#SaveMI, #SaveHamtownFarms Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog Late last month, I wrote about the amazing Hamtown Farms urban farm in Hamtramck, Michigan. The farm sits on city land that had been vacant for decades. Now that the city is legally able to begin selling off their empty lots, Cathy Square, the Emergency Manager in Hamtramck has swept […]

Sometimes what’s best for a city doesn’t have a price tag on it

Back 2011, Michael Davis, Julie Swartz, Evan Major, and Jeffrey Doe formed a vision for an urban farm and community garden on group of five city-owned lots in Hamtramck, Michigan that had sat abandoned for thirty years. The lots were unable to be sold due to pending litigation so they approached Mayor Karen Majewski. Later that year, they were issued a permit under the city’s Adopt-A-Lot program to use the lots for a period of five years. Over the next two years, they transformed the lots into a farm with garden plots and fruit trees, including an almost unheard of fruit called the Paw-Paw which was originally native to Michigan.

Then, in June of this year, came the Emergency Manager. It’s Hamtramck’s second EM and, when Cathy Square, entered the picture, the future of the project became uncertain.

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Wait, I thought they were all bums that needed to be tossed to the side? Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has hired Detroit City Council member and President Pro Tempore Gary Brown to work on his staff. Brown, who made around $73,000 as a Council member, will be making $225,000 in his new position. Brown seems like a truly competent […]