The folks at the QLINE have released two short videos that are full of tips on how to handle the addition of the streetcar to Woodward Avenue between the Central Business District and New Center.

Above we’ve embedded the video around driver safety. One thing to note if you haven’t noticed is that the QLINE is going to have a special streetlight that will let it go forward in front of traffic to make the situation where the streetcar is switching from curbside to the center of the road easier.

Although that kind of thing is in other cities, and it looks like the front of a streetcar, it’s something drivers unfamiliar with fixed route mass transit will need to get to know.

Below is the video around pedestrian and bicycle safety.

When it comes to bicycles, they’re clear – cross at a 90 degree angle as bikes can get caught in the rails, and use other streets with bike lanes instead of Woodward.

The QLINE opens to the public in a little over a month on the evening of May 12, 2017.

For almost 70 years, the same sign has graced Gratiot Avenue beckoning all who come near to come for a salty potato chip snack at the Better Made factory in Detroit.

Today, Better Made swapped out their iconic sign for a new, red one that reflects the current packaging. The old sign will be put “in a place of honor” inside the factory.

“This is certainly a momentous occasion in Better Made’s history,” says Mark Winkelman, president of Better Made. “Just like the Vernors, Stroh’s, and Sanders signs I’m sure there are people with many memories of seeing that sign over the years, maybe using it as a waypoint as they traveled down Gratiot Avenue. We look forward to seeing it displayed in our facility.”

10 Tasty Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Better Made Potato Chips

After months of anticipation the new Under Armour Detroit Brand House will open tomorrow, Thursday, April 13.

The Detroit Brand House will offer shoppers the full line of Under Armour athletic wear, shoes and accessories for men, women and youth.

“The opening of the Under Armour Detroit Brand House underscores our continuous commitment to investing in strong American markets and giving all athletes access to our best-in-class products and technologies,” said Susie McCabe, Senior Vice President of Global Retail at Under Armour.

Looking for something a little more Detroit centric? You’re in luck, because there will be a line of Detroit apparel, including the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Lions.

The store also features a lot of great artwork from artists from Detroit and Under Armour’s hometown of Baltimore.

As you walk up the original Kresge stair case you will find a mural from Baltimore artist Billy Mode.

Let’s get a better look at that shall we?

The dressing rooms feature murals by Michelle Tanguay, Tylonn J. Sawyer and Sydney G. James. The murals are of Under Armour athlete’s Justin Verlander, Misty Copeland, and the late Muhammad Ali.

The other large installation is a wall of eight custom painted shoes that represent Detroit’s legacy. The shoes were created by artists Dez Customz and Creative Custom Kicks out of Baltimore.

If you’re interested in checking out the new Under Armour Detroit Brand House the store opens at 10:00 a.m. There will be a special customer event that will start at 5:00 p.m. There will be food, drinks and music. Interested in those custom shoes? There will be a contest for six people to win a pair of shoes from Dez Customz.

The Under Armour Detroit Brand House is located at 1201 Woodward on the corner of Woodward and State.

Avalon is one of those names that has become synonymous with Detroit’s current revitalization efforts.

Opening in 1997 in the Cass Corridor, Avalon’s founders Ann Perrault and Jackie Victor invested in Detroit when, as the story they tell goes, even when their landlord on Willis Street said “this neighborhood isn’t ready for windows.”

But put in windows they did. And so it began. Now, with multiple locations already under their belt, they’re opening a downtown cafe.

But Perrault and Victor proved them otherwise, building a successful business all the while focusing on quality and hiring in their community.

So the next step in their journey is this new cafe in downtown Detroit at the corner of Woodward and State. This morning it was revealed at a media preview and so let’s step inside.

First off, let’s talk about the food.

Avocado toast is coming to downtown Detroit.

But the menu isn’t just baked goods or breakfast — it includes breakfast, lunch and dinner and even beer.

It’s divided into fancy toast, bun and bread sandwiches, fork entrees, green bowl salads, sides and pizzas.

Click or tap the images to embiggen the menus.

There’s a grab and go counter for busy downtown professionals and those who just needs something real quick.

The drinks on the alcoholic side are beer and wine with a focus on locally sourced selections. There’s also Mighty Good coffee, soft drinks and other options.

