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March 07, 2009
"racist extortions" (and YouTube hits)
I don't generally write about things with which I am not fully conversant, and I haven't been in Michigan long enough to consider myself an expert on Detroit. For starters, I still haven't been there. I spent three months here in Ann Arbor, then three months in California, and I've only been back for a couple of weeks. Still, I am doing my best to keep up with area news, and I do subscribe to the Detroit Free Press. While most people think of Detroit as a troubled city which is home to a troubled auto industry, what was on the front page of yesterday's paper hammered home the fact that Detroit is also home to a very troubled, very dysfunctional, city government. So troubled and so dysfunctional that I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that is the government of Detroit that is either the cause of many of its problems and/or the roadblock to any solutions. I might not have bothered to write about the current shenanigans in Detroit, but then I saw that the story also made the Wall Street Journal, so a little background is in order. Detroit's convention center is called the Cobo Center, and because it is in a dire state of repair (collapsing floors and stuff like that), unless something is done fast it stands to lose a huge amount of business, including possibly the Detroit Auto Show. So the state has tried to pull together to save it, with the state and regional governments cobbling together a deal to buy and renovate it. The plan, however, displeases some of the members of the Detroit City Council, which voted to reject the deal. Their veto was overridden by Mayor Ken Cockrel, so now he and everyone else are being accused of "racism": Cobo Hall, site of the auto show since 1988, is 49 years old, cramped, leaky and in desperate need of repair. The struggling city needs Cobo as an economic engine, but doesn't have the money to fund a renovation. The $288 million expansion and renovation plan, signed earlier this year by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, was the result of years of wrangling between the city, the suburbs and the state. It would pay Detroit $20 million to transfer control of Cobo to a five-member regional board, while eliminating $15 million in annual operating expenses from the city's books.Racist extortions? Bear in mind that the surrounding counties aren't happy with the burden in the first place: "But not everybody outside of Detroit is happy about taking on Cobo," Jackson said. "And the city feels like something is being taken away from them. We have to get past this impasse somehow."In other words, it would be an immense gain all around for Detroit. Wondering how any of this is racism? Read the story from yesterday's paper that inspired this extended post: ...what started with a veto by the mayor ended with strong charges of racism against a majority black city and a promise to meet the mayor in court next week.Gee, who'd have guessed that? What I'd really like to know is precisely how Mayor Cockrel became a "European ruler," but I guess I'll never know. This all prompted Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley to say, "It's time that Detroit City Council meetings stop becoming YouTube hits."It came as surprising news to me that for these past months I've been living just a stone's throw from a city which is entertaining enough to succeed on YouTube! To make it on YouTube, they must be good. And sure enough, they are. Check this wild scene out -- in which Councilmember Monica Conyers interrupts Ken Cockrel and then calls him "Shrek." I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but it's a shame this once thriving city has become such a pathetic joke. For those who want a serious view of the latest flap, a concerned Detroit resident (in a video titled "What's wrong with Detroit?") says "I'm so tired of defending the indefensible," and argues that the voters "need to be a lot more educated about the people who represent us." I've never heard of this guy (his name is Mr. Spann), but he makes a good argument, and his sincerity and civic-mindedness are obvious. If more Detroiters thought that way, the city might make some progress. posted by Eric on 03.07.09 at 10:03 PM
Comments
No mention is made of of the upside to the region, last year, $600M. The majority of which went to Detroit, Wayne County, and Oakland County, a smaller percentage went to Macomb County. When on the outside looking into at an argument,one should look at all angles. Of course, it is generally said that this Cobo thing is a "burden" that is said to help shape an argument or the product of an already formed opinion by people who do not know all of the angles. Look at all angles People... Oakland County has benefited to the tune of $175M over the last 20 years, Detroit has benefited also. Detroit has also had to bear the burden of kbakerco · March 22, 2009 12:42 AM Post a comment
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Detroit is becoming history.
There is no reason to have a city there now. The innovative industries are gone. In fact, almost all productive activity has ceased.
State and federal funding will only slow the decline. Is slow better than fast?
To expect Detroit to reform and prosper is nonsense. It won't happen. The people there don't know how to do that. And those who could improve matters don't want to be there at all and leave.
Detroit is in a larger entity, Michigan, which is only a tiny bit more able and trending the same way.
And neither Detroit or Michigan is alone.
Today the news from Detroit is nearly always about politicians arguing over offices or resources or their ideas about society.
View them as gang leaders concerned about turf and you can make sense of the situation.