Living in the suburbs of the city of Detroit, I’ve been watching Detroit 1-8-7 pretty carefully. I noticed that finally this week, the actors are actually filming in the streets, compared to the first two episodes. The hand held camera scenes show real landmarks whizzing by, instead of the establishing shots of previous shows. This pleases me. It was beginning to irritate me that a program that has marketed itself to be exclusively about the police force and people of Detroit, was so obviously not here.
A lot of it ain’t pretty. This week’s storyline took on an issue that the city council, residents and everyone in the state of Michigan is concerned about. That being the idea to tear down the abandoned buildings in the crime ridden areas of the city, and literally “shrink Detroit.”
The idea is this: since Detroit has over 40 square miles of abandoned areas, (that number growing all the time as people leave downtown due to job loss and gang activity) why not tear down some of these buildings? Why not move those still in these dangerous areas to a more localized and safer place? Offer them an incentive to leave their home for a new one?
People have been debating this for years. What is boils down to is that some of these residents have been living downtown for decades. It’s their home. They don’t want to leave.
Or as nicely put by a character facing the situation on 1-8-7 tonight, “We were here when this city was great. And we will be here when it’s great again.”
I don’t profess to know how I’d feel if approached to leave my long time home. On the one hand, I can understand how daunting and disruptive it would feel to have the government trying to tell you what to do. But, I have to say, on the other hand. Well. Some areas downtown are getting so terrifying to even drive through, that I would probably jump at the chance. It’s an awful and sad thing.
The mayor of the city, former athlete Dave Bing, said in February he will put the plan into action. He said the population of the city has decreased by almost half, and should people remain in “desolate areas” he cannot guarantee them “all the services they require.” Meaning police, fire and electric services.
As the budget of the city is cut more and more, as the state of Michigan sinks deeper and deeper into this recession, the city of Detroit is crumbling down. Literally.
Detroit 1-8-7 shone a bit of a light on the topic. A homeless man in Brush Park (a real place) is found with a load of copper piping. This ties him to a homicide scene. When he’s questioned, he says, “They were just going to tear down the house anyway. Wipe it out like nobody lives there … that’s Detroit now.” James McDaniel’s character says “Shrink the city and start off with a better plan. I’m not the only one who thinks Detroit should shrink.”
Maybe that is the best idea. It looks like only time will tell.
What do you think? Is it fair for government to ask people to relocate? Do you think a city can be saved by “shrinking it?”
Clacked by Tara Shrodes
on Oct 06, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
You know…I just don’t know. Sometimes cities become so large they are out of control. The big concern is what do they do with the displaced people? Here in SD the downtown area has been renovated..high rise condos were built, new baseball field, the Gas Lamp Quarter has great restaurants. Downtown is no longer a scary place to be even at night. But, at night, walking around you are still mixing with the homeless.
*POST AUTHOR*
Yep Mikki, as they tear these abandoned buildings down, the homeless will be in the streets again. They use the buildings for shelter. But the crackheads also use them as dope dens. It’s a mess!