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The need to shrink Detroit – and why we must do it now.

Nobody is perfect, mayor Dave Bing included. And making arguments for the need to downsize what was once America’s fastest growing city is, well, nothing short of radical. No surprise, people are getting angry and confused at a proposal that will re-locate residents and will change the structure of the city as we know it. It’s not going to be easy, but if we want any shot at saving Detroit, it has to be done.
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A bomb at work? Oh the folly!

Viewing this on Facebook or through RSS?? You won’t see the video, check out the post online at at http://www.cruzweb.net/2009/08/13/a-bomb-at-work-oh-the-follya-bomb-at-work-oh-the-folly/

Just when I think life can’t get any weirder, on Tuesday a cop comes and knocks on the door at work. I was politely, but bluntly told that someone had reported a suspicious package outside of the office (which is a Credit Union building), and that as such I must evacuate immediately. Without much fuss I headed outside with the rest of the flock as per instruction to see what was up.

The police were on their radios trying to get it all worked out.

From one of the other building employees, I find out that the package that has caused all the ruckus is located right in front of a building, under a tree. So I scope it out.
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Extreme Makeover: Depot Edition

***NOTE***
To all that are finding this page through a link, there is an update on what’s happened with more information and insight here. So once you’re done, check it out.
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There’s something brewing over at the Michigan Central Station train depot in southwest Detroit. The depot sits as a gateway in between Corktown and Mexicantown. While Mexicantown is picking up somewhat, Corktown is still experiencing the economic hit of the Tiger Stadium loss when the team moved to Comerica Park in 2000. The station is one of the first things you notice when you cross the Ambassador Bridge from Canada into the United States, and there’s no question that while it’s an architectural masterpiece, it remains a tremendous eye sore and a black mark for the city.

On April 7th, the City of Detroit decided it was time for the building to come down, and entirely too many people disagree with that decision. So with the help of Wayne State student John Mohyi, state Senator Cameron Brown, Dan Stamper and the Detroit International Bridge Company (who owns not just the Ambassador bridge but the Train Station as well), an effort was put underway to try and find a use for this iconic relic of Detroit’s past.

Numerous times since Amtrak moved out in the late 1980s, there have been proposed solutions for what to do with the building.

• Before the Casinos opened in Detroit (Greektown, the MGM Grand, and Motor City Casino), MCS was a possible location for a casino / hotel.
• There were talks of it being an IT hub for the massive cables that connect the internet between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit.
• The Kwame Kilpatrick Administration pitched the idea of using it as a police headquarters or FBI regional hub for the area.

All of these project ideas and more have fallen through, and the depot sits idle, with the exception of the urban exploration and the occasional movie shoot (such as the first Transformers film) or photo op. The razor wire around the front perimeter does little to deter visitors, and the cement rises up ever so as if to dare people to try and jump over it. This all despite the fact that the back of the building is completely and entirely wide open.
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Welcome to the New Wild Wild West

Urban Decay: The final frontier

For the past 50 years or so, the city of Detroit has gained it’s infamy and reputation as one of the most dangerous places on the planet. While in the 1950s we still viewed far-off lands, ripe with savagery and untouched by modern man, to be the last places to be made civilized. Yet in many places, we find ourselves having to recover from taking a few steps back. With things getting worse faster than they are getting better, you can’t help but wonder if we are even recovering at all, or regressively falling back into the ways of life we worked for thousands of years to pull ourselves out of.

Bar fights, prostitution, hard liquor, gunslingers, robbers, roving gangs, and utter lawlessness sound like the taglines from a John Wayne movie about the old west. A time when you made your own rules and lived by them accordingly. But today, the same scenario can be described to represent Detroit. The once proud city has turned into an “each man for himself” ecosystem riddled with every kind of crime imagineable.

When you go to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, or Miami, the city itself is an event. It doesn’t matter if there’s a game or festival going on, the lure of the hustle and bustle will suffice the average American’s thirst for adventure. You get adventure in Detroit as well, just a different kind.

