What Will it Take to Rebuild Dearborn?
What does the future hold for downtown West Dearborn and . . .
Drive through downtown Dearborn, both east and west, and you’ll find plenty of vacant buildings.
Will these vacant buildings ever be filled with viable retail business that will bring people back to our city to shop?
The short answer? No.
At least that is the opinion of one planner in a column in Saturday’s New York Times.
Christopher B. Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and professor of practice in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan, says that the “boarded-up and vacant strip malls . . . forlorn monuments to the real estate crash are not going to come back to life, even when the economy recovers. And that’s because the demand for the housing that once supported commercial activity in many exurbs isn’t coming back, either.”
Leinberger writes that the most expensive housing today is in the high-density, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods of the center city and inner suburbs.
. . . downtown East Dearborn.
“Simply put, there has been a profound structural shift — a reversal of what took place in the 1950s, when drivable suburbs boomed and flourished as center cities emptied and withered,” he writes.
“The shift is durable and lasting because of a major demographic event: the convergence of the two largest generations in American history, the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and the millennials (born between 1979 and 1996), which today represent half of the total population.
“Many boomers are now empty nesters and approaching retirement. Generally this means that they will downsize their housing in the near future. Boomers want to live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.
“The millennials are just now beginning to emerge from the nest — at least those who can afford to live on their own. This coming-of-age cohort also favors urban downtowns and suburban town centers — for lifestyle reasons and the convenience of not having to own cars.
Over all, only 12 percent of future homebuyers want the drivable suburban-fringe houses that are in such oversupply, according to the Realtors survey. This lack of demand all but guarantees continued price declines. Boomers selling their fringe housing will only add to the glut. Nothing the federal government can do will reverse this.”
It’s a depressing column, for sure. But not one we are willing to entirely accept. While our elected officials have made a lot of poor decisions in a short amount of time that Dearborn will suffer from for years to come, it is hard to image Detroit somehow becoming a destination, at least not in the short term.
There is some good news. Leinberger says there is great pent-up demand for walkable, centrally located neighborhoods (we would say Dearborn offers this). He says the transformation of suburbia can be seen in places like Arlington County, Va., Bellevue, Wash., and Pasadena, Calif., “where strip malls have been bulldozed and replaced by higher-density mixed-use developments with good transit connections.”
“The cities and inner-ring suburbs that will be the foundation of the recovery require significant investment at a time of government retrenchment. Bus and light-rail systems, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements — what traffic engineers dismissively call “alternative transportation” — are vital. So is the repair of infrastructure like roads and bridges. Places as diverse as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Charlotte, Denver and Washington have recently voted to pay for “alternative transportation,” mindful of the dividends to be reaped. As Congress works to reauthorize highway and transit legislation, it must give metropolitan areas greater flexibility for financing transportation, rather than mandating that the vast bulk of the money can be used only for roads.
“For too long, we over-invested in the wrong places. Those retail centers and subdivisions will never be worth what they cost to build. We have to stop throwing good money after bad. It is time to instead build what the market wants: mixed-income, walkable cities and suburbs that will support the knowledge economy, promote environmental sustainability and create jobs.”
To read the complete article, click HERE.
November 27th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
First get rid of the paid parking. How else can Dearborn compete with Allen Park? Since Dearborn cannot control the traffic on Michigan, thinking outside of the box is a requisite. In West Dearborn, if free parking draws more traffic, revenues in the parkings structures might go up, just like lowering taxes generates more revenue.
The conclusions drawn by the author are wrong. Man still will travel for one hour to go to work. i would like to see just one study that proves light rail or any other passenger rail system does not require taxpayer subsidy in order to operate. I do not want to subsidize a hig speed rail system to reduce the time to Chicago by only thirty minutes. Are you reading this John Dingell?
November 27th, 2011 at 1:40 pm
If people want to be able to walk to things, than why are we closing our neighborhood pools and libraries? That will for sure make people think twice about paying more taxes than our homes are worth to live here. If walkable cities are what the new generation wants, than why is our downtown a big flop? They are making huge mistakes with how things are run and they need to just bite the bullet and admit their mistakes and move on and do things the way we the people who are the ones paying all the taxes and their salary want. Dearborn had everything and due to poor decisions now will have nothing. We can’t let this happen. Save our pools, libraries and downtown. You have the extra tax money, now use it wisely. I didn’t see anything in the above article about people wanting leaf pick up or public service days and street sweeping yet that is what our city chooses to spend all our money on.
November 27th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
If you want a further read on this subject read James Howard Kunstler’s book Geography of Nowhere.
November 28th, 2011 at 8:46 am
I think the new rail station is a great idea for Dearborn, not because I want to take something away from East Dearborn, but where the current train station is located, it’s not convienent to walk to anything, while waiting for the trains. if the new station is within site distance of even Westborn Market, people will walk there, while they are waiting for their trains. I think that will help create just what this article is talking about.
and who, among all the people who just complain here, shopped locally this weekend???
