I am very worried about the direction our country is going in. I worry about it all of the time. But I am not entirely without hope
What makes me hopeful is Detroit. Seriously. Mother F*cking Detroit! What has happened to Detroit could be what happens to the rest of our country. Detroit has a 50% illiteracy rate and probably not coincidentally a 50% unemployment rate (if you count discouraged workers). The government is near collapse. There is decay and crime and every other thing everyone fears.
And you know what? It isn't that bad. People do step up. Although people do starve to death there or die of exposure, it isn't exactly common. We could all do better of course but what I am seeing in Detroit is a bunch of people making real policy changes that I suspect are going to result in a huge improvement.
Not only that, the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" entrepreneurial spirit that everyone says is part of the American psyche is thriving there. I see it every day. I have a lot of friends who live there and the things they are doing are amazing. They are *farming* there (stick it up your butt big agribusiness!) Others are making things and then selling them and really actually making money in the process. People are starting all kinds of businesses. It turns out that for a lot of people, when they can't get a job, they make a god damn job and it is exciting in ways I can hardly describe. But mostly I see it as proof that the 1% isn't going to have an easy time with their feudalistic intentions.
There was a nice article on Huffington Post about just this thing today so I am sure that is why I am feeling that if Detroit can come back, the USA can come back. Here is a link:
Why Detroit? Why Now?
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Showing posts with label Detroit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroit. Show all posts
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Detroit
I love Detroit. I really do.
Yesterday, I had quite a nice day there. I got to see all kinds of wonderful folks. First I met up with the Bachers at Dally in the Alley. Lots of people were there. I actually had a hard time parking and ended up parking all the way up on Seldon and walking. That worked out ok though because I was pretty much right across the street from The Old Miami, where I eventually ended up.
The Dally was really fun. I can't believe I've never bothered to attend this event before. *slaps forehead* It is basically the best block party ever! Like one often finds in Detroit, there was amazing live music on multiple stages. Later, I dragged my friend, Brent, to Traffic Jam for dinner. We saw Carl Levin there even! I am such a dork too and I totally pulled my "bus person" maneuver where I'll run into a person I don't know but see on the bus regularly someplace other than the bus and I'll be all like "HI!" like I am greeting an old friend. I totally did that to Carl Levin but he's a good politician so he totally did the same thing back to me. hahaha. He probably gets that all of the time.
After that, I walked over the Old Miami. It is really weird to me how that area is gentrifying. I didn't have to step over even one passed out homeless person! Seriously, it looks like a lot of the vacant buildings have been torn down and the older buildings still standing seem to be occupied and in good shape, at least as far as one can tell from the sidewalk. That makes me happy. I hope that neighborhood does well.
The Punk Fest benefit for Children's Hospital was pretty fun. I got there around 9:30p but still was able to see four bands. And also, as usual, I found myself a little awestruck at how much musical talent there is in Detroit. These bands were amazing! I always feel so lucky when I am in Detroit that I can, for not very much money, see really great live music in small venues. Even doing that "I'm too cool to run to the front so I am going to stand back here by the bar" thing leaves you within 50ft of the stage.
I ended up leaving around 1am and I don't know if it was the Dally or if it was that UofM had a night game that ended late but there were a lot of drunks on the road. :( That isn't something I love about Detroit. I avoided getting hit by someone running a red light on Woodward because I luckily noticed them out of the corner of my eye and stopped even though I had a green light. I had to swerve to miss someone who decided to cut me off on the entrance ramp to I-94. But the really scary part was when I was just in Dearborn and I saw someone get on the freeway going the wrong way. Luckily it was night time so those approaching headlights were very obvious. And also luckily, I and several other drivers, started flashing our lights and honking and the wrong way driver noticed and pulled onto the shoulder. It was pretty scary though and, let me tell you, it woke me right up. Whew.
Yesterday, I had quite a nice day there. I got to see all kinds of wonderful folks. First I met up with the Bachers at Dally in the Alley. Lots of people were there. I actually had a hard time parking and ended up parking all the way up on Seldon and walking. That worked out ok though because I was pretty much right across the street from The Old Miami, where I eventually ended up.
The Dally was really fun. I can't believe I've never bothered to attend this event before. *slaps forehead* It is basically the best block party ever! Like one often finds in Detroit, there was amazing live music on multiple stages. Later, I dragged my friend, Brent, to Traffic Jam for dinner. We saw Carl Levin there even! I am such a dork too and I totally pulled my "bus person" maneuver where I'll run into a person I don't know but see on the bus regularly someplace other than the bus and I'll be all like "HI!" like I am greeting an old friend. I totally did that to Carl Levin but he's a good politician so he totally did the same thing back to me. hahaha. He probably gets that all of the time.
After that, I walked over the Old Miami. It is really weird to me how that area is gentrifying. I didn't have to step over even one passed out homeless person! Seriously, it looks like a lot of the vacant buildings have been torn down and the older buildings still standing seem to be occupied and in good shape, at least as far as one can tell from the sidewalk. That makes me happy. I hope that neighborhood does well.
