News, Running Into the Fire: Firefighters Risk It All to Keep Burning Detroit Suburb Alive (Highland Park: low income)

[JD59]

Running Into the Fire: Firefighters Risk It All to Keep Burning Detroit Suburb Alive

Highland Park, Mich., a once-thriving Detroit suburb, seems like a burnt-out, forgotten wasteland, but the men and women of the Highland Park Fire Department are determined to save it, risking their lives to put out rampant fires for little in return.

The Highland Park Fire Department is one of the most active departments in the country. While some departments in other suburbs may see two to three fires a month, the Highland Park Fire Department battles two to three fires per week.

Running Into the Fire: Firefighters Risk It All to Keep Burning Detroit Suburb Alive - ABC News

[garyalex]

When did Highland Park become a Detroit suburb?

[adams_aj]

Alright, let's call Highland Park an "enclave municipality". Does that help the discussion? You're welcome.

[313 TUxedo]

Highland Park was a suburb the moment it incorporated, and arguably still is.

It has never been a Detroit neighborhood.

Do note that the definition of the adjective "suburban" changed during the 20th century.

It originally meant "not truly urban, nor rural". A suburban home had a small amount of land completely surrounding it, on which a family could grow a small garden (but not one sufficient to feed the family by itself) and/or have children playing on a lawn. Truly urban living meant apartments and no trees or foliage.

By this standard, most of the single-family houses built outside the perimeter formed by Grand Boulevard could be said to be "suburban", with most of the City of Detroit being "suburban" after it immensely grew with annexations in the years 1915-1926. Older cities out East (e.g., Baltimore) have little suburban construction in their corporate limits by comparison.

Only later would we regularly hear the noun "suburb" to indicate a chartered township, village, or incorporated city outside the major city to which it was close or which it bordered.

Highland Park, demographics, structure age and economy aside, is still both suburban (original sense) in that it has many single family homes on private property with soil front and rear, and still a suburb as it is close to the larger City Of Detroit but a legally separate incorporated city not under Detroit's jurisdiction.

Highland Park is not the only suburb in the country with minority population, low income, high unemployment and high crime. Most cities have some, often more and more of them through the years. The Chicago area has too many to count.

[jessxwrites89]

Saw this this morning when mom called me in to watch this as she still disapproves of the move.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by jessxwrites89

Saw this this morning when mom called me in to watch this as she still disapproves of the move.

It's going to pretty hard to convince your mom otherwise. Stories like these are pretty common and is what gets broadcasted to the national audience. Of course, Highland Park is only 2 square miles in area and there's specific reasons as to why it's in the current state that it's in, but ya know, new stories gotta get them ratings.

90% of the rest of the metropolitan area doesn't resemble and isn't in the same condition as HP, but no one really cares if there's parts of Detroit or Metro Detroit that are normal. That's not what makes a news story.