Aaron Greiner
@aarongreiner
Creating public spaces at CultureHouse Creating queer spaces at fruitstand Olin College alum | 🏳️🌈 🚲 🚊 🚌 📍 Somerville, MA
Old cobble stone street uncovered by construction. The traffic calming was there all along… Wish we could keep it like this 😢 @somervilleinfr1.bsky.social
Phew, you made it to the end! Here’s a photo of a funny awning to reward you. Detroit is at an interesting moment, with a development style of targeted investment in specific areas—with hopes it will spread. Time will tell as to whether that will be successful. Either way, I’m rooting for Detroit!
I also visited the new Centennial Park along the river. It’s really well done with lots of play spaces and rolling hills! A lovely green oasis in the city. Only thing missing is a swimming spot!
Let’s talk parks. I made a visit to Belle Isle. It’s a beautiful gem in the city (I also love an island park). It’s still pretty auto-centric and needs some work, but there are great plans in progress to restore the structures on the island.
Okay, this is just a weird one. I noticed that a lot of buildings downtown had their transformers elevated on these platforms. Anyone know why that is?
I went to two techno/electronic music events—one of which was behind an abandoned hospital. This is where Detroit’s emptiness is an asset—abandoned neighborhoods mean no one to launch noise complaints! What did freak me out was that lots of people drove to the club… don’t love that.
Once you get out of downtown, the disinvestment becomes quite stark. While some streets had occupied houses, go a block over, and more than half the lots were vacant. Of the lots that still have structures on them, often only 10–20% or so were occupied, with the rest in various states of disrepair.
This Michigan Theater, however, was not preserved. It was converted into a parking garage in the 1970s and sits abandoned today, with the plaster detailing still visible. It would be great to see this space restored to its former glory.
Detroit has lots of incredibly beautiful Art Deco buildings with ornate lobbies, many of which have been preserved or restored. The craft and attention to detail in these spaces are truly breathtaking. Pictured below are the Guardian Building, Book Tower, and Fischer Building.
The Detroit People Mover felt like an abandoned amusement park ride. It was not really useful except for very specific trips, but undeniably fun.
Mogo (the bike share system) was overall okay, though it was quite complicated to get a bike out (I had to try three different apps), and the station coverage was not great outside of downtown.
The Joe Lewis Greenway is lovely! A great amenity for the city—though, can we stop building curvy bike paths? I’d like to go in a straight line. Also, always love a good large slide.
The biking was mixed. Protected lane coverage was decent, even in some far-out neighborhoods. On wide roads with no bike lanes, there were so few cars that it still felt pretty safe. Though, I had to jut into the road because of construction and someone yelled from a car, “Stay in the bike lane!”
Let’s talk transportation. Detroit is clearly built around the car. There are lots of very wide roads and, in at least a few examples, I saw businesses with curb-facing facades that had no door because you enter through the back parking lot.
Corktown was also quite nice. While it essentially has a highway running through it, it seems to have more buildings preserved than other neighborhoods. Lots of great food and drinks!
I recently spent a week in Detroit (and rode around a bike share bike for 4 hours) so whether you like it or not, it's time for #urbanism hot takes: a thread 🧵
Ordered the Mr Bluesky and then kept referring to my friends as bloomfs. Weird.
Detroit’s intercity train station, 1900s vs. 2000s 😢 Transit riders deserve beautiful spaces.
Cast in place concrete going in! We love to see it! @streets.boston.gov @wutrain.bsky.social @mayorwu.boston.gov
Somerville PD violently handcuffing a woman who can be clearly heard saying “I don’t have knife.” It seems that there was misunderstanding, possibly due to a language barrier and the response was to violently restrain her. They let her go about 5 minutes later, and she walked away on her own.
When I say you can pick me up at 6, this is what I mean. @ridecargob.bsky.social
There was a building there, and it was brutalist And it was beautiful, it was my favorite - Kim Petras
Today's office brought to you by the @boston.gov free municipal wifi on the Common. Amazing things happen when we invest in the public realm.