Why do people look down on Detroit? (Grand Rapids, Sterling Heights: public school, live)

[us66]

Originally Posted by hiphopcr

Is it really a wonder why people look down on Detroit? Can you name another big city that has fallen on such hard times in the last decade?

Also not helping is the media scrutiny Detroit's gotten in the past couple of years. It's a strange mix of "we feel sorry for Detroit" and "Detroit is so Third World." Other big cities have fallen on hard times...Cleveland has ZIP Codes where the foreclosure rate is about as high. Las Vegas has difficulties, Phoenix has difficulties, Miami has difficulties, and too many smaller cities to mention here are in decline, but what sets Detroit apart is that it looks the part, with actual ruins. (Las Vegas has some, but not to the same extent.)

[lookup138]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

I'm surprised out-of-staters automatically equate Michigan to Detroit since Michigan is so big in the tourist trade (I'm pretty sure Chicagoans don't make this mistake, since they're all over the place). The image in their mind must have Detroit as "THE" city of Michigan with nothing but tundra elsewhere.
So why don't people know about Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon? It has to be the national media. I blame them for a lot.

Ever asked anyone the capital city of Michigan? Inevitably, it's Detroit. In fact, majority of Americans think that Detroit is Michigan's capital city. Mention Lansing and people say, how far is that city from Detroit? Again, there's the automatic association.

[lookup138]

Originally Posted by us66

Also not helping is the media scrutiny Detroit's gotten in the past couple of years. It's a strange mix of "we feel sorry for Detroit" and "Detroit is so Third World." Other big cities have fallen on hard times...Cleveland has ZIP Codes where the foreclosure rate is about as high. Las Vegas has difficulties, Phoenix has difficulties, Miami has difficulties, and too many smaller cities to mention here are in decline, but what sets Detroit apart is that it looks the part, with actual ruins. (Las Vegas has some, but not to the same extent.)

Downtown Detroit seemed to be getting along well. We visited the Hard Rock Cafe when we were there this year and of course the MGM grand casinos were nice amenities. I am aware that there is more blight occurring in the city. As you stated, people grab photos of those areas that "look the part" and unfortunately there is enough to broadcast the sad struggles of a heartbroken city.

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

I'm surprised out-of-staters automatically equate Michigan to Detroit since Michigan is so big in the tourist trade (I'm pretty sure Chicagoans don't make this mistake, since they're all over the place). The image in their mind must have Detroit as "THE" city of Michigan with nothing but tundra elsewhere.
So why don't people know about Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon? It has to be the national media. I blame them for a lot.

The same reason people don't know about Champaign-Urbana, Peoria and Bloomington in Illinois and only Chicago.

2/3 of Michigan's population is in "SE Michigan", or Metro Detroit.

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by lookup138

Whatever state we moved to, when we tell people that we lived in Michigan, they automatically assume Detroit. When I say no we lived further out, not in the city people still associate it with inner city living. No one knows of Plymouth, Farmington, Sterling Heights, Chelsea Township, Auburn Hills, etc. Strange how when I mention that we lived in IL and PA, no one asks ANYTHING about them!

People know nothing about Cicero, Palatine, Arlington Heights, Bolingbrooks, Skokie, etc. when they hear Illinois either.

[lookup138]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

People know nothing about Cicero, Palatine, Arlington Heights, Bolingbrooks, Skokie, etc. when they hear Illinois either.

Looks like we need better educated Geography teachers in the schools!

[zthatzmanz28]

When we used to travel years ago (late 1960s early 1970s), we would tell folks we were from Michigan and they would ask where, and we would say near Detroit. That was no big deal. In the last 5 years or so when we say Detroit, their eyes widden and their mouths drop open as if they just heard their dog had died. Of course in the right environment, saying you are from Detroit carries some weight...

[lookup138]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

When we used to travel years ago (late 1960s early 1970s), we would tell folks we were from Michigan and they would ask where, and we would say near Detroit. That was no big deal. In the last 5 years or so when we say Detroit, their eyes widden and their mouths drop open as if they just heard their dog had died. Of course in the right environment, saying you are from Detroit carries some weight...

Exactly!

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by lookup138

Looks like we need better educated Geography teachers in the schools!

That has nothing to do with it.

People identify themselves and others better with landmark, or rather "prominent" features. That's why when people think of Michigan and Illinois they think Detroit and Chicago. That's just the way it is.

What's so important about Sterling Heights or Cicero that people outside the immediate area just have to know about these cities?

[canudigit]

It seems pretty disingenuous for anyone from the Southeast to look down on Detroit if they do, since the vast majority of the citizens of Detroit proper are the descendents of transplants from the Southeast who moved here to get away from being sharecroppers and find better paying work in the factories. If someone could suddenly remove everyone from the city of Detroit who is the descendent of a transplant from the South, the population would drop from 700,000-something to, like, less than 100,000 in one day.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Southeast, and I am also glad that people were able to find better working opportunities back in the day. It's just that we need to remember what it was that made Detroit grow into what it is today, instead of just looking down on it for what it is now.