MSNBC: Detroit- World's Most Underrated City

[MI-IRISH]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

Some metaphor!

the way i feel about Detroit,love it there.I've been privilaged enough to go to some big cities,LA,Vegas,Dallas,Oakland and so on and so forth,but none have the feel of big D. The wife and i spend a lot of time there,and when i get done with school,been looking at moving there from Kazoo,although i'll miss being down the road from Bells brewery,i think i can handle it

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by MI-IRISH

the way i feel about Detroit,love it there.I've been privilaged enough to go to some big cities,LA,Vegas,Dallas,Oakland and so on and so forth,but none have the feel of big D. The wife and i spend a lot of time there,and when i get done with school,been looking at moving there from Kazoo,although i'll miss being down the road from Bells brewery,i think i can handle it

Kazoo, eh? Some of my thoughts on this subject:
*I miss Wonderful’s Thursday night jam. Now attend Club 411 (rarely).
*IMO this may be a good time to go and “pioneer” in Detroit. If you’ve been reading these forum posts, you know things are happening other than what the media throws at you.
*Kzo and G.R. are small oases of citified action, similar but smaller than Detroit.
*Call it “The D” so people don’t assume you’re from Dallas.
*Is Bell’s available in Detroit? Don’t know. Some beers making it into stores locally here are Badass Beer, Founders, Saugatuck Brewing offerings (some of the local ones are expanding their markets). Anybody try these?
*Detroit’s in my blood even though I moved westward for the art/travel scene (the move was not necessary, but I had to try it).

[scenic]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Maybe that is the attitude that turns people off. ??? Instead of taking their concerns to heart, we tell them to eff off.

Well, by naysayers I mean folks who will invariably find something wrong or impossible to correct because somehow, it isnt in their hands to do something about it; it is somebody else's fault. The kind of people who will always put the city down. I am not against good judgement; but rather wholesale abandonment.

[EastBoundandDownChick]

I think Detroit is better poised to start coming back now that Bing is in and Kwame is out. The corruption was weighing down any attempts at real progress. Bing is doing a great job- I don't think he gets proper credit for all he's done already. Maybe because he tells people the reality of the situation and they don't want to hear it? He makes a great deal of sense with his plan to consolidate. Find a way to get people out of the dangerous, nearly vacant neighborhoods that aren't livable anyway, quite frankly. Move them inward to more populous areas, cut down the cost of city services. Bulldoze these nuisance properties = more green space, less crackhouses and crime. The real work will be knocking down all of these buildings that are beyond repair. We can't really look to the older generations too much to help us with this. I honestly place much of the blame on them for Detroit becoming as bad as it did in the first place. Apathy, illogical/irrational fear of crime, racism, an 'all-about-me' attitude. The younger ones will be the city's true hope. We need to volunteer our time to clean up, modernize and beautify these areas. It CAN be done, and corporations donate all the time if you're asking where the cash comes from. Go to believeindetroit.org and volunteer a few days a month for one of its organizations. You get to meet new people, have fun, and it just plain makes you feel good! You can go to bed at night knowing you are part of the solution, not part of the problem.

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by EastBoundandDownChick

We can't really look to the older generations too much to help us with this. I honestly place much of the blame on them for Detroit becoming as bad as it did in the first place. Apathy, illogical/irrational fear of crime, racism, an 'all-about-me' attitude. The younger ones will be the city's true hope. We need to volunteer our time to clean up, modernize and beautify these areas. It CAN be done, and corporations donate all the time if you're asking where the cash comes from. Go to believeindetroit.org and volunteer a few days a month for one of its organizations. You get to meet new people, have fun, and it just plain makes you feel good! You can go to bed at night knowing you are part of the solution, not part of the problem.

---- This is very constructive.
Combining corporate/business interests with citizen involvement can benefit both. Progressive ideas from govt can "grease the wheels". Coordinate this Big Three for fast results.
West Berlin, Germany rebuilt itself from rubble in less than 20 years. Its "Big Three" did it.

[SadieMirsade]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

---- This is very constructive.
Combining corporate/business interests with citizen involvement can benefit both. Progressive ideas from govt can "grease the wheels". Coordinate this Big Three for fast results.
West Berlin, Germany rebuilt itself from rubble in less than 20 years. Its "Big Three" did it.

You need a HUGE transformation in Americans' mentality in order for Detroit to be able to pull off anything similar to Berlin.

America is all about interest groups and lobbies, and in that game, ruthless dictators like Mubarak and scary ethnic-nationalists like Nethanyahu take priority over powerless and disposable poor in Detroit.

They can get billions of US taxpayers "donations", but Detroit can easily be written off as a useless wasteland populated by dysfunctional Blacks, inherently unable to pull themselves up and out of their urban misery.

And don't think that Detroit would have it any easier if it were 92% White.
What did Washington ever do for the poor Southern hillbillies?

If you don't have a powerful lobby, a powerful group of corporate interests and individual donors aggressively advocating and bribing $$$$ politicians on your behalf....you're out of the game. You're a nobody.

Unlike Americans, Germans do have a communal identity. They actually take pride in the COLLECTIVE wellbeing of all their citizens, in the infrastructure of their country, in its economy, education, culture.
For them, Detroit would be a huge shame. That horrible, aging, rusty and rickety infrastructure surrounding NYC would be an even bigger embarrassment.

When push comes to shove, in Germany, the corporate sector, government and unions ALWAYS sit down and consider the future of all Germans, and not just a few stockbrokers in Frankfurt, politicians in Berlin and Bonn, and automobile executives in Dusseldorf.

In that respect, Japan is very similar.
Everyone is looking out for themselves, but there is a much BIGGER feeling of communal belonging and ACCOUNTABILITY for one and all, than in the US.

When American unions went "too far", they only emulated the behavior of the private and government sector (politicians), who continually place their own and personal interests above the interests of the majority, community, country and its people.

As long as middle and upper class Americans see nothing wrong with their country, as long as they accept the geographic and social apartheid exacerbated by race and poverty....nothing will change.
Just like in South Africa, they'll actually HAVE TO BE scared for themselves, for their own futures and the future of their progeny, for their physical wellbeing....before they start thinking about Detroit, Bronx, Compton.

And in that "middle and upper"....you can add all the educated Blacks who flee the ghettos and poverty, while screaming racism, as they take advantage of generous "affirmative actions" in business and education.

They're not much different from the rich Whites. How many of them are involved with and living with the poor, working on community and development projects?

I never could understand why Oprah went to Africa, and never bothered to open a school in Detroit?
As if the Africans were the REAL victims, the indigenous noble folk of motherland Africa, and Detroiters just another bunch of self-destructive ungrateful Blacks, dysfunctional losers (whom she won't identify with (for obvious reasons $$$). Trash she wants no part of.