Detroit, Michigan

When we left Maumee, Ohio we were bracing ourselves for the "big city"- Detroit,Michigan.  And as we drove down the freeway with the sparkling high rises on the right,Kid Rock's song "Detroit, Michigan" was running through my mind.  As I looked around I thought, oh it's not as bad as everyone portrayed it-Detroit looked like a typical metropolitan city.  The gleaming signs for the MGM Grand; the bluish silver windows on the towering skyscrapers reflecting the sun and the white puffy clouds. Yes this is Motown, just like Kid Rock was singing about. And then I glanced over to my left and there right along the freeway were the scenes he wasn't singing about.  Neighborhoods or the shell of neighborhoods left behind. Row after row of crumbling houses; broken windows;piles of destroyed houses. And every once in a while a home inhabited by someone, holding on to whatever was left of the neighborhood. A little ray of hope in an overwhelming display of hopelessness.  I felt like I had been punched in the stomach.  How could this be in America ? Land of opportunity.  And then I remembered the time I spent in New Orleans back in 2007. Almost a year after Katrina and when I arrived sections of the city still looked like Katrina had just hit-destroyed homes; piles of garbage; businesses boarded closed. This looked eerily similar,but a force of nature hadn't caused what I was looking at in Detroit-a force of man did this.

And yet everywhere we went, sprinkled in among the hopelessness were pockets of hopes.  A little playground filled with flowers and colorful jungle gyms for the children. The park was empty when we went into the restaurant for lunch, but when we came out, it was filled with families and kids playing-here-right in the middle of downtown Detroit.

Mudgies Deli , home of the best sandwiches anywhere-stop and check it out if you are in Detroit

Our family took us on a little tour of the downtown area after lunch and I was curious to see the old train station since it was such an imposing building on the skyline of Detroit.  Unfortunately the razor wire keeps you from getting close to it. There is a deal going on right now to make this area a huge park area including restoration of the train depot.  The depot has become an international symbol of the decay of Detroit and I understand why. There is a small homeless community that has taken root around the station, I wonder where they will end up when the improvements happen.

Since Mudgies Deli was in the middle of the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, we took a little tour of the neighborhood. Again it's so incongruous seeing the blight and then driving down a street and seeing these sweet little historic houses inhabited by people who are making a go of it, one way or another, in the middle of the city.

This composition struck something in my heart-the old boarded up wooden building; the beauty of the brick church and the towering skyscraper of glass windows-a little window of historical progression ?

An amazing place-we enjoyed the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo exhibit ; on a Friday morning it was busy with busloads of school children and tourists. 

I so wanted to look away as we passed empty apartment building, wondering what happened to the people who used to call this place home. And if we turned down just one block we would stumble on the huge inhabitied mansions.  I can't begin to describe the emotions I felt that day-hope; hopelessness; amazement at the beauty; amazement at the desolation; a profund sadness that this is the country I live in and I'm not doing anything about it. That's what embarrasses me and makes me feel shamed. I look and shake my head and go on.

Detroit is bouncing back,slowly, but still moving in the right direction.  More restaurants are opening; more activities are happening and bringing people to the parks and streets. Detroit has a Blight Removal Project composed of 84,641 structures-that's a lot for any city much less one struggling from bankruptcy. 

So when in or near Detroit-do what you can-support the local businesses and arts.  I know so many people are afraid of getting shot or robbed-seriously use your common sense-know your neighborhood. And when you get a minute go and listen to Kid Rock's song "Detroit, Michigan". It will remind you of what Detroit was and can be again.

Detroit, Michigan, yeah

Detroit, Michigan, yeah

Detroit, Michigan, yeah

Ya heard about Marvin Gaye, we got him

Can I get a witness?

Talkin' bout Hitsville USA we got it

How sweet it is

We got those fine, fine super Supremes

The kind of girls ya see in your dreams

When ya hear our thunderin' sound

Ya know it comes from Detroit town

Talkin' 'bout Rosa Parks we sent her

Talkin' 'bout Henry Ford the inventor

Talkin' 'bout Aretha yeah we got her

The Queen of Soul

Bob Seger yeah we got him

And that old time rock n roll

Slim Shady set the world on fire

The Big Three baby and the finest cars

George Clinton's P Funk all stars

We spend our days on the line and our nights in the bars

Detroit, Michigan, yeah

Detroit, Michigan, yeah

Detroit, Michigan, yeah

Detroit, Michigan, yeah

Detroit, Michigan, oh yeah

Detroit, Michigan, yeah

Happy Trails and safe travels to all my friends. And please share your ideas ,if you have them, on what we can or should be doing to save our cities and neighborhoods.