RIP: Detroit

[JTF]

I can't believe it.

Detroit has just been condemned.

Four years ago a brash young man was elected mayor. He then turned a city with budget trouble into a city falling apart under cripling debt. Not only did he propose outrageous projects that would never be realized, but he opposed realistic projects, then attached his name to them once they became reality despite his efforts. Even worse, while laying off cops and firemen, he used the city's money like a personal windfall.

Now, unbelievably, he has been reelected to a second term. The only hope the city has is in the FBI investigation into how many dead people voted in this election. Amazingly the investigation was begun even before the polls opened, and Kilpatrik came from out of nowhere to convincingly retain his office.

Can Detroit survive another four years? Well, a third of Detroiters polled said that they want to move out of the city. Detroit is being compared to New Orleans, but New Orleans at least has a ton of federal money coming into it.

It pains me to say that maybe what Detroit needs is to actually hit rock bottom for Detroiters to awaken and realize what needs to be done for the city to not just survive, but to thrive and become all that it could be.

For now, they have four more years of a gloating mayor that people talked about recalling a few months into an awful first term.

[tamra]

JTF,
well somehow Camden NJ has unseated Detroit to become the highest crime ridden city. so at least Detroit took care of one problem yanno. or did the criminals move to Camden for better options?

[dougdigitalpro]

JTF,
Well, it wasn't like Freman Hendrix was gonna do any better.
He was a loser also. I voted because it's my responsibilty to vote and I was leaning heavily on Freman Hendrix all the way up until this week when he wouldn't come out and talk to the people and let them ask the hard questions. He reminded me all too much of Bush and that "fuck the people" attitude. So I relunctantly went with Kwame only because at least I know what he's about and at least the man is accessible. He's not playing the shadow government shit. I can't support someone I know absolutely nothing about and thinks he's above my vote. It's really picking the lesser of two evils really. I think Kwame got a serious wake-up call after this and now maybe he'll be a little more responsible with his power. Everybody deserves a second chance anyway, ya know?

[bingolong]

dougdigitalpro & JTF,
...at least you got Martha....


SHE GOT THE VANDELLA VOTE: Motown singing legend Martha Reeves, whose hits include "Dancing in the Street" and "Heat Wave," elected a member of Detroit's city council, her first term in public office.

[tamra]

what's interesting is Kwame was right there on stage along side Jesse Jackson during Rosa Parks' funeral. it'd be interesting to hear what Rosa thought of him or if she would have even supported him. maybe John Conyers could share some insight on that and maybe Kwame could listen and learn.

I never heard nothing about him except the end of a scandal. and then was shocked to hear Detroit's crime rate had lowered significantly.

oh and the other thing is there are gentrification ads for relocating to Detroit on various online places. that usually means old businesses will either be moving out or benefitting from the new residents. so something's going on when properties start getting pushed nationally.

[dougdigitalpro]

tamra,
yeah, there is SOOO much development going on in Detroit right now it's crazy, so I'm not suprised that there are ads.
Our whole downtown area is basically being re-invented from scratch, so it's pretty serious. I guess this will be the place to be in a few years.
The crime rate has been reuced greatly due to a much bigger police presence in the city. Probably the biggest ever. I think that may have more to do with the recent layoffs than his frivalous spending. You couldn't turn right or left without seeing a cop car cruising. It was almost martial law.lol Too many cops to see in one day for my blood.

[tamra]

deepseas,
LMFAO I'll wait.... but it's when black folks are moved out for up and coming young white adults. and I'll give you an example: Harlem, NY

but hey, what can you say. original Harlem residents had over 30 years to get it together and establish a thriving community. just a few years ago the buildings were so delapidated and literally crying you could have snapped them up like candy. I should have, including after being advised by my mother. because had I bought one at $30,000.00 foreclosed w/a grant option to fix up, it'd now be worth minimum $750,000.00 and central to everything in NY.

so again, buy your properties in Detroit and Camden now.

[Anditsdeeptoo]

dougdigitalpro,

Has the increased police prescence created an atmosphere of calm and assurance of safety, or have they intimidated the poor and created tension and stress?

Seems to me the best way to correct the crime rate is to improve the local economy, not to load the streets up with more po po.

[dougdigitalpro]

Anditsdeeptoo,
It hasn't come to tension and stress levels yet, more like annoyance right now. The DPD are a funny bunch anyway because it has been predominately black since Coleman Young took office thirty years ago. So, it isn't a racial tension or anything, but just seeing them too often and mostly doing very little, ya know? Kinda like the cops in the suburbs.
See, I never saw Detroit as having a major crime problem. That's a myth that has been perputrated by the media for too many years. The mentality here is basically you mind your business and I'll mind mine and we'll get along fine and people from out of town take that as us having bad attitudes and being hard all the time. There's just not a very friendly air that's all. Crime is not a major factor here, never was.

[JTF]

dougdigitalpro,

The amount of development in Detroit is very small and shallow in comparison with what is even going on in Harlem. When I visit detroit I don't consider it to be advancement to see a new Wendy's built around the corner from the old one that sits vacant. Almost all of the development I have seen in Detroit is also poorly designed to mimic the suburbs. All that seems to do is awkwardly place a strip mall (with the only tenants being a hair care store and a dollar store) in a position where it exposes other older parts of a crumbling infrastructure.

When it comes to downtown projects that are happening I think of the Book-Cadillac and the Madison-Lenox. The BC is a project that KK was dead set against. He was for tearing the beautiful, classic structure down to build a 6 story hotel on the site. He fought to get the building demolished despite reports that show the building would be more expensive to demolish than restore. Once he lost his bid to destroy it, he attached his name to the restoration project, smiling and rejoycing in his triumph in restoring a classic structure.

The Madison-Lenox is gone. It was a place on a historic structures registry that would have been illegal to tear down. Illitch had owned it for several years and had made it known that he wanted a parking lot there. KK was behind him. Earlier this year the city moved in and began demolishing it, much to the apparent surprise of both Illitch and KK. When the head of the city's demolition squad was asked who gave the order to tear it down he said he didn't know, but it wasn't KK. THe damage made the buildings structurally unsound, so they had to finish tearing it down. In Detroit, parking lots are progress!

As far as giving him a second chance... I'm all for second chances, if the individual has seen punisment for their crime. KK was just given a second chance to continue ripping off the city. He didn't even get a slap on the wrist. If a man steals money from your grandmother do you give him a second chance and put him back in the same position to do it again?

I also find him as shady as anyone this side of Bush. He played his card beautifully, with advertizements that accused Hendrix of being the candidate of the suburbs while he actually was taking the most money from the suburbs. Look at L. Brooks Patterson, who has many times said he wished Detroit would essentually burn to the ground, since the worse Detroit does, the better Oakland county does. Patterson is no friend to Detroit. He stayed away from saying anything during the election, allowing KK to acuse Hendrix of being the choice of men like Patterson. After the election Patterson spoke glowingly of KK and his friendship with him.

Basically it came down to a guy who said nothing of himself agaist a guy who had already proven himself to be a pilfering, smug bastard. He now has been given another four years to rip off the city. Damn how I wish someone like Mayor Young had run against him.

It's just a shame that Hendrix didn't have the balls to call for a recount so that those ballots could have been checked to see how many corpses actually voted. I believe KK when he said "The Hand of God" pushed him over the top. Of course, the hand of God being the raising of the dead...