Driving to Detroit
always makes me sad
Getting paid to turn off the lights
Close up shop
In Motown. On Motown
The old economy like a city’s bone cancer
A community on life support
but they filed the DNR
Some suburbs not so bad, maybe
pockets of hope
Or maybe just nowhere else to go
You can afford to live there
But you cannot make a life
Better than Beirut, apparently
Like being valedictorian in summer-school
Pittsburgh was once quite a wreck too. I think that even though it may take a very long time, Detroit will find its way again.
I moved away from there last summer. I actually do miss it. It had a lot of problems but it definitely wasn’t all bad.
You might find this site interesting: http://michagone.com
In some ways Detroit might be a bit lucky that it is the worst of the worst(Or at least is widely believed to be such) A fair number of people from Hippie do-gooders to captains of industry seem to be starting to take an interest in fixing the place. Sort of an 'If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere" attitude.
And I have some confidence in Dave Bing as a mayor. I’m not sure how great of an administrator he’ll turn out to be, but I think he is actively trying to help the place rather than line his own and friends pockets, first in a long damn time, and seems to be a decent coalition builder.
I’m too damn cynical to predict any miracles, But I do finally think it has hit bottom, and may start improving a bit.
I can’t read that without hearing the bongos of a beat poetry session.
Actually, there was a story on Yahoo just recently about how Detroit has a thriving Arab population, and they’re sprucing the place up.
We used to say we were from Detroit, even when it wasn’t true, because everyone knew what Detroit was, and could place it on a map just as well as Chicago or New York City. Now, it’s just “southeast Michigan.” It’s better that way.
I used to live just outside of Detroit, and I’m so glad that I moved out of there. It looks like some kind of post-apocalyptic setting.