Maybe you will be happy but this is my last (cross)post to c/detroit. This community started two years ago as a mirror to the Reddit r/detroit — which is still going strong — but after many attempts to contact them, it appears moderator @[email protected] has gone MIA and my (cross)posts are at best coincidentally mirroring the posts over at Reddit.

Anyway, if you're interested, I'm posting and moderating at [email protected]. Act accordingly. Thanks and hopefully I'll see y'all there.

@[email protected]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10296350

From Wikipedia…

Damon Jamal Gupton (born January 4, 1973) is an American actor and orchestral conductor, best known for his series regular roles as Charles Foster on Deadline, Evrard Velerio on Prime Suspect, Adam Page on The Divide, Detective Cal Brown on The Player, Deputy Chief Henderson on Black Lightning, and SSA Stephen Walker on Criminal Minds. He has also co-starred in the films The Last Airbender (2010), Whiplash (2014), and La La Land (2016).

In 2004, he was an American Conducting Fellow at the Houston Symphony, and was assistant conductor of the Kansas City Symphony in 2006. Gupton was a guest conductor with various orchestras, including the Cincinnati Pops, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, as well as Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Orchestra of Tokyo, and the Orquesta Filarmonica de UNAM. He was the conductor of the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra during its national tour, including performances at Carnegie Hall. Gupton won Mexico City's third International Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition, the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize, and The Aspen Conducting Prize.

Not just another pretty face! ❤ Happy Birthday, Maestro! 🎼🎶 🍾

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10262433

Water Square? That's the best the marketing team could come up with? 🤦‍♂️ In any case, developers are planning a…

[…]600-room luxury riverfront hotel connected to ~~air-conditioned Cobo Arena~~ ~~Cobo Hall~~ ~~THC~~ ~~TCF Center~~ Huntington Place Convention Center

…where Joe Louis Arena used to stand

City law requires developers behind projects that are worth at least $75 million and receive at least $1 million in tax abatements to meet with residents and negotiate a community benefits agreement.

Past agreements have secured millions of dollars in donations for neighborhood programs and organizations, as well as commitments to hire Detroiters and support area businesses.

…the first meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Jan. 9 at Huntington Place. Two members of the neighborhood council will be selected at the second meeting on Jan. 16. Residents who wish to serve on the council or vote must appear in person.

They're even validating parking at the Fort/Washington Garage, so there's that.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10260608

Happy 2024, you rats. Instead of me making you all sick, I'll let Illinois' Valley Meats have the honors…

Valley Meats, based in Coal Valley, Illinois, is recalling nearly 7,000 pounds of the raw ground beef products shipped to distributors in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Michigan, according to an alert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).Valley Meats' raw ground beef products, mostly in the form of patties and in various size boxes, were distributed to restaurants and other institutional users, the news release said.

If you have questions about the recall, contact Valley Meats at 309-799-7341, ext. 229 or email [email protected]. Consumers with food-related safety questions can call the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-674-6854.

Alternate links for your convenience…

• "To The Wayback Machine, Sherman."
• 1ft.io

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10155863

War is over

On this last day of 2023, I wish you all health and prosperity in the coming year, and although I'm not holding my breath, I hope the world sees at minimum some sanity in the days to come. 🤞 🤞

Go hug somebody.

I leave you with the words of one of the most criminally underappreciated conceptual artists of the last 60 years, a person who greatly influenced the definition of "conceptual art". She also has connections to Detroit through works in the DIA collection, Fluxus at Cranbrook Academy of Art, and the Wish Tree at the Rosa Parks Transit Center. Ladies and gentlemen, Ms Yoko Ono…

There may be not much difference
Between Chairman Mao and Richard Nixon
If we strip them naked

There may be not much difference
Between Marilyn Monroe and Lenny Bruce
If we check their coffins

There may be not much difference
Between White House and Hall of People
If we count their windows

There may be not much difference
Between Raquel Welch and Jerry Rubin
If we hear their heartbeat

We're all water from different rivers
That's why it's so easy to meet
We're all water in this vast, vast ocean
Someday we'll evaporate together

There may be not much difference
Between Eldridge Cleaver and Queen of England
If we bottle their tears

There may be not much difference
Between Manson and the Pope
If we press their smile

There may be not much difference
Between Rockefeller and you
If we hear you sing

There may not be much difference
Between you and me
If we show our dreams

If you want it

~Posters~ ~courtesy~ ~of~ ~yokoonoofficial~ ~@~ ~Flickr~
~Lyrics~ ~by~ ~Yoko~ ~Ono~

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10130108

If some of you didn't already know, you can apply to get (from The Detroit Free Press article title) "discount on parking tickets in Detroit"! If you haven't been hipped to the tip yet…

• Detroit Free Press: Parking fines can be reduced through Detroit program
• Alternate link: archive.md

Geez, Freep! It's as if everybody who ~~drives~~ parks in Detroit is some scofflaw! At least BridgeDetroit treats the subject (and Detroit residents) "innocent until proven guilty," and better still, reveals the real surprise: resident-only parking!

