Detroit Works tackles economic development with recommendations

by Jon Zemke|Model D

The Detroit Works Project has become about a lot more than what areas will be re-zoned and which resources will be concentrated where.

The Detroit Works Project Long Term Planning has developed a draft of economic growth strategies that identifies some of the areas of the city that will serve as commercial hotspots. Most of those corridors are outside of the greater downtown Detroit area, and they include well-known sections of the city such as Southwest Detroit and the McNichols Corridor.

The draft for economic growth also identifies a broad range of business sectors that have a promising future in Detroit. Those sectors include everything from traditional industrial and automotive manufacturing areas to places for food production and distribution.

“This is an opportunity for people to not only grow products but to provide some new means for transportation and distribution for food,” says George Swan, vice chancellor of external affairs for Wayne County Community College Districtand a member of the steering committee for Detroit Works Project’s Long Term Planning Committee. “You have the ability to really send these products around the world because we have access to ground, water and air transportation hubs.”

The Detroit Works Project will present these draft recommendations and other strategies to the public in August and September. A series of events and activities aimed at collecting community reaction and feedback will be held through Sept. 20. The feedback will help complete the Strategic Framework Plan, which is set to be released at the end of October.

Original Article