Watching Detroit Crumble "It's almost like a death spiral,"

[donsu]

http://www.freep.com/news/education/dps29_20040629.htm

Detroit schools' shortfall worsens

Almost $250 million must be cut; hundreds more teachers must go


Detroit Public Schools must cut nearly $250 million from next year's budget -- more than 2 1/2 times what was predicted -- triggering hundreds of layoffs that could cut teacher staffing to the bone.

On top of that, the district's savings are almost gone. If budget predictions for next year are wrong, the district will have to cut even deeper, or face a deficit and possible state controls.

"It's almost like a death spiral," said Robert Moore, senior deputy chief executive officer

-snip-

Officials have cut 2,100 jobs, including nearly 1,400 teachers, and still have to cut 1,100 more jobs to cover the shortfall. Garrison has told teachers to prepare for the worst.
-snip-
---------------------


it's the kids that will have to prepare for the worst

[donco6]

1. I know Bob Moore.

Used to be CFO for Colo Springs District 11.

He's actually pretty competent.

[Deja Q]

2. That's an understatement

"it's the kids that will have to prepare for the worst"

[Catfight]

3. But Detroit says Bush is doing a great job and his poll numbers rise.

[cthrumatrix]

5. i wonder if they watched F911...would they think different

[playahata1]

10. SUBURBAN Detroit, that is.

n/t

[Ann Arbor Dem]

14. I agree!

I haven't seen numbers but I suspect that the folks from the city heavily favor Kerry.

[Susang]

22. Hello!

I was born and raised in Detroit and still have lots of family there. Almost none of them are for Bush. The ones who are are older, male and live in the suburbs, and even they're not happy about it. The city as I know it, is overwhelmingly Democratic.

[Yupster]

44. I doubt many Bush voters

have their kids in Detroit public schools.

[Delano]

4. I HATE that newspaper website's name!

VERY confusing! But it really is a sad story. Perhaps Detroit schould be declared an "economic disaster area", and emergency aid of various kinds started. Just a thought.

[tom_paine]

6. Watching the Old American Repiblic die IS a Death Spiral

We have not yet BEGUN to sprial.

[dsc]

7. Cleveland, about half of Detroit's size, had to lay off over 900 teachers

Ohio's schools are melting down. I interviewed for jobs in NC due to the horrid situation here. It is a sad, sad situation.

[playahata1]

8. What the hell is happening up there?

I recently found out through this website -- forget the name -- that Detroit is indeed crumbling. Literally. (The photos of the landmark Book-Cadillac Hotel really saddened me.)

What has Kwame Kilpatrick been trying to do about it? Or are his hands tied?

[hatrack]

9. I know what THEY need -

TAX CUTS!

[shoelace414]

12. Bing Bing Bing Bing!

that should solve it.

[smirkymonkey]

11. We can expect this to spread throughout

the United States if Monkey Ass gets another 4 years.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. It'll spread even if he doesn't. Will be a while before someone

can sort out the country's finances enough to deal with it.

Unless, though, we take Dennis' course of action and just move $$ over from the DoD budget to education. Healthcare too.

[redqueen]

15. Hallelujah

WTF is wrong with this country... family values my a$$.

[smirkymonkey]

31. I am totally on board with that...

urgent action in this direction is needed now!

[shrike]

16. Poor Detroit. I was born there

Grew up in the ex-burbs; haven't lived there for quite awhile and don't ever expect to live there again.

Wealth has been heading out to the suburbs for generations and the bleeding has never been stemmed. I remember reading somewhere that one of the wealthiest square miles in the country was in Oakland County, Michigan, right outside Detroit.

I live near Chicago now and I don't ever see Detroit having the kind of vibrant downtown that Chicago has. There are a myriad of reasons why Detroit has the problem it does. It was my experience that city officials -- and their white suburban counterparts -- made one bad decision after another: built the Renaissance Center, kept applying band aid solutions (bring in gambling, bring conventioneers).