The urban decay is rampant and apparent everywhere you look. While foreclosed homes are now commonplace all over the country, homes and industrial buildings that are literally falling apart are quite another site. In most of the western world these places would be demolished and the land used for new developments, in Detroit nobody wants to put the money fourth to take over land and develop it when little opportunity. It’s not uncommon to see a house completely caved in from abandonment and neglect next to a 2-story victorian home to a family of five.

You don’t realize how bad it is until you see it’s worse than a bombed Iraqi Palace.

Saddam's Palace, post bombing

A charming home on the east-side.

Such abandonment leaves property open to squatters, vandals, and thieves. Many derelect buildings sport spray-painted signs saying “NO COPPER” as all the copper and other metals have been stripped and sold for scrap. Abandoned warehouses and industrial complexes become storing facilities for stolen cars, merchandise, or places of residence for the homeless. The word “gasm” is written all over the east side of the city, and it seems to be popping up more and more each day. The city is, at best, a canvas for drug messages and urban artwork.

Ever had a powerful fudgasm?

With all this, you’d think the crime would be through the roof and we would have the police transformed into urban SWAT, but that’s nowhere near the case. In addition to the “new” territory to discover, city jails are full of vacancies, despite real crime continuing to skyrocket. Why? It’s simple: nobody cares.

With all the problems in the city involving homicide, sex crimes, and others, even grand theft auto means you’re most likely to be screwed and get little help, if any from the police. The police just don’t care. If they spend their time trying to chase down every stolen vehicle, that would be all they’d do. Most likely the car would be firebombed or stripped, if it hasn’t been chopped and never recovered at all. Minimal crimes like burglery or someone snatching your purse while you pump gas aren’t even worth reporting. Nothing will get done, you’ll waste your time filling out paperwork and getting shit from the police department who know they will never catch your criminal, and as such aren’t even going to give you the time of day to help you file charges.

Realistically, you’ll be fine and safe. In all my years, the worst I’ve ever gotten are bums begging me for money. But others haven’t been so lucky, it won’t take much more than a small search on google to find Detroit horror stories of theft and assault. But this is the new frontier. And if you don’t play by your own rules, realize that the ones set by society can easily eat you alive.

Back in the old west, you never knew if the bank was about to get robbed or if some act of violence was going to erupt anywhere you looked. Yet people were unphased by it, they knew it was part of life and you have to be tough and act accordingly. The similarities are uncanny. The liquor store you’ve wandered into just may be the subject of a hold-up. Or an argument between crackheads outside the store could end up with someone getting the shit kicked out of them right before the shifting residents, passers-by, or Detroit’s Finest.

The right mindset is the difference. Don’t expect anyone from the government to help you. The police will do you no good and probably arrest you for leaving the scene of a crime if you try to report something aftr they fail to respond. The your own law, take matters into your own hands, play safe, and be ready to deal with the consequences of your actions if you overstep your boundaries.

Even with all the restoration and rebirth efforts, drugs, alcohol, and violence run the show. Long-time mayor Coleman Young once said that there wasn’t a single problem in Detroit that couldn’t be solved by giving every one who lived there a job. It looks like we’ve hit the point where that is no longer true.

Welcome to the Wild Wild West.

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Back to Square One

So in 3 days of canvassing for Clean Water Action I’ve threatened to have the police called on me in Mount Clemens, Been picked up by the police in Wixom, and fell and screwed up my knee in Shelby Township. I’m done with this stuff. Combine that with the fact that after nightfall NOBODY wants anyone who looks like me knocking at their door. Which I can understand, I look like “that guy” that they always show on the news who is pretending to be a building inspector, meter reader, etc. who then proceeds to hold you up at gunpoint and rob you blind. So needless to say, the job just is not a good fit for me, plain and simple. So I’m back to square one, time to start looking again for employment. Probably better this way, as not all of their issues I agree with and could never see myself campaigning on global warming (I much rather prefer Simon Que’s take on the matter, which you can read over at Lew Rockwell). Maybe I’ll wait till after Monday when I talk to my doctor again and see what the deal is with my damn knee before I make any decisions.

Who knows where I’ll end up. But it should be interesting. I’m also going to get the rest of the pages on this blog/site up and running. There’s been nothing on here for too long now, it’s getting ridiculous I know. So