[DetroitSky]

Campaign to rebuild Black Wall Street could extend to Detroit

A $10 million fundraising campaign launched Thursday to rebuild Black Wall Street —Tulsa, Oklahoma’s black-owned business district destroyed in 1921 by white rioters — could soon spread to Detroit, organizers said.

The effort was announced during a virtual press conference by Oklahoma’s Historic Greenwood Chamber of Commerce and is chaired by Detroit’s Rev. Horace Sheffield III. Sheffield said if successful, the committee will launch another campaign to rebuild Detroit’s
Black Bottom neighborhood, torn down in the 1950s in part to build Interstate 375.

Detroit’s Oakman Boulevard Being Transformed into $8.6M Green Avenue, MEDC Selects North End and Grosse Pointe for Main Street Program

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has announced the city’s largest investment to date in green stormwater infrastructure to reduce neighborhood flooding and basement backups by transforming the medians on Oakman Boulevard between Joy Road and Tireman Avenue.

While not near the river, a portion of Oakman through the city’s northwest Aviation neighborhood has experienced significant street flooding and basement backups, most notably during rainstorms in 2014 and 2016.

“We made a commitment to the residents of the Aviation neighborhood that the city would take measures to help protect their homes,” says Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “What DWSD is doing here will use nature instead of storm sewers to manage huge amounts of stormwater to help reduce street flooding and basement backups.”

Detroit’s Blaze Contracting is the primary contractor on the $8.6 million project. The contractor will be required to meet Duggan’s executive order that 51 percent of the hours worked during the project will be performed by Detroit residents. Failure by the contractor to meet this requirement will result in fines from the city’s Civil Rights and Inclusion Office.

In related news, the historic North End neighborhood of Detroit and the city of Grosse Pointe have been selected by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to take part in the select level of the Michigan Main Street program. The two communities will receive five years of technical assistance from MEDC with a focus on revitalization strategies designed to attract new residents, business investments, economic growth, and job creation to their central business districts.