When we last left Curt Guyette, he had been hired as media liaison by the Detroit office of the American Civil Liberties Union after the Metro Times had fired him for -- seriously -- talking to the media about the MT being put up for sale.
Now Guyette, who built an extensive fan base during 18 productive years at the Metro Times, is reporting he will soon return to journalism, while remaining with the ACLU, in a groundbreaking new position.
He posted on Facebook:
Friends: A very good gig just got even better here at the ACLU, where my job is about to change. Instead of me being media liaison, a grant has been obtained to create an investigative reporter position, and I'm the one lucky enough to be asked to take it on. The focus will be to report and write about issues related to the state's Emergency Manager law, and open government. It is an incredible opportunity, and a distinct honor, to be the person chosen to play a ground-breaking role for an organization as important and well-respected as the ACLU. I haven't officially started, but am beginning to lay some of the groundwork, so anyone with tips, access to incriminating documents, etc. send me a private message. People can also reach me via email at cguyette@aclumich.org, or by phone at 313-578-6834. Onward and upward.
The Metro Times fired Guyette for telling Deadline Detroit's Bill McGraw this past summer the paper was being put up for sale by Times-Shamrock, the Pennsylvania company that owns it, even though that information was already posted on the Times-Shamrock website.
When asked for details at the time, Guyette referred McGraw to Meto Times publisher Chris Sexson.
Guyette, 57, worked for the Metro Times for 18 years and has won awards for a variety of stories. In recent years, he broke news because he paid close attention to the machinations of Manny Moroun, the owner of the Ambassador Bridge, long before the rest of the Detroit media realized Moroun's takeovers of city streets and parkland were newsworthy.
Guyette, who grew up in central Pennsylvania, came to the Metro Times in 1995 after working for the Sacramento News & Review.
Among hundreds of stories Guyette wrote or edited at the paper were early reports that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had a philandering problem, which eventually contributed heavily to his downfall, and pieces that probed beneath the surface of big stories, such as the connections among Michigan conservatives and think tanks concerning education reform, Detroit's bankruptcy and right to work legislation.
In 2004, he walked the 44-mile length of Outer Drive, from Grosse Pointe Park on the east, through Detroit, to Ecorse on the west, and wrote about the experience.
Why do that?
This is part of what Guyette wrote at the beginning on Part One of the two-part series:
"Part of it, I’m sure, is the singular Detroitness of the road itself. Roam almost anywhere in the city or its inner burbs to the west, and you’ll encounter Outer Drive. It’s ubiquitous. It’s a curiosity. It’s indecisive, vectorless. Outer Drive, a colossal, jangled inverted horseshoe, doesn’t seem to lead anywhere in particular. Yet is seems to lead everywhere.
I wonder what its bizarre and beautiful existence means to Detroit, if anything. I wonder what seeing it all by foot will mean to me.
"Another motivation is undoubtedly the contrarian in me. I’m tired of the prevailing image that Detroit is some sort of hellhole, populated by homicidal maniacs."
