Michigan's K-12 Education Transformation "Brute-Force to Brain-Force"

Something to Consider

(DAN KILDEE/Special to the Free Press)

The dilapidated condition of the Durant Hotel reflects the fact that the Flint landmark was vacant for decades before the Genesee County Land Bank acquired it in 2005. It is slated for restoration as an apartment building.

STEPHEN HENDERSON PEOPLE & POLITICS

Genesee treasurer seizes property -- and opportunity -- in Flint

October 28, 2007

BY STEPHEN HENDERSON

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Dan Kildee sounds like a developer as he lurches in his Chevy through decrepit neighborhoods surrounding downtown Flint, pointing out long abandoned properties that are poised for new life.

On one corner is the Durant Hotel, vacant for decades but scheduled to re-emerge as an apartment building. Nearby is a flophouse that will be turned into stable, low-income housing. On one residential street, nearly all the houses have been bulldozed, and there are plans to build fewer new ones on larger lots.

"The idea is to look at each parcel of land and figure out how it should be used to maximize its impact on the surrounding area," Kildee said.

That's how a developer or, more accurately, a city planner, might talk. But Kildee is the Genesee County treasurer, essentially a tax collector. What's he doing in this role?

The answer is one that has brought Kildee national recognition, and could help other urban areas of Michigan recover from the mounting effects of property foreclosures and abandonment. In two words: land bank.

Kildee has turned the county treasurer's responsibility to deal with properties that fall into tax delinquency into a massive land inventory and development program.

The county keeps control

Rather than allowing private collectors to enter the process -- which would draw many who are simply speculating and have no interest in what happens to neighborhoods -- the county is doing it all on its own, from tax delinquency to foreclosure, and applying principles of smart development all along the way.

Kildee can do this because state law was changed in 2002 to make it easier, and quicker, for counties to get involved. But so far he's the only treasurer to use that law to its fullest potential, and as a result, the only one to have such a dramatic impact.

Remember, we're talking about Flint here, the epitome of an urban wasteland, a place where we who live in Detroit could still say: Thank God we're not them.

In six years, Kildee's program has repurposed 6,300 properties, places that would almost certainly be abandoned now if the county hadn't acted. The county sold 500 of those properties to next-door neighbors for $1, and volunteered to clear the lot for them. That explains the sprawling gardens some Flint residents have.

About 2,000 of the properties have been resold to new owners. About 90 have been partially rehabbed for new rental or ownership opportunities.

A handful have been redeveloped, full rehabs that Kildee's organization undertook on residences or commercial buildings that had real market potential. The building where his offices are located in downtown Flint is a great example: It was gutted and refashioned into split commercial space and housing. A first-floor condo just sold for $475,000.

A boon to taxpayers

Kildee's approach costs taxpayers nothing. His program pays for itself through interest collected on back taxes, sales of property and, in some cases, tax credits. A study by the Genesee Institute shows the land bank program has also helped Flint residents reclaim $112 million in diminished property values by so aggressively dealing with abandonment. It's simple: Bulldoze an abandoned house, and every structure on the block is suddenly worth more.

Don't get me wrong. Flint is still Flint, a dead industrial center whose primary employer up and left. Kildee compares it to New Orleans, a place that lost 40% of its population in a weekend; Flint just took 30 years to get to the same place.

But there are men in hard hats scaling new and rehabbed structures downtown, and there are neighborhoods where dramatic depopulation is being managed to avoid massive abandonment and blight.

Is it all Kildee's doing? No. But his land banking program is working, well, miracles here.

Last month, it was awarded the Innovations in American Government prize from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The changes in law that made all this possible were quite simple. Before, when someone fell behind on property taxes, counties sold off those taxes in the form of liens to investors, who would try to collect, with interest, and could foreclose and take the property in about eight years. It often resulted -- as you see in cities like Detroit -- in out-of-town lien holders and property owners, some without clear title. The process makes repurposing of abandoned property nearly impossible.

The new rules allow counties to hold the liens, collect somewhat reduced interest, then foreclose and take property in just over two years. The county can then bank the land, and do whatever it wants.