I will say that I lived in Detroit for a year after college and experienced not one problem. I remember traveling on the bus, one of the only white people on it, and no one so much as looked twice at me. Never could understand why suburbanites were so afraid to come down. Detroit's black residents were unfailingly polite to me, and I was very young and stupid at the time.

Later in my 20s I moved to a (white) town just outside of Boston and experienced rudeness, obscenities, crime -- my car was broken into, vandalized several times (gangs of kids used to go around and kick in headlights for fun and the police did nothing about it), I was assaulted on the street and somebody tried to break into my apartment while I lay in bed asleep. And this was a town with lots of money, lots of beautiful homes, etc.

[fob]

21. It breaks my heart to hear these posts about Detroit crumbling

Shrike, since you grew up there you are probably aware of the city's unofficial motto - Say nice things about Detroit!

Your positive story is great to hear. I too never had anything less than a positive experience in Detroit proper. Baseball games, working on people's houses, nightclubs, bars, Museum of Science. Now I'm also not so naive as to believe nothing bad ever happens either. I can't tell you how many times I just pulled over wherever I was at and went into the local party store to get a pop, and people I was with would practically shit their pants. I never even got a crosseyed glance.

Take the downtown fireworks shootings recently. This is the fear that Moore talks about in BFC, there are literally hundreds of thousands of people at that event and understandably the shooting gets reported, but I bet it received exponentially more time than any of the other possible good stories about the celebration.

I no longer live there, but try to keep up on things. I would go back given the opportunity. I invite my fellow DUers to visit Detroit and you will meet nice people. And remember - Say nice things about Detroit!

fob

[donsu]

43. 20 or so yrs. ago I too lived for a time in inner city Detroit

had no problems at all. saw no violence. generally friendly people.

they nicely refused to call me by my southern family nickname and always used my given first name. they thought I was a "hillbilly" because of my southern Maryland accent.

I liked Detroiters and I left some of my art there. but the winters are hell. (with the warming maybe it's not so bad now)

[MotorCityMan]

46. Born and raised in Detroit

Other Detroit slogans...

Stand up and tell 'em you're from Detroit

Detroit... Where the weak are killed and eaten

It breaks my heart to read these stories of how school children are getting fucked over. I live on the west side of Detroit, and have lots of kids in the neighborhood, and when I walk the dogs, they are so polite and friendly. To think they are being denied a decent education by the fucking monsters in Washington is just disgusting.

[TahitiNut]

23. The corporatist (supply side) mentality ...

... is totally out-to-lunch when it comes to "urban renewal" and Detroit is the proof. The healthiest urban settings in the country are ones with a high residency values. San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, and Portland all have residential biases. (San Francisco even prohibits building a multistory structure that would cast a shadow on a resident's living space.)

When public investments are made in residential infrastructure (roads, parks, sidewalks, libraries, schools, sewers, water, etc.) in a way that increases the attraction of living in the city, then people move to it. Once the people are there, businesses will come. San Jose was making the error of enticing business at the cost of residential aesthetics and seeing it fail. When they invested in parks and "human scale" infrastructure, people became more attracted to moving into the city.

Detroit has taken a "slash and burn" approach to urban renewal ... and it's destroyed the city. Allocating space for part-time occupancy (like office buildings that're only occupied for 50 hours a week) guarantees a ghost town on the off hours. Nothing is less attractive.

[ursacorwin]

25. i agree.

detroit (and chicago too) have fallen victim to the idea that "a flourishing downtown" is all a city needs, and that somehow flourishing = corporate stores just like they have everywhere else. people go to cities FOR the freak shows, diversity, and yes even the messiness. and people LIVE in cities where they can take a bus to or walk to work without hassles. where the water is clean and the fire department comes right away.

of course, all this takes money. and detroit (and increasingly chicago now) spent way too much of it's money in the last decade on big showy projects that only helped the already superrich investor class. trickle down development, i call it. it stinks.

i actually look forward to the day when the auto companies "give up" on detroit and take their sorry asses to auburn hills with the rest of the germans (insider MI joke). they can ruin the suburbs, and perhaps the people of detroit can begin to choose how their resources and tax dollars are spent again.

