The Globe and Mail newspaper out of Toronto had a chance to ride around Detroit. They went on a bike tour and are apparently giving us the big thumbs up.

Detroit’s old nickname, the “Paris of the Midwest,” does not roll off the tongue as smoothly as it might have in 1928. The city’s last few decades of Detroit’s 300 years have been rocky; thousands of its buildings burned, over half of its population moved away and its industrial strength weakened. But this once-gorgeous, battered city is a place of extraordinary Art Deco skyscrapers, palatial industrialists’ mansions and a vibrant arts community.

A burgeoning green economy is being embraced, replacing cars with bikes and establishing a strong local food movement.

It’s good to burgeon.

Ironically, Motor City is an ideal place to pedal. The Hub of Detroit is a Midtown non-profit bike shop with a mission to foster urban biking. It offers maps and great tips on biking in Detroit’s unique conditions, and profits are directed toward local youth programs. Wheelhouse, another bike shop on the waterfront, offers rentals and tours through Midtown and other parts of the city, encompassing Detroit’s majestic architecture, urban farms and local food movement, social events and its abandoned mansions – a great, safe way to experience the uniqueness of Detroit.

We couldn’t agree more.

Now if only we could get bikes across the Detroit River, our cycling friends from Toronto could take their bike train to Windsor and pay us a visit.

There are no excuses to not ride your bike to a Detroit festival this weekend.

Detroit International Jazz Festival

From the Wheelhouse Detroit web site:

This weekend, we will happily park your bike for no charge at the Detroit International Jazz Festival. Bike parking is at the intersection of Woodward & Larned, smack dab in the middle of the festivities, which stretch from Hart Plaza to Campus Martius.

Festival hours are 4 to 11 p.m. on Friday; noon to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; and noon to 7:30 P.M. on Monday. See you there!

Arts, Beats, and Eats

KLM Bikes is providing free bike at two locations for the Art, Beats, and Eats event in Royal Oak. This is the easiest and cheapest way to get to the festival. The spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis. It looked like many people were taking advantage of this service.

The locations are:

• South side: Washington St. Just south of Lincoln, 800 parking slots
• North side: Washington Near Second Avenue, 1,000 parking slots

The Hamtramck Festival is this weekend as well. Though it doesn’t seem to have valet bike parking, it does have urban camping. How cool is that?

Did you catch today’s discussion on Detroit’s Complete Street effort? It was on WDET’s Craig Fahle Show.

If you missed it, you can still listen to the podcast. The segment on Complete Streets begins about 54 minutes into the program.

Earlier today, Governor Jennifer Granholm had a ceremonial signing of Michigan’s Complete Streets legislation at the Capitol. We had a roomful of supporters from the Michigan Complete Streets coalition as well as State Representatives (and bill sponsors) Pam Byrnes and Jon Switalski.

The Governor is an active cyclist and pedestrian — and noted how blessed Michigan is for trails.

This is just a reminder that the city of Detroit wants to know if you support Complete Streets in the Motor City.

If so, it’s easy to register your support and you don’ t need to be a city resident. It only takes a minute.

For more information on Detroit’s Complete Streets effort, visit the Detroit Health and Wellness Promotion (DHWP) web site.

One of DHWP’s main objectives is to support and promote healthy and safe lifestyles; that includes physical activity such as walking and biking. Safe, community-centered roads and streets help encourage these healthy lifestyle choices. Thankfully, Detroit has established a Complete Streets project to build better routes for all Detroit residents.

DHWP is anticipating having a Complete Streets ordinance before the city council before next Spring.

Congratulations to Robert Burns Elementary in Detroit for its recent Safe Routes to School grant.

Here’s the official announcement from MDOT: