Best In Black Awards
Saturday, November 11th 7 pm • Music Hall
Hall. Archer. Pickard. Three Detroit pioneers receive well-deserved recognition from WMU, their alma mater. supplement inside! MyWMU
POWERED BY REAL TIMES MEDIA
Volume 81 – Number 5
October 11, 2017
michiganchronicle.com
October 11-17, 2017
World Conference of Mayors coming to Detroit Representatives from 17 countries expected to attend Oct. 23-27 at MGM Grand By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
Those of us who live and work in Detroit know that, despite the positive and encouraging signs that things just might be getting better, we cannot by any means legitimately say that we have turned the corner just yet. No need to repeat the statistics for the umpteenth time. We just know the full story and are doing our best to remain cautiously optimistic. That said, those who don’t live here are checking out Detroit from a distance and, more and more frequently, are gleefully drinking the Kool-Aid and comparing the design of each other’s rose-colored glasses as they spread the news that Detroit is Olusegun Obasanjo, all revitalized and former president of back on track. But Nigeria, will be key- that kind of parnote speaker at the tially uninformed World Conference of enthusiasm may actually be a good Mayors. thing, because perception often leads to reality. And if the bright and shiny narrative that Detroit is now bright and shiny is becoming contagious, then perhaps that improves the odds that this will actually come to pass for the entire city. Which brings me to this: The World Conference of Mayors is coming to Detroit in a little less than two weeks. They chose Detroit because — you guessed it — the conference organizers believe Detroit’s comeback is the real deal, and they want to highlight Detroit’s progress in a way that will help to attract not only international investment, from African countries in particular, but to provide business expansion opportunities for local Detroit black businesses and entrepreneurs in Africa and elsewhere around the world. In short, hosting this conference could quite possibly open the door to the Next Big Step for Detroit’s black business community, which consequently has the potential to dramatically uplift Detroit’s black community as a whole via a strengthened black Detroit economy. “The [black] community doesn’t have access to capital, and if I can bring capital to the community, we might have a shot at this,” said Rev. Jim Holley, who has traveled back and forth to several African countries meeting with various leaders to encourage participation in the conference. His company, Cognos Marketing LLC, has worked together with the World Conference of Mayors to convene the event in Detroit. “Everything is happening downtown,
See CONFERENCE page A-4
WHAT’S INSIDE
PHOTO: Dave Jordano dave@davejordano.com
Blacks should control cannabis shops, group says By Ken Coleman Jonathan Barlow believes that medical marijuana is a cash crop that has the potential to offer blacks a golden harvest. How so? The legal U.S. marijuana industry — both medical and recreational — grossed about $7.1 billion sales in 2016. More than 1.2 million Americans use medical marijuana for a wide variety of medical problems, from cancer to epilepsy to depression. Michigan has 178,629 registered medical marijuana patients, a 2015 figure. State voters in 2008 overwhelmingly approved a measure to allow marijuana use for medicinal purposes. That led to a set of dispensaries in Detroit so numerous that they seemingly outnumbered CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens stores combined. Barlow maintains that blacks, who comprise 80 percent of the city’s population, should own and manage them. Not suburban residents. “Most elected officials believe that their job is to govern and not help to empower from an economic perspective,” Barlow stated. “They believe that other associations and organizations are responsible for that. They need to be part of the facilitation.” Citizens for Sensible Cannabis Reform (CSCR) and Barlow, its spokesperson, has led an effort to place two proposals on Detroit’s Nov. 7 general
Andre Godwin (left), Julius Dubose and Jonathan Barlow of Citizens for Sensible Cannabis Reform election ballot. One ballot measure aligns the city with state law. It would allow growers to set up shop within certain industrial districts. It would also allow processors and safety compliance facilities to be permitted in certain business and industrial districts. The other measure would allow dispensaries to open longer, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. They could also locate within 500 feet of a church, another dispensary, park, liquor store or childcare center. Current law is 1,000 feet. CSCR will hold an Oct. 26 Investment and Community Job Fair to discuss the ballot measures. It will take place at
the Northwest Activities Center, located at 18100 Meyers Road at Curtis. It begins at 6 p.m. UP IN SMOKE With crafty names like House of Dank, Green Genie, Starbuds and Detroit Grass Station, the city had as many as 283 dispensaries a few years ago. Residents complained passionately at City Council meetings about the foul aroma of weed piping out of the shops on into streets, near schools, hair salons, barbershops and medical clinics. Weed shops have been
See DISPENSARIES page A-4
The commitment to Detroit neighborhoods is real By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
Fall Back
Into Fitness: Get your sexy back with Jay Mack See Page D1
$1.00
For some time now, Mayor Mike Duggan has been enduring a steady stream of criticism related to the obvious yawning gap between the rapid-fire development taking place in and around downtown versus the comparatively slow and nowhere near as visible revitalization of the neighborhoods where the overwhelming majority of Detroit’s struggling black population lives. Some questioned — legitimately — whether there was any way it could be said that the city was demonstrating the same level of commitment to the (black) neighborhoods as it was lavishing upon the (white) downtown.
COMMENTARY
I was definitely among those critics. But now might be the time for all of us critics to take another look. The adage goes that “Only a fool never changes his mind,” and there is considerable merit in that saying. And the $125 million neighborhood revitalization proposal released last week by Mayor Duggan to
strengthen the business corridors in those neighborhoods should be reason enough for just about any fair-minded critic to consider the fact that just maybe the man’s commitment to neighborhoods is for real. Granted, it is an election year. And also, it’s not unfair to question why the neighborhoods seemingly had to wait so long. Nor is it paranoia
not to drink the Kool-Aid sold by those who insist that downtown always has to come first, promising that everything else will trickle down from there. But $125 million is one hell of a big trickle. And there does have to come a time when you say, “OK. So maybe you actually meant what you said.”
Let’s take a look at the sequence of events. In April came the rollout of the plan for the revitalization of the Fitzgerald neighborhood on the city’s northwest side near Livernois and McNichols. During an afternoon press conference on a vacant lot, Duggan
See NEIGHBORHOODS page A-4