In questo episodio di Your Daily Detroit, il podcast parla di diverse storie interessanti legate a Detroit:
La Mustang Mach-E elettrica di Ford ha raggiunto un traguardo storico, superando per la prima volta la sua controparte a gas con 51.000 unità contro le 44.000 Mustang tradizionali nel 2024.
La scena dei ristoranti si sta evolvendo: i proprietari di Grey Ghost hanno in programma di espandersi a Ferndale, aprendo la loro prima sede fast-casual su Woodward Avenue quest’estate.
Brew Detroit ha annunciato la chiusura della taproom e della cucina di Corktown, anche se continueranno le operazioni di produzione e distribuzione della birra.
Nella Contea di Wayne sta per essere avviato un importante progetto infrastrutturale, con uno stanziamento di 21,5 milioni di dollari per la sostituzione di due ponti obsoleti.
Per quanto riguarda i trasporti, il People Mover di Detroit rimarrà gratuito per tutto il 2025, mentre le tariffe del tunnel di Detroit-Windsor aumenteranno a 8,25 dollari per gli utenti con carta di credito/debito.
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Jer Staes: Hello, and welcome to your Daily Detroit! It is Tuesday, January 7th, 2025.
I am Jer Staes, sharing what to know and where to go in Southeast Michigan, here at our studio in beautiful TechTown in Detroit, Michigan.
To my left is none other than producer Shianne Nocerini. How are you?
Shianne Nocerini: I’m great. How are you, Jer?
Jer Staes: Living the dream! Living the dream. We’ve got a lot of stories to go through today.
Shianne Nocerini: We do.
Jer Staes: But I have been dreaming now, I think for two or three days. I went to a birthday party of someone over the weekend, actually somebody I didn’t know. You know when you go to a birthday party, and there are other people’s people? And I had the most Midwestern dinner that I have had in a long time and I enjoyed it greatly.
Shianne Nocerini: Yeah, what was it?
First off, I haven’t had Green Lantern Pizza in a minute, in a hot minute.
I love me some Green Lantern Pizza.
and the pepperoni with the curled cups, exquisite. Yes. I know it’s not Detroit style pizza per se.
No.
But Green Lantern Pizza – this is unsponsored. I have not had it in months. That was on point. That was a welcomed addition.
Green Lantern is one of those pizza places that if I don’t want Detroit style pizza, but I want pizza, we go to. And the cheesy bread.
Oh! the cheesy bread was clutch.
It is where it is at. And are you a ranch and cheesy bread person, or are you a marinara and cheesy person?
I’m definitely a ranch guy for that. But, I was going to ask you, do you douse it in ranch? Because what I saw was a gaggle of ranch dippers and ranch drowners, and it felt nostalgic, but also, man, I haven’t had that much ranch in a very long time, but it was also good.
It depends on the ranch, first of all.
Because what if there’s too much ranch? Then all of a sudden it becomes a ranch thing now with the cheesy bread That’s an okay ish thing right but with the pizza. I don’t know if I necessarily want that much ranch on it
I don’t always dip my pizza in ranch. If I’m in the mood for it, like if one, it has to be round pizza. It cannot be Detroit style pizza. I do not, those do not cross.
And it has to be like a pepperoni pizza for me to dip it in ranch. And it has to be, like I said, it has to be a certain type of ranch. Jets Ranch, yes. Green Lantern ranch, yes. Some weird Gordon Food Service Ranch, no.
You know what’s terrible is runny ranch.
I like runny ranch.
Really? I can’t. Oh, I don’t like it too runny.
I mean, it needs to be viscous.
like a motor oil. This is what we’re putting in our bodies, friends. Welcome to the Midwest! You know what else there was there? Shout-out to them. A chili mac. Okay. It a – not cheese – but chili, no beans, lots of spice casserole with a cornbread top.
That sounds like a hot dish for sure, yeah.
Well, you know, most people did put ranch on it. And you know what else we’re going to do? We’re going to put ranch on our Mustang because the Mustang is what we’re going to talk about next.
