The Lions may be 0-16 but Detroit is #1

[Kenscollick]

In March 2008, Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with eight felonies, including perjury and obstruction of justice. In August, he violated his bail agreement and was thrown in jail. His actions were deplorable for anybody, but Kilpatrick was no Average Joe--he was the mayor of Detroit.

Unfortunately for the Motor City, Kilpatrick, 38, is just one ripple in the area's sea of crime. Detroit is the worst offender on our list of America's most dangerous cities, thanks to a staggering rate of 1,220 violent crimes committed per 100,000 people.


Yahoo! Buzz"Detroit has, historically, been one of the more violent cities in the U.S.," says Megan Wolfram, an analyst at iJet Intelligent Risk Systems, a Maryland-based risk-assessment firm. "They have a number of local crime syndicates there--a number of small gangs who tend to compete over territory."

In Depth: America's Most Dangerous Cities
Detroit was followed closely on the list by the greater Memphis, Tenn., and Miami, Fla., metropolitan areas. Those three were the only large cities in America with more than 950 violent crimes committed per 100,000 people.

The Lions should train their running back by having them run from Ford Field to downtown and back.

Seriously this is a sad state of affairs for a once great city i sppent my first 16 years in Detroit the exodus began in the mid 60's and hasn't stopped yet.

The city is no place for a law abiding peace loving citizen.

 

[C.A.P]

Detroit is a angry mob of individuals that are angry at what but other than them selves. Its a DANGER zone to be in !

 

[timm]

hahaha!!! I have to laugh... where do you guys live? I live about 20 minutes outside the city.... so I am fairly familiar with it - and worked down there about 10 years ago... I go down there for events, games etc... but nothing else... Pretty much stay around the Fox/Comerica Parkarea...Greektown...Mexicantown...you know all of the typical locations.
You don't really see a lot of crime in those areas as far as I know or have seen....

The biggest problem in the city is the poverty and the kids that go un-educated. Then you have this racist mentality that does not allow people to help....You have to be the 'right' people in order to help. Its a sad state of affairs - but I would say as far as issues go for the city ... crime is probably not number one on the list... It is simply a by-product.

I am certainly no big cheerleader for the city of Detroit... but people rag on it all the time -- probably rightly so - but the city is more of a ghost town more than anything. Every city has their crime and the reason Detroit is probably #1 is because of the decreasing population. Oh, and lets not forget the unemployment rate.....

 

[Kenscollick]

Timm I now live in Holly but I was raised in Detroit in the harper and van dyke area Worked at a GM plant from 1977 to 1999 that was near the I75 and I94 interchange.

You are correct about being fairly safe if you go to the Fox of Comerica park during an event but try walking from Greektown to Joe Louis good luck

The city has many gems that could be enjoyed but the people running the city specifically the city council is "stuck on stupid" they are about to loose the North American International auto show because they refuse to make the decision to make the necessary repairs to Cobo Hall.

Check out some of the city council meetings on utube sad but funny.

 

[timm]

Timm I now live in Holly but I was raised in Detroit in the harper and van dyke area Worked at a GM plant from 1977 to 1999 that was near the I75 and I94 interchange.

You are correct about being fairly safe if you go to the Fox of Comerica park during an event but try walking from Greektown to Joe Louis good luck

The city has many gems that could be enjoyed but the people running the city specifically the city council is "stuck on stupid" they are about to loose the North American International auto show because they refuse to make the decision to make the necessary repairs to Cobo Hall.

Check out some of the city council meetings on utube sad but funny.

I know - isn't that the case... it is a joke. They need to get rid of that city council and just get a good business man in there for mayor. I still think the last election there was rigged. How do you have a 5-6% lead in every poll the day before the election and lose? Maybe it was 10%... All I know is Freeman Hendrix was way ahead of the convict...