Getting in on the action

Most counties use the process, but auction off the property at the end, tossing it to the same speculators who made things difficult before.

But picture what could happen in Wayne County -- some three or four times the size of Genesee -- if the process were used to fight abandonment. Kildee's 800 demolitions could be as many as 3,200 in a city like Detroit. At no taxpayer expense. The 6,300 properties he has processed there could be 24,000 here, which starts to make a dent in the blight that still holds Detroit back.

"If this works in Flint, a city that doesn't have to exist, the weakest of the weak markets," Kildee said, "it has to work in other places."

STEPHEN HENDERSON is deputy editorial page editor of the Free Press. Contact him at 313-222-6659, or at shenderson600@freepress.com.

A "Business Case" for CREATIVITY!

• 

FREE PRESS EDITORIAL

Think creatively to give cities new life

Turning a former Jackson prison into a center for artists can serve as a model for rejuvenating other cities

October 28, 2007

Just off Cooper Street in Jackson sits a renovation project that economic leaders statewide ought to be eyeing. It's a textbook example of creative revitalization.

In January, a historic 19th Century former prison will be reopened as an incubator for artistic talent and economic growth. The project, called the Armory Arts Village, is a twist on the familiar formula of reviving a piece of history with a modern marketable use. In Jackson's case, it's not just any piece of history, but the very building that launched the city's long involvement with the prison industry.

The project, five years in the making, saved the building from becoming another sign of economic blight, all because the Enterprise Group, an economic development agency, had the vision and a creative funding strategy to turn the old jailhouse into something more, a $12.5-million subsidized housing complex for artists.

The 62 loft apartments vary in size from 800 to 1,300 square feet, with rents ranging from $416 to $640. Applications and inquiries are coming in from around the state and as far away as Miami and New Zealand. The lofts are bound by strict income guidelines. A single person, for instance, cannot earn more than $24,360. The income of a family of four must not exceed $34,000.

Going after the creative class is hardly a new idea. But plans in most cities center on attracting the pocketbooks of established artists and creative types who can afford market rate lifestyles. Armory Arts Village appropriately flips the theory by targeting artists who need both a break in rent and the skills to market their talent. The Armory lofts' appeal hinges as much on the 13-foot-tall ceilings as it does on the promise that tenants will acquire the skills to grow their talent into lucrative enterprises, ranging from a teaching workshop for the local school district to designing art for area businesses.

"We see the artists who will live here as small businesses in the making," said Steve Czarnecki, president and CEO of the Enterprise Group. "We intend to capture their creativity and show them how to turn it into wealth for themselves and for Jackson."

The painters, actors, welders, sculptors, musicians and video game designers who move in will also receive free use of the galleries, theater/jazz cafe, work studio and teaching labs that dominate the complex's first floor. The work Armory residents produce will be showcased, sold and marketed right within the old prison's walls.

It's all part of a shrewd attempt to stimulate a stretch of Jackson, just four blocks from downtown, into a thriving destination and tax base. "This will be an iconic project not only for Jackson, but for Michigan," says Peter Kageyama, president of Creative Tampa Bay, a nonprofit development group that studies reuse projects around the world.

After a recent visit to Jackson, Kageyama said, "It's similar to projects seen around the world, particularly in the United Kingdom, where the concept of clustering creative industries under one roof has helped turn around a number of cities in England where the manufacturing base left. They can be real engines of urban regeneration."

The skylines of Michigan's old industrial towns are dotted by no shortage of former factories and warehouses that could be transformed into small business, live-and-work training grounds. "This project just epitomizes the idea of using where you've been as a city to take the leap forward into the future," said project director Jane Robinson, who is also a local painter and spent years working in the city's prisons. "The prison industry really built Jackson, starting right here. And now we're using it as the catalyst to reinvent ourselves

again."

Stimulating, small homegrown solutions have to play a bigger role in the thinking of state and local leaders. Cities ought to be partnering with their visionary developers and nonprofit groups to generate niche-marketing ideas for old neighborhoods.