The Punk Fest benefit for Children's Hospital was pretty fun. I got there around 9:30p but still was able to see four bands. And also, as usual, I found myself a little awestruck at how much musical talent there is in Detroit. These bands were amazing! I always feel so lucky when I am in Detroit that I can, for not very much money, see really great live music in small venues. Even doing that "I'm too cool to run to the front so I am going to stand back here by the bar" thing leaves you within 50ft of the stage.
I ended up leaving around 1am and I don't know if it was the Dally or if it was that UofM had a night game that ended late but there were a lot of drunks on the road. :( That isn't something I love about Detroit. I avoided getting hit by someone running a red light on Woodward because I luckily noticed them out of the corner of my eye and stopped even though I had a green light. I had to swerve to miss someone who decided to cut me off on the entrance ramp to I-94. But the really scary part was when I was just in Dearborn and I saw someone get on the freeway going the wrong way. Luckily it was night time so those approaching headlights were very obvious. And also luckily, I and several other drivers, started flashing our lights and honking and the wrong way driver noticed and pulled onto the shoulder. It was pretty scary though and, let me tell you, it woke me right up. Whew.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Casino
I can be pretty lame sometimes. This past Saturday, I went on a tour bus trip to a casino. My friend, Heather, volunteers for a charity and her charity had a fund raiser where folks paid $25 bucks for a bus ride from Belleville to Greektown Casino. So I figured it is for a good cause and I enjoy Greektown *and* gambling *and* Heather's company so I signed up for the event. We went out to dinner at Hellas which has been a favorite place of mine since the first time I was taken there as a small child and the waitress came out with the OPA! cheese. It is funny because I have always wondered about the people arriving at Casinos in big tour buses. I always wondered what kind of person would decide to go to the casino on a big ole party bus. Now I know :) Anyways,I won $50.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Car Thieves in Ypsilanti
Last night I had dinner with some neighbors and there was some talk about crime and safety in the neighborhood -- mostly in relation to reducing city services like the police force. As it happens, I am not against reducing some services but I am not so sure about reducing police and fire services.
And just in case I needed a reminder about why, the car I've borrowed from my Dad was broken into last night. At first I thought I had forgotten to lock it but the police officers who took the report pointed out where the thieves had forced open the drivers side door lock. They also pried apart the ignition which activated the anti-theft system so now, the car wont start. The cops said that they probably tried to steal it because it is a Chrysler and apparently Chryslers are easy cars to steal...usually. Not all of them have anti-theft systems I guess. The tow truck driver said the same thing.
Ok, the anti-theft system did what it was supposed to do and the car wasnt stolen. But I had to have it towed to the Chrysler dealership and I had to take today off of work (unpaid) which I can ill afford. Again, I guess I should be grateful that this happened today rather than next week when I'll be in my first week at my new job.
I have to admit though, that I am getting tired of this. I usually dont lock my car and it gets broken into on average about once a month. But no one has ever actually tried to steal my car before. They just take loose change and returnable bottles usually. This is a somewhat recent thing too. It was a few years after I first moved in here that my car was broken into. It bugs the crap out of me though. It bugs me that there are people in the world who have so little respect for the property of others. It bugs me that we have an economy were some people get desperate. This summer has been pretty bad for me crime wise too. I had my hand chair stolen from my porch, I had a guy sleeping on my lawn in his underpants and a sleeping bag stolen from my neighbor..and now this.
I cant help wondering if all of this petty theft has something to do with the whole situation at the jail. The jail is always full so often the police arrest people and then just let them go right away. The people who live far away from Ypsilanti generally are the ones who have voted not to spend money to expand the jail. Why should they? They dont have the same crime problems. They have been able to move away from such social issues.
Right now, I cant say that I totally blame them. Well, I blame them for not voting to expand the jail but I dont really blame them for choosing to remove themselves geographically from the crime that necessitates a jail and an expensive police force. If you live far from the poor people, you are much less likely to be a victim of a crime. So you can get away with less police and that saves you money on your taxes. It is normal and rational for a person to make such a decision.
As much as I complain about the tax rate in Ypsilanti, we dont pay the same taxes that people who live in the City of Detroit pay. They *really* pay through the nose tax wise and I dont mind mentioning that their city income tax combined with the highest property tax rate in the state combined with lousy services has not really encouraged people to move there. One has to wonder, is Ypsilanti headed in the same direction?
Our tax system is broken. Seriously. You see, when people are looking around for a place to live, they can choose a place like Ypsilanti or Detroit. But there is infrastructure in place in those places that has to be paid for. There are old employee pensions, roads, parks, etc. OR people can choose to live someplace close to the city where they can avoid paying for city services while still benefiting from proximity to the city. Then, as the people who can afford to move out, move out, they leave behind the people who really cant afford to leave. They leave behind the social problems and poverty that lead to higher crime levels which leaves fewer tax payers to pay for those things. That higher taxation further discourages the people who can best afford to pay for things from moving into cities. And so on... Combine all of that with other market forces and voila! You have SE Michigan and all of the sprawl that is so characteristic of this area.
