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Wozniak was talking about
commercial-scale agriculture – of the scale that would help
jump start the city’s economy, that would create jobs, that
would change peoples’ lives.
For Wozniak, the concept
couldn’t make more sense for the City of Detroit for any
number of reasons. First, the city, which once had a
population of almost two million residents was about to find
itself with a population declining to the 700,000 level in a
few years leaving behind large swaths of unoccupied housing.
Then, the City of Detroit
was the owner of an unusually huge chunk of that land –
approximately 40 square miles or about one third of the
total city land mass. Public ownership would make the land
readily accessible for a worthwhile project.
The city’s population not
only was declining but was also becoming increasingly un-
and under-skilled as those who could afford to headed for
the suburbs. In the vernacular of the Wayne State urban
studies department in the early 1960’s those left behind, by
dint of lack of such skills and education, are largely
“non-productive.”
“Agriculture, however” as
Wozniak says now, “doesn’t require a lot of skills.”
Not only is Detroit a
haven for the un- and under-skilled, but there are also a
great number of ex-felons in the city, says Wozniak, who
deserve a second chance. “The inability to find employment
is a key stumbling block for people coming out of prison,”
says Wozniak, who was in that very same situation himself
about 25 years ago. “We don’t give people an opportunity.”
Urban agriculture, of
course, is a modern trend in a number of Rust Belt cities,
but not on the scale that Wozniak envisioned. He foresaw
indoor facilities that could accommodate specialty products,
particularly the specialty agricultural products that
restaurants would want.
In order to make it work,
he had to explore the market for such an enterprise. The
market, he discovered, was there. Within 300 miles of
Detroit are 49 million people who spend $18 billion on fresh
produce, 17 percent of which is locally sourced currently.
So started RecoveryPark.
The project is situated in
what is officially called the Middle East Central District.
The area used to be called Poletown. It is the second oldest
neighborhood in the City of Detroit. RecoveryPark occupies a
22-block, 60-acre area on which sat 841 houses in 1951. As
of mid-December 2015, the area had 17 homes remaining with a
total of 21 residents.
Two successful pilot
projects have already been completed. Fifteen restaurants in
the metro area are paying customers for RecoveryPark’s first
crop which includes over 70 varieties of fresh produce. Over
the next five years, RecoveryPark will be clearing blight,
constructing greenhouses and hoops and ultimately bringing
full-time employment to 300 people, says Wozniak, many of
whom will be veterans, ex-offenders, those in recovery and
other marginalized citizens – about 60 percent will be
Detroit residents.
“Farming fits the general
population,” says Wozniak. “Food is a steady economic
opportunity. And this is a business opportunity.”
Currently the RecoveryPark
project has eight employees. Wozniak projects that within
two years that workforce will expand to 150 providing not
only jobs for residents but also $1 million in tax revenue
for the City of Detroit.
The anticipated expansion
to a workforce of 300 numbers is based partly upon a $30
million contract already secured.
“RecoveryPark isn’t just
about transforming this land, it’s about transforming
lives,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan in October 2015
during the announcement about the project’s agreement with
the city.
“It’s not about the number
of bodies here,” says Wozniak of the blighted area he is
transforming. “It’s about the quality of life.”
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