• BridgeDetroit: Resident-only parking coming near LCA, event venues

Author Malachi Barrett graciously links to a downloadable document detailing the parking zones.

Anyone who doesn’t have a residential permit could receive a ticket for parking in defined areas during certain peak hours. Enforcement for the new zones will begin between January and February. Residents can apply and pay for permits online after providing proof of residency. Applicants must pay a one-time $35 administrative fee and $60 annual fee, with half-off discounts for seniors and low-income residents.

New residential parking zones are located in the Brush Park neighborhood, streets around Cass Park and a strip of Selden Street between Cass and Third avenues. Maps showing zone boundaries, the location of meters and parking hours can be found online.

~Photo:~ ~Malachi~ ~Barrett~

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10122150

Today's post is pure ego: an article written by a kokujin journalist ( 🤣 💘 ) that I love about a Detroit artist whose work I love. So sue me. No one's stopping you from doing likewise…

Calloway’s art career has spanned over three decades. His work has been featured at Arts, Beats & Eats, the Palmer Park Art Fair, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Arts Extended, inside Highland Park’s Avalon Village, and many, many more.

The last straw, he says of his Greektown spot, was when he came home to a pair of rats having sex in front of his door. They stopped and stared him straight in the face as if they were challenging him, “What you gone do?” Shortly after, he decided to move.

While working in slightly different media, I think Van Gogh and Monet (among others) also said something similar…

…when I ask him why food and cooking utensils appear so much in his work, Calloway says, “I never wanted to be a starving artist.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10087065

Just in case you potential homeowners missed this when first proposed, The Detroit News covers how it may be possible for to have financial assistance on a downpayment on a new home!

"Land…they ain't makin' any more of it."

Metro Detroit shoppers looking for their first home have been especially affected by higher prices: In October, Detroit posted the largest year-over-year increase in home prices, 8.1%, among 20 large U.S. cities, according to data released this week by S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

“Time and again research reveals that the down payment is the single largest hurdle first-time homebuyers need to overcome to attain homeownership,” said Sonu Mittal, Freddie Mac's single-family senior vice president of acquisitions, in a statement at the time of the program’s launch. “But finding and comparing the many programs and their guidelines is challenging," he said. "DPA One delivers a one-stop shop at no cost that brings lenders and their borrowers greater detail and visibility into these programs while seamlessly connecting the right assistance program with the lender, housing counselors and borrowers who need this assistance the most.”

---

Alternate links:

• archive.md
• 1ft.io

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10057130

…it's because no other team in the history of the NBA has achieved(?) 27 consecutive losses! Rock and roll!

Paced by Cade Cunningham’s 41 points, the Pistons’ fans alternated recent chants of “Sell the team!” to bursts of “Let’s Go Pistons!” and “Dee-Fence!” for at least one night. But, as the home team faded at the end, the chants of “Sell the team!” returned.

“I actually talked to the players about this the other day, with all the losses here, what we still have is a very good future,” [Beverly Hills billionaire and team owner Tom] Gores said. “No. 1, we have an amazing set of young players. High character, high talent. This set of players, and I know them individually and I saw them the other day, we’re in a great spot with our young talent . . . I’m willing to do whatever it takes for this organization to be successful. As much as the vision feels blurry to me . . . “

“Nobody wants this kind of thing attached to them,” said [Pistons coach Monty] Williams, whose contract reaches at least six years and maybe more. “It weighs on us every day.”

It weighs on us too, pal. 🤦‍♂️

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10051238

…and the penny-ante saga continues…

"They did what they say I did—Crazy!" Trump wrote Wednesday.

The audio recordings, captured in four recordings by someone present for the conversation between Trump and the canvassers, revealed Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel was on the call with Trump and the canvassers and offered legal assistance for the Wayne County officials if they would not sign a document certifying the county's election results.

Multiple legal experts and Republican political strategist Karl Rove have criticized Trump and McDaniel's actions. Some legal experts have questioned whether McDaniel's offer of attorneys to represent the canvassers in court for not carrying out their duties amounts to bribery.

…and yet, a non-trivial percentage of registered voters in the United States — Michigan included — still support this would-be dictator. I just can't fathom it. It appears that short of Mr Trump personally defecating on each and everyone's dining room table, the MAGA among us are committed to having the first King of The United States.