We’re going to put ranch on all of it. Probably shouldn’t though, because it’s pretty.
It’s an expensive thing.
We don’t want to necessarily put ranch on it, but in a historic shift for the iconic automaker Ford, their electric Mustang Mach-E has outpaced their gasoline powered namesake in sales for the first time. The all-electric crossover moved more than 51,000 units in 2024 compared to 44,000 traditional Mustangs.
While purists initially criticized Ford’s decision to use the Mustang name on an electric SUV, and Shianne, do you remember the stacks and stacks of messages we got back then? So many. The Mach-E saw nearly 27% growth over the previous year. Meanwhile, sales of the gas powered Mustang declined almost 10%. Despite all this, Ford CEO Jim Farley says the company has no plans to develop an all-electric version of the traditional Mustang coupe. Shianne, we’ve both been in the Mach-E and in regular Mustangs. Let’s talk about it because I remember the vitriol. I remember people saying, this is never gonna work. I remember people saying the Mustang brand, as it is, is too strong, making an electric as a mistake, and the numbers are the numbers.
Yeah. I remember the outrage of when people saw the renderings of the Mach-E and them being like, “How can they call it a Mustang?”
And I love the Mach-E. If I didn’t have two children, one of which is disabled and needs a wheelchair …
When we drove the Mach-E, it actually had enough space in the back that if you wanted to put a child seat, you could do it.
And if you have kids, you can definitely put car seats in the back. I’m not saying you can’t, but I am saying that I have special needs and so I definitely need a larger car.
Your oldest would love to be in the back of a Mustang. When I brought the Mustang, so people know, we’ve known each other for a long time, we’ve worked together a long time; when I brought that car over to your place; and this is not an ad, this is just an experience, your child was already scheming on ways to silently escape because there was no engine noise.
He was already thinking that this would help him sneak out of the house.
Yes. He was like, ‘That is such a cool car!”
And he didn’t get to ride in it because I wasn’t able to move his booster into the car because we didn’t have time for that. But he was just like, ‘That car is so cool!”
Is this a harbinger of things to come, meaning is this a sign that that car culture of the engine and everything else is in fact starting to fade away?
Possibly. I mean there are a lot of people who still love that. And they will until they die.
Exactly. I mean don’t get me wrong, I do have a nostalgia for older cars, classic cars, but I never had that feeling for the Mustang. That was never me.
What was your car? Were you a Corvette person?
You know what? Not really. I’m more like classic Camaro.
See … I was a Corvette guy. That guy with the long hood in the 60s.
A classic roadrunner, my uncle had an orange roadrunner that my other uncle still has now. My uncle passed away a couple years ago, so my other uncle has that car now.
And so when we get to go in it, it gives me the vibes.
A friend of the show has a drop-top Cadillac that I cruised on Belle Isle on one time. That was an amazing thing. I think it is close to a cherry red. Absolutely amazing.
I would love to hear your thoughts, dailydetroit@gmail.com, on all of this because this is a big change. I think in a lot of ways it’s a cultural change, especially in Metro Detroit, which has so much affinity for our cars.
Alright, let’s get into some food news. The owners of popular Detroit restaurants Grey Ghost and Basan are expanding to the suburbs. Four-Man Ladder Hospitality bought a former insurance office on Woodward Avenue in Ferndale where they plan to open their first fast-casual restaurant this summer. The yet-to-be-named establishment will focus on carryout service featuring their acclaimed Grey Ghost burger and chicken sandwich. The 1,000-square-foot space will serve as a test concept with the restaurant group hoping to open additional locations in the future. Chef John Vermiglio says the move comes in response to strong demand for their burgers. Now I’ve had them. Their great construction is set to begin this month.
Shianne, to be honest, this is in Ferndale on Woodward, south of Nine Mile, west side of the street. Yes, this is a great location, possibly, I think. And I think this is part of a larger trend of what we’re seeing where businesses get hot in the city. It’s kind of like the flagship spiritual home gets attention, and then they find additional success in the suburbs closer to where people are living, where there is more money. I feel like we’ve had this story multiple times, especially since the bulk of the pandemic hit.