[TahitiNut]

27. Chrysler HQ already has .. and Ford did long ago.

Only GM is still headquartered in Detroit, but they abandoned the New Center area and moved into the failing Renaissance Center. The RenCen is another piece of idiocy. The idea that an office building that's vacant most of the time will ever 'reinvigorate' an area is just nonsense. Especially when the build it with "siege architecture."

[Lefty48197]

60. Actually the Ren Cen is now jammed to the gills and they're expanding

.

[ursacorwin]

24. i live in the city proper (of chicago) now

but for years i lived in southfield (MI) and spent much time in Detroit itself. i was just there this weekend. things are as ugly and wonderful and sad and hopeful as they ever were. and as far as "downtown" culture goes- it's obvious you live in a chicago suburb or you'd never brag on it. to locals, downtown is an overpriced increasingly corporate tourist trap. i'm glad detroit isn't like that.

kwame is a joke, and the mob runs the town. my cousin used to be mayor of detroit, so take my word for it. the current crop of clowns running the city are as bad as any i've ever seen. sure many of them are black and/or dems, but the simple fact is once the casinos were approved (on my cousin's watch) it was only a matter of time before the last shreds of civic decency were eradicated from city services.

but i want to argue that detroit, like that city with the rock-n-roll hall of fame, is a fascinating and interesting place that tells us about our future. detriot was among the first cities to explode over racial issues, and decades later i'd say that at least in the city- they are mostly resolved. it's a city filled with mostly poor people now, and the places i went to this weekend were as integrated and comfortable as nothing i've experienced here in chicago, where race issues still plague city policies.

detroit is also an interesting place if you think about the concept of a city, and ask the question: when is enough people enough? when detroit fell below 1M people some time ago, it lost all the special "big city" funding from the federal gov't. what is happening in the city now has a lot to do with that fact, and the fact that most urban centers cannot survive without subsidies from the feds or elsewhere. why is that? we should ask. and is it a good thing to remember that as detroit and cities like it decrease in size, common tax dollars go to places that haven't really figured out the problems that big size causes. thus guaranteeing that when their time is up (the economy changes) they will have to deal with the same issues like in detroit now. i've long thought detroit should remake itself into a less urban, progressively planned alternative city. there are some real treasures that can still be saved, and at this point only area leaders will be able to make any difference- no one else cares.

and finally, i'd add that the metro area is very diverse, and in next door dearborn is the world's 2nd largest arab population outside the ME. some of the burbs are pretty pro bush, but for the most part detroit cleaves to it's pro-union, pro-integration, and democratic traditions. you just know BushCo hates that, and i'm sure they're more than happy to let detroit die under the burden of the NCLB and the like.

sorry, didn't mean to make this such a rant!

[shrike]

32. Hey, I wasn't dissing Detroit

Is my birthplace, you know. (And don't diss Chicago, either; good place, Daley or no Daley.) When I go to Chicago, I don't go to Michigan Avenue; I go to the little theatres in attics that friends of mine run, or stores, or little hanging-on-by-the-skin-of-their-teeth cultural whatevers. That to me is Chicago.

I figured the political leadership hasn't gotten much better; a shame. I'm glad to hear the citizenry is as "comfortable and integrated" as ever. Sounds like the Detroit I remember.

And, quite honestly, if I had to pick the city of Detroit or its suburbs, I'd pick the city in a heartbeat. Haven't lived there in a while, but I do hang out there on occasion and it's still the kind of place where adventure happens -- and I mean that in a good way.

The saddest thing about Detroit is the perception -- which still exists by the way -- that if one goes downtown for any reason, one will die. I'm not exaggerating. I remember leading a girlfriend past the RenCen and telling her, "See? No knives. No gangs. No gunfire."

[shrike]

34. Probably none of my business, but is Dennis Archer your cousin?

I once had to do a story for a small, Detroit-based publication and had to call his office. He called me back personally -- I almost fell over. Usually politicos have their "people" call me and I have to go through a layer of b.s. before I get to the interview.

