Below, one of TMV’s thoughtful commenters, a recent witness to Detroit situ. Context: Saying ‘Enough is enough” and ‘Calling it the lowest point in Detroit history but a chance to stabilize a city spiraling into decline for decades, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced Friday that the state-appointed emergency manager had filed for Chapter 9 protection”.
Here, TMV’s commenter CJJACK
In a lot of ways, Detroit is like an addict.
Once young and vibrant, it has been in a long, slow decline for years. It still has a beautiful side – if you can look past the scars – and like many beautiful things also has a dark side that can be terrifying.
Like an addict, it has endured deprivations and abuses which would have long ago killed a less resilient body. And like an addict, a reckoning was inevitable. The city has at long last hit bottom, but there is a glimmer of hope. It is still alive. It’s afflictions did not kill it…not yet. And there are people who love her and wish to nurture her back to health.
When I was back home for Christmas, my sister – who works for an architecture firm that is restoring several buildings in what has become known as “Mid-town” – took us on a tour of some of the areas that are coming back to life, and a few that should.
If you know where to look (she does), you can find fascinating buildings of all types designed by (I’m told) famous architects. For example, if you miss the World Trade Center in New York, there is a tower in Detroit designed by the same man that looks like an echo of those now lost structures.
We visited an all but abandoned Belle Isle, but then circled back around to Cork Town to find the wait for delicious BBQ at Slows was almost 2 hours long. Across the street was an abandoned building my sister assures us was filled with squatters, and not far from that was the once grand Michigan Central Station.
In the space of a mile you can see what once was, what (sadly) is, and what could be. Like the addict, you know them the way they were, and can still see some glimmers of a wonderful person, but then a block down the street and the ugly is once again revealed.
So now Motown has finally bottomed out. Today is day one. The recovery will be long, slow, painful, and there will no doubt be relapses along the way. But the city is tough. She’s already lived through the worst, and if decades of decline, corrupt governance, and world famous crime didn’t kill her, then bankruptcy won’t, either.
One day at a time, folks. One day at a time.
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There is also this cogent comment by another TMV commenter: RUDI
Detroit started to die after the 67 riots. The threat of court ordered busing drove white families North and into private Schools like St. Clemens. Detroit Catholic Central is Detroit in name only. The Catholic Church closed many churches and schools for good in 2005. White flight moved the “unofficial” border from 8 Mile to I696, then to Hall Road. many suburbanites NEVER set foot into Detroit, even though it still has pockets of splendor. Illich and Kamos believed in Detroit, but suburbanites never will…
Read more at http://themoderatevoice.com/184480/city-of-detroit-declared-bankruptcy-many-pc-reasons-may-be-given/#2WmTLMBvyu0brMGQ.99