Yeah, I agree. It has been … we’ve had multiple stories where we’ve talked about this.
Remember when we had the guys from Firebird Tavern?
Yes. Yeah. And I’ve actually been to that location more than I’ve been to the one in Greektown. But back to this …
So I lived in Ferndale for a few years, and I live in Oak Park. I am on Woodward a lot. And so as soon as I saw the picture, I was like, “I know exactly where that is. It’s right across the street from where St. James Church is.” It’s now closed. And it is a great location because it’s right outside of downtown Ferndale. I do wonder about parking because it’s a very small lot. But …
as a carry out spot, it’s gonna turn it out. I also wonder if there’s gonna be any sort of adjustments.
I can’t remember the floor, not the floor plate, but the map of that area. I can’t remember behind it. I’m always going too fast.
So there is a house directly behind that building, but there is open, I don’t want to say a field, but there is an occupied land between the Methodist Church and this building.
And I don’t know who owns it. I don’t know the particular. So that’s something. Yeah, I have no idea who owns it.
I will say that the Methodist Church used to have their Christmas tree lot on that space until the guy who ran the Christmas tree sales, a lot, died.
I think this is also an extension of a prediction that me and Devon O’Reilly had. And yes, me and Devon O’Reilly are going to have our predictions episode. It’s a little late for personal reasons, but Devon will be back this week. We understand. We’re going to have that predictions episode.
One of those predictions in the past was small is the new big. And I was just going through YouTube and seeing the people making suggestions for pizza restaurants, coffee shops, everything else … really try to limit your overhead costs. And I feel like this is part of that vibe and small fits really well in Ferndale. It does. On Friday, a social media post told us that Detroit’s craft brewing scene is coming to the end of a little bit of an era as Brew Detroit announced the closure of its taproom and kitchen in Corktown. The establishment on Abbott Street has been a neighborhood fixture for the past decade and it will serve its final pints at the end of the month while the company will continue its beer production and distribution operations. The closure marks the end of a chapter that began in 2015 when the taproom first opened its doors. The venue has been known for hosting community events and collaborating with local businesses and artists. Brew Detroit will celebrate its final month with several special events, including their Depth 5 release party and a farewell celebration on their last day of operation. Current membership holders will maintain their benefits through the closing date according to their social media post. I have some memories here. I know you haven’t been, but I have some memories here, especially when it opened. It was like a really big deal to have this kind of industrial space. I also see why with all the contract brewing they’re doing, focusing makes sense and it’s been difficult for a lot of these search spaces.
Yeah, I know. I want to say Devon loved going to the taproom.
O’Reilly loved that place. And we might mention it at some point in the future.
So while I never really went there, I do know it was popular. And fortunately, it is good that they’re still staying open.
It seems like they have a pretty good contract brewing business. It’s just tough to make the numbers work. I’ve talked to a number of business owners that have moved much more towards automation. The crowds are unpredictable. I’ve heard this from a number of people that you’ve got special events and things, but it’s very up and down. One thing that things like automated beer taps and things do is help smooth out those labor costs because it really can be feast or famine.
I don’t know if that’s the case with Brew Detroit, but I’ve heard that from a number of people a little bit of transportation news to end out the show.
A couple of stories, if you will … Roads, bridges, infrastructure, well, because we are a region held together by our roads. And one of the things we got a lot of feedback of, of course, we’re going to continue doing our transit coverage, but people want to know about what’s happening around them.
Major bridge construction is underway today in Wayne County, where a $21.5 million project will replace two aging structures and improve surrounding roadways and shared paths. A century-old bridge on Ann Arbor Road is the first to see work with closures between Newburgh Road and Market Street in Livonia. The half-mile stretch will remain closed until November. A second bridge on Edward Hines Drive, dating from the 1940s, will be demolished and rebuilt starting this spring. A temporary bridge for pedestrians will be in place. The project also includes road repaving, intersection improvements, and drainage upgrades. Expect significant detours and possible traffic delays. It’s going to be a pain for the people who live out that way, but I think needed. And another thing to remember is you’ve got a lot of these suburbs that honestly, it was the 1940s, the 1950s, when they were getting established and all of this stuff is running out of useful life.
