{"id":20592,"date":"2017-05-26T15:15:05","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T15:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?p=20592"},"modified":"2017-05-26T15:15:05","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T15:15:05","slug":"no-vacancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/no-vacancy\/","title":{"rendered":"NO VACANCY"},"content":{"rendered":"
Community Push is a nonprofit organization that has adopted\u00a0and maintained\u00a0the defunct Wigle Recreation Center’s outdoor area since 2014. The organization\u00a0aims to bridge the gap between skateboarders and the community. The group has created a DIY skatepark in the space, now affectionately called “The Wig”. In addition to skateboarding, you will find kids playing basketball and football, young children chasing their fidget spinners in the grass. It has become a safe space\u00a0for midtown youth and residents to gather for recreational use in an area of the City that is lacking in recreational amenities.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Some would inaccurately describe the\u00a0Wigle Recreation Center\u00a0as vacant.\u00a0However, it’s become a unique, growing labor of love to the community. Skaters, neighbors, students from the surrounding schools, have made The Wig their home. As the only large open green space left in Midtown, it’s been a gathering space and home\u00a0to many impromptu baseball games, BBQs, community clean ups, pick up basketball games, etc. despite the fact that the city no longer maintains the site.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Community Push has been operating and maintaining The Wig knowing the space would eventually be sold to a developer and was slotted to become a\u00a0Residential Development. Unfortunately, the time has come.\u00a0Earlier this month, Mayor Mike Duggan announced plans for the site\u2019s future: a\u00a0$77 million\u00a0mixed residential-retail space\u00a0with 335 units for tenants and 8,000-square-feet for restaurants and shops\u00a0called \u201cMidtown West.\u201d\u00a0City officials tout the development as the first utilization of the community benefits agreement, which requires developments costing more than $75 million to go before community\u00a0representatives. And that they did.<\/div>\n
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The first Community Benefits Meeting took place on May 23rd at Detroit Delta Prep High School, adjacent to The Wig. Derrick Dykas, Community Push’s founder and president, asked his community to show up to that meeting in solidarity — to bring awareness to the fact that this space is not vacant. It provides a community benefit not only to those that skateboard, but to others\u00a0that live in the neighborhood\u00a0and see value in green space, alternative recreation, and safe places for children and teens to grow and be productive. Sixty or more people responded to that call of action. Skateboarders, lawyers, friends, parents, kids from the neighborhood, and community stakeholders showed up to that meeting and walked in together. I’ve never seen a developer looks so nervous.<\/div>\n
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It was an incredible thing to be a part of. But\u00a0it’s not over. I look forward to bringing awareness to the benefit The Wig has for the neighborhood and to the growth of\u00a0skateboarding in Detroit. Eli Newman interviewed some skaters at The Wig, and I think this quote sums it up best:“Among the skaters,\u00a0Amir and Rashad Wright stand out. They\u2019re\u00a010-year-old,\u00a0identical twin brothers who just learned to skate a few weeks ago at the Wig.\u00a0\u201cWe saw it, we wanted to come, but we didn\u2019t have any boards, so Derrick right there gave us some boards,\u201d Amir says.\u00a0The twins are fast learners,\u00a0cruising around on their new boards,\u00a0working on ollies.\u00a0\u201cWe ain\u2019t have nothing to do at home so like we\u2019d come here and play with our friends,\u201d Rashad\u00a0says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>And stay out of trouble,\u201d Amir\u00a0adds.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Community Push is a nonprofit organization that has adopted\u00a0and maintained\u00a0the defunct Wigle Recreation Center’s outdoor area since 2014. The organization\u00a0aims to bridge the gap between skateboarders and the community. The group has created a DIY skatepark in the space, now affectionately called “The Wig”. In addition to skateboarding, you will find kids playing basketball and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}