 

[jeffmcmahan]

I think it is worth pointing out the blame that the auto companies bear for this stuff. I mean, they were fully centralized in Detroit, Flint, and Deerborn in the 1940s. The problem is that they needed to beat the unions, and they realized that the only way to reduce the union's power was to decentralize, and keep locals from being able to fraternize, organize, etc. By 1946 they were planning to build plants in southern California, Texas and elsewhere. Not to expand, but to move.

Their industry brought Detroit to a population of 2,000,000 in the early 60s. Then, they began the job slashing that continues to today. Moving 50,000 jobs from Detroit to Texas doesn't look like a job cut--but to Detroit it is. I mean, shoot... the River Rouge plant at one point employed 110,000 people--ONE PLANT. Now, I don't think Ford has that many factory employees at all, and a huge share of what they do have is outside of Michigan.

The kind of sprawling infrastructure needed for a city of 2,000,000 is not easy to upkeep. Especially when your tax base is the poorest 800,000 people on this side of the Rio Grande.

And let's not forget, racist employment (and urban redevelopment) practices in the mid-twentieth century led in a big way to the race riots in the 60s. These problems are not caused by the current city council. Why has Flint had the very same fate as Detroit? Empty properties, low real estate value, high crime, low tax revenues, crumbling infrastructure. It's the same story.

 

[timm]

I think it is worth pointing out the blame that the auto companies bear for this stuff. I mean, they were fully centralized in Detroit, Flint, and Deerborn in the 1940s. The problem is that they needed to beat the unions, and they realized that the only way to reduce the union's power was to decentralize, and keep locals from being able to fraternize, organize, etc. By 1946 they were planning to build plants in southern California, Texas and elsewhere. Not to expand, but to move.

Their industry brought Detroit to a population of 2,000,000 in the early 60s. Then, they began the job slashing that continues to today. Moving 50,000 jobs from Detroit to Texas doesn't look like a job cut--but to Detroit it is. I mean, shoot... the River Rouge plant at one point employed 110,000 people--ONE PLANT. Now, I don't think Ford has that many factory employees at all, and a huge share of what they do have is outside of Michigan.

The kind of sprawling infrastructure needed for a city of 2,000,000 is not easy to upkeep. Especially when your tax base is the poorest 800,000 people on this side of the Rio Grande.

And let's not forget, racist employment (and urban redevelopment) practices in the mid-twentieth century led in a big way to the race riots in the 60s. These problems are not caused by the current city council. Why has Flint had the very same fate as Detroit? Empty properties, low real estate value, high crime, low tax revenues, crumbling infrastructure. It's the same story.

I'm sorry - I'm not sure I agree with your premise... The largest ndustry in Michigan that employs people - and somehow they are to blame for the demise of Detroit - because it was probably more affordable - and more sensible to centralize their knowledge base in a region? To re-use plants that were all ready built for multiple platforms? That somehow gets twisted into a 'we're going to break the union' thing because Texas and other states decided to buy the business with tax incentives etc.... I view this as more of a political thing - a Michigan resting on its laurels and not attracting new types of businesses until the bottom has seemed to fall out. Things became bad in Detroit when this country thought it was 'ok' for companies to send their work to Asia pacific so people could work for slave wages. If it was a shoe factory (i.e. Nike) - we would find it unacceptable - but it seems like it is accepted in the auto industry so our companies can 'compete' with foreign manufacturers that pay less while their governments either subsidize health care or workers just don't have any - while the US worker is looked at as some money grubbing 'evil doer' just because he would like to make 50K per year and have health insurance. That isn't competitive in today's auto industry - because governments have found it acceptable for line workers to work for 5 dollars an hour outside the US - or IT professionals that currently make six figure salaries in the US are being replaced by workers in Asia Pac for 15 dollars an hour.

We just gotta learn how to COMPETE!!! I think I'll go buy a tin shack like my competitor has (with a lot of room treatments of course) to live in for 60 bucks....hey, I can compete now....

