An unlikely urban planner injects new life into her Michigan community
Highland Park, Michigan — This small city near Detroit had all the makings of a ghost town. Fortunately, one man's wasteland is another woman's blank slate.
"I just felt it was a space to build and do things on," Shamayim Harris told CBS News.
But Harris had no background in urban planning— "Except for sitting on this porch conjuring up what I want to do on this block, that's it," she said.
As CBS News reported in 2016, Harris was the architect of the most unlikely development project in Michigan. She set up a nonprofit, solicited donations and set out to reverse the decline on her block.
Of her army of workers, most were volunteers, who call her "Mama Shu."
"She embraces everyone," one worker said. "She tries to uplift everyone."
"When she needs something done, she knows exactly who to call, and it's going to get done. That's why Mama Shu is so amazing," another worker said.
And they said she'd put a boot in your behind if you didn't help her rebuild Avalon Street, where she had plans for a park, after-school homework house, basketball, volleyball and tennis courts, a greenhouse, café and much more.
"You're going to see this whole block looking like some of the suburban blocks that I see with the grass trimmed and the flowers and all of that," Harris previously told CBS News. "That's what you're going to see."
Six years later, her vision is coming true. When spring rolls around and the block awakens, the gardens will grow, kids will gather on the courts and in the homework house and new families may move in.
"Folks have gotten lots," Harris said. "It's happening."
Michigan's most unlikely urban planner is now also one of its most successful.
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