The design of the space is by the same person who did their original location on Willis, Heritage Co. II Architectural Artifacts.

It shows with the blend of a very modern frame of a space in the bottom of a relatively recently constructed parking garage and eclectic vintage.

There’s a seating area along Woodward.

The space is nearly 3,000 square feet and located at 1049 Woodward Avenue.

The new location will be open seven days a week. For an area with limited Sunday food options, that’s smart on their part. Complete hours are on their website.

Earlier this week we had the chance to swing by the new Mike Ilitch Wayne State School of Business building to see how construction was coming along.

It’s a $50 million development on Woodward Avenue at Temple, right next to the new Little Caesars Arena complex.

So far, 140 tons of steel have been installed. There is still another 1,000 or so tons to go.

The next phase will be decking in June, followed by a glass facade.

The school will house a variety of programs, and a digital ticker tape you’ll be able to see from Woodward.

There will be a trading and big data laboratory and the business school will have some new programs at the new location.

“Given our new location, one of the things we’re going to start with once we move in here is we’re going to have a concentration in our MBA program in sport and entertainment management, which given our location, it just makes sense,” said Bob Forsythe, Dean of the Mike Ilitch School of Business. “We’re going to be within walking distance of four professional sports teams, the Fox, the Philmore, the arena, and we’ll be able to do that.”

A new certificate in entrepreneurship will be offered to help support and grow surrounding businesses.

The project came together rather quickly after being something on the “wish list” for more than a decade.

“Chris Ilitch actually came to campus to talk about the family’s plans in Detroit, and he asked our president, “Are there things that we can do with Wayne State?” The president talked about things like we need residence halls and so on, and almost as an afterthought at the end of the conversation, he said, “You know, we’re thinking of moving the business school downtown,” said Forsythe.

“That was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving of 2014, and the very next week, Chris called the president and said, “Mr. President, I spent Thanksgiving with my parents, and we want to build you a business school,” said Forsythe.

As we were told the story, a former dean of the business wrote a letter and delivered it to Mike and Marian fifteen years ago asking them to build a business school. Upon the next visit of Chris Ilitch, he actually brought that old letter with him.

The school which will be built in a “U” shape will serve more than 3,500 students at the new location.

The project, according to those on site, is on pace for an April 2018 grand opening.

In a building where printing presses once churned out tons of freshly inked newspaper, there now will now churn out paninis and pizzas with fresh mozzarella.

So as it goes with the new Press Room Cafe on Lafayette. Opened by a North Carolina-based international hospitality company named Eurest, the new restaurant is going to take up some significant frontage on 615 Lafayette with it’s 8,000 square foot space.

The building, owned by Bedrock Real Estate, currently houses the Michigan regional offices for Molina Healthcare upstairs.

The cafe will be Italian-focused and open on April 19 (Wednesday). A special grand opening celebration featuring Fabio Viviani on June 27, 2017.

Press Room Café will offer two food stalls including Mercato by Fabio Viviani, which will offer Napoli-style made-from-scratch pizzas and a variety of authentic Italian panini.

In addition to Mercato by Fabio Viviani, the Press Room Café will also offer the Press Room Grill, which will offer sandwiches prepared over a wood burning grill, salads, soups and a coffee bar with Avalon pastries.

Here’s a look at their menu:

Press Room Café will serve breakfast and lunch weekdays from 7 a.m. – 2 p.m., with Intellgentsia coffee and to-go menu items offered until 7 p.m.

It was announced today that Grand Rapids-based Founders Brewery is coming to Detroit later this year to open a second taproom.

Founders has been busy for the past twenty years building their brand and distribution around the world. They are currently the 14th largest brewery in the country. Besides being a pretty big deal in Michigan, they distribute their beer to 46 states and 29 countries.

There are still some things that need to be ironed out (like what the tap room will look like and the menu) but here are the things we do know.

1. The new taproom will be located at 456 Charlotte Street in the Cass Corridor / Midtown area

The taproom will utilize the 14,000 square foot building that was built in 1937. With all of the work that has been done in this area, I have a feeling this is going to be a prime location for Founders. You’re steps away from the Masonic Temple and the new Little Caesars Arena.

