.”

Campus Martius Park is looking for weekly food vendors and monthly market vendors in Cadillac Square.

The Market at Campus Martius Park is going to feature dynamic retailers, artists, designers, crafters, vintage/antique dealers, craft-prepared food products, and distinctive apparel, home goods, and accessory brands.

A comprehensive marketing and advertising program will spotlight the vendors to bring in more customers.

Cadillac Square is located between the busy streets of Woodward Avenue and Bates Street in the center of downtown Detroit.

The Market at Campus Martius will operate the following days and times:

June 28, 11am – 9pm

June 29, 11am – 7pm

July 26, 11am – 9pm

July 27, 11am – 7pm

August 23 11am – 9pm

August 24 11am – 7pm

Vendors interested in participating can get an application at http://www.campusmartiuspark.org/ and the completed application should be emailed to: OpportunityDetroitMarket@downtowndetroit.org

Summer Time Food at Campus Martius will operate the following days and times:

June 10 – 14            10am – 2pm                    

June 17 – 20            10am – 2pm                    

June 24 – 28            10am -  2pm                    

July 8 – 12                10am -  2pm                 

July 15 – 19            10am – 2pm   

July 22 – 26             10am – 2pm

July 29 – August 2      10am – 2pm

August 5 – 9    10am – 2pm

August 12 – 16  10am – 2pm

August 19 – 23  10am – 2pm

Food Vendors interested in participating in Summer Time Food at Campus Martius Park can retrieve an application at www.CampusMartiusPark.org and emailing the completed application to: OpportunityDetroitFood@downtowndetroit.org.