So? What is to be done. I know some people take the view that the answer is to gentrify the area, to drive up rents and property values so much that the poor people are forced to move. I wonder how much of this type of thinking was behind the failed Water Street project? It certainly seems to be a technique that has worked for Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is much more high brow than it was when I first moved there 22 years ago. But, I think Water Street is a good example of how the gentrification approach is nearly impossible.
A better approach would be to fix the property tax structure so that tax payers in areas with a lot of social problems dont end up paying for *all* of those problems while people who live in places removed from them dont pay anything at all. Of course, that solution might be just as impossible at least judging from the jail situation. I still say that the Ypsilanti police should start releasing people who would have gone to the jail if there had been room in places like Saline or Milan or even Ypsilanti Twp. That might motivate those motherfuckers to vote for a bigger jail!
And just in case I needed a reminder about why, the car I've borrowed from my Dad was broken into last night. At first I thought I had forgotten to lock it but the police officers who took the report pointed out where the thieves had forced open the drivers side door lock. They also pried apart the ignition which activated the anti-theft system so now, the car wont start. The cops said that they probably tried to steal it because it is a Chrysler and apparently Chryslers are easy cars to steal...usually. Not all of them have anti-theft systems I guess. The tow truck driver said the same thing.
Ok, the anti-theft system did what it was supposed to do and the car wasnt stolen. But I had to have it towed to the Chrysler dealership and I had to take today off of work (unpaid) which I can ill afford. Again, I guess I should be grateful that this happened today rather than next week when I'll be in my first week at my new job.
I have to admit though, that I am getting tired of this. I usually dont lock my car and it gets broken into on average about once a month. But no one has ever actually tried to steal my car before. They just take loose change and returnable bottles usually. This is a somewhat recent thing too. It was a few years after I first moved in here that my car was broken into. It bugs the crap out of me though. It bugs me that there are people in the world who have so little respect for the property of others. It bugs me that we have an economy were some people get desperate. This summer has been pretty bad for me crime wise too. I had my hand chair stolen from my porch, I had a guy sleeping on my lawn in his underpants and a sleeping bag stolen from my neighbor..and now this.
I cant help wondering if all of this petty theft has something to do with the whole situation at the jail. The jail is always full so often the police arrest people and then just let them go right away. The people who live far away from Ypsilanti generally are the ones who have voted not to spend money to expand the jail. Why should they? They dont have the same crime problems. They have been able to move away from such social issues.
Right now, I cant say that I totally blame them. Well, I blame them for not voting to expand the jail but I dont really blame them for choosing to remove themselves geographically from the crime that necessitates a jail and an expensive police force. If you live far from the poor people, you are much less likely to be a victim of a crime. So you can get away with less police and that saves you money on your taxes. It is normal and rational for a person to make such a decision.
As much as I complain about the tax rate in Ypsilanti, we dont pay the same taxes that people who live in the City of Detroit pay. They *really* pay through the nose tax wise and I dont mind mentioning that their city income tax combined with the highest property tax rate in the state combined with lousy services has not really encouraged people to move there. One has to wonder, is Ypsilanti headed in the same direction?
Our tax system is broken. Seriously. You see, when people are looking around for a place to live, they can choose a place like Ypsilanti or Detroit. But there is infrastructure in place in those places that has to be paid for. There are old employee pensions, roads, parks, etc. OR people can choose to live someplace close to the city where they can avoid paying for city services while still benefiting from proximity to the city. Then, as the people who can afford to move out, move out, they leave behind the people who really cant afford to leave. They leave behind the social problems and poverty that lead to higher crime levels which leaves fewer tax payers to pay for those things. That higher taxation further discourages the people who can best afford to pay for things from moving into cities. And so on... Combine all of that with other market forces and voila! You have SE Michigan and all of the sprawl that is so characteristic of this area.
So? What is to be done. I know some people take the view that the answer is to gentrify the area, to drive up rents and property values so much that the poor people are forced to move. I wonder how much of this type of thinking was behind the failed Water Street project? It certainly seems to be a technique that has worked for Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is much more high brow than it was when I first moved there 22 years ago. But, I think Water Street is a good example of how the gentrification approach is nearly impossible.
A better approach would be to fix the property tax structure so that tax payers in areas with a lot of social problems dont end up paying for *all* of those problems while people who live in places removed from them dont pay anything at all. Of course, that solution might be just as impossible at least judging from the jail situation. I still say that the Ypsilanti police should start releasing people who would have gone to the jail if there had been room in places like Saline or Milan or even Ypsilanti Twp. That might motivate those motherfuckers to vote for a bigger jail!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
My Lines! My Lines! I Can't Remember My Lines
I was chatting with some co-workers the other day about commercials and one of them mentioned that the Detroit Zoo was running some of their older commercials and especially one particular classic commercial that they ran for YEARS back in the 80's. We found it on YouTube and it is funny how something like this can be stored almost hidden in one's memory for *years* but almost perfectly. I mean, I havent thought about this commercial EVER that I can think of and yet when I saw it running again, I was able to go along with it perfectly while anticipating the next line. Weird. I guess I can remember my lines after all
Monday, July 09, 2007
What a Weekend!