2. Financing is still being finalized

Midtown Detroit, Inc. and Invest Detroit are investing around $4 million for this project.

3. Work is expected to start this summer on the building

If everything goes as planned you should be able to get a pint of Founders All Day IPA by the winter of 2017. No, they didn’t have a rendering available as the drawings weren’t done yet.

4. While they expect to fill some jobs with current Grand Rapids employees, they will also be hiring locally

Co-Founders Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers have said they plan to have about 100 employees in the new tap room. Hiring is anticipated to start later this year.

5. Founders plans on brewing beer at this location as well

You will still be able to get your favorite year-round, seasonal, and specialty beers on tap at the new location. But you will also get a chance to try some new exclusive beers that will be brewed in Detroit. These beers will only be available in Detroit.

The Detroit Fitness Foundation (DFF) has been selected by USA Cycling (USAC) to host the 2017 U.S. Cycling Madison National Championships at its indoor multisports complex, a 64,000 square foot project that is set to open by fall.

The women’s and men’s competitions will take place October 19 — 21, 2017. Cyclists will be given warmup and training time before participating in the qualifying rounds for the final competition. Gold, silver and bronze awards will be presented to winners after the final competition on October 21.

“USA Cycling is excited to bring our 2017 and 2018 U.S. Cycling Madison National Championships to the Detroit Fitness Foundation’s new Indoor Multi Sport Complex,” said Tom Mahoney, USAC National Events Manager. “We’re delighted to be a part of shining a spotlight on this new, world-class velodrome being built right here in the United States.”

USA Cycling is the governing body for Velodrome Track Cycling races in the United States. USAC is affiliated with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Union Cyclist International (UCI).

Having broke ground recently, let’s talk about the building.

Detroit’s new cycling velodrome will feature a steep, oval track and meets hosting facility requirements with its 166 meters of wood surface oval banked 15 degrees in the two straights and 50 degrees in the two turns. The indoor complex also includes run/walk/skating lanes, fitness class areas and a cafe with light food and drinks.

Here’s how the space will break down. 35 percent of space is for runners/walkers/skaters; 35% of space is for bicyclists; 20% of space is for multi fitness classes, conferences, coffee shop/café, etc. and 10% of the space is for restrooms, storage and offices.

The complex will be an air dome structure designed and built under the leadership of world-class velodrome developer Dale Hughes, and will house the second permanent indoor cycling velodrome in the United States.

Hughes, a lifetime resident of Metro Detroit, has designed and built more than 20 velodromes worldwide, including the 1996 Olympic Velodrome in Atlanta and the 2015 Pan Am Games Velodrome in Toronto.

Like Hughes’ own Olympic connections, Tolan Playfield has an Olympic heritage. The park was renamed in 1968 to honor Thomas Edward Tolan, a Cass Tech graduate. He’s the first African American who is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist.

In addition to the velodrome, the multisports complex will provide additional sporting and fitness opportunities, including many programs for local youth.

Detroit’s much anticipated bike share program now has a name and a target launch time. It’s going to be called MoGo.

The name is supposed to evoke the Motown sound, as well as its reputation for being the “Motor City” along with mobility and movement in Detroit through the introduction of a public bike share system.

There will be 430 bikes and 43 stations throughout ten neighborhoods when the project launches before the end of May. An exact launch date was not given.

“We are thrilled to introduce Detroit to MoGo,” said Lisa Nuszkowski, executive director, MoGo, Detroit Bike Share. “Today’s announcement continues the city’s mobility evolution, providing Detroiters and visitors alike with more accessible options to move around the city.”

They also launched their website today, www.mogodetroit.org, where you will be able to purchase passes, find stations and learn more information about the system. However, the station map is not up as of this writing.

Here’s how the pass, pricing and returning will work:

• The Daily Pass runs $8 per day and includes unlimited 30-minute trips for 24 hours.
• The Monthly Pass costs $18 per month and riders receive unlimited 30-minute trips for the entire month.
• The $80-per-year Annual Passgives riders the option to pay $80 up front or $8 per month, and offers unlimited 30-minute trips for the full year. A special discount is available for people 65 years and older.
• The Access Pass, for qualifying riders, costs $5 for the year and offers 30 minute unlimited rides.
• The Founders Pass includes an Annual Pass, plus MoGo gear and other benefits for $100.
• There will be approximately 10 bikes per kiosk
• Rides are 30 minutes long. Additional trips can be purchased ($4 for daily pass holders, $2 for others).
• It will cost you $1,200 to replace the bike if you fail to return it.