[stavka]

41. ANOTHER GREAT POST - PLEASE repost to MICHIGAN discussion!

[Donkeyboy75]

45. Downtown Chicago is a tourist trap

No doubt about it. But the charm of the city isn't the Loop. It's the many neighboorhoods that have their own atmosphere. I absolutely love this city.

[TahitiNut]

26. I went to college in Detroit (WSU) and lived there in the '67 riots.

I was born'n'raised in and around Detroit. When I was a kid in the 50's and living in Berkley (Oakland County), I rode my bike down Woodward Avenue to go to the Detroit Library and Museum. No problem. We used to do our "special" shopping downtown ... at Hudson's and Crowleys and a host of other stores. We'd go for parades. We'd go for movies and shows. We'd go to the Vernors plant for brown cows. We'd go to Sanders for a sundae. Downtown had parks like Grand Circus and Belle Isle and the Boblo Boat. No more.

Then we got "white flight" to the 'burbs. Detroit, owned and operated by corporatists, enacted an individual income tax to support itself rather than tax property or businesses. People who could afford to ran away. Business ran away. Lemmings. The residential base has been shrinking for years .. accelerated by cancers like "Comerica Park" and other mostly-ghost-town monstrosities. The roads and streets are worse than gravel roads, left to crumble and decay.

It's a travesty of greed and pillage.


I'm now back in the Detroit area after 30 years in New York, California, and Washington. I'm back in Royal Oak (wealthy Oakland County 13 miles north of downtown Detroit) only 1/4 mile from the house I lived in with my grandparents when my father was in WW2. Strange and eerie.

[fob]

30. Damn, TahitiNut. My eyes are welled up with tears here at work

Brown cows, vernors, cruisin woodward and telegraph, THOSE are the essence of Detroit. Pulling up nest to someone and asking, "What you got under the hood?", it wasn't about skin color or us versus them (well I guess until the light turned green).

TahitiNut, You should run for Mayor. Just repeat your posts here into a single speech. Talk about what was, where Detroit is now and what and how it can be great again. Save her.

[shrike]

33. Good Lord! Memory Lane!

We went to Boblo every year as a kid. Sanders, Vernors, Hudson's.

Good point about residential living. My grandmother lived in Detroit her whole life, and the one thing she used to talk about was how walkable it was. During my year downtown after college I used to do a lot of walking, too -- once again, I felt safe, never felt a bit threatened, although I didn't walk at night -- then again, I wouldn't walk around my current neighborhood late at night, either.

[Octafish]

35. We're both Tartars, TahitiNut!

Now "Warriors." I love Wayne State.

My wife's family is from Grosse Pointe. Detroit was abandoned by the government, the wealthy and those who wanted to escape the open-air prison it's become. Keeping it that way is the cheapest way to incarcerate a large section of our nation's people without having to build more prisons.

PS: My grandfather was an educator. He said "An education is the only cure for poverty." And that's why I see things the way I do...

[TahitiNut]

36. Go Tartars! (I detest "Warriors") Smear those fish!

:silly: I went to three colleges and I think I learned more at Wayne (and in Midge's, the TJ, the Alcove, Greektown and the PKA house) than the other two combined - but it's close.

I have no doubt that Detroit is now an entrapment of the untermensch, deliberate and conscious. On the automotive plantation, massa's houses are in the Pointe and Bloomfield Hills, while the slave quarters are kept south of Base Line, preferably inside the Outer Drive. When I think about Indian Village and the other old and once-graceful pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, I feel the human family has migrated with a scorched-earth attitude - burning down its own hearth and home as it moves to the plastic 'burbs.

[stavka]

39. PLEASE Re- POST ON MICHIGAN BOARD!

We need to pump that board up!

[Jose Diablo]

51. Small world

I lived at 13 mile and Crooks in the 60's.

Chicago too, mid 80's.

Now Atlanta.