Whew. I had a busy weekend!
Friday
I spent Friday night at my grandmother's house. She is pretty old and is having mobility issues and is in danger of falling. She cant even get out of bed on her own which is an obvious safety issue. So someone has to stay with her all the time. Usually it is my aunt who does that but she was on vacation so my sister and I were watching her over the weekend. It was nice spending time with her but exhausting too. I cant imagine being the primary care giver for an elderly person. My hats are off to anyone who takes on that role.
Saturday
On Saturday, I went and hung out in Detroit with a whole bunch of people who, like me, grew up there. A bunch of them still live in the city and some are like me and have moved out to the 'burbs.* We hung out at Brent and Gianna's house for a bit which was cool. My friend Anna was visiting from LA. I could go on and on about what a great person Anna is but I figure that the people who read this who know her already know that and no one else will really care.
I went to the City Fest at the New Center by myself because Anna wanted to go to a movie at the DIA and I didn't want to see it. I got really lucky because I ran into my friend Burton within about five minutes. Burton always cracks me up and makes me laugh. I went to middle school with Burton**. I must have met him in seventh grade which would mean that I've known him since I was 12 which means that I've known him for more than 25 years!
At City Fest, I got to see a band that I particularly enjoyed called Yo La Tengo. I had never heard of them. I don't usually indulge in too much live music because I am really cheap. But this concert was FREE which is my favorite kind. One of the best things about free concerts is that it allows a person to take a chance on something. I mean, what was the worst that could happen? I might not like them...in which case, I could just leave. But I did really like them! Now I might have to buy an album or something.
Eventually we all ended up at the Majestic where I had a pretty nice time talking to lots of people. I sometimes think of myself as being kind of anti-social and it is true that I do spend a lot of time alone and also true that I generally enjoy that time. But I am also a talker and once I get going...well..."blah blah blah"! It was wild being there at that bar with lots of people with such similar backgrounds to me. I mean, I have a lot of friends "from high school" but most of those people are from the high school I went to for my senior year, CHS in Ann Arbor. They are all fun people but none of them understand anything about the high school I went to for three years in Detroit, Cass Tech. It was kind of fun talking about Cass Tech and stuff.
Sunday
Sunday was hot. It was one of those days with a hot wind where you just cant get cool no matter what you do which, of course, means that there is only one thing to do: Go to the LAKE!!! I had quite a day there. I had my sister's dog Buddy with me and my own dog, Brooke. The evil dog hating neighbors were there so I put Brooke and Buddy out on the swim raft which worked really well until it was time to go back to shore. Neither one of those jerks would get off the raft. I thought about climbing onto the raft myself to push them off but decided it would be easier to just take the kayak out to them. I got on the kayak and both dogs were willing to get on it. Unfortunately, Buddy isn't much like Brooke who sits still in the kayak and he leaned over too far and tipped the kayak over. Brooke got stuck underneath it which was really scary for her. She could of drowned! But she didn't and later on I took her back out in the kayak and she didn't seem too scared of it so at least that didn't traumatize her.
The best part of the day though was when two loose dogs came by and went over to the horrible neighbors' house where they were all gathered. I am not sure but I think they had food on the ground like last time and I think the dogs went for it. It was awesome because this time I could laugh at them for keeping their food on the ground knowing that the really bitchy lady wasn't going to come yell at me for it. All I had to do was sit and watch the screaming and chasing of dogs and general chaos. Ah...sweet sweet schadenfreude!
* It is funny, though, because even though I am 1/2 hour from Downtown Detroit, I just don't think of Ypsilanti as being a suburb of Detroit. I think of it more as a suburb of Ann Arbor.
** At Burton International School (just another weird coinicidence)
Friday
I spent Friday night at my grandmother's house. She is pretty old and is having mobility issues and is in danger of falling. She cant even get out of bed on her own which is an obvious safety issue. So someone has to stay with her all the time. Usually it is my aunt who does that but she was on vacation so my sister and I were watching her over the weekend. It was nice spending time with her but exhausting too. I cant imagine being the primary care giver for an elderly person. My hats are off to anyone who takes on that role.
Saturday
On Saturday, I went and hung out in Detroit with a whole bunch of people who, like me, grew up there. A bunch of them still live in the city and some are like me and have moved out to the 'burbs.* We hung out at Brent and Gianna's house for a bit which was cool. My friend Anna was visiting from LA. I could go on and on about what a great person Anna is but I figure that the people who read this who know her already know that and no one else will really care.
I went to the City Fest at the New Center by myself because Anna wanted to go to a movie at the DIA and I didn't want to see it. I got really lucky because I ran into my friend Burton within about five minutes. Burton always cracks me up and makes me laugh. I went to middle school with Burton**. I must have met him in seventh grade which would mean that I've known him since I was 12 which means that I've known him for more than 25 years!