MoGo also offers a Corporate and Community Pass Program, which will provide organizations of all sizes the opportunity to purchase discounted passes for their staff.

Beyond the website, you can get passes with cash or a credit card. If you have state benefits, you are eligible to get an annual pass for $5.

The system is going to serve the general area known as the “7.2” or greater downtown Detroit, ranging from Corktown and Woodbridge to the west and Eastern Market to the east.

MoGo’s 10,000 square foot warehouse is located in Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction neighborhood. That’s just east of Woodward, north of I-94. Currently there are 18 seasonal and permanent employees. The plan, according to Shift Transit’s Rebecca Quinn, is to hire a total of 25. They have open jobs here including part time launch associates and for a bike mechanic.

This is the first full city launch for Shift Transit, and the company also now operates the bike share in Toronto, Canada. More than 70 cities in the United States have bike sharing programs similar to MoGo.

Nuskowski shared that the program will be funded half through user fares and half through other sources. The project will cost approximately $2 million to get off the ground, and somewhere around $1 million a year to operate on an ongoing basis.

The project is a partnership between the City of Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT), PBSC Urban Solutions and Shift Transit. DDOT helped secure the federal non-motorized transit funding for MoGo, as well as selected the system’s equipment provider and operator. Henry Ford Health System and Health Alliance Plan are corporate sponsors.

Breaking ground in fall of 2018, developers will spend $77 million to bring 335 new residential units, 8000 square feet of retail space and ne acre of public open space to seven-acre vacant site of the former Wigle Recreation Center.

“I don’t believe what I’m seeing. It’s amazing how this neighborhood is coming back,” said Mayor Mike Duggan at the announcement.

This will be the first residential project under the new Community Benefits Agreement, and 20 percent of the rental units will be set aside for low-income residents.

The developers of the land at the Lodge and Selden streets are PDH Development Group, which is a partnership between Detroit-based developer Roderick Hardamon and New York-based developer Mario Procida. PDH will purchase the land from the City for $1.8 million.

As part of the project agreement, 51 percent of the hours worked on the project must be by Detroit residents. There will be 200 temporary construction jobs and 11 ongoing jobs at the site.

175 of the units will be rental with 35 set aside for affordable housing, defined as 80 percent or less of the area’s median income. 160 residences will be for sale at “market rates.”

Midtown West will be a two phase project. According to officials, Phase I will include 167 of the 335 proposed new residential units. Phase I also includes the construction of 8000 square feet of new rental space and one acre public open space.

The street grid will also be changed to accommodate the development. 4th Street will be reopened from Selden to Brainard and the rebuilding of Tuscola from 3rd Street to the Lodge access road.

Phase II will see the completion of the residential units and more commercial space.

Although a kickoff date was given, a target project completion date was not.

The site has been serving as an ad-hoc skate park, and before the city announced they were going to develop the land a crowdfunding campaign was started to build the skate park out.

Over the last year or so, there has been a common thread when it comes to comments when we post about Detroit and development.

It’s summed up well by this comment on today’s news of the new $77 million development on the site of the former Wigle Recreation Center.

This leads to a larger question. What is the Detroit we want to build, and who is it for?

Do we want to build a Detroit flush with out-of-town money, but prices out of reach for most people here? Or do we want our efforts to focus on current residents and future residents that help build back the middle class?

One only needs to follow the development news a bit – let alone get the influx of press releases and announcements we do here – and it feels like the vast majority of what’s going on is targeted for big dollar developers that often build big dollar developments for big dollar residents. This is echoed when we’re out on the streets talking to residents.

Development in itself is not bad. The city needs more people to move in and investment to be sustainable in the long term. But Detroit’s comeback can’t be built on $400,000 condos and be inclusive. You need to make more than $100,000 a year to afford that – the median incomes of places like Grosse Pointe or Birmingham. That’s the top eight percent of people in the nation, economically.