I know it’s a huge inconvenience right now, but it would be an even bigger inconvenience if one of these bridges, like, went out when people were driving on it.
or had road issues where you had to shut it down unexpectedly. That is the thing, Michigan’s infrastructure, and this is a bigger topic that we’re gonna embrace in a future episode. The money that Governor Gretchen Whitmer got to do a lot of this road work was actually a loan. Because we are very against any sort of road tax raise, toll roads, all those kinds of things, we actually have very limited money, and we spend limited dollars per capita per person on our roads.
That loan, that chunk of money is over. And there will be a lot of thought in 2025 with the new legislature, and roads made a very high priority because the pace of improvements will not be able to continue because we’re not spending as much per person. And people don’t like it when I say that. Because a lot of people wanna say, MDOT’s stealing the money or blah, blah, it should be this. The fundamental problem that we have, especially in Metro Detroit, is that we have the same amount of people roughly that we did in 1970, but think about how much more stuff we have since 1970 and how far away we go. So we have so much more infrastructure spread out over more area with the same amount of people paying for it. And that math don’t math. And that is a fundamental issue that the state legislature, that local leaders and such are going to have to wrestle with.
And I hope also in this conversation that we do something where it’s like, oh, we include things like transit as part of the mix, because that reduces the wear and tear and actually makes things easier for drivers.
I think people forget that when you are constantly driving on these roads
freeze cycles.
Freeze cycles, how heavy cars and trucks and vans and
We talk often about the limits when it comes to commercial trucks, but the vehicles we drive every day are bigger now. Yeah, they’re huge.
So something to look out for and an interesting story to watch in future months.
All right, we’re going to talk about the People Mover and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. I’ve got a couple of quick updates for people who use those. Number one, we’ve gotten the question in our Discord and also from listeners. The Detroit People Mover will remain free through 2025. They have the deal with Priority Waste so that way you can just hop on and use it. I think ridership is way up.
Oh, I’m sure it’s been up.
That’s the same thing with, with the QLine. It’s something where people just don’t think about it. And unless you have like a fair program, like a Chicago, which makes it easy for you to just like tap your credit card. Yeah. It’s going to like, it really slows things down to have to bypasses, do this, get cold. The whole thing. Yeah, it’s the whole thing. So the people mover is going to remain free.
However, the Detroit Windsor tunnel fees increase this week. They’re going up 75 cents for credit and debit card users to $8 and 25 cents. Next press pass users are going up 50 cents to six bucks. They say that this is to help pay for the tunnel.
You know, Jer, who’s most interested in free people mover and free Q-line? My child. He loves them. So do you have a kid? Do they like trains?
I was thinking about doing a thing with the People Mover where I timed each stop and then highlighted like a historic place and do a little podcast you could listen to on the People Mover of the history between each stop. We also could do another one and maybe a guide, if there are kid-friendly things or restaurants or something interesting art. Yeah, something like that, but maybe you and I could work on that. Something’s like oh, we’ll actually keep their attention because I don’t I don’t have kids.
I only have a dog.
Right? I think that’s a good idea. And, you know, we already have the People Mover sound in our files.
Long time listeners will know we actually used to use the People Movers sound in between our stories and you know what …
Maybe we will again. I think we should bring it back. cue sound
All right, and we are done for today with your Daily Detroit. Thank you so much to our members on Patreon, patreon.com/dailydetroit. Local media requires local support.
Also share this with a friend. We went through all the data, Shianne, the best way, the biggest way that this show grew was other people telling people about Daily Detroit. Because I can put something out on Threads or Instagram or whatever. But really, you all are the best ambassadors for the show. And the Spirit of Detroit that we can kind of share through these, well, they’re not airwaves, digital podcast files. With that, I’m Jer Staes.
And I’m Shianne Nocerini.
Thank you so much for listening! Remember that you are somebody, and we’ll see you around Detroit.