At City Fest, I got to see a band that I particularly enjoyed called Yo La Tengo. I had never heard of them. I don't usually indulge in too much live music because I am really cheap. But this concert was FREE which is my favorite kind. One of the best things about free concerts is that it allows a person to take a chance on something. I mean, what was the worst that could happen? I might not like them...in which case, I could just leave. But I did really like them! Now I might have to buy an album or something.
Eventually we all ended up at the Majestic where I had a pretty nice time talking to lots of people. I sometimes think of myself as being kind of anti-social and it is true that I do spend a lot of time alone and also true that I generally enjoy that time. But I am also a talker and once I get going...well..."blah blah blah"! It was wild being there at that bar with lots of people with such similar backgrounds to me. I mean, I have a lot of friends "from high school" but most of those people are from the high school I went to for my senior year, CHS in Ann Arbor. They are all fun people but none of them understand anything about the high school I went to for three years in Detroit, Cass Tech. It was kind of fun talking about Cass Tech and stuff.
Sunday
Sunday was hot. It was one of those days with a hot wind where you just cant get cool no matter what you do which, of course, means that there is only one thing to do: Go to the LAKE!!! I had quite a day there. I had my sister's dog Buddy with me and my own dog, Brooke. The evil dog hating neighbors were there so I put Brooke and Buddy out on the swim raft which worked really well until it was time to go back to shore. Neither one of those jerks would get off the raft. I thought about climbing onto the raft myself to push them off but decided it would be easier to just take the kayak out to them. I got on the kayak and both dogs were willing to get on it. Unfortunately, Buddy isn't much like Brooke who sits still in the kayak and he leaned over too far and tipped the kayak over. Brooke got stuck underneath it which was really scary for her. She could of drowned! But she didn't and later on I took her back out in the kayak and she didn't seem too scared of it so at least that didn't traumatize her.
The best part of the day though was when two loose dogs came by and went over to the horrible neighbors' house where they were all gathered. I am not sure but I think they had food on the ground like last time and I think the dogs went for it. It was awesome because this time I could laugh at them for keeping their food on the ground knowing that the really bitchy lady wasn't going to come yell at me for it. All I had to do was sit and watch the screaming and chasing of dogs and general chaos. Ah...sweet sweet schadenfreude!
* It is funny, though, because even though I am 1/2 hour from Downtown Detroit, I just don't think of Ypsilanti as being a suburb of Detroit. I think of it more as a suburb of Ann Arbor.
** At Burton International School (just another weird coinicidence)
Saturday, May 12, 2007
A week revolving slightly around Anna
It has been a very busy week for me. I kind of like it...having stuff to do.
On Sunday I had lunch with one of my oldest friends. It is nice having friends whom one has known since forever. I think I must have been around 4 y/o when I met Anna/Auhna which means she is one of the few people outside of my family to have known me when I was a kid. We went to the Blue Nile in Ferndale which is pretty much like the Blue Nile in Ann Arbor. Very good but kind of expensive. Mostly we talked about Anna's glamorous life in L.A. I didnt have as much time to spend with her on this trip as I would have liked. She returned to LA on Wednesday.
Then, today, I went to Detroit with my friend Heather because I had free tickets for a play at the Hillberry. We got there early so we went for a little walk and then ran into "BillyLeopard" , an old high school friend of mine who also just happens to know Anna. I didnt have too much time to talk to him because we had to go to the play but it was nice to see him anyways.
After the play, Heather and I went for a little drive around the city. We drove up to the old neighborhood where I showed her where I used to live. And then we noticed that Anna's old house was for sale and having an open house! The owner was very nice and let us have a quick tour even though I admitted I wasnt really looking for a house to buy. Still there is a part of me that wants to just because it is a great house at that price. It is not only a great house but it is a GREAT neighborhood: all tree lined streets and beautiful old houses built mostly in the 20's. The 1920's is just one of my favorite eras for houses. My own house was built in 1925.
In between all of that, I am working full time and going to school full time and trying to keep my lawn mowed.
On Sunday I had lunch with one of my oldest friends. It is nice having friends whom one has known since forever. I think I must have been around 4 y/o when I met Anna/Auhna which means she is one of the few people outside of my family to have known me when I was a kid. We went to the Blue Nile in Ferndale which is pretty much like the Blue Nile in Ann Arbor. Very good but kind of expensive. Mostly we talked about Anna's glamorous life in L.A. I didnt have as much time to spend with her on this trip as I would have liked. She returned to LA on Wednesday.
Then, today, I went to Detroit with my friend Heather because I had free tickets for a play at the Hillberry. We got there early so we went for a little walk and then ran into "BillyLeopard" , an old high school friend of mine who also just happens to know Anna. I didnt have too much time to talk to him because we had to go to the play but it was nice to see him anyways.
After the play, Heather and I went for a little drive around the city. We drove up to the old neighborhood where I showed her where I used to live. And then we noticed that Anna's old house was for sale and having an open house! The owner was very nice and let us have a quick tour even though I admitted I wasnt really looking for a house to buy. Still there is a part of me that wants to just because it is a great house at that price. It is not only a great house but it is a GREAT neighborhood: all tree lined streets and beautiful old houses built mostly in the 20's. The 1920's is just one of my favorite eras for houses. My own house was built in 1925.
