Preparations For Next Year's Riding Season

Or otherwise known as passing time dreaming of the new season to come. I've been busy at MapMyRide searching out and mapping routes to help accomplish next year's riding goals. One of the things I intend to do is to ride in urban areas. While it may sound frightening to consider riding in downtown Detroit, from what I have read and hear from others, riding the new River Walk and Belle Isle is safe along with the ride north out of downtown on the Dequindre cut to the Eastern Market. You can find my maps here and here at the Map My Ride website. In this instance I'll look schedule these rides with one or more friends, twofold; for safety's sake and I imagine it's going to be a fun outing best enjoyed with others. I expect that photo opportunities, if not the actual ride itself, will be rewarding.
   

These photos are taken from the Detroit River Front Conservancy's website where I found a storehouse of information about using the water front for
a bicycle outing and tour. The photo in the upper left corner is of the Milliken State Park and Harbor with the Ren Cen in the backgrop. The photos above this paragraph are of the Dequindre Cut leading to Eastern Markent and the small photo on the right is of the River Walk. The Dequindre Cut was a below grade rail bed leading to the Eastern Market, presumably for goods that came via river freighter, abandoned long ago the railway has been paved, the graffiti remains as "urban artwork." The Eastern Market is a vast area of food retail and wholesalers that is much more than a farmer's market, it's a retail food hub of epic proportions with a long history of being "the" marketplace for all things edible.

I was born and raised in the city till about 4th grade when my parents moved and still have a fondness for it. Detroit has a poor image, worldwide and nationally, however there are several corporations who invest heavily in the city. General Motors is one of several who, being one of the Big Three automakers in the Motor City capital of the world, has donated heavily to efforts to help revitalize the city and are major stakeholders in working toward a comeback.

  

Will it ever happen?

Can this ever be a great city again?

It's possible but first the corruption and isolationist mindset must be routed out of City Council. The current Mayor Bing, who was a former Detroit Pistons Basketball star, has the vision coupled with an athlete's winning attributes, however he is hampered by the Council who perhaps share that vision but are clueless over how to achieve it. The River Front redevelopment is a large undertaking by volunteers and persons dedicated to revival in the city, there has been cooperation from the State with the Harbor and Milliken State Park which is named for a former Governor of our state. So far the redevelopment has focused on the property eastward of Cobo Hall, their next project is westward which currently remains blighted and a poor waste of a valuable water resource. For years the river was never regarded as the star that it is, warehousing and industrial uses littered the banks and the natural features went ignored and out of sight of the people. Waterways serve a useful purpose for commerce and trade but sections, especially in down towns should be reserved for the enjoyment of the natural feature by it's people. If the city is ever to make a comeback these kinds of efforts will help to lead it to a rebirth. The video below sure can give hope to that dream.

Dexter

Monday evening I took a ride to the Village of Dexter, the purpose was for multiple reasons, it's a quaint town that I enjoy visiting, I wanted to do a recon ride there to scope out a longer ride for a weekend day trip and lastly I was checking out progress on the riverfront development they are planning.  I used to live just north of that village and often passed through Dexter on my way to Ann Arbor via the scenic back roads.  It was a sleepy little village typical of anytown USA but as most communities go it had it's own unique character and natural features, not the least of which is the Huron River winding through the village, a cider mill and quaint shops. 

I had not been through Dexter in a number of years since I had moved and took a trip there a couple of years ago and was amazed at how the sleepy little village had grown into a vibrant expanding community that managed to preserve the local flair and incorporate new development into existing community so seamlessly.  The community could be a model for this. 

When I was elected into my current position I visited many small communities that I had explored years ago and sought to see how they have changed and evolved and dealt with new development.  In and around Washtenaw and Livingston counties there are countless little cities, villages, bergs, towns and townships.  Time has been kind to some of them and others not so much.  I traveled to places that have had no apparent change whatsoever, some that had big change, some that had changed for the worse and some that had changed for the better.  The Village od Dexter is one of the model communities that has embraced change and development and not lost it's character or charm. 

That is not an easy task and takes a leadership team with singular focus and much planning.  I interact with officials from the community through my various committees at the County level and have built relationships with many in my peer group.  Particularly I was interested in having members of our DDA (downtown development authority) meet with members of their group and members of village council.  I arranged for a field trip about a year and a half or two ago and we did a walking tour through their community.  There were lots of questions exchanged along our way and we had a luncheon afterwards where they discussed how they managed the planning and change.  I was a new Township Supervisor at the time and I wanted to know how they were able to fund so much progess and municipal projects.  I also realized that this happened over a period of many years but the most profound take away from the meeting was twofold; leverage commuity dollars with grant funding from state, county and federal sources and secondly getting all of the community groups on board with a shared vision.  It is a model that I have pursued aggressively in pursuits for my own community.  Time will be the judge of it's effectivness.  All of that aside, I had a throughly enjoyable ride exploring the side streets and the main throughfare through town, scoped out the ride to the cider mill and spent some quiet time reflecting by the rapids.  By the time I ambeled about town it was too late to bike ride to Hudson Mills Metro park nearby so I rode there in my car after loading up my bike and scoped out the connection to the park. 

This will make for a dandy ride for a day trip.  It allows for a couple of options.  Bringing bike by vehicle, parking in town and riding to the cider mill and nearby park with bike trails for a 10-12 mile loop or to leave from Northfield and visit the cider mill, park and exploring downtown for a 20-25 mile ride.  Both good options depending on how much time is alloted for cycling that day.

Dexter's Plan for a river front park

Early stages of the riverfront development

The path ends as soon as you get past the bridge