Another aspect of the Armory project worth studying, and duplicating, is the idea of inventorying every inch of abandoned real estate and property in the county.

The Armory site was among the largest, and it grew even more appealing because it sits in a renaissance zone and qualifies for state and federal brownfield redevelopment tax credits. The Enterprise Group purchased the property for $900,000, and in a novel step formed several limited liability corporations so that it could also work as the master developer.

The state chipped in with a $100,000 Cool Cities grant and millions of dollars in tax credits through the Michigan State Housing and Development Authority. And since the initial investment, Czarnecki says the project has received key federal earmark grants. The group also enticed local private foundations and private individuals to become investment partners early on.

"If Jackson can be uppity enough to think it can transform itself into a cool city," said Czarnecki, "any city in the state can. It's all about seeing the value creativity and a knowledge-based economy can bring."

Looking to government or any single industry to revive a city is ancient economic thinking. The momentum is in growing and maximizing partnerships, especially those that aim, as the Armory does, to turn historic relics into viable resources again.

Developers and strategists across the state ought to start looking for more creative ways to bet on their city's futures.

Do schools today kill creativity? (Ken Robinson, TEDTalks)

Note to self: The contextual implicaton is that CREATIVITY ever existed in the Silo's of Irrelevance in the first place. NOT!

Education Today and Tomorrow "A DIGITAL CONUNDRUM"

A Vision of Students Today

Begin With The End in Mind! Curriculum for Differentiated Learning & Understanding

Understanding by Design Web-site
http://www.ubdexchange.org/

Review: Book Contents

Meeting: Architechtual Planning 10-22-2007 7:00PM

Where: Cafe 1923

Agenda

Oveview: Architectual Planning to date (Look and feel for HCCP meeting)

*Possible discussion of "seminal elements" of Hamtramck City Council Presentation meeting

OTHER:

Adjourn!

Online Reference File

Here's a link to a message board thread I started last winter. It's become my repository of building ideas throughout the year:

I thought it would be handy to have a thread where we can point out various art centers and discuss what we like/dislike about them, with respect to our own goals.

Got any places we should know about? Post 'em here! This is your reference section for ideas, inspiration, and better understandng of the perks, pitfalls, and day-to-day reality of running a brick-and-mortar Hatch HQ.

OUR URGENCY FACTOR: Did You Know; Shift Happens - Globalization; Information Age

• 
• 
  
• A HAVEN FOR ARTISTS: Apartment's developers seek creative tenants
  
  
  October 17, 2007
  
  BY AMBER HUNT
  
  FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
  
  Wanted: Struggling artists willing to live with like-minded people in newly renovated apartments costing $550 a month or less.
  
  After 18 months -- and $5.5 million -- developers of the spiffed-up Whitdel Building in southwest Detroit are set to fill the building's 32 units with area artists. They want to inject the already diverse neighborhood with, well, a little bit of creative cool.
  
  The building sits amid a hodgepodge of abandoned row homes mixed in with other, well-kept homes. "Artists bring the added value to a neighborhood," said John VanCamp, president of Southwest Solutions, which is working with the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) to turn the 80-year-old building into a haven for the right-brained.
  
  While many developers aim to turn aging Detroit buildings into low-income apartments and condos, the Whitdel project is unique in that its space is tailored specifically to artists. The building will include a common area for artists in the basement and an art gallery for the public. Nonartists can apply for residence as well, but developers primarily envision painters, actors, sculptors, dancers and musicians living as neighbors. They want a mix of artists and media -- creative types who can feed off of and inspire each other.
  
  "You might have a sculptor or a dancer who wants to learn to draw," said Aaron Timlin, CAID's executive director.
  
  Or, he said, one might be a digital designer willing to help another tenant create a Web site or polish a résumé.
  
  The apartments are clean but basic, ranging from about 350 to 1,000 square feet. The kitchens open into modest-size living rooms, and the bedrooms are outfitted with small closets. But the simple white walls can be an art lover's canvas -- as long as he or she is willing to paint them white again before moving out.
  