The city is setting aside 20% of rentals for low income residents, and that’s very laudable. There are programs like Rehabbed and Ready, but as of this writing, there are only two homes listed that are available. If it’s so successful, why aren’t we putting more money toward that?

Nationally, the story when it comes to the revival of urban areas is about gentrification and displacement. Having watched all this, we have an opportunity do it different here.

There has to be more ways to encourage more money and support to go into the hands of individuals, not just large developers.

Maybe we could encourage more owner-occupied duplexes that helped build wealth for residents during Detroit’s first golden age. The renter lives on one story, the owner the other. You get increased population density and a second income in the form of a renter that goes in the hands of the homeowner.

That allows for home ownership and a landing pad for new residents to the city where there’s more of a community feel than in a building with an RFID key tag, a front desk and a security guard.

It’s also a way to develop small parcels of land, an issue the city now says it wrestles with. “We’re almost out of land,” says the Mayor. 

Part of the magic of Detroit is that this was the place where the American dream was born. Where individuals could work hard, provide for their families and get a piece of success for themselves.

Let’s be sure going forward that not just every neighborhood has a future, but also that every Detroiter has an opportunity.

Detroit’s a city where locally made products can do really well and become a thing. One of those products is Sfumato Fragrances, created by the Corktown-based husband and wife duo of Kevin Peterson and Jane Larson.

They’re already at work on their new Midtown retail store, thanks to a $20,000 Motor City Match grant.

Sven Gustafson for this episode of the Daily Detroit Happy Hour Podcast caught up with the pair at Queen’s bar in Detroit and talked juggling a day job with your passion, how the idea for starting a company focused on fragrances came about, and the future.

You can find Sfumato here at https://www.sfumatofragrances.com/.

To subscribe to the show for free, check us out in iTunes.

Thanks to Queens Bar for their hospitality and to Podcast Detroit for their network support.

One of the things that the racial makeup of the Detroit region has done consistently over the last couple decades is change. Block by block, Metro Detroit as a whole has seen tremendous change in the time from 1990-2010.

But what does that actually look like? Previous maps that relied on census data only let us get down to 3 kilometer chunks, or a little more than a square mile.

However, new maps by a University of Cincinnati geography professor are the most detailed map of racial diversity yet to study the way America’s neighborhoods are changing.

Tomasz Stepinski, who previously served as a longtime researcher at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, applied NASA mapmaking techniques to 20 years of data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The maps that Stepinski and his postdoctoral researcher Anna Dmowska are better because they take advantage of NASA land-cover grids made up of 30-square-meter blocks. Using this grid system, they can more precisely group people where they actually live by recognizing lakes, parks, factories and otherwise uninhabitable areas.

“The maps can tell us much more about racial composition and can be used by everyone,” Dmowska said. “They don’t require expert knowledge to understand the results, so I think maps can be used by a broader community.”

The national studies specifically called out the storied 8 Mile divide, but as we’re about to find out, at least when it comes to race, it is no longer the stark divide side it once was.

Let’s take a minute and explain the color code of the map. Deep orange = high concentration of Caucasian populations. Green = Black, Asian = Red, Purple = Hispanic. Blue, American Indian.

The lighter the color, the more diversity but that group is still the majority.

You can look at the whole thing here, but we focused on a few key areas locally where the data shows large transitions and made animations out of them.

Let’s look at East Detroit and Roseville. Roseville is one of the many suburban cities that concentrated black families onto a few streets by design and social pressure. In Roseville, that would be near Lawn Street (to corroborate this, I found newspaper accounts referring to it as a “black enclave” in Roseville as late as 1990, many years after legal restrictions were prohibited by the Federal Government).

Here’s where the accuracy of the map got impressive. You see this level of detail reflected in the new 1990 racial map, matching to the area around Lawn Street. And that long-standing area continues to persist to this day, but near it, more and more people of color have been moving in.

It’s fascinating. Let’s go around the region and take some other snapshots.

Still on the east side, let’s look at Harper Woods, the far east side of Detroit and the borders near that.

Swinging down to Southwest Detroit, we start to see large swathes of purple, as the Hispanic community has been ascendant there. While the city of Detroit as a whole has been losing population, the number of Hispanic Detroiters has been growing.

