I
LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 26, 1997-5
~U' alum
4U') alum
helps to
renovate
Oetroit
'By Sam England
.For the Daily
Raynal Harris and Dorian Moore,
recent graduates of the College of
Architecture and Urban Planning, are
spearheading efforts to renovate and
-restore Detroit to its status as a preem-
j'nent American city.
9 Harris, a 1994 graduate, explained
some of the efforts he and his firm,
SHG Incorporated, are performing in
conjunction with the city government.
"There are several initiatives that
the city has going on,' Harris said. To
illustrate his point, he turned on the
room lights, illuminating an expansive
model of the city.
Hovering over miniature wooden
-uildings, Harris pointed out newly
,.Wilt shopping centers, the prospective
,football arena and baseball park along
a stretch of expressway, and the nearly
finished Detroit Police Customer
Service Center.
Harris led a tour of the Police
Customer Service Center, which he
designed.
"People come to Detroit and talk
about what's not here," Harris said,
driving past the central business dis-
'ct, onto a street near Gratiot Avenue.
' arris motioned to a strip of gas sta-
tions and old fast food restaurants,
,,,,surrounded by neighborhoods of
neglected houses, overgrown lots and
windowless liquor stores.
"Yeah, Detroit is, immediately, not a
Chicago. It's not an Atlanta. But it has
its own flavor. ... People have pride in
this city," Harris said.
At the Police Customer Service
, nter, Harris led a tour through
administrative offices, conference
rooms and a dispatch center for emer-
gency calls. The facility covers
approximately 25,000 square feet of
converted warehouse space.
Turning toward a curved open hall-
way lined with skylights, he pointed
out locker rooms, a lounge and a
stress-relief room for employees:
Telephone operators, he said, some-
es work 12-hour shifts fielding
ergency calls.
"I'm the designer. All these ideas
are mine," Harris said, when asked
about the center's features.
Harris explained that the nearly fin-
Notre Dame,
'U'
fans expected to
overwhelm stadium
By William Nash
Daily Staff Reporter
Like an Ann Arbor gold rush, Notre
Dame fans will swarm to campus and
Michigan football stadium to support
their team.
As much as any other game this year,
tomorrow's match-up between Notre
Dame and Michigan will attract out-of-
towners to Wolverine territory - call it
an Irish invasion.
Plan on seeing a few navy and gold
sweatshirts on the way to the game
tomorrow, because a couple thousand
tickets have been sold to Notre Dame
fans.
Local businesses are experiencing a
boom in business thanks to the game.
"This weekend will be crazy," said
Dan Switzer, manager of Steve and
Barry's University Sportswear. "I'm
expecting a 20-30 percent increase (in
sales) this weekend. It's a big game.
Michigan's team is good this year. You'll
see an increase if the team's successful."
The local Sheraton Inn is expecting
to be completely booked.
"This is definitely one of the busiest
weekends. The Notre Dame game cre-
ates the most activity from alumni, and
out-of-towners," said Sheraton general
manager Jim Cone.
Correen Borst, a secretary at Holiday
Inn, predicted a packed house.
"Notre Dame brings even more than
Colorado. We'll definitely sell out,"
Borst said.
Other local businesses are also gear-
ing up for a busy weekend.
At the Brown Jug, manager Beth
Swanson said she expects it to be "very,
very busy."
"Some games bring in more than
others. Because (Notre Dame) is so
close, I would assume there will be
more out-of-towners," Swanson said.
Tomorrow's game is proving to be so
popular that many University alumni
are unable to attend. Alumni groups
often buy tickets in large blocks, but the
high demand for seats at tomorrow's
game leaves many of them in a lurch.
"Tickets for the game are so tight that
purchasing 50 would be impossible,"
said Helen Peters, assistant executive
director of the Alumni Association.
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
University alumnus Raynal Harris, who graduated from the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, stands in the
Detroit Police Customer Service Center, which he designed as part of Detroit's revitalization program.
ished construction had been remark-
ably quick. "Typically, for a project of
this size, it takes six to eight months.
We're trying to do it in four."
A few minutes later, a group of city
employees, led by police officer Sgt.
Norton, stopped in to see their future
workplace. "Hope you enjoy it,"
Harris calls down the hallway.
"Oh, they will," Norton said.
"Everyone has so far."