I should pack my stuff and move back to Detroit. Get someplace close to downtown, say off Cass Ave and rebuild it, bring it back to livable standards.

I imagine property values are low, can probably pick-up a row house for a song and a dance right now. Be a good investment if you are willing to live in it.

Maybe the place "by the river" is not dead yet.

[Lefty48197]

61. Cass Ave near the public library is one of the nicest areas in the city

that's where I shook Al Gore and John Conyers' hands during the 2000 campaign.

[OKNancy]

17. It's really simple

It's not just Detroit. The Republicans want to destroy Public Education. They want the government out of the education business.

And to think, free public education is what made this country great. The great equalizer.

No more.

[TahitiNut]

29. It's not enough for the wealthy to have nicer homes and fancier cars.

They want to make it so everything they have is better, including food, clothing, education, and health care. They have no interest in helping pay for those things for the people who make their wealth even possible in the first place. Their attitude is just like Cheney's: "Go fuck yourself."

[keithyboy]

18. It's all a part of the plan. Those inner city minorities are targeted for

devastation. But mother nature is taking care of the fleeing elite. They can run, but they can't hide.

[TrogL]

19. I visited Detroit in 1978

and it looked like a war zone then.

I was on tour and when we crossed the border into the US they put a security guard on the bus. Coming into Detroit we passed an area of burned (bombed??) out houses then wide, harshly illuminated, deserted streets with barbed wire.

Downtown greeted us with the sight of boarded up businesses and burned up cars.

I take it that it hasn't gotten any better.

[stavka]

42. No, it's not that bad....

...that's a lot of white fear. But the city needs a huge influx of GOOD

[sldavis]

20. it's not just the schools cutting back

Health care is a mess, too. I've worked with the Detroit Receiving Hospital, which takes care of the vast majority of the uninsured and underinsured population in Detroit. They've been forced to close a number of patient care units and scale back some of the services they're providing. Supposedly the new cigarette tax saved the Detroit Medical Center from closing 2 hospitals, but that only helps for a little while. It's frightening to see what is happening to the city.

[TahitiNut]

28. One of the few viable activities in Detroit ...

... is the WSU 'campus' and the WSU Medical Center complex. They need to build student (and faculty) residences. A healthy University is one of the best bets for a city. It's alive 24x7 ... a cultural center ... and students and teachers are low income but high care. WSU has superb undergraduate and graduate programs that focus on an array of 'social' problems. What better laboratory town? The major errors are "office fortresses" and "circuses" (where the Lions eat the poor).

[stavka]

37. Living literally within Gunshots of Detroit....

I would say its more like Afghanistan than I'd like.

It is soooo corrupt its unbelievable, and in this case most of the villains are black on the local level. Think of them as Warlords ruling their own fiefs, and occasionally marshaling their own power with outside influences for short term gain- like Oakland County and national business elements...

I've heard it takes more than $35,000 to demolish a house in Detroit ON PAPER - in reality it takes more than that once all the kick backs are secure.

Nobody does anything about it, it's pathetic - but the Big 2 or 3 could care less its a nice place to call home.

[DrWeird]

38. I've never been to detroit.

But y'all got a corrupt ass police department.

If I were you I'd fix that up before starting elsewhere.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

40. Midwest Death Spiral. Dont forget Gary, East St Louis, St Louis,

Flint, oh heck I could go on....

[Jose Diablo]

47. Detroit was crumbling in the 70's

I graduated from HS in 67. That summer Detroit had a big riot. Block after block was burned. It looked like a war zone.

Worked downtown Detroit from early 70's to early 80's. I remember eating lunch at Cadillac square, some of the girls would wade in the fountain topless. It was a blast. We were very young.

Used to be several Coney Island hotdog places on Michigan not too far from the square. LOL, probably why my arteries are clogged-up now.

We'd smoke pot right out in the open on the square, police didn't care.

The Hari Krishna's selling their magazines and panhandling change, dressed in bright colored robes. I am smiling at the memories.