Let’s head up to Oak Park, Southfield and Bingham Farms for another transition story.

And now let’s zoom out to see much of the tri-county Detroit region.

Data is fascinating, isn’t it? It’s going to be very interesting to see what change happens over the next 20 years, and how it effects our leadership and our policies.

Last year, we told you about the completion of a tiny house built by the nonprofit Cass Community Social Services.

They’ve been busy building their next six homes, under construction now and scheduled to be complete in the fall.

The homes are located just off of Woodrow Wilson south of Glendale on Monterey, near the Highland Park/Detroit border.

As we wrote about last year, they’re designed to serve low income people. Rent for the homes is based off the square footage of each home. If someone is living in a 400 square foot home, their rent will be $400 (or one dollar per square foot).

The only other bill that the residents will have for the house is electricity. The heating in the house is electric. They estimate that the electric bill including heat in February should be around $30 a month.

There is an extensive background check (including criminal history), applicants must meet HUD guidelines, be U.S. Citizens, and they also have an interview.

So let’s take a look at the progress. There are a variety of sizes.

There’s a fundraiser coming up for the project that is envisioned to eventually be 25 tiny homes.

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017, the Junior League of Detroit (JLD) is hosting their 16th annual LUNAFEST film festival from 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm at Windmill Pointe Park in Grosse Pointe Park.

The evening will feature a program of short films by, for, and about women and 100% of net proceeds will benefit Cass Community Social Services’ (CCSS) Tiny Homes Detroit and the Breast Cancer Fund.

Rev. Faith Fowler, Executive Director of Cass Community Social Services, will talk about the nonprofits Tiny Homes Detroit project. Tickets are $20 – more here.

There’s a park rising on the west side of downtown Detroit at Cass and Grand River, and today we have more information on the restaurant space that’s going to go in it.

DTE Energy, who owns and is constructing the new public access park, announced it has partnered with restaurateurs Norm and Bonnie LePage to operate the restaurant.

The restaurant, currently under construction, will open this fall and will be the first restaurant in the city for the LePages who also own Clubhouse BFD in Rochester Hills (that’s owned by their son, Scott LePage), Big Rock Chop House and Griffin Claw in Birmingham.

According to DTE Energy, the restaurant will feature:

• Seamless and connected indoor and outdoor dining spaces with sliding glass walls that open to offer a flexible floor plan and outdoor dining.

• A noutdoor staircase will lead to a green rooftop dining space with panoramic views of the park and city skyline.

• An expansive ceiling made of Forest Stewardship Council Certified Sapele mahogany wood, ensuring that the wood is sustainably harvested from responsibly managed forests.

Architectural firm, Touloukian Touloukian, Inc., is leading the construction of the rooftop’s green restaurant space. Interior and patio design is by Victor Saroki, and Kelly Building Company is performing the build out of the space.

While the 85 indoor seat, 125 outdoor seat restaurant will open in the fall, the park will open in July of this year.

Here are more details of the Boston-inspired park from when it was announced.

Detroit’s getting a new walkway and green space thanks to a $400,000 investment from Quicken Loans.

It’s called an esplanade, defined basically as a walkway that either is in the median of a boulevard or near the seashore.

There will be public art installations, pedestrian walkways, food trucks, comfortable seating and furniture, play cubes, plantings, and live entertainment. The meadow-themed walkway design is anchored by a series of 12 foot tall lit archways that lead to the new QLINE station. It also will be in the line of sight for the mini-studio WXYZ TV-7 has in the Qube on Woodward.

The northbound turnaround on Woodward Avenue, nearest Campus Martius Park, will close to allow for increased walkability and space for additional attractions such as parking for food trucks.

The ongoing maintenance will be handled by the Downtown Detroit Partnership, and ongoing funding will be provided by the downtown Business Improvement District (BIZ). That’s an assessment paid by commercial properties in the core of downtown Detroit to pay for improvements, maintenance and other services over and above what the city of Detroit provides.

We stopped by today to see some of the last minute preparations.

After years of planning, construction and testing the QLINE is a real thing.

We were able to hop on the QLINE for a preview of the service, and I thought I’d share some tips and answers to questions we got during a Facebook live stream we did.

