Word: heidelberg
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...neighbors weren't thrilled when Tyree Guyton began hanging hundreds of old shoes in the big tree on Heidelberg Street on Detroit's east side back in 1986. A few complained to him but were calmed by Guyton's passionate explanation that the dangling shoes celebrated their black ancestors lynched in the South. Residents probably should have asked Guyton whether Soles of the Most High completed his artistic vision for their block. It didn't. Eleven years later, thousands of used shoes are piled by the sidewalk and hanging in the trees--along with rusty car hoods and tires strewn...
Even as artists from across the globe marvel at the Heidelberg Project, Guyton is becoming persona non grata on the street where he grew up. Tourist traffic is heavy. The bulk garbage collectors are so confused by what is art and what isn't on Heidelberg Street that they have stopped picking up there. And there's concern that the heaps of stuff are becoming a breeding ground for rodents. "Really, the problem has exploded this year because Tyree has put his polka dots everywhere," says Angela Brown Wilson, executive assistant to Detroit's Mayor Dennis Archer...
Perhaps the biggest gripe among residents is that Guyton's ghetto gallery will push economic development away from Heidelberg Street. To be sure, the community has been an urban wasteland, a place where crime, drugs and vagrancy flourish in buildings still charred and hollowed from the 1967 riots. But a fledgling enterprise zone has sparked hope that new housing, businesses and jobs will flow into the area. Thus Guyton's suggestion that the street be turned into an artists' colony has generated little enthusiasm. "It is an embarrassing eyesore," fumes neighbor Anthony Dicus. "Nobody will want to invest here...
...addition to recreational trips, Niebuhr has traveled extensively for his career. He has spent sabbaticals in Heidelberg, Germany; Cambridge, England; and Kyoto, Japan...
Takacs is currently on leave at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and was unavailable for comment...