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2 Outside Reviews Say Cleveland Officer Acted Reasonably in Shooting Tamir Rice, 12 [The New York Times]
Those opinions, reached separately by a Colorado prosecutor and a former F.B.I. supervisory special agent, were released Saturday night by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Timothy J. McGinty, whose office will ultimately present evidence in the case to a grand jury to decide on possible criminal charges.
Note: Additional coverage of the Tamir Rice shooting can be found here: https://beltmag.com/round-cleveland-coverage-tamir-rice-shooting
Highway History: How The Pennsylvania Turnpike Created And Destroyed Towns [Keystone Crossroads]
…the wildly popular superhighway had a “devastating impact” on some small towns in Pennsylvania. Before the Turnpike, there was Route 30, also called the Lincoln Highway. Towns along that road weren’t overjoyed by a new highway that went through the mountains, cutting them off completely … With people unwilling to drive over the mountains, on a narrow two-lane road with sharp curves and stoplights, when they could take a straight-shot through the mountains … many towns effectively disappeared.
Is Detroit Really Rebounding? [CityLab]
…it’s not entirely fair to describe the changes in Detroit as a “rebound.” That suggests that, with enough time, given present conditions, things will actually turn around. For some Detroiters, that’s right. For the poorest and most vulnerable residents, however, it’s not clear that their situation is improving. There are some aspects of Detroit that could fairly be described as worsening. The scale and severity of the vacancy crisis in Detroit make forward progress extremely difficult under any circumstances. It just might be intractable.
A Surprisingly Luxe Cycling Trip Though the Rust Belt [The Wall Street Journal]
At a bike’s pace, feeling every hiccup in the terrain and the weather, we were intimately attuned to the landscape around us. And what a landscape it is. The first day brought some major-league milestones, including the Mason-Dixon Line and the Eastern Continental Divide. Big Savage Tunnel, at 3,300 feet the longest of several we would hit on the GAP, took us straight into the cool and murky depths of the mountain of the same name.
Flint Officials Are No Longer Saying the Water Is Fine [The New York Times]
Even now, state officials say that treated Flint River water is safe and capable of meeting state and federal standards. Officials say the problem may be that some of the aging pipes and service lines that carry water into Flint’s homes and businesses contain lead and are being corroded by water. The water Flint used to receive from Detroit was treated with chemicals intended to prevent such corrosion.
On Equity Planning in Cleveland, Segregation, CDCs and More — A Long Chat With Norman Krumholz, Former City Planner of Cleveland [Cleveland Scene]
…efficiency is high-priority item. Cities have to pay their own way. Cities have to collect their taxes and spend their taxes in kind of a systematic way. So that’s an important consideration. But although you really want cities to be as efficient as possible, at the same time, you want them to be considerate of the needs of their citizens.
Can Chicago Artists Salvage Gary, Indiana? [Chicago Reader]
…there are two bright spots on the horizon: a pair of cultural development projects, driven by Chicago artists, under way in downtown Gary — the Heat Light Water Project, led by [Jan] Tichy, and ArtHouse: A Social Kitchen, led by Theaster Gates. Both have goals to help activate Gary, and both have different approaches and resources.
Distilling in the D [Detroit Metro Times]
According to the newly formed Michigan Craft Distillers Association (MCDA), the state now ranks third nationally in the number of distilleries, at 40 and counting, and craft distilling has the potential to contribute up to $400 million annually to Michigan’s economy. This growth spurt echoes a national trend.
As Southwest Dries, Water Could Transform Rust Belt Into ‘Blue Belt’ [The Arizona Republic]
More than a million of those jobs were in old-school Rust Belt standards: manufacturing, shipping, mining and utilities. But tourism, farming, science and engineering provided the rest. And it’s that trio of industries that many believe the Great Lakes are now primed to grow.
Banner photo of US Route 30 (aka Lincoln Highway) by Jon Dawson
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