The Bureau of Urban Living is hosting a fundraiser for Detroit greenways this Thursday, August 7^th. 25% of the sales for the day will be donated to the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance for work in Detroit.

The Bureau is “a modern-day general store for city dwellers, [and] offers modern home goods and gifts.” It’s a very cool store carrying unique items that you’re just not going to find anywhere else in town.

The Bureau will have light refreshments from 5 PM until 9 PM. (They open at 11 AM.) They’re also have some brochures on the various trail projects under development across the City.

You can find the Bureau of Urban Living in the Canfield Lofts, 460 West Canfield Street in Midtown Detroit. They’re just next door to Motor City Brewing and across the street from the Traffic Jam and Snug.

After recently experimenting with a custom handlebar camera mount, I took some sample video along the soon-to-be-officially-opened Dequindre Cut trail in Detroit. Yes, the video is a little jittery, which was due in part to the stiffer ride of my road bike. Future trials will be from a mountain bike.

The Trust Fund helped acquire the Clinton River Trail in Rochester Hills, Michigan

Governor Granholm recently signed Senate Bill 978 into law.  This bill adds the following directive for the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund:

The board shall give particular consideration to the acquisition of land and rights in land for
recreational trails that intersect the downtown areas of cities and villages.

Trails in urban areas have often been at a disadvantage when applying for Trust Fund grants.  They often don’t offer pristine natural resources yet they cost more than land located in more rural parts of Michigan.  To offset this disparity, the Trust Fund scoring system did provide extra points for regional trails.

It’s not clear how much of a change this will have in the grant process, but it should make trails in Southeast Michigan a bit more attractive.

We believe the Monkey was lost due to the Lafayette Ramp access

The Detroit Free Press is reporting today that the Dequindre Cut is at least 6 weeks away from opening.

The graffiti, some of it spectacular, is staying. It decorates the old bridge abutments and helps to create a dazzling visual effect — gritty artwork, old walls and big shade trees contrasting with the newly paved path, plantings and modern lights and security phones. Fixtures for the lights and phones are in place but remain unfinished.

Above the trail, you can see the Mies van der Rohe towers of Lafayette Park and the 19th-Century steeple of St. Joseph Church. The dominant sound, at least on a Sunday, was bird songs.

Although it’s not open yet, the Dequndre Cut biking and walking trail in Detroit is making huge strides. It’s now paved from Woodbridge (just south of Jefferson) to Gratiot.