Detroit's Southwest Greenway opens to the public
(CBS DETROIT) - The Southwest Greenway had its grand opening Wednesday. The Greenway is an area with nature, art, and recreation connecting the Detroit Riverfront to Michigan Central and the surrounding neighborhoods.
"It is almost indescribable the way the future of this city is going to be shaped by what's here," said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
Duggan, funding partners, and members of the community cut the ribbon on the new Southwest Greenway, which will be a part of the 27.5-mile Joe Louis Greenway.
"You can feel the energy. There's so many people from these neighborhoods who are excited to come out to the Southwest Greenway," said Mark Wallace, the president and CEO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.
Wallace said the greenway has been five years in the making.
"It's a great place just to be in nature. It's a great place to be out of the hustle and bustle of your neighborhoods. And it's also a great connector so that people in Southwest Detroit and Corktown can actually get right down to the riverfront."
And there's more to come. Another $350 million will go toward completing the Detroit Riverfront and the Joe Louis Greenway, as well as creating endowments to protect the projects for future generations.
The Gilbert Family Foundation invested $15 million into the project. Their executive director, Laura Grannemann, said the money is really an investment in stable housing.
"You might think that housing and public space are totally different, right? But one of the things we've seen is that oftentimes we stabilize housing, if someone's experiencing tax foreclosure or eviction, they get stability, and all of a sudden, they choose to leave the city of Detroit," said Grannemann. "We want people to choose to stay."