November 28th, 2011 at 10:09 am
“Man still will travel for one hour to go to work.” In 2000, the cost of oil per barrel was $27.39. In 2011 (to date) it is $86.84 per barrel (http://inflationdata.com/inflation/inflation_rate/historical_oil_prices_table.asp)
Show me one study that says autos are the future.
November 28th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
I read that article in the paper and shook my head, it sounded like someone trying to justify their (“liberal”) belief system.
Our little city is sui generis, you have the old Springwells and Village of Dearborn pushed together with very different communities at each end. Very different places from an urban planning perspective.
You could argue that East Dearborn is already the urban paradise the author described – small, affordable houses on tight lots, near shopping, very walkable, with lots of transit in place.
West Dearborn sprawls all over, with lotsa malls that need cars that people keep in their garages on their big wasteful lots, too far for any American to walk to and from.
So . . . where do you want to live?
All transit is subsidized (paid for) by us – we just the road budget hidden away in the gas tax, while buses and trains have to stand there with their begging cap in hand. So now we are not supposed to clean the streets so folks can have libraries and pools?
November 28th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
As Deep’s article states, Detroit, unlike many major US cities, is not a desirable place to live for most Metro Detroit suburbanites for numerous reasons. Therefore, as the article states, suburban communities, especially older ones like Dearborn that are adjacent to large urban centers and ones that have the infrastructure built like Dearborn, stand a chance to rebound, providing city leadership takes the city in the right direction. As Deep further states, past decisions made about downtown west Dearborn (DTWD) by city leaders have not worked out as city leaders have hoped they would. The result has been a devastated DTWD with scores of vacancies, mostly in newer buildings.
The article also states people today want the ability to live in downtowns. Dearborn has numerous condominiums and apartments in or adjacent to DTWD. However, numerous people who have attempted to rent or buy have informed me that they are out of their price range and they can find a better deal elsewhere, and that is one reason why many sit vacant.
Many prefer to shop in older walk able downtowns with a variety of stores, not necessarily big-box stores and most suburbs are far safer to shop in that Detroit. Sadly, we do not have a large variety of stores in DTWD for numerous reasons. In the newer buildings, the price per square foot is too high for most, as one selling small ticket items has to sell a lot of them to survive, thus resulting in many small businesses closing in the newer buildings. In addition, the second floor business suites in West Village Plaza have been vacant since they opened years ago.
We also have an issue that most other suburban cities do not have. We have $16 million of user-paid parking lots and 2 parking garages, with the 2 garages costing $11.5 million of that $16 million. The two parking structures were built before Burton-Katzman (BK) put in the proposed hotel, resulting in an empty lot to this day, which has resulted in the city filling a lawsuit against BK. The lawsuit could drag on for years and if we are lucky, the city will get the proposed property back that they unwisely gave to BK years ago and nothing else. Meanwhile, taxpayers are stuck with paying a subsidy from the city general fund averaging $500,000 per year, all funds that could have been utilized to save other more valuable city services like keeping the Snow Library open or keeping some pools open, etc.
While I do not believe user paid parking is the main reason that DTWD is hurting, according to the many business owners I have spoken with in DTWD, it certainly is one of the big reasons businesses are struggling or going out of business in DTWD. There was a time not than long ago that I was in DTWD frequently, but finding change, running back out to refill a meter or wanting to add an additional charge to my debit/credit card with my Smartphone is just too much of a hassle. I also have no doubt that many others feel the same way.
I believe the other main reason DTWD is struggling is because there is just not enough variety down there and/or there are not enough of the type of stores that prior shoppers were accustomed to having.
In addition, because there is not a feasible way to make Michigan Avenue walk able due to the heavy traffic, one rarely sees anyone sitting in the outside front patios down there such as at Panera Bread and Buffalo Wild Wings. Most sit in the back patio because it is much quieter.
Another topic the article touches on is that people want walk-able, bike-able, skate-able paths throughout their downtowns. The good news is that the city is working on a plan to start a path throughout most areas of Dearborn, connecting downtowns to parks and neighborhoods, which will connect to the current path east of Andiamo’s. This path will have to be run down the side areas of current Dearborn city streets and will run across Michigan Avenue and into Ford Field and other areas, but due to MDOT controlling busy Michigan Avenue, it will not run down Michigan Avenue. However, it has been suggested the city consider running the path down Newman/West Village Drive and some other areas north of Michigan Avenue in DTWD. Current plans are to start creating some of these paths in the spring of 2012 and most, if not all of it will be paid for by grants, as is the one that will run from Andiamo’s to Ford Field.
Let’s hope city leaders start reanalyzing their decisions in DTWD and start coming up with some out of the box thinking, although based upon past performance, I’m not going to get my hopes up that this will happen any time soon.
November 29th, 2011 at 2:17 am
The clean streets and leaf pick up do not seem to have attracted more people to live and shop here. I think free or cheaper parking, more stores, lower taxes, pools and libraries would attract more people than cleaning the street every week and plugging up the sewers with leaves raked into the streets. The streets have always managed to be cleaned without the strict parking rules before. It takes away from businesses who’s customers need to park on the street. They do not need to remove all the cars every single week. That could be done only a few times a year. I’m sure Dearborn would survive just fine with once a month public service days and no leaf pick up. Probably better than now if they put the extra tax money and money saved from cutting back on these programs to proper use.