---

Alternate links:

• archive.md
• 1ft.io
• Wayback Machine

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9922385

To all subscribers, to all non-subscribers, to all who follow this dogma, to all that follow that dogma, to all that don't follow a dogma, if you're with family, if you're with friends, if you're spending time alone, if you're this, if you're that…

Merry Christmas, everybody!

🧘

Because we all share an identical need for love, it is possible to feel that anybody we meet, in whatever circumstances, is a brother or a sister.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

Happiness mainly comes from our own attitude rather than from external factors.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9745142

She [Beatty] moved back home two years ago from Atlanta for the reason that many children come back home – to care for a parent. Her mom was diagnosed with cancer, and just passed away in August. She admits it has been an excruciating two years.

But questions about her job and her restitution to the city of Detroit has put her back in the spotlight. Which is why she wanted to tell her story.

…and from The Detroit Free Press, M.L. Elrick's take…

• Christine Beatty is back, refusing to pay restitution to Detroit

In a situation reminiscent of the bad old days, when Kilpatrick and Beatty ran city hall like an employment agency for friends and family, Beatty was hired by one of her best buds from high school. THAW CEO Saunteel Jenkins also hired Beatty's mother, but she told me her longtime friendship with Beatty was not a factor in her decision to hire her fellow Cass Tech Class of 1988 alumna and her mom. More on that later.

Beatty refused repeated requests to discuss her gig or her life since leaving Detroit for Atlanta about 15 years ago. That may be because her friends and colleagues made it clear she also didn't want to answer my questions about why we should trust Beatty to do better at THAW than she did while helping run one of the most corrupt nonprofits in Detroit history.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9739917

Here's something positive instead of the usual goverment officials fomenting and dividing the people…

The grassroots, interfaith forum [The Muslim-Jewish Forum] has been barely active for the last few years. The death of one of the informal group's founding members — Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue President Samantha Woll — and ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza strip presents a lot of pain and tension for both religious minorities.

Razi Jafri is a Muslim documentary filmmaker who co-founded the Forum alongside Samantha Woll and others. Speaking to attendees of Thursday’s gathering, Jafri said the Forum is founded partly on the belief that “no two religions in the world” are more similar than Islam and Judaism. And he noted, both religions have a large community presence in southeast Michigan — though both are still very much in the minority.

“The interactions between the communities have been minimal,” Jafri said. “There's been a lot of tension. … While those issues get worked out, there's no reason for us not to gather and share space with each other, break bread, celebrate each other's holidays.”

“It behooves us to really come together and in a painful time like this, to understand each other's perspectives,” Jafri said. “And really build relationships and friendships that could help create a more peaceful environment.”

Yeah…we can only hope. ☮

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9718059

The renaming will not have any impact on official postal addresses or other legal designations and is solely a show of “solidarity, remembrance, and compassion for the lives lost in Gaza.”

One council member who voted “no” said he was against the resolution because of Hamtramck’s controversial “neutrality flag resolution,” which banned LGBTQ+ pride flags from being flown on city property. The policy also prohibits the display of religious, ethnic, racial, and political flags and states that the city won’t provide “special treatment to any group,” though critics say the resolution, which was voted on unanimously, was mainly rooted in homophobia.

Meanwhile, over at The Detroit Free Press…

Carolyn Normandin, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Michigan, called supporting one side of the conflict divisive, adding that Israel is fighting to fend off future attacks like the Oct. 7 one by Hamas militants. Some 1,200 Israelis were killed in that attack and more than 240 others were kidnapped. More than half of the hostages still remain in captivity, according to USA Today.

Rabbi Simcha Tolwin of Jewish Learning Center Aish Detroit meanwhile said the council "is festering a movement that ... in fact is just a call for the genocide of the Jews.

"Naming a street Palestine Ave. shows that Hamtramck supports terrorism, and gives the terrorists the support they need to keep at their goals of genocide through rape, murder and kidnapping of civilians," he said in an email, referencing the Hamas attack.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9627419

The second of the Metro Times posts for your edification on…on what gets gallons of Michigan bodily fluids to spill on keyboards and surrounding areas. I mean oil drums. Industrial containers.

Turn that UV light off!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9627285

One of two…ehmm, "earthier" articles in The Metro Times posted here to…well, I'm not sure to what end.

I suppose you can't talk about the Gaza Strip nor the Ukraine all the time.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9485323

""And right now... right now... right now it's time to..."

…remember one of the most unlikely frontmen in Rock 'n Roll, of course Made in Detroit: The Righteous Brother Rob Tyner! Shakin' his hip-hugger-wearin' ass across the cosmos!

