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A rendering of the back of the new Shinola Hotel in Detroit. They hired a GM and Beverage Director... more later in the newsletter.
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Wednesday Weather: Mostly sunny. High will be near 47. North-northwest wind around 9 mph. Low of 32 at night.
Commute Commotion: Part of I-94 will be closed over the next three weekends in Detroit for ongoing bridge replacement and pavement repair. It'll be between I-75 and Conner Street, and will alternate between eastbound and westbound lanes, with one closure in both directions included. The closures will begin Friday night each weekend and open by 5 a.m. the following Monday. More here.
Thing To Do Wednesday: Pulitzer Prize winning author (The Virgin Suicides) Jeffrey Eugenides is coming to Wayne State University's Community Arts Auditorium. Following a presentation, there will be a Q&A session and a book signing. 6 p.m. and it's free! But RSVP. More here.
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The ongoing strike at the Westin Book Cadillac hotel has claimed its first victim.
Organizers of CityLab 2018 said they will relocate the three-day conference because the labor dispute is unresolved. Fortunately for Detroit, the conference will be moved just across downtown to the Marriott hotel at the Renaissance Center.
It’s a particular bit of irony for striking Book Cadillac employees, who have pointed to the RenCen Marriott as paying its workers higher wages. Members of the Unite Here union have been on strike since early this month over pay and other issues for cooks, doormen, housekeepers and servers.
The sixth annual CityLab conference is being organized by The Atlantic magazine, the Aspen Institute and Bloomberg Philanthropies. It’s meant to tackle the most pressing issues impacting cities.
Scheduled speakers include Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan; former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; General Motors Chairman and CEO, Mary Barra; and Hannah Beachler, the production designer on the Marvel film “Black Panther.”
Detroit’s selection as host city is seen as affirmation of its efforts to reinvent itself after decades of being known as a Rust Belt failure. The conference kicks off October 28.
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More than 110 school districts in Michigan use a single private company to find substitute teachers.
That company, Professional Education Services Group, left the Michigan market Monday night without any warning to the districts. It immediately terminated as many as 2,000 employees, leaving many Michigan districts in a severe bind and scrambling for substitutes.
The company also provided substitutes in non-teaching areas such as bus drivers and secretaries.
According to PESG, those who worked in the days leading up to the shutdown will still get a paycheck from the company or the district at the next regularly-scheduled pay cycle or as soon as possible thereafter. They’re asking people not to change their direct deposit on file with the company.
Why did the company close down? Well, apparently they had been looking to sell themselves to a competitor, and those negotiations broke down.
They’re also saying substitute teachers should directly connect with school districts for placements. We discuss this on the podcast, including the declining interest in teaching as a career.
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An insurance company says prominent personal-injury attorney Mike Morse is profiting from an insurance bribery scheme.
The State Farm insurance company says Morse and his Southfield-based firm has been bribing police officers into giving him unofficial accident reports. State Farm says the scheme cheated it out of at least $1 million.
The details were uncovered by The Detroit News, which also has reported that the FBI and a grand jury were investigating an alleged bribery conspiracy involving the Mike Morse Law firm. State Farm has filed a civil lawsuit against Morse.
A lawyer representing Morse says his client has done nothing wrong and that State Farm is simply trying to stop Morse from representing accident victims.
The News says State Farm’s court filing describes a race among law firms like Morse’s to obtain unofficial accident reports from police so they could sign clients and rehab centers could enroll patients for lucrative and sometimes unnecessary treatments.
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Detroit City Fieldhouse is now officially open for business.
Owners including the team behind the Detroit City FC soccer team cut the ribbon on the 75,000 square-foot indoor-soccer facility near the Elmwood Cemetery on the city’s east side. The field house features an indoor open soccer field and an enclosed field with boards.
The building formerly housed the City Sports Center ice rink, which closed in 2014. The project won $40,000 from the Motor City Match program to help fund renovations. City has also moved its business operations and retail store there from a small storefront in Hamtramck.
Registration is now open for co-ed, men’s, women’s and youth leagues. Lacrosse is also played there, and plans call for adding batting cages next month.
Also planned is a DCFC-themed restaurant and bar called the Detroit City Clubhouse. It should open in the coming weeks, once inspections are done and owners obtain a liquor license.
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The new Shinola Hotel named a pair of people Tuesday to lead the highly-anticipated property in downtown Detroit. One is local, and one is an import from New York City.
Elliott Broom spent the last decade as Vice President, Museum Operations at the Detroit Institute of Arts. He’ll become the General Manager, which is basically the top spot at the hotel.
And, NoHo Hospitality’s Sol Andrews is relocating from New York City to become the hotel’s Food and Beverage Director. There will be seven different dining concepts in the new building and he’ll oversee them all.
The Shinola Hotel aims to open in December with 129 rooms. Crews have installed a terrazzo-floored ballroom and a glass-enclosed Conservatory.
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Royal Oak’s long-running Beirut Palace restaurant has been sold.
Crain’s reports that the owner sold the restaurant after 21 years in business in downtown Royal Oak, citing parking woes caused by the ongoing Royal Oak City Center development.
It’s the latest business defection blamed at least in part on perceived parking shortages in the city. Andiamo shut its doors abruptly in July, blaming the parking shortage, while others including the owners of Boukie’s Grill and Dixie Moon Saloon have also complained about the issue.
Beirut Palace owner Hussein Ahmad told Crain’s he plans to open elsewhere in the Detroit area. He said the restaurant’s new owners are Middle Eastern and plan to stay open with similar menu but eventually with a new name.
While the City Center development has displaced about 200 parking spaces in a former surface lot, a new parking garage about a block away offers 985 parking spaces.
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Hey, you looking for an excuse to run? With the leaves turning colors, we’re in the midst of race season, and here’s a fun one I can vouch for.
The Southwest Detroit Business Association will once again host the Run of the Dead at 9 a.m. on Saturday, November 3rd. It’s a USA Track & Field-certified 5- and 10k that takes runners through two historic cemeteries to mark the Mexican Dia de los Muertos holiday in remembrance of deceased relatives and loved ones.
Race-day frills will include a live DJ, performances by students of the Center of Music & Performing Arts-Southwest and a Mariachi band, and a Zumba warmup to kick off the race. Runners are encouraged to wear traditional Day of the Dead face paint and garb. You can register here or the day of the event starting at 7 a.m.
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Excerpts:
It’s a sunny, crisp fall day in Detroit, and here’s the rundown of our show recorded on Tuesday, Oct. 23: The ongoing strike by workers at the Westin Book Cadillac has prompted organizers of the CityLab 2018 conference to relocate to the Marriott at the RenCen. That’s a place that striking Book Cadillac employees says […]
Read on »
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What to know and where to go in Detroit arrives for your ears each day at about 5 p.m. with the Daily Detroit podcast.
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