  The common basement is divided into two chunks: One side has a computer lab, two rooms for ceramics -- complete with throwing wheels and kilns -- and flexible classroom space where kids can take art classes.
  
  The other half of the basement will be the Ladybug Gallery, which Timlin said will draw artists from all over the country for events like a Dec. 15 show that features food as art.
  
  The premiere of Actual Size Biennial -- an art exhibit featuring pieces with at least one dimension being 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches -- will coincide with the building's Saturday open house.
  
  There are income caps: People who live there must make no more than 60% of the area median income, or about $29,500 for a single person.
  
  The apartments range from about $320 a month for a one-bedroom unit to about $550 a month for a three-bedroom.
  
  As of last week, Timlin said, about 30 people had applied, though no one is yet guaranteed a unit. Applicants must include a résumé and portfolio, though the selection is not dependent upon the art. The more crucial goal is to get a mix of artists, officials said. The first residents can tentatively move in Nov. 1.
  
  Some neighbors are greeting the development skeptically.
  
  "I'm cautiously optimistic," said John Leary, 28, who lives in a house within walking distance of the Whitdel. Leary previously lived in New York.
  
  "It seems like it's good to get people in here," he said. But he said he doesn't want the development to cause area housing prices to climb.
  
  The rent is based on U.S. Housing and Urban Development guidelines, however, meaning that the nonprofit agency Southwest Solutions can't increase the cost. That will ensure that low-paid artists always have a home in the neighborhood, VanCamp said, no matter how housing values fluctuate.
  
  "Artists," he said, "are part of the fabric here."
  
  Contact AMBER HUNT at 586-469-4682 or alhunt@freepress.com.

HATCH VISION Presentation to the Hamtramck City Council

HATCH VISION PURPOSE (Reinvention: Police Station to HATCH CREATIVE Building)

• Defining purpose and priciples

• Outcome Visioning

• Brainstroming

• Organizing

• Idenifying next actions

Addtional Elements:
Minnesota Artist Centers (Suzanne) http://www.hhh.umn.edu/img/assets/6158/artists_centers.pdf

Questions from board members

Although there is a lot of excitement about this partnership and the possibilities it poses, there are questions that board members have that I cannot answer.

1. Why does "Cross-Hatch" want part ownership of the building (or do they)? How do liability issues come into play if there is a joint ownership?

*As we previously discussed the Cross+Hatch organization is not particularly interested in taking a position of ownership in the building, however, as a for-profit entity we may be able to acquire funding streams for the Hatch organization that are not available to traditional non-profit organizations and therefore those revenue-generating efforts might require our direct participation. Barring any ownership position, we would like to continue to assist with the project (City of Hamtramck and HATCH) perhaps in an "advisory council" liaison role to the HATCH organizations Board of Directors and the City of Hamtramck and other various 3rd party funding entities known to the Cross+Hatch organization.

2. When grant money is won or loan money given to reconstruction of the building, exactly who controls the money and who exactly is involved in making the decisions?

*Efforts to secure dollars for restoration and renovation of the HATCH building on behalf of the HATCH 501(C)(3) organization would of course reside within the HATCH organization and would be subject only to their discretion and agreements in kind. Any addtional funding efforts acquired on behalf of the HATCH orgainzation, but outside of there direct control (for-profit efforts) would only manifest themselves with the concurrence of the HATCH orgainzations Board of Directors, addtionally, these funds would be jointly-administered by the Cross+Hatch organization and the HATCH organization.

3. How are we going to coordinate together to do some of the tangible things such as design the presentation to City Council? Is it possible to have meetings after 6:00 or on weekends when more people are free?

*We believe the "collaborative presentation" to the Hamtramck City Council on behalf of the HATCH organization is crucial to the ultimate success of our mutal community building endeavors.