All of us young people, just getting along, having fun, going to concerts at Cobo hall. I remember Bob Seger in 1975 or so. WOW, what a concert. That place was packed.

The city didn't seem so run down then. I don't know what happened. Why the city died. Maybe the city died when we grew-up and got serious about our future.

Others probably have worse memories of Detroit than I do. I loved it there, at that time.

I wish I could add more, I am at a loss about what happened.

[5thGenDemocrat]

50. The American and Lafayette Coney Island restaurants are still there

Man, reading this thread you'd think Detroit is dead and unburied.
(1) The Ren Cen is/will be completely occupied by GM, EDS and the like. The interior is getting a complete makeover (thank God!) to simplify the floor plan. There's a new eight-story atrium and a new riverfront walk. Also, the berms sealing it off from Jefferson Avenue are being/have been removed.
Several new businesses have opened in the Ren Cen in just the past couple of months.
(2) There's a new $350 million HQ for Compuware right across from Campus Martius (@ the corner of Michigan and Woodward on the former Kern's Department Store site) with some 1400 employees. The building also houses a new Hard Rock Cafe.
Detroit is also in the process of building a new, 1.5 acre downtown park at Campus Martius. This should be finished later this year.
(3) The East Riverfront is undergoing a complete facelift to include Michigan's first urban state park. This development will stretch from the Ren Cen to Belle Isle.
(4) The Book-Cadillac is being renovated and could be at least partially finished in time for the 2006 Super Bowl. Remember they're converting a 33-story, 1800-room hotel -- once the largest in the world.
(5) The 2005 All-Star game is coming to Comerica Park. The park itself is much nicer than old Tiger Stadium (sorry -- I'm not much for sentimentality, Tiger Stadium was a dump. A charming dump but a dump nevertheless).
(6) As mentioned, the '06 Super Bowl is coming, too. This will be played at the new Ford Field, which itself is arguably the finest new stadium in the NFL.
For you Detroiters-in-absentia, the new stadiums are across Brush Street from one another in the northeast corner of Grand Circus Park. Comerica is where the old Ys were and Ford Field incorporates the skeleton from the old Hudson's Warehouse.
(7) The 2007 Ryder Cup will be played at Detroit (well, Bloomfield Hills), too.
These three events will shine a major national spotlight on the Motor City and those same capitalists mentioned above are raising and spending millions of dollars to improve the city's downtown infrastructure in advance of them. There are any number of new loft apartments, businesses and watering holes downtown.
(8) Also in Grand Circus Park, the Fyfe Building (the former downtown home of Sibley Shoes) is being converted to apartments. And "Merchants Row," which runs down the west side of Woodward, across from where Hudson's and Kern's were, is being completed and leased. This development includes another several hundred loft apartments.
To the north of GCP, there are new condos at Mack and Woodward while up in and around Wayne State and the Cultural Center, WSU is putting in/has put in at least two big new dormitories (along with many other new facilities) and the Park-Shelton Apartments building (just north of the Art Institute) is also getting the condominium once-over.
Of course, there's also the new Medical Center complex.
(9) There's a whole bunch of new single-residence housing going up east of downtown, both near the river south of Jefferson and on the far east side between Mack and, I believe, Chalmers. By "a whole bunch," I mean on the order of a thousand units plus. I admit I don't have the exact numbers handy -- but it might even be quite a bit more.
(10) Brush Park, Corktown, Mexicantown, and many other Detroit enclaves are welcoming new residents as well. The Chaldean District along Seven Mile east of Woodward is being fixed up, too (my aunt lived at Charleston and W Hollywood, two blocks south of there, so this one's kind of personal).
All the above is just off the top of my head. There are many many good things happening in Detroit -- too many to remember or to list here.
Needless to say, Detroit has a lot of work to do on burnishing its image. The local government is one of the biggest impediments -- trying to establish a clear title on a piece of property can be unbelievably complicated and the city's accounting procedures are so lax that Detroit isn't sure of which consumers owe them money on their water bills or exactly how much.
Street lights don't work and, yes, the entire city could use some new pavement.
The schools are in trouble and could surely use some more money. But schools require both state and federal contributions, too, so the problem can't be laid solely at Detroit's feet nor it is solely a Detroit problem.
Still, I see a spirit in Detroit that hasn't been there in a long, long time. Those Detroiters who have stayed (and at least one DUer I know personally who moved down from Saginaw) love it there and wouldn't live anywhere else. When I visit, I understand why.
Maybe the news from Detroit is bad -- but it isn't all bad. Even though I've lived in Saginaw my whole life, Detroit is a home to me, too, and I thought I'd share a few positive comments about it here.
John
Who has tickets for the July 15 game against the suckass Yankees and is looking forward to getting down to the Motor City once again.

