"The lack of jobs, the increase in crime, and the latest doses of down town gentrification are all your fault," Says the native detroiter to the suburban escapee, "people like you who have no idea of what is really going on in the D since people started fleeing north of 8 mile after the '67 riots."
"Give it a rest," The suburbanite replies to the urban holdout, "you can't even maintain your own house, let alone the historic buildings that are now parking lots, and you probably know who stole my cousin's friends rims last week. Its your mentality that has been bringing detroit down since the '67 riots."
I just got back from Detroit this weekend, I got to go down town to a tigers game and talk to one of my friends paul who works at a hospital down town. He sees this divide daily and we talked about how detroit is caught in this argument between the suburbs and the city. I guess they have been here for the last 50 or so years, but there were jobs back then, now I wonder if it will come to a point where either side will choose that it is more important to win the argument then make michigan better. It seems like all metro detroiters have a lot in common especially sports (the tigers won the game 19-6!) and music. On that note I learned how to use my computer to make dj style mixtapes, check out the first one if you like house music from the early 00's.
3 comments:
your argument contains an implicit assumption that i'm not sure is entirely tenable: namely, that fixing detroit would make michigan better.
detroit's time as michigan's primary urban center is over. finito. no revival is in the works. it is too far gone. like rasul gul said in batman begins, gotham must be destroyed. no bigger mistake has ever been made than building the two stadiums down there. they should've been built right next to the palace, and let the urbanization begin. do you know how attractive a condo or townhouse within walking distance of those four arenas and the bars that would grow up around them would be? hell, i'd buy one, and i don't even fuggin LIVE there. you want to bring the youth back to detroit, halt the brain drain? consolidate your poitns of interest and put up new housing. that's a start, at least.
i disagree. detroit can, should, and will improve. it's already on its way, despite a standard dose of political abuse of power. both those in the suburbs and those in the city should want to see it improved, because why not?
i dont believe that there will be another epicenter of the area, and if there were to be, it certainly won't be auburn hills. there's always going to be concerts, jobs, games in downtown detroit, and to that we're adding casinos (very popular) and some pretty damn good bars (spent a recent weekend at greektown, hockeytown, cheli's...all very fun) if this were not the case, i'd say yeah, maybe attempt a fresh start, but its not going to happen, and we've got plenty of fuckin' sprawl. i hope there will soon be a critical mass of people moving to detroit, and i think it's possible.
okay. what will you do with all the PEOPLE?
modern cities thrive on the service economy and financial and business centers. detroit no longer has one of those, and its economic policies--lead by idiot Granholm and criminal Kwame--provide no incentives for businesses to show up. know where the businesses that would have once viewed detroit as The Place to Be are now?
Southfield.
Post a Comment