Urban Revitalization: Small Steps Yield Big Results
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 02.14.08
We talk so often on TreeHugger about the importance of cities, about the need to revitalize and re-inhabit our downtowns, and what valuable assets the infrastructures of Detroit and other rust belt cities are. Therefore we can't help but be excited by the Onion's story of what happened in Detroit's Warrendale neighbourhood after the Beautification Committee spent $ 150 to build a three foot by four foot urban park. The Onion says:
The green space, a rectangular patch of crabgrass located on a busy median divider, has by all accounts turned what was once a rundown community into a thriving, picturesque oasis, filled with charming shops, luxury condominiums, and, for the first time ever, hope.
"What we've seen here is amazing," Warrendale Beautification Committee chairman Michael Pulowski said of the $150 city-funded initiative. "Not only do residents feel better about themselves, but our streets are now totally safe, employment is up, and our children's test scores are through the roof. It's hard to believe this is even the same neighborhood anymore."
Warrendale's incredible transformation began early Monday morning when city officials laid down the yard-wide strip of sod. Two days later, dozens of boarded-up businesses were suddenly bustling with customers, and streets once littered with hypodermic needles were instead plastered with colorful murals.
"It all happened so quickly," said resident Jeffrey Huza, who watched the sliver of lawn single-handedly attract tourism, reduce air pollution, and bring a sense of peace and tranquility to the area. "I always knew a little green would do our neighborhood good, but I never thought we'd benefit this much."
Read the entire heartwarming and inspirational story at ::The Onion
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I hope they're planning to keep the park green with an environmentally friendly fertilizer. I shudder to imagine the impact several ounces of petroleum-based products would have on the park's sub-sod layer.
Hate to tell ya, but this is a hoax. (The Onion is well known for some fabulous but far out stories). On Monday 2/10/08 the weather in metro Detroit was 4 degrees with a wind chill in the negative teens. Feb 11 brought us approx. 3" of snow and we currently have nearly a foot of snow on the ground.
Besides do you really think in less than 48 hours and with $150 a neighborhood could go from dangerous & dilapidated to "our streets are now totally safe, employment is up, and our children's test scores are through the roof."?
You mean to tell me The Onion is fake news?
Wow, I was really excited about this, and then I saw that it was an Onion story. I guess I should have figured. T_T
Please tell me TH knows that the Onion is a satirical paper and that this story is a joke. Please tell me you're just having fun with us TH.
Even though I love The Onion, I'm disheartened to see its parodies parroted here with solemn enthusiasm without a subsequent correction. It casts a certain pallor over the news I read every morning, and I'll probably remove TH from my daily reads :-(
LA: It is and has been labelled in the humor category. Really, guys, lighten up. The onion post was written in a perfect parody of every urban design site and probably a perfect parody of me. I could not pass that up.