[Jose Diablo]

53. Are the Lions still in Pontiac

and what about the Pistons?

Is Lindels still there? At Michigan and Cass.

[5thGenDemocrat]

54. No, the Lions are back downtown

The Pistons play at the Palace out in Auburn Hills, while Lindell's is (temporarily) closed. The Cass and Michigan site, where Billy Martin KOd Dave Boswell in the parking lot, is to be torn down to make room for the downtown bus transfer station (now in Cadillac Square).
Word is that Lindell's will reopen in the 1001 Woodward Building (also @ Campus Martius), but I haven't seen it happen yet. Speaking of bars, the Woodbridge Tavern in Rivertown (Michigan Liquor License #1) is slated for reopening by the end of the year.
Things are busy busy busy in Detroit.
John
FWIW, beers are $7.50 at the ballpark -- but at least they're 32oz beers.

[playahata1]

55. The Lions are back in the city.

They play in Ford Field.

[Susang]

56. Thank you for posting that

I am getting a little sick of reading the death notices that are being written here for Detroit. Particularly the ones from people who've either never been there or who've just driven through.

For background, I was born in Detroit (yes, the city of, not the suburbs), I lived there for 26 years, then I moved to Chicago. I had to move to Chicago, as the opportunities for my chosen profession at the time (acting) were ridiculously few and not enough to make a living. Since I didn't feel like being an auto show spokes-robot for the rest of my life, I moved to a city that had more theatre opportunities. No one can accuse me of not trying in Detroit, I certainly put in my hours. Just not enough work.

That said, I love the city. It has an amazing ability to create great artists, although it has a tough time keeping them, I'll admit. I visit often, as my family live all over the metro area.

Having lived there from my birth in 1965 until 1991, I believe I can say with authority that the city looks a hell of a lot better now than it did during the Reagan years. And if you think that it looks worse than other cities, than perhaps you should drive through the south side of Chicago some time. I do often, and the resemblence to Detroit is striking to me. Try driving through Hammond, East Chicago, or Gary as well. Then get back to me and tell me what a shit-hole Detroit you think Detroit is. I'll be at St. Andrews catching a show. ;-)

[diamond14]

57. my brother and his family live in River Rouge (just a few feet outside

Detroit industrial zone)....his whole neighborhood has been rejuvenated along Jefferson Avenue...businesses and community store, the nearby park has been cleaned-up and restored....the junk cars are all gone...

gosh, my brother and his family have lived there for more than 30 years, and now, they are busy painting and putting on new roof, just to keep up with the home improvements/additions on their own block...


I was born and raised on the Northwest side, McNichols and Schaeffer...after the economic riots of '67 (there were plenty of people of all races involved in the looting)...many people fled the city...

I left Detroit after completing my Undergraduate Degree at the University of Michigan....I moved back to Detroit from 1999-2000 to take care of my dying Mother and aging Father...during that time, I had the opportunity to visit the Detroit Parks, ride the DSR, visit the River front...there are now gorgeous high-rise condos overlooking the cleaned-up Detroit River, the Detroit Art Museum has/is undergoing major rejuvenation...

Many people forget exact how BIG Detroit is...it is about as big as the Metro DC area, where I now live...as in any BIG city, there are some really bad areas (as in DC), where you wouldn't want to wander around at night...but there are some really GREAT areas...I love the beautiful NEW Detroit airport, which has become a departure point for many International flights, as well as a busy CONFERENCE center....

When the DC police were looking for Chandra Levy, WP said that they searched 800 EMPTY buildings just North-west of the White House...that is in the better area of DC...I also find that the ATTITUDE here in OUR Nation's Capital is just horrifying, nasty, vicious...while Detroiters are pretty good people by camparision...

[gpandas]

48. it's the concentrated poverty...

the lack of money in the hands of the people is the problem. most affluent people(of all shades) ran from this poverty as if it were contagious. in droves they abandoned ship, taking the money they managed to accrue in the terrible city to the burbs, where their money paid for "good" schools,and, thinking they are j.p.morgan, began voting republican. while claiming christianity, these same people mock, humiliate and refuse to help the ones jesus orders christians to aid the most. sorry for the rant, as for what will be done about the prejudice, ignorance, selfishness and greed that created this problem i,an atheist, think it will take an act of god.

[JNelson6563]

49. the blight spreads

I live in the north of Michigan and every time I go down there, to the Detroit area, it is worse. Looks more run-down, litter everywhere, lots of development and not a whole lot of it well-planned. Ugh.

Depressing. Glad I moved up here long ago.

Of course we fight the sprawl here, trying to concentrate the growth.

*sigh*

Julie

[JayS]

52. What is wrong with Detroit?

I was doing a Google search once and everything with Detroit as a search term came back with links to stories of violence and corruption.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

58. Detroit was the first city killed by the automobile

When racial tensions erupted, the network of freeways made it easy for white flight to occur.

About ten years ago, urban experts were warning the Twin Cities that they were on their way to becoming Detroit, due to all the urban sprawl and white flight.

That is being reversed somewhat. Downtown is now the trendy place to live. But Minneapolis schools are facing massive school closures and the layoff of hundreds of teachers.

[Lefty48197]

59. That's a VERY misleading heading

I live quite close to Detroit. I go to the city dozens of times each year. I watched that city bottom out during the 1970's and 80's. I've also watched the city rebuild over the last ten or fifteen years. The progress that Detroit has made in rebuilding is remarkable.
The new stadiums and the Campus Martius project are spurring both development and re-development in the Woodward area.
The best is yet to come for Detroit with all the development that is starting along the riverfront. The new riverfront walkway from Hart Plaza down past Joe Louis is just the beginning. The walkway will soon be extended to the Renaissance Center, and then beyond, all the way to Belle Isle. They've broken ground for the new state park in that area, and the entire riverfront from the Ren Cen to the MacArthur bridge will soon be fully re-developed. Considering what an eyesore the old Uniroyal and concrete plant property, this will be the biggest improvement in all of Detroit.
GM has bought the Ren Cen, and is beginning another big development project within the property. They also tore down the huge concrete garrison wall that cut off the Ren Cen from the public.
Brush Park? Anybody ever been there? It looked like bombed out Berlin about five short years ago. Watching Brush Park rebuild has been one of the most remarkable rebirths ever witnessed.
Greektown? C'mon, it's a jewel, and it gets better every year.
Here's the best part: Remember how Coleman Young was villified by the white male suburbanites? Every idea he came up with was ridiculed. The People Mover? All the Detroit bashers said it would be a failure, and tried to talk it to death. Now that people mover ties all the city hot spots together via one short rail ride. Cobo and the hockey arena, the other sports stadiums, Greektown, the Ren Cen...
They all have stops on that people mover loop that was so decried.
Coleman was also bashed for his riverfront development ideas. Harbortown, the Stroh's property...
Never work they said. Waste of money they yelled. Now those two properties will anchor the fully developed riverfront.
Don't get me wrong, Detroit has a LONG way to go, but it's certainly moving quickly in the right direction.
I'm hoping to see a fully restored Book-Cadillac Hotel, the Madison-Lennox, the Michigan Central Railroad Depot etc.