RE: race and city council - Yes - the problems as they exist today are not caused by city council - but the racist attitudes that they perpetuate (as you mentioned) and continue to preach to the youth of Detroit are. Their inexplicable unprofessionalism thru their actions and words - that is their fault...and it makes the entire city look like a bunch of buffoons. Because there were more racist practices in the 60s does not justify any racist actions today whether they are from white,black or green people.

A new mayor was just elected today by 14% of the eligible voters. That, I guess, is another function of the evil auto industry.

 

[jeffmcmahan]

Timm, I certainly didn't mean to suggest that somehow the city council is fine; I just mean that when I catch discussions about them (whether here, or on WJR or whatever) there is a common thread--they're scapegoated. I mean, I grant that they're idiots--Mrs. Conyers, anyone?--but Detroit is a city destroyed by racist whites, callous corporate anti-labor strategy, racist blacks, a corrupt police department, awful schools, lousy planning, and a bunch of other things... the best City Council in the world would be widely regarded as the worst City Council in the world if they were associated with Detroit.

The place is a mess, regardless what the City Council does or doesn't do. If only the City Council was our problem!

On the Big Three: I suspect there is some philosophical distance between us on the question of what a company owes the city that it uses to grow and prosper. I am simply of the opinion that a company which spurs the growth of a city should not choose, while it is extremely profitable (GM having been the largest, wealthiest company in the world during the initial pullout) to leave it, and cast said city into an economic meat grinder. If we are to agree that indeed corporations are the dominant institutions of our age, should we not expect management to feel at least somewhat responsible to the general public, in addition to shareholders?

When GM cut 30,000 jobs in Flint in the early '80s, Flint was DONE. Everyone knew it. GM knew it, but buying stock in defense contractors was more important to management. And they made out pretty nicely. Good for them. Take a drive through Flint and ask yourself if that makes sense...

 

[asindc]

... The city is no place for a law abiding peace loving citizen.

Ken,

I have to ask: Have you been anywhere in Detroit recently besides the freeways and downtown? My law-abiding peace-loving mother lives in Detroit (not the 'burbs, but the city itself). I would wager that if you were blindfolded and dropped into her neighborhood, you would not recognize it as the Detroit you seem to envision. And there are several other neighborhoods in the city like her's.

Are there enough neighborhoods like her's in Detroit? Not at all. But I think that continuing to perpetuate the idea that no "law abiding peace loving citizen" should want to live there is not helping the city or the region. It is especially strange talk from someone who lives in said region. Having grown up near Chicago and lived here in DC for many years now, I can confidently say that Detroit suburbanites are rather unique in their willingness to express contempt for their center city to outsiders.

As for the high crime, it is rather peculiar that many people fail to recognize (or choose to ignore) the correllation between poverty and crime. Fewer jobs=more crime. It has always been that way throughout history, no matter the community.

 

[kach22i]

Metro Detroiters bashing Detroiters, it's been the norm all my life (49), I don't see it ever changing.

Try going to Lansing, they bash all of SE Michigan.

And the UP is a different country.

We eat our own, never figured it out.

 

[Kenscollick]

I don’t take any joy in describing the conditions of Detroit. I have spent plenty of time there not just driving through; I agree that you probably could drop me into one of the approx. 6 neighborhoods that are not blighted however within a very short walk I would be in the conditions that I have described.

http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=Detroit&state=MI

If you do a search for the best neighborhoods in Detroit all that you will find are people recommending the suburbs.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/694089/best_neighborhoods_in_detroit.html

The city of Detroit is the largest employer in Detroit. Foreclosures are among the highest in the state as well as the property taxes. During the trial of the former mayor is was discovered that the city prosecutor was behind on her taxes for two houses and one of them was in foreclosure.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/184816/houses_cost_less_than_cars_in_detroit.html?cat=3

The saddest part is that most of the residences of the city are content to continue to live in these conditions only 14% of Detroit voters cast a ballot in the last mayoral election.

It is true that where there is poverty crime goes up, but that doesn’t make it OK many crimes in the cities are so common that they go unreported.