In between all of that, I am working full time and going to school full time and trying to keep my lawn mowed.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Michigan's Dying Cities
Michigan’s Cities have been slowly dying for my entire life. As it happens, I was born in Michigan’s largest city in 1968 – just after the famous riots and right at the beginning of the “white flight” out of the city to the suburbs. The area is now one of the most segregated metropolitan areas in the country. The actual City of Detroit is half in ruins.
One thing I have noticed over the years though is how politics at the state level seem to have done everything possible to hurt established urban areas. Policy after policy passes, carried by the political weight of the very conservative part of the state. (Which for those of you not from Michigan is usually called “Every place other than South East Michigan”). Most of those policies seem to end up hurting the people who live in urban areas.
The most obvious way that state politics has hurt urban areas is the property tax structure. The City of Royal Oak has a very explanation of how that property tax structure hurts cities -- LINK. Cities struggle to provide services because city services have a serious impact on citizen’s quality of life. Just think about what life in a city might be like without someone collecting the garbage. Unfortunately the property tax structure will not allow the cities to raise taxes to provide essential services.
Here is what I know about it though. I know that areas where there is growth are sometimes able to dodge the effects of the property tax structure by building new taxable properties. People move out of established areas which can shrink the tax base even more. It doesn’t help that the people moving out of cities are the people who are most able to afford to move. People who are most able to pay taxes. Those people move out and away from as many social problems as they can.
And while those people are moving out, the State of Michigan pays for infrastructure that allows people to live outside of urban centers (e.g. roads, schools, etc) while at the same time reducing funding for social services that primarily benefit the poor people left in the cities. Projects like public transportation never have a chance here because such projects tend to benefit people in the cities. But every other social welfare program has been cut too.
This happens on a state level but it also happens on a county level. In my own county, funding for a new jail was voted down mostly by people who live out county and don’t have the same levels of crime found in the cities. Then, when the county started bussing inmates to other county jails, they worked to stop that too. The end result was that the jail filled up and when the police in my town would arrest people, they were forced to just let them go. Not surprisingly, crime rates went up. But since the crime rates went up in the City of Ypsilanti, the people who wouldnt pay for the jail didnt seem to mind too much. You see, those people have moved away from such social problems.
That leaves the people in the cities to pay the most taxes. The City of Detroit has one of the highest (if not THE highest) property tax rates in the state. The city where I live, Ypsilanti also has high property taxes. I pay more property taxes on my $100,000 house than people who live in houses that cost five times as much out in the country, especially if they have lived there for a long time. I pay more than double the property taxes than my parents who live in a spacious lake front property in S. Lyon (and yes, they are part of the problem but did stick it out in the City of Detroit for years longer than most people of their economic station).
Unfortunately, I don’t see an end in sight. I imagine that politics in the State of Michigan will still involve richer and mostly white people doing all they can to kick the poor, especially if they are poor people of color. And maybe such politics arent limited to Michigan. But that is where I live. And that is what I see.
One thing I have noticed over the years though is how politics at the state level seem to have done everything possible to hurt established urban areas. Policy after policy passes, carried by the political weight of the very conservative part of the state. (Which for those of you not from Michigan is usually called “Every place other than South East Michigan”). Most of those policies seem to end up hurting the people who live in urban areas.
The most obvious way that state politics has hurt urban areas is the property tax structure. The City of Royal Oak has a very explanation of how that property tax structure hurts cities -- LINK. Cities struggle to provide services because city services have a serious impact on citizen’s quality of life. Just think about what life in a city might be like without someone collecting the garbage. Unfortunately the property tax structure will not allow the cities to raise taxes to provide essential services.
Here is what I know about it though. I know that areas where there is growth are sometimes able to dodge the effects of the property tax structure by building new taxable properties. People move out of established areas which can shrink the tax base even more. It doesn’t help that the people moving out of cities are the people who are most able to afford to move. People who are most able to pay taxes. Those people move out and away from as many social problems as they can.
And while those people are moving out, the State of Michigan pays for infrastructure that allows people to live outside of urban centers (e.g. roads, schools, etc) while at the same time reducing funding for social services that primarily benefit the poor people left in the cities. Projects like public transportation never have a chance here because such projects tend to benefit people in the cities. But every other social welfare program has been cut too.
This happens on a state level but it also happens on a county level. In my own county, funding for a new jail was voted down mostly by people who live out county and don’t have the same levels of crime found in the cities. Then, when the county started bussing inmates to other county jails, they worked to stop that too. The end result was that the jail filled up and when the police in my town would arrest people, they were forced to just let them go. Not surprisingly, crime rates went up. But since the crime rates went up in the City of Ypsilanti, the people who wouldnt pay for the jail didnt seem to mind too much. You see, those people have moved away from such social problems.