Addressing the larger reemergence
of Detroit as a city, Harris was confi-
dent. "The thing that's really interest-
ing is that this is all going to happen
by the year
2000. That's
unprecedent- "The city1
ed." He qual-
ified his way to go,
remark, cit-
ing Atlanta's thing we 'V4
rebirth with
the 1996 differenti g
S u m m e r
Olympics as potential III
the only
prior exam-
ple of a city's
c o m p l ete
turnaround.
"We cannot depend on large single
developments to be the answer.
They're the stimulus, but not the
answer."
LSA sophomore and Detroit native
Delacie Johnson said he is far more
skeptical than Harris about the effec-
tiveness-of these projects.
"Obviously, it'll be welcomed,"
Johnson said. "But one thing is being
overlooked - it's that they're not
improving (Detroit) all over. Unless
they're improving all over and improv-
ing the public schools, I could care
less."
Harris is far from alone in his
efforts to revitalize the city: Moore,
whose firm Archive D.S. has been
involved with several civic initiatives,
also has ambitious plans for promot-
ing the city's comeback.
The Detroit resident and native was
quick to describe his city as a stand-
out. "We're in it for the long haul,"
Moore said. "The city has a long way
to go, but one thing we've seen differ-
ent is the potential in Detroit."
The firm's
projects have
sslonincI u d e d
restoration of
but one a largely
Mexican
U1
Nonetheless, Moore said his experi-
ences at the University left him with
impressions that went beyond an edu-
cation.
"The one thing about U of M, I
always felt a sense of community.
There's kind of a sense of pride there
that you can't really feel unless you're
there," Moore said. "What I look back
at, when I am doing these projects, is
trying to instill that sense of commu-
nity in depressed areas."
Moore has been redesigning a near-
ly deserted office building on
Woodward Ave. in the heart of down-
town Detroit, making room in its
upper floors for more than 20 contem-
porary loft apartments.
"Most of this two-block district is
vacant. We're trying to turn it into a
loft district," he said.
College of Architecture and Urban
Planning Prof. Bob Beckley, himself
a proponent of Detroit's projects,
said that Harris and Moore's efforts
are encouraging, but not unexpect-
ed.
"It doesn't surprise me that they've
taken leadership roles, because they
were both good student leaders while I
was (teaching) in the program."
Beckley also noted the positive
effect of having black leaders spear-
head efforts in Detroit.
"The thing that's marvelous is
African Americans are assuming a
leadership role in a city that is an
African American majority. With that
leadership comes great responsibility.
They have risen to that occasion,"
Beckley said.
FAN'S
Continued from Page 1
Dame does its licensing independent-
ly," Eiler said. "Notre Dame manages
their program in-house, and Michigan
runs its licensing program through the
CLC, which has 50 people on staff
working in different types of licensing"
Since the University of Notre Dame
is a private institution, it doesn't release
its annual revenue from athletic licens-
ing. John Heisler, sports information
director of Notre Dame, said the school
wants more than a healthy profit.
"The excess (revenue) goes to the
University for the entire school,"
Heisler said. "We're on a budget from
one year to the next. The university will
deal with us in the same manner as the
math or English department."
At Michigan, funds raised through
ticket sales and merchandising remain
in the Athletic Department.
"We don't do marketing in the sense
that other people do it," Heisler said.
"We do have a shoe contract and
Champion provides the vast amount of
our jerseys, but advertising is on a lim-
ited basis."
Schager wouldn't provide Michigan's
revenue from corporate sponsors, but
said Michigan does have major sponsors.
"Corporate sponsorship is an inclu-
sive term," Schager said. "It includes
TV revenue, radio, program sales, and
the true corporate sponsorships with
the University, such as Nike or Pepsi:'
-Daily Staff Reporter William Nash
contributed to this report.
n
.wen American
public high
the school in
southwestern
efroitf, Detroit, a
- Dorian Moore s t r u c t u r e
University alumnus which dates
back to 1915.
MI o o r e
also related his University experience to
his efforts, one that included undergrad-
uate and architectural study. "I think
one of the things that was good, in a
way, about being (at the University is) it
took me out of Detroit," he said.
But Moore expressed dismay that
few of his University-trained peers
have followed him to Detroit. "In my
graduating class in architecture
school, I can't think of one or a couple
other students who came to Detroit
after (graduation)."
---
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is
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