Here are our twelve tips for riding the rails up and down Woodward.

1. The QLINE streetcars differ from a bus in a number of ways

The QLINE streetcars need to travel along the rail that has been built along Woodward. They also at some intersections get a special light that allows them to get a 15 second head start on traffic.

Boarding a streetcar is also easier because there is level boarding from the station onto the car. It saves time in instances where buses “kneel” to lower their stairs to be able to pick up passengers.

It’s tougher because they may not wait like a bus might if you’re behind and running for it (and any of us who have ridden the bus every day in the past like I have to work knows that jog).

Each streetcar will have seating for 34 people, but can accommodate up to 125 people. The ride once you get going is silky smooth because you’re on rails and not hitting potholes.

2. There are multiple ways to purchase your fare

If you are paying with a credit card you can buy your tickets at all of the stations, on the QLINE app, or online.

If you are paying with cash you can buy your tickets onboard the streetcar. If you are paying with a money order or check you can buy your tickets at the Penske Tech Center.

3. When you buy a pass you can get on and off the QLINE multiple times

For 3 hours you can get a pass for $1.50, and a day pass is $3.00. Senior passes are 75 cents, kids under 44 inches and 3 are free with an adult. Monthly pass is $30 and the annual pass is $285 (which makes it $.78 a day).

4. They will check for fare skippers

The QLINE is considered a trust but verified service. Much like Amtrak, you can be asked at any time for your pass. If you don’t have it then you will be asked to get off on the next stop.

5. If you are bringing your bike there is a place for you, too

See that hook? Each streetcar is equipped with four bike racks in the middle section of the car. This is on a first come first serve, and disabled people are a priority in the center section of the bus.

6. Cameras are everywhere

There are cameras in all of the streetcars and at all of the stations. These cameras feed into the “Greater Security Lighthouse Network” that includes Wayne State Police, Wayne County Police, Central Business District, and larger companies. All of the stations also have emergency call boxes.

7. Be sure to hold on while standing

These streetcars are electric which means they have high torque. It also means that when they start, they start with a jump, not a slow ramp-up like on a bus. You really should be holding onto something or sitting down when it gets going, the start is.. startling, if you didn’t hear the bell.

8. The screens at the stations provide a lot of information

One screen will have a countdown clock that will give you the next streetcar arrival. The stations will also show the crosstown buses for both DDOT and SMART.

The second screen has information from Detroit Public TV. There is a mix of community programing information and information on the donors for the QLINE. There will also be educational videos. These videos won’t have sound but there will be subtitles.

9. There will be WiFi onboard

It wasn’t hooked up during our ride, but it will be available once service officially starts. We wrote about it here.

10. Download the QLINE Detroit App

You will be able to purchase your pass on the app. You will also be able to see when each streetcar will be arriving, which makes planning your trip easier. Here’s a link to the iTunes store.

11. Get off at a stop and walk around to explore the city

We have grown so accustomed to getting in our car to drive to different places. Having this streetcar means we can get out and explore our surroundings. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Who knows, you might find your next favorite restaurant or shop.

12. The QLINE is not a 24 hour service

So if you plan on going out to party especially on a non-game night you might need to find an alternative way home, like ride sharing.  

Get used to these hours of operation:

• Monday through Thursday: 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
• Friday: 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.
• Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.
• Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Detroit’s bike sharing system has been a much-talked about addition to greater downtown Detroit’s transportation options.

We’ve walked through how to use the system before. It’s a public bike sharing system where you pay by the half hour (a variety of other passes are available) to use a bike to get around the downtown area.

Today the map went live ahead of the system’s official launch on Tuesday, May 23. It reveals that the system will reach as far west as Clark Park, as far east as West Village, and as far north as New Center. We’re going to walk through it, but the updated live link is here.

Why does an updated map matter? They’re in real-time showing how many bikes are at each station and how many the station can currently hold.

So like in school when we learned “Never Eat Shredded Wheat” for North, East, South and West, let’s take a look.

MoGo goes about as far north as the QLINE streetcar into the New Center neighborhood. It also goes a bit west to the Henry Ford Hospital campus.

In Midtown by Wayne State University the density of stations picks up. There are also a couple by Eastern Market.

