The how to fix Detroit thread

[Jarodaka]

(Sorry, no links atm.)

Detroit's population, budget, schools, and stature has been declining for the last 40 years. The lack of mass transit, for example, is a black eye on the region and symbolic of the deep-seated distrust between city and suburbs. Kwame faces a budget crisis. One that a quick fix, it is proclaimed, cannot save the city this time. Maybe receivership would be good for the city? Having an appointed overseer streamline operations and break the stranglehold of unions over city jobs wouldn't be entirely bad.

Metro Detroit is growing, but not as fast as other metropolitan regions (about 1/3 the average rate).

Manufacturing job losses hit the state hard.

Thanks to a history of well-paying manufacturing jobs we now have an out-of-work populous with a lower rate of college degrees.

Detroit's unemployment is twice (or was it 3x?) the state average and continues to bleed population.

What has Jennifer Granholm done? Michigan's Cool Cities program. Somebody fucking gag me.

But it's not all bad...

There is still life downtown!

The Auto Show continues to gain prestige and attention (despite doomsday scenarios of lack of convention space), a Detroit school recently received recognition for their innovative A.P. English programs, Detroit charter shools are quite popular (more on the way from CMU, too), Wayne State built dorms (!) because students actually wanted to live close to campus... on purpose... in downtown.

Detroit new home construction kept pace with the region (~7% 2004 over 2003). And have you seen some of these reworked victorian homes and lofts? Very nice, plus they're usual in one or more low-tax 'empowerment' zones.

DARTA, though crippled from it's original design, exists and is actually promoting cooperation between SMART and DDOT.

And that wonderful creative class. Detroit hasn't lost its creative spark and Metro Detroit has the highest per capita concert attendance anywhere in the U.S.

Still, for all the small victories -- which seem more like baby steps -- it seems there is another, more pressing concern. While new homes and concerts are nice, high unemployment, insufficient mass transit, and a cash-strapped core city are bad.

I'm just looking for comments on the situation of Detroit. Like I said, it's not all bad, it just seems Detroit can't get over the hump. Any insights, stories, anecdotes, analyses, suggestions?

[Black Sunday]

ver 1.5

[Jarodaka]

Maybe Detroit will go into receivership and Granholm will appoint Giuliani... haha, yeah, right.

Oh, and please share anecdotes. I included in it in my list above.

[Ginevra]

I have to admit that, perhaps, I'm a little more paranoid than most. I'm a small in stature type person, so I tend to try not to get myself into situations that I can't get out of. There are many places in Detroit that I'd love to go and check out but most likely will not unless I go with a group of 5 or more friends simply due to the crime issues that seem to plauge Detroit. (Also refer to the thread about Belle Isle Aquarium.) It just really seems that if you want to help your city thrive, let's get rid of some of the crime. I very much fully realise that there is NO WAY to get rid of all crime. Otherwise, we'd be on our way to Utopia and what would that serve? However, if one person says to another, "Let's go to the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Detroit tonight." and the other says, "No, thank you. Location is enough to turn me off to it.", there's definately an issue that needs to be addressed.

I wanted to go to see Type O Negative when they were in town last year. But because of the venue they were at, I ended up not going. There's a lot that I can tolerate. I don't mind walking some due to the lack of a completely organised mass transit (although more mass transit would help cut down on the unemployment issues). I feel that the People Mover was a good idea in theory and should be expanded on. Skywalks would also help the downtown area.

However, if people are getting shot, mugged and car jacked, the above ideas are null and void because there won't be anyone there to use them.

[Fierce Critter]

My family, as well as I have spent a lot of time in Detroit. My parents grew up there. One sister has worked downtown for close to 20 years, 4 of us are either graduates of or at least spent a few years at Wayne State. One sister lived on the Cass Corridor while a student there.

I spent a year commuting from downriver to Wayne State via bus. I spent another 3 years working in the financial district & at the corner of Woodward & Lafayette. I spent a few years performing around the city, practicing in the warehouse district, and partying everywhere from Warren up to Greektown.

I wish I knew more about the real goings-on that make a city "work" or not. I really can't say what would really improve Detroit overall.

There are things I've observed that make me NOT proud of Detroit. The lack of mass transit is one. Used the buses, people mover, etc. The People mover is such a joke, I don't really need to repeat what you've all heard here. The buses, well, they DO get you from point A to point B. But they really do need more options.

