Urban Farming Detroit - Redux

Back in June, in a post I titled A Plan for INDIVIDUALS to Save Detroit, I noted an idea floating around regarding individuals turning the decay of Detroit into urban farms, without the necessary permissions; licenses, permits, etc.; the state would impose so they could forcefully obtain their piece of the farm.  Well, it may be too late for individuals to act.

John Hantz is a wealthy money manager who lives in an older enclave of Detroit where all the houses are grand and not all of them are falling apart. Once a star stockbroker at American Express, he left 13 years ago to found his own firm. Today Hantz Financial Services has 20 offices in Michigan, Ohio, and Georgia, more than 500 employees, and $1.3 billion in assets under management…With a net worth of more than $100 million, he’s one of the richest men left in Detroit…Then one day about a year and a half ago, Hantz had a revelation. “We need scarcity,” he thought to himself as he drove past block after unoccupied block. “We can’t create opportunities, but we can create scarcity.” And that, he says one afternoon in his living room between puffs on an expensive cigar, “is how I got onto this idea of the farm.”

Yes, a farm. A large-scale, for-profit agricultural enterprise, wholly contained within the city limits of Detroit. Hantz thinks farming could do his city a lot of good: restore big chunks of tax-delinquent, resource-draining urban blight to pastoral productivity; provide decent jobs with benefits; supply local markets and restaurants with fresh produce; attract tourists from all over the world; and—most important of all—stimulate development around the edges as the local land market tilts from stultifying abundance to something more like scarcity and investors move in. Hantz is willing to commit $30 million to the project. He’ll start with a pilot program this spring involving up to 50 acres on Detroit’s east side. “Out of the gates,” he says, “it’ll be the largest urban farm in the world.”

A farm to feed the State of Michigan’s coffers, rather than an urban farm controlled by individuals.

Can farming save Detroit?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 12/30 at 03:04 PM

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below:


Next entry: TSA Goes After Bloggers

Previous entry: Dead Drunk

<< Back to main