And as our mind explodes in a post atomic dawn
The future breaks like a tidal wave, engulfing everyone
Confusion and chaos, trauma of birth
A strange new day for the people of the earth
Traditions burned away by the rising sun

-- MC5, Future/Now (Tyner)

Right on, Brother Tyner! ✊ Born today in 1944, Rob was struck down tragically in 1991, only 46 years old, from a heart attack.

• When the Five were on fire!
• The Five near the end on German TV

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9443273

Central to this initiative is Amtrak’s ambitious Cleveland–Toledo–Detroit/Pontiac corridor. This proposed route would facilitate travel from Pontiac to Cleveland, with strategic stops in Troy, Royal Oak, Detroit, Toledo, and Sandusky. Notably, this week saw the inclusion of two key destinations: Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus and Cleveland Hopkins Airport in Ohio. Under the Corridor Identification and Development Program (Corridor ID), this corridor is set to receive up to $500,000 for planning a new conventional rail system.

Another idea looong overdue. I guess more than 100 years of inertia is bound to render civic planning a little…rusty.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9392282

During a hearing on antisemitism, in front of Congress and TV cameras, the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania were asked by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik on Tuesday whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated their schools’ rules on bullying and harassment.

This should not be a hard question. Calling for the murder of any race or religious group should be a non-starter at a college. Would screaming for the genocide of Blacks, Latinos, gay or transgender people be tolerated for a second in the Ivy League? Never. Nor should it be. To deny that would get you fired before you could finish your sentence.

But faced with that same simple question regarding the genocide of Jews, the presidents struggled with their answers.

(In)sincere apologies for posting this opinion piece here in c/[email protected]; normally I can take them or leave them, giornalist Mitch Albom's articles—usually leaning towards the latter—but the piece is a good wrap-up of the recent hemming and hawing and general cowardice of some of our top university presidents. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt that neither Dr Magill (Penn) nor Dr Gay (Harvard) are actually antisemites or Nazis (who knows?), but there are certain questions in life that have hopefully obvious, one-word answers that you just can't skirt around.

Alternate links:

• archive.md
• 1ft.io

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9390893

Jack's muse. A Mo Tucker for the end of the century. NPR dubbed her the "21st Century's Loudest Introvert". The most reluctant rock star...ever.

Happy Birthday, Ms White! 🍬🍬🍬

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9253879

Huntington Place? Oh, you mean ~~Cobo Hall~~ ~~Cobo Center~~ uhm, ~~TCM~~ TCF Center? Oh, it's not called that anymore? Why don't they just call it Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac Center (or Cadillac Center for short) and be done with it? Geez!

The texts from the Trump campaign employee "encouraged rioting and other methods of obstruction when (the Trump campaign employee) learned that the vote count was trending in favor of" President Joe Biden, the court filing said.

A record 167,000 absentee ballots were counted at Huntington Place by the evening of Nov. 4 as crowds shouted, "Stop the Count!" The scene included yelling, taunting, cheering, fists pounding on glass and unruly challengers being arrested by police.

Alternate links:

• 1ft.io
• archive.md

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9253282

One of my personal favorite actors, award-winning Ellen Burstyn is probably best known for her role as the possessed Regan's mother, Chris MacNeil, in The Exorcist and again in the recent (but less charming) The Exorcist: Believer. But this fabuous lady has a equally fabulous career 50 years strong!

She is one of only 24 people to have achieved The Triple Crown of Acting; her inclusion in this elite set are her Oscar® for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore in 1974, a Tony for the stage version of Same Time, Next Year in 1975, and an Emmy for her appearance on Law and Order: SVU in 2009.

Among her more acclaimed films are The Last Picture Show, the aforementioned Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the film version of Same Time, Next Year, How To Make An American Quilt, Requim For A Dream, and *The Fountain*.

And this magnificent lady was born here in Detroit 91 years ago today! I'd like to wish Ms Burstyn a most wonderful day! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🎂🍾

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9191264

"Murder City" no more…well, almost…

In 2018, Detroit had 261 homicides, the fewest number since 1966. Through Nov. 30, 2023, Detroit has experienced only 228 homicides, putting the city on track to finish the year well below the 2018 record low.

That's still around four murders a week by my public-school-education calculations. Still, better than the 714 murders logged for 1974, n'est-ce pas?

Did You Know?: According to World Atlas 2023, Detroit is the 29^th^ most dangerous city in the world, and the 5^th^ most dangerous in the United States?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9163939

Chag Hanukkah sameach, mishpochas! At sunset this Thursday is the start of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. "Darkness doesn't stand a chance."

The doors of Menorah in the D open at 5 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2023, at Campus Martius in Downtown Detroit. The event officially starts at 5:30 p.m. and is free and open to all, regardless of their religious beliefs.

RSVP required, bubbeleh!