Crime IS the pits. In my time there, I've known women who were raped, men who were mugged. I've seen pickpockets, pimps & prostitutes at work. I've had to walk away from drug dealers.

The residential areas are scary. I followed a very badly marked detour and ended up lost, and it's one of the scariest hours I've had in my life.

The unoccupied downtown buildings are a fright, and shamefully numerous. There's so little effort to make these areas lucrative to people who might restore some of the more grand places and fill them with thriving businesses, it's shameful and sad.

The streets were laid-out badly from the start. It's very difficult to navigate around downtown if you don't have turn-by-turn directions ready with you, or a really highly detailed map. It's very easy to end up going the wrong way down one-way streets.

There are SO many problems, where does a (good/honest) mayoral administration start? I don't know how much you can cut crime without massively increasing the amount of cops on the street. And then how do you decide where to put them? Do you concentrate them downtown where more activity goes on (and probably less actual crime going down) or concentrate them in the residential areas that don't garner the interest of potential downtown businesspeople?

I don't know. I wonder if there's any hope at all for Detroit. I've seen a lot more cities in the past few years, and been really struck at how tiny Detroit's downtown area really is. It's such a small area to focus on in such a big city - yet that's all I ever seem to hear about when it comes to "improvements".

[DisturbedMania]

What needs to happen would be for more people to actually give a shit. I personally like to hang out in Detroit and due to cold weather miss going more regularly to Eastern Market on Saturday mornings. I grew up in Southwest about a mile from Del Ray and I guess I missed alot of the evils everyone else sees. I saw programs like Paint the Town make improvements on homes' exteriors and cover graffiti. People who want change in Detroit should move to the city and make the changes. If I found out they were still running programs to make the city better I'd voulenteer.

[gothicmom]

Detroit charter shools are quite popular

That is not a good thing. That means that the city schools are not doing their job properly.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Very few Detroiters (and especially metro Detroiters) have much "pride" in Detroit, some do but I'd venture to say the vast majority do not.

Need to have some sort of public push to restore some sort of pride of ownership in the city. Until people really 'want' to change the city (badly enough to take action) the why and how wont matter to much. Need to desire, before the skills or knowledge can be implemented.

Not enough of us care about the city, if we did there would be more action.

Having said that, in the last 10 years or so there seems to have a ton of improvements, despite some setbacks. When i read about the detroit of the 1970s - 80s, the current incarnation is very much improved, although many in the suburbs seem to be unaware of that improvment.

Also racism, while an impolite subject, still plays a part, semi-racist father still tells me "white people got no business in detroit" , meawhile my racist (black) neighbor tells me "black people have no business in the U.P." :doh:

[fallennon]

Knowing a few Detroit cops and a few people that live in the not so nice areas down there, I can't say that increasing the police force would even help. The cops make around $40,000 a year and for that not many of them are willing to get out of their comfy cars and risk their ass to stop a shooting. It sounds shitty but from what I have heard and seen, it's true. I watched a 14 year old crack dealer (yes he was 14 and his father was his "boss") get shoot in the head twice by a crack head that wanted a better deal then he would give him while I sat on my friend's porch. Two cops drove by and watched him bleeding on the street. Neither one stopped. Okay, so he was a dealer, right? But who wants to walk down the street and see that? It sure doesn't make me feel safe. BTW we did call 911 but it took an ambulance 1 hour to respond.

I'm not sure what would make Detroit better, but I know that I am staying FAR FAR away from it until it is.

[gothicmom]

uh, better lighting would be nice. When I picture Detroit, it's very dark. We had to take a detour, and the back streets were not lit very well.

[Soulrev]

They should probably start out by doing something about the crime.. More cops, tougher consequences.. Drug education, toughen up the schools so less criminals come out of them. Crime is always a major smudge on any city.

[Jarodaka]

Detroit should focus on three things: trimming their budget to only providing core services well (fire, police, road maintenance), reducing crime, and particating in and pushing for regional light-rail mass transit. This would mean: breaking unions, privatizing certain services, and regional cooperation. These are historically huge hurdles for SE MI to overcome, but they must be dealt with first. You can impose political will and build a Cobo Hall, Ren Center or a new stadium, but until people can rely on the city to provide basic services reliably, Detroit's attractiveness as a place to live will continue to decline.