That leaves the people in the cities to pay the most taxes. The City of Detroit has one of the highest (if not THE highest) property tax rates in the state. The city where I live, Ypsilanti also has high property taxes. I pay more property taxes on my $100,000 house than people who live in houses that cost five times as much out in the country, especially if they have lived there for a long time. I pay more than double the property taxes than my parents who live in a spacious lake front property in S. Lyon (and yes, they are part of the problem but did stick it out in the City of Detroit for years longer than most people of their economic station).
Unfortunately, I don’t see an end in sight. I imagine that politics in the State of Michigan will still involve richer and mostly white people doing all they can to kick the poor, especially if they are poor people of color. And maybe such politics arent limited to Michigan. But that is where I live. And that is what I see.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Fuck Your Seat Belt
Friday night, my sister and I went out with our friend Dennis to meet up with some other friends at a ska show. My sister drank a lot so I needed to be the driver but we had her car. I started driving and realized that I didnt have the seat adjusted quite right so I pulled into the parking lot of a McDonalds.
I was standing outside of the car trying to figure out how to use the eight million controls on the seat to get it right. There was a car full of drunk guys parked in a space three spaces away from us. They exchanged words with another car that was waiting at the drive-thru window. I don’t remember any yelling though or anything that sounded angry. Out of the blue, the passenger in the car at the drive up window pulled out a gun and shot several shots at the car next to us. I didnt see this but Dennis did and he told me later. After they fired the shots, the car squealed out of the parking lot.
It was truly a surreal moment. No one in the car next to us was shot nor did it look like any bullets actually hit the car. All of the guys who were in the car got out and started to check the car for damage. I jumped back inside my sister's car. She was screaming that I needed to get out of there. I put the key in the ignition and went to put my seat belt on. My sister screamed, "Fuck your seat belt, GET OUT OF HERE!" So that is what we did.
Anyhow, this is a gun incident that just reminded me how really very afraid of guns I am. I will admit it. I dont like guns.
I have mixed feelings about the gun control issue. I think most gun owners are responsible people. I can think of legitimate uses for guns even if that use is simply a hobby of target practice. But christ, it sure would be nice if we lived in a world without guns. If I thought gun control could actually accomplish that, I would probably get behind it even.
I was standing outside of the car trying to figure out how to use the eight million controls on the seat to get it right. There was a car full of drunk guys parked in a space three spaces away from us. They exchanged words with another car that was waiting at the drive-thru window. I don’t remember any yelling though or anything that sounded angry. Out of the blue, the passenger in the car at the drive up window pulled out a gun and shot several shots at the car next to us. I didnt see this but Dennis did and he told me later. After they fired the shots, the car squealed out of the parking lot.
It was truly a surreal moment. No one in the car next to us was shot nor did it look like any bullets actually hit the car. All of the guys who were in the car got out and started to check the car for damage. I jumped back inside my sister's car. She was screaming that I needed to get out of there. I put the key in the ignition and went to put my seat belt on. My sister screamed, "Fuck your seat belt, GET OUT OF HERE!" So that is what we did.
Anyhow, this is a gun incident that just reminded me how really very afraid of guns I am. I will admit it. I dont like guns.
I have mixed feelings about the gun control issue. I think most gun owners are responsible people. I can think of legitimate uses for guns even if that use is simply a hobby of target practice. But christ, it sure would be nice if we lived in a world without guns. If I thought gun control could actually accomplish that, I would probably get behind it even.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
MOCAD
I was born in Detroit in 1968 which is just after the big riots of 1967. The 1967 riots, everyone tells me, were the big turning point for Detroit: the beginning of the “white flight” and the beginning of some serious hard times for the city. As it happens though, my white family didn’t head off for the suburbs until 1985.
Still, I lived the first 17 years of my life in that city. Most of my K-12 schooling was in Detroit Public Schools which is why I still find myself chuckling when folks talk about how they MUST live in the suburbs because of the good schools. But of course, I don’t have kids but I imagine that if I did have kids, I wouldn’t haul booty to Ann Arbor just because they have a better school district. But whatever, this isn’t a blog about education in the city vs the ‘burbs.
This is a blog post about culture and about art and about how there is just something really cool about Detroit that few people other than natives seem to get. But sometimes they do get it and when they do, it is a pretty cool thing to see. I had one of those moments today when I read an article in the New York Times about the new Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
I am really looking forward to checking that place out. I hope they are able to capture some of the character of Detroit there. I think it is in a good location for that sort of thing.
http://www.mocadetroit.org/
Saturday, August 26, 2006
You Can Never Go Home Again
They say you can never go home again. But today I came across a real estate listing for the house I lived in from the time I was six or seven until I was seventeen. Ok, my mom stumbled across it and emailed it to me which kind of makes me wonder if she has the same habit of pouring over internet real estate listings and virtual tours that I have. I mean, I used to never understand how some married men could be into internet porn until I became addicted to internet real estate listings. I can look at them for HOURS. And I have a house. I even love my house. It is a nice house but I always like looking at other houses. Go figure.
