MSU Red Cedar Message Board

That would be great down the road, but I think that at this point, the urban farming groups should focus on the 30,000 vacant acreas in detroit.

Great, Im glad they had the wherewithall to bring up this point. Lets get rid of "top down" schemes that which meddle in affairs of Detroit citizens and lets start with the largest of them all: welfare. Lets try and maybe get the receivership of state and federal benefits somehwere under, I dont know, 50% of the population? I dont ever recall that city council complaining about how almost all of the city's food, accomodation, utilities, services and beer expense is paid for by the state and federal government...? The whole city is on welfare! No problem accepting the free money as a reward for being nothing more than a financial drain on the region, but if the same people cutting the checks propose methods to alleviate this dependence - it's nothing more than outsiders medalling in the interests of Detroit.. Huh.

While obviously very different than the original plan, the Detroit City Council approved the sale of about 120 acres of land to the Hantz Group today for the Hantz Woodlands:

"The council voted 5-4 in favor of the controversial Hantz Woodlands project involving the purchase of about $520,000 worth of city land."

1,500 down, 64,500 vacant lots to go..

Holy Shit

Trees are the short term plan because Detroit's Urban Ag Ordinance hasn't officially passed (early 2013) so he can't do other types of farming yet. Long term he is creating value for his original property (lives in Indian Village which borders this project) and his new properties by creating a shortage of available land in the immediate area. Increase prices by controlling supply.