Always,
Phil

So, how is that for transparency? I could not talk about the decades in an editorial piece like this. Hell, we could go back to the slave trade and talk about West Africa, or ever blame the death of Alexander for our current problems in the Middle East. Detroit never was much of a pretty city, or even a really desirable one in my book. However, it was home to families, teams, a culture…and yes to the automobiles which came to represent the American Dream as much as anything.

On the condescending thing? You interjected yourself as the neo-author of what could be termed a “good” piece, or more appropriately an “accurate” one in your opening comments. Start off attacking the whole premise, then suggest you are better, then accuse some more, then go “smart ass” at the end eh? “Right. Me either.”

Poo! I tell you what my friend. You and I get together and tell a better story of Detroit, and even these other city shells out there, how about that? Not your story, not mine, but a synthesized one. We wont call ourselves journalists either, as I have actually come to despise that term of late. We can just be citizen reporters. We will just tell the truth as we see it okay? Oh, that is what I tried to do isn’t it? Any way, I welcome your comments and it is obvious you have a passion and a knowledge of this subject. Tell us more and please let’s not call one another names any more.

Always,
Phil

Now your comments about the sports teams here are just plain wrong and an example of lazy research. Then using those false statements to draw parallels to the city itself renders your whole premise shaky. The entire article becomes suspect when viewed through the eyes of someone like me who knows the facts about the teams and the city, and how the city interacts with the region, the history of how we got where we are, and all the factors that have contributed to the demise of Detroit. Manufacturing has been leaving the city of Detroit for decades. That’s how the suburbs here became so prosperous!

Your story is in the suburbs, not the city.

If you want a more compelling case for your thesis, you should focus on the Metro Detroit area or Michigan in general. But then you wouldn’t have the drama of dead bodies piling up, which I contend would still be happening in the city-proper regardless of how many auto plants were churning or how much money was being made in the rest of the region.

This same story is happening in so many places, and I did not mean to pick on Detroit so much as to feel empathy for the people who love the place. Sorry it came across as misinformation, but the city is pitiful compared to what it once was. As for your opinion on manufacturing in the US, if you any everyone else in the US feels that way, wave bye bye. There is no need to get nasty either you know. If your opinion differs that is fine, but I did not blame Detroit’s decline on the loss of manufacturing alone, though it is a major cause of the current situation. We are past worrying about urban sprawl and the dieing inner city out of white peeps moving to the suburb here.

You are right about the city being in trouble all along too. But it was not a ghost town either. Buffalo, Pittsburgh, any number of other places have had some of the same problems. But you do not exactly open the news wire to find them stacking up the corpses either – not yet any way. So you go right ahead and cling to whatever fragment of the American dream you are attached to. I am not the “end all” expert on these things, I just told a story the way I saw it. Get yourself a blog and jump in my friend.

Always,
Phil

SO DRAMATIC…not to mention inaccurate, misleading, and really not true.

How about this for a more accurate depiction of the situation:

“Perhaps symbolic of the city’s hope and potential to rebuild, Detroit’s sports teams continue to endear themselves to the struggling region. The Tigers rebounded in the latter half of the decade, going to the World Series in 2006 and forcing the Minnesota Twins to a decisive extra game in a battle for the AL Central Crown in 2009, missing the playoffs by only the slimmest of margins. The Pistons have missed the playoffs only once in the last decade (2001), advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals 7 consecutive times (a record), making it to the Conference Finals twice, and winning an NBA Championship in 2004. The Red Wings are a perennial NHL powerhouse, appearing in the Western Conference Finals and Stanley Cup finals consistently, their most recent championship coming in 2008. The lowly Lions seem hopeless but even they have won two games so far this year (that’s two more than last year) and things seem to be looking up under new head coach Jim Schwartz and University of Georgia standout QB Matt Stafford. Detroit is consistenly ranked among the Sporting News Best Sports Cities, claiming the number one spot in 2007. Finally, Detroit is one of only 13 US cities to boast professional sports teams in all four major sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL)”

Sorry. Getting tired of this story line. Trying to use Detroit as an example of American decay and/or blaming Detroit’s woes solely on the decline of American manufacturing is lazy journalism (if you call blogging journalism). Detroit’s problems are rooted in racial inequality and segretation going back to the early 20th Century. I think Detroit would be in the same sad shape it’s in today if everything in the world were produced in the USA. No matter what happens to the economy (manufacturing or otherwise), Detroit has been on a downward spiral since 1967 – through good times and bad. Anyone remember the 90’s and how great the economy was back then? Anyone remember Detroit in the 90’s booming back to prosperity and returning to its pre- 60’s status as a great American city? Right. Me either.