The presentation should represent the following;

• HATCH VISION
• Identification of past, current and future executions
• Identifcation of the current and future supporting-cast of individuals and organizations
  
• Identification of the resultant HATCH Hamtramck Community capacity-building efforts and outcomes

We are more then willing to bend our scheduling to accomodate the HATCH memberships needs. Perhaps if we can get some more HATCH people participating here on the blog-site we can begin to "outline and storyboard" the presentation therby optimizing our face to face time.

Looking forward to Monday!

Chris Schneider
President, Hatch

For the memory and continuation of Sam's good works

Hello to all people interested in expansion of artistic talentry in the wonderful vibrant city of Hamtramack!

My name is Jim Bates and I have had the great pleasure of having worked with the Detroit Zen Center over on Mitchell st. on a variety of projects, at the center and on other construction projects. Most of the work was electrical in nature as I am an Electrical Contractor. Although as of recently have started a new company called SEND LLC and SEND stands for Sustainable ENergy Delivery. SEND is comprised of individuals that work together to create and manage projects that fit certain goals. Some of those goals are the development of natural resources including but not limited to the creative spirit, renewable energy delivery systems such as Solar Photo-voltaic and solar thermal systems. Most importantly we endeavor to create an atmospere in each project that allows people to learn how to unleash their cognitive potential to learn how think creatively so that they may become the innovators bringing true answers and solutions that will allow our world to become a place where our children will be happy to grow up in.For all to short a time I had the great honor to have worked with a giant of a man who went by the name of Najim Jasarevic also known as Sam to some people. He was the owner of Sam's Roofing and Siding. Najim has left us now to be ever closer to the Spirit of the God he loved so much and he now resides in heaven. But while he was with us he built the Bosnian cultural center on Canniff and managed to sponser dozens of families to take part in creating the Bosnian Community here in Hamtarack. We know that were Najim still with us he would be right in the middle of rebuilding the police station into the artists center, all the while building a better community. These things he was so good at doing. There are plans I hear to make the new roof into a green roof. Perhaps Miko who was Najim's best friend could build it and together we can plant some plants in honor of our good friends kindness, honor and innovative ways in which he left us great examples of how to do it right.I for one would donate the labor to install a solar powered fountain to honor all the wonderful people that make up this very unique city. So let's get busy!Thank You Jim Batesrenewables@ic.org
October 9, 2007 11:16 PM

City of Hamtramck: Mayoral Meeting (Cross+HATCH) Monday, October 15, 2007 11:00AM

Subject: Meeting with the Mayor

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The mayor is available to meet with us on Monday, October 15 at 11am. We will be rehashing the plan that is in-progress for the former police station building. It would be extremely helpful to have the HATCH folks there to show their support and talk about how they fit in the project.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you cannot attend.

Thanks,

--
Erik Tungate
Director
Community & Economic Development
City of Hamtramck
3401 Evaline
Hamtramck, MI 48212

Agenda

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HATCH Meeting: Sunday, October 7, 2007

Came Across My Screen (this morning)

SPARC Announces Mind Mashup

http://www.sparkyawards.org

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) is collecting entries for the SPARC Discovery Awards, a new contest to promote the open exchange of information. The theme is “Mind Mashup,” and contestants are invited to illustrate in short videos the importance of sharing ideas and information of all kinds. Anyone aged 15 or older is encouraged to send in their entry after considering this “inspiration quote” from George Bernard Shaw: “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange those apples, then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” The deadline is December 2.

NEXT HATCH MEETING: Wednesday, October 3, 2007 12:00PM (Building) 1:00PM (City Offices)

Where: City Offices (Tour of Building to Follow)

Agenda Items

1. Building Security (access and limitations)
   
2. Electrical, heating, etc.
   
3. Sense of Place issues (identity defined, responsibility, mapping place, building community, empowerment)
   
4. Continued HATCH Capacity Building (HATCH activities)
   
5. Financial Considerations and Capital Formation Strategies (Building Upgrades, etc.)
   
6. City Granting Possibilities (Cities of Promise, Cool Cities, etc.)
   
7. Property Transfer Issues
   
8. Public, Private Initiative
   
9. 
   

Minutes of Meeting: (to follow)