Going east, stations are farther apart and go all the way to West Village/Indian Village at Agnes and Parker, with three along the riverfront.

Since South Detroit is basically Windsor (they even have a bar named “South Detroit,” we’re going to treat the Central Business District as the southern part of our compass for today.

The stations are basically all over the place down there and by major employers.

Let’s look west, where it serves Corktown and near Clark Park. There’s a station right by the busy Corktown district hub anchored by Slow’s BBQ.

What do you think of the station placement? If you’re looking for more details on how to use the system, here’s our MoGo explainer post.

The new home for Little Caesars is Detroit’s first newly constructed corporate headquarters building in more than a decade, and progress is moving at a steady pace. Today a “topping out” ceremony occurred, marking the last structural beam going into place. A tree was affixed to the top of the building, with the iconic Little Caesar sitting next to it.

Designed by Detroit-based architect SmithGroupJJR, the new $150 million, nine-story, 234,000 square foot building is located at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Columbia Street. It’s part of the new District Detroit’s Columbia Street neighborhood.

As we reported when the project was announced, the building will stand nine stories and have 234,000 square feet of space. Not to mention, pizza piece slice shaped windows.

Some of the amenities include:

• Work café, pantries, collaborative workspaces and informal meeting rooms
• Two-story lobby connected to a new Welcome Center
• Glass-covered, open air terrace
• Screening room and 425-seat training room
• Fitness center
• Retail and dining (think a company store like you would see in other big cities)

“Expanding our world headquarters campus will support the growth of every part of Little Caesars, from our employees, to our franchisees, to our customers,” said Little Caesars President and CEO David Scrivano. “As a Detroit-born and headquartered business, we’re proud to work with the ironworkers, architects and contractors from Detroit and Michigan to create this iconic headquarters building for our global enterprise.”

It’s scheduled to open in 2018.

If you look at the corner of 14th and Michigan Avenue in Corktown, you might notice something new.

That’s because there’s a new statue created by the Nordin Brothers of the Detroit Design Center in the median. It’s called “Generations.”

If you’re looking to figure out where it is, it’s between Slows BBQ and the CPA Building, across Michigan Avenue from the old Michigan Central Station. It’s designed to be a visual gateway to the neighborhood.

The Nordin Brothers might sound familiar to you – they also designed the giant Menorah in the D that is lit every year.

“This sculpture stands for the strength and resilient spirt of the City of Detroit,” said Detroit artists Erik Nordin. “It is a spirit passed from one generation to the next, as new growth emerges from an historic foundation. Just like Detroit, it is a metamorphosis fueled by the hope and dedication of generations.”

The statue stands 18 feet tall and is made of industrial carbon and stainless steel.

Around the base six pillars represent the six branches of the American military: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and the National Guard.

Up top are two globes that will be illuminated by solar power. The idea is that the piece symbolizes hope and nature, as well as be a beacon to the neighborhood that show gratitude for the service of veterans.

“To watch what the people of Detroit are doing for our city is pretty inspiring,” said Israel Nordin at the unveiling on Saturday.

Local businesses had influence into the design and it is a gift to the city of Detroit funded through Hatch Detroit and Strategic Staffing Solutions. A variety of veterans from a number of service branches attended as well as politicians including Detroit mayor Mike Duggan and council member Raquel Castañeda-López, on Saturday morning.

Finishing the ceremony was a performance by the Detroit Party Marching Band.

We’ve covered Hatch Detroit before – it’s that contest that offers $50,000 as well as support services for new brick and mortar retail businesses. The most recent business to open with their support was Live Cycle Delight, but they were also part of making a number of other places happen like Batch Brewery. They also fund and implement improvements in the neighborhoods for local businesses, with recent projects in West Village, the Livernois Avenue of Fashion and in Grandmont Rosedale.

“Art is an important part of creating walkable, shoppable neighborhoods like Corktown,” said HATCH executive director Vittoria Katanski.

Strategic Staffing Solutions was founded in 1990 and now has more than 3,000 people working for them according to their website.

“At Strategic Staffing Solutions, we’re committed to giving back to the community, and we wanted to make sure the sculpture represented the cooperative spirit of Detroit,” said their COO Allen Coleman.

What do you think of Corktown’s newest addition?