Detroit
Last week, I took a trip to Michigan to see two close friends, and the days were balanced between finding fun things to do together (Detroit’s Roller Derby is a lot of fun, as are Detroit’s dive bars…) and realizing that this is a city on a downward slide into decay. Michigan leads the states with 9.6% unemployment, and just about every other building I passed in the city was boarded up. Entire neighborhoods were seemingly abandoned by city services, with no working streetlights or even stoplights. It is true that Detroit has cut back on city services because there isn’t the budget for it. A guy on the street asking for change told me he hadn’t eaten for two days. Visiting one friend at work in the Cadillac Building (a towering building with over 40 types of marble in the decor), the ground floor of the building was turned over to be the waiting room for Detroit’s Unemployment Services. Every day, she told me, every chair is filled. And the snow falls and falls and falls, seemingly without end sometimes.
We had a depressing debate, actually, about whether the rest of the country cares enough to save Michigan from what seems like a state-wide economic failure. I worry that every other state won’t want precious funds going to a state that seems too far gone, but my friends who live there optimistically believe the opposite. For the sake of their jobs and safety, I hope there can be a turnaround, even if the new jobs coming in aren’t part of the Detroit automobile industry.
All the same, it was great to spend time with some friends I rarely get to see and see their new digs, their new plans, and help them feel more comfortable in the long Michigan winter. People there are quite friendly, and I love asking them to point out where they live on their anatomical [right palm] state map. And even in a city that appears to be dying, there was a fascinating trick to Detroit buildings: from the outside, most of them look dark and small, but once inside, they are spacious, brightly lit, and often full of people. Hopefully the city too can turn a similar trick.
2 comments Monday 19 Jan 2009 | m. | Rants, Waxing Philosophical
Poor Michigan. They’re in a bad place right now, and I hope that in the next few years we can make the progress needed to pull them back up. But what’s interesting is that Michigan has been in this boat for a very long time, and it’s clear that something very substantial has to happen to really do lasting good.
This is all true. My hope is that Michigan can be the source for producing better batteries, for all things. Chrysler plans to build a battery factory for the Chevy Volt in a year or two – that could be a start.