November 29th, 2011 at 7:18 am
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Yasir Kaskorkis and I am a property manager for Cambridge Real Estate, who also oversees all Fakhoury Properties in Downtown West Dearborn. As many of you are aware, there has been a decline in patronage to the downtown district since the necessary paid parking increases took effect in July. Besides the economic conditions, a competitive project in Allen Park (with free parking) and a decrease in business population have affected us tremendously. You will all agree the businesses in the district with no paid parking are at a significant competitive advantage to those who require their patrons to pay.
Paid parking has been a controversial topic, and it looks as though it will continue to be for some time. As business people, we must learn to work within our constraints. That is why over the past several months Cambridge Real Estate and Fakhoury Ventures have been working with the ECD and DDA to help support a free valet parking system for the entire downtown district (the first of its kind in the Metro-Detroit area). We will be requesting marketing funds from the DDA to help fund this operation. The funds will serve to alleviate the burden of operating the system from the business owners and to promote the free valet parking system. These are funds we desperately need in order to make this project successful. The amount of funds put forth by the business owners will be dependent on the amount of funds approved by the DDA. As we inch closer to accomplishing our goal, we politely request your support for the district wide valet system. Your patrons will be treated to free valet and will no longer have to be concerned with parking fees. We have plans to promote the free valet system through various media outlets, in attempts to gain back the clientele that once brought prosperity to Downtown West Dearborn.
The more parking rates increase, the more difficult it will be to attract customers and retain current business. The time to act is now; we need your support more than ever. We ask that you spread the word in an attempt to bring people together to make Downtown West Dearborn a destination spot in the Metro-Detroit area. Everyone is affected by lack of business, from your managers to your employees. Our goal is to enhance downtown West Dearborn to make it a viable retail destination, and with your help we can make this happen. We look forward to a constructive working relationship with all of the parties involved. Please call and/or email your Dearborn Councilman and Woman or your DDA Board Member.
—
Thank you,
Yasir Kaskorkis
22022 Michigan Avenue
November 29th, 2011 at 11:43 am
Ecuse me? Valet parking? Let me see how this works. Here I am pulling up to let’s say Panera Cares to grab a low cost food item. I pull up, get out of my car and out of nowhere comes a Valet to wisk my car away to who knows where. I Stand in line, order, take my food to a table, eat it, now I am ready to go. It has been maybe 15 minutes at most. Now I pull out my Valet ticket and try to find a Valet to retreive my car from who knows where. I wait. I wait more, and finally, thankfully my car is returned to me, hopefully undamaged. I now feel obligated to give this hard working individual a tip.
Maybe a buck. Can you tell me how this Valet scenerio I describe is saving anything?
For one, I want to park, walk 50 steps and be in the store. I want to know exactly where my vehicle is. I do not really like the idea of a bunch of Valets running cars back and forth to some “unpaid” lot. To top it off, this just cost me a buck, actually a bit more or around the same it would be to park in the paid parking lot. This Valet solution evidently has not been well thought out. Was critical thinking applied? or did it just sound like a good idea to avoid paying in the City owned lots?
I personally hate paid parking. I already pay enough damn taxes in this City. I see the waste of leaf pickup on a Saturday. I see Librarians standing reading the paper while non-tax payers to the City use free Internet. I see the fiasco of the Performing Arts Center that my tax dollars built, attracting more non tax payers to use facilites my taxes built. I could go on for another two pages.
I am so sick of this City being so messed up, the last thing I want to do is now have Valet service. Drop this idea, it is stupid!! The simple solution, bulldoze paid parking!!
November 30th, 2011 at 7:52 am
Wonderful – my coffee just ended up all over my keyboard. Valet parking???? What for???
November 30th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Where is there any place to shop in downtown Dearborn anymore. My wife decided 10 years ago or so to shop Dearborn stores exclusively. There was Crowleys, Casual Male, Dearborn Music, Little Professor, the little kitchen shop on Michigan Ave. and a lot more places to shop. Where are we to shop now?? What retail stores are left in downtown Dearborn?
December 2nd, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Excellent comment, Draona!
Businesses are leaving, or have left, Dearborn.
Why is that?
City sucks. Not because city of Dearborn is unworthy. Not because city of Dearborn is a huge pain in the a**.
It can be those reasons, yes, and even more.
There are other cities and townships and villages where businesses put up with a lot. Still is, for those other locales, worth it. But, evidently, Dearborn doesn’t have enough to make it worth the effort. And the pain.
Perhaps it’s because too much of Dearborn is too old. That the city itself needs to be reinvented into a much different Dearborn.
Perhaps that will happen. If the residents can elect leadership with vision and guts. And especially smarts.
It will be a hell of a challenge. Michigan is the only state that, with results of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 report, lost population over the past decade. Raw numbers. Very much including Wayne County.