But I digress. So this house, in Detroit, is pretty much the place that holds most of my childhood memories. I think I was six when we moved there but I might have been seven. My first memory of the house was after my parents bought it but before we moved in. Our old house was only a few blocks away. I walked home from school regularly with my friend Anna. My parents had shown me house and I sort of knew where it was so I figured that Anna and I could take a detour on the way home from school. But darn it if I couldnt find the sucker that day. I dragged poor Anna all over the neighborhood looking for it and eventually ended up one block over saying to Anna "I swear, it was here before. Honest!"
When we first moved in, I had to share a bedroom with my sister. But my folks decided that it would be better if we each had our own bedrooms since we were getting older. My Dad spent a lot of time finishing the attic into what became a seriously fabulous bedroom for a teenager. It had a bathroom and it was it's own floor so my music had to be pretty loud before it bothered anyone (that seemed to happen a lot anyways though). I wont mention though the hideous color *cough* lime green *cough* that they decorated with but it WAS the 70's so I suppose they can be forgiven. That bedroom was bigger than some apartments I have lived in. One of the really neat things about it was that my Dad built in a secret compartment and I made a little time capsule of stuff and put it in there. There is a part of me that would love to go see if that stuff was ever discovered but maybe it is just something best kept in my memory.
I had my second kiss in that house. I had my first real date come pick me up from that house. I learned Latin and Algebra while living in that house. I danced in that house. I plugged up the basement toilet by dumping the cat box in it. I set the garage on fire. I slid down the staircase in nylon sleeping bags. I ran indoors. I put on puppet shows. I covered the walls of that bedroom with posters of rock stars. I laughed a lot. I cried some.
My dad once commented that I would probably never live in as nice of a house again because they just didnt make them like that anymore. And while I love my current house (built in the same era, btw) and wouldnt even know what to do with 3000 sq feet as a single woman, I have to say that so far, my dad has been right. I have never lived in as good of a house as that one.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The Henry Ford Museum
I spent the day with my mom and my nephews at The Henry Ford Museum. Since we only had time to do one thing there today, we let the boys choose which thing and decided they wanted to see the stuff inside the museum. After they chose, I told them that they had made a good choice since there are a couple of especially morbid exibits there that I always love to see. One is the actual chair that Abraham Lincon was shot and killed in and the other is the limo that JFK was riding in when he was shot in Dallas. The kids gave me a "who *is* this creepy women?" look when I told them that though ;)
We had a fun day even though I never did get to point out either the chair or the limo to the boys. Here are some photos:
I am a big train fan so I love the history of trains exhibit. I stopped the boys long enough to get them to pose in front of one of the trains for me.
Here I am sitting next to my new best friend. People kept calling her a dummy though but I thought she was a very good listener.
This is my mom in front of a vintage McDonalds sign. I love old neon signs so I enjoy that part of the museum.
They had a neat hands on exhibit that included this old car. The boys seemed to enjoy playing around in it.
This was from an exibit about Generation X. Anyone else remember playing with this toy?
They had a kind of neat activity where they encouraged kids to submit ideas for inventions for the future. Here are the ones the boys came up with. I liked both ideas but decided that if I could only choose one, it would be the android2000 since Emil assured me that it would both change the catbox and mow the lawn and that it would do it without complaining and well...toast is great and all but...well, I think everyone here knows my opinion of lawn mowing. Still the slicing toaster looked pretty cool and I kind of imagined it making a light saber sort of noise as it sliced and toasted. That would be sooooo COOL!
We had a fun day even though I never did get to point out either the chair or the limo to the boys. Here are some photos:
I am a big train fan so I love the history of trains exhibit. I stopped the boys long enough to get them to pose in front of one of the trains for me.
Here I am sitting next to my new best friend. People kept calling her a dummy though but I thought she was a very good listener.
This is my mom in front of a vintage McDonalds sign. I love old neon signs so I enjoy that part of the museum.
They had a neat hands on exhibit that included this old car. The boys seemed to enjoy playing around in it.
This was from an exibit about Generation X. Anyone else remember playing with this toy?
They had a kind of neat activity where they encouraged kids to submit ideas for inventions for the future. Here are the ones the boys came up with. I liked both ideas but decided that if I could only choose one, it would be the android2000 since Emil assured me that it would both change the catbox and mow the lawn and that it would do it without complaining and well...toast is great and all but...well, I think everyone here knows my opinion of lawn mowing. Still the slicing toaster looked pretty cool and I kind of imagined it making a light saber sort of noise as it sliced and toasted. That would be sooooo COOL!
Friday, August 04, 2006
Meadows, Flowers, Grass, Trees, Detroit!!!
In an earlier post, I mentioned how much it bugs me when people move out of the city or suburbs because they want to be in the country and then they tear up all the meadows and put in manicured lawns which make the countryside resemble the suburbs they have recently fled. I really dont get it. But it turns out there is some hope.
I was reminded by a post in DetroitBlog that sometimes the countryside and the unkept places I like so much come back. Odd, but maybe the place to move if one really likes the countryside will be certain areas of Detroit.
I was reminded by a post in DetroitBlog that sometimes the countryside and the unkept places I like so much come back. Odd, but maybe the place to move if one really likes the countryside will be certain areas of Detroit.
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