The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting piece on Detroit’s revival during the city government’s bankruptcy.
The national coverage of Detroit’s recent bankruptcy filing reminds me of 1967, when rebellion erupted in the city after police raided an illegal after-hours bar. It was one of the worst of the riots that roiled the country during the 1960s in Watts, Newark, Chicago, and other places.
Detroit remains a major American city.
I was away at Boy Scout camp when it happened, and radio reports I heard there made me believe the entire city from Eight Mile Road to the Detroit River was burned to a cinder. When I returned, I expected to see horrible devastation everywhere—burnt ruins, smoke in the air, and armed military personnel on every corner.
What I found was exactly what I had left behind. The modest, well-kept houses still stood in neat rows. Lawns were still trimmed and green. This was several miles from the epicenter of violence, where 41 people were killed and lots of buildings burned. But it was a far cry from the total devastation I had gleaned from the media.
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Since Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in July, I’ve been getting flashbacks of that experience. I hear about garbage piled up in the streets and blackout conditions with streetlights out, while the national news shows images of abandoned, dilapidated buildings and vacant lots. Few of these images have people in them. Much of this coverage sounds and looks like the networks just pulled out their canned footage and commentary on Detroit and slapped a bankruptcy headline on it. Based on what I’ve seen, one would think that nobody lives in Detroit but a handful of marginal folks and some gangsters busy killing each other.
But Detroit remains a major American city. According to the 2010 census, there are still 700,000 people living in Detroit, making Motown the most populous city in Michigan and in the top 20 nationally. We still eat, work, and shop like people everywhere. We get married, have babies, and die. We love, hate, laugh, cry, and hope like people everywhere. Most of us are not thugs and want great neighborhoods as much as anyone else.
The bottom line is that the coverage of the bankruptcy reinforces a tired old story. But the internal narrative of Detroit has already changed direction. There are plenty of positive major economic stories coming out of Detroit, starting with the federally bailed-out General Motors and Chrysler auto companies emerging from bankruptcy with improved sales and record profits, and continuing with the likes of the booming Midtown as a flagship community of the new Detroit.
The people of Detroit are certainly not bankrupt for resources or ideas. Here are six ways that they’re helping to create a stronger Motor City.
1. The powerhouse riverfrontThere is a reason that Detroit is where it is. Its French name, le détroit du Lac Érie (the Lake Erie strait), describes its geographic position on a river between Lakes Huron and Erie. It’s such a convenient spot on the Great Lakes that it’s almost unimaginable that the area would be abandoned as a transport center.
One of the reasons the auto industry grew up in Detroit is that the needed technical expertise and facilities were already here serving the commercial ships on the Great Lakes. Basically, gigantic liner engines were downsized to become car engines.
Detroit remains the busiest border crossing between Canada and the United States, and Michigan is intent on building a bridge, called the New International Trade Crossing, to accommodate the traffic.
2. At the forefront of urban agricultureKeep Growing Detroit’s garden resource program supports more than 1,400 gardens, many of them organized as community projects. That’s in addition to a few dozen market gardens and numerous uncounted home gardens in yards and adjacent lots. Meanwhile, groups like the Detroit Food Policy Council, the Eastern Market Corporation, and the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network have been developing produce markets to bring more fresh nutritious food to the public.
Recently, their work has received some official support. In 2012 Detroit Public Schools initiated a program to teach agriculture at 45 schools with the expectation that jobs growing, selling, processing, and preparing food will be strong options for future Detroiters. In February of 2013, the city council passed an Urban Agriculture Ordinance that gave the nod to the phenomenon and set some rules as to how it’s going to be done.
In addition to feeding people better, community gardening has proved to be a powerful community organizing tool. Organizers in the Brightmoor and Penrose areas have leaned heavily on gardening as a pathway to get people involved in their neighborhoods. As communities become used to raising their own food, it’s natural for people to look around to see what other problems they can solve. Urban gardeners know that decay becomes the compost that nurtures the future.
3. Making the city council accountable to the neighborhoodsIn the past, Detroiters tended to vote for well-known names, such as Motown singer Martha Reeves, former television personality Charles Pugh, and Monica Conyers (the wife of long-time U.S. Representative John Conyers). Because city council elections were held on a citywide basis, candidates had no accountability to specific neighborhoods.
The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2013/0909/Detroit-bankrupt-Six-ways-the-Motor-City-is-thriving