The idea of gardens and artists is nice, but Detroit should allow the city to grow more organically, in response to market demands and neighborhood needs, not try to impose a narrow vision on the city. Examples: People Mover, Ren Center, casinos, permanent Rivertown casinos, the incessant desire to raze old buildings and make parking lots. Look, we have a People Mover! People are still leaving. Look! We have a Ren Center! People are still leaving. Look! We demolished this historic building and put in a gravel parking lot! People are still leaving.

In this regard, Adamah (see linked article) has it partially right, the city should have some sort of plan for dealing with growth, but the key is providing the infrastructure and support to allow that growth to occur -- whatever form it takes.

[Black Sunday]

ver 1.5

[Ginevra]

so where did the money go? Kwame's pockets?

No, straight to the new Ford Navigator

[nodrew]

The problem with the people-mover is that it doesn't go anywhere, heh. Unless you plan to stay in the immediate downtown area, it is fairly useless.

[bav]

No, straight to the new Ford Navigator

No, no, no....not the Navigator, you mean the new Ford Eradicator

And as far as trying to clean up Detroit, my suggestion is this:

Spread the rumor that Detroit is stockpiling WMD's, so that someone will declare war on Detroit and carpetbomb the fuck out of it.

Then rebuild.

[Jarodaka]

I like the WMD rumour, but not the carpetbombing. There are many, excellent buildings downtown: Fisher, Fox Theater, State Theater, Penobscot, Guardian, Book-Cadillac, etc... Perhaps precision guided missiles? I know it'd be goth if the Leland building was destroyed (with some goths in it, it's what they want), but I don't think anybody wants a gothic revolt on their hands. We can call them the Detroit Holy Sites/mosques and the military won't attack them.

[fallennon]

LMAO

[Marblez]

I think it starts with the schools and with the outer areas of the city. Clean up the areas easiest to clean, get property values up there and more "upstanding" people moving there. It can have a chain effect growing toward the city center.

Soothsayer's daughter lived in "Warrendale". It is basically a border area between detroit and dearborn, not a great area but not the worst either. I think they are pulled down by the fact that it is "Detroit public Schools". The elementary school in this decent "Suburbian" looking area has no playground save for asphalt and gravel, and his 4thgrade daughter didn't even know what we were talking about when we asked her about art and music class. C'mon now... without creative outlet in school - boredom turns into crime.

Give the people back some pride and responsibility. Let "Warrendale" (or insert some other inside border community) run their own schools and provide for their children the education that they can. I am sure they could do it better than someone 50 miles away on the other side of Detroit.

It is well known that a high students per teacher ratio is a bad thing, in fact experts provide that the most effective manager should have no more than 8 employees in his charge.

So tell me why on earth is one school board in charge of 268 Schools? They are proposing an elimination of more than 4,000 jobs over the next five years. Should a single school district even HAVE 4000 employees?

You might say that a large school district keeps balance so that the neighborhoods that can not support their own schools have a decent education as well. I can understand that, but take out the schools that can go it alone and the focus of the bail out money provided by the State can be better put to use on these trouble spots rather than band-aiding the entire district. Let the areas that CAN do for themselves - well, do for themselves. Suddenly property values in Warrendale are increased, community pride is increased, education is better, crime is lower and the community next door's property values increase...

Check out these stats on the Detroit Public Schools website:

Total Schools: 268

Elementary: 174

Middle: 41

Secondary: 29

Special Education: 11

Alternative Middle/High School Programs: 9

Career & Technical Centers: 4

General School Information

Average year school built: 1937

Average age of school: 63.9 years

- not including new construction (2001 completion date)

Number of classrooms: 8,304

Basement Rooms: 154

Portable Units: 136

Total Form B Year 2000 for all schools: $953,201,624.00

Operation & Maintenance Cost Per Student: $1,076

State Median: $615

Total school capacity: 201,125

Students receiving Free or Reduced Lunch:

(114,025) 70% State Average 26.7%

[Guest Game of Chance]

Bulldoze it.

Start Over.

[Msterbeau]

Bulldoze it.

Start Over.

Not all of it... just most of it. Include City Hall on the destroy list. Make sure the current tenants are still occupying the place.

[Brenda Starrr]

Move to Baltimore. That'll fix 'em.

[Msterbeau]

Move to Baltimore. That'll fix 'em.

Yeah.. cuz DC is a fantastic place...

[Guest Game of Chance]

Yeah..  cuz DC is a fantastic place...   

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Georgetown is.

[Brenda Starrr]

Georgetown is awesome.

Now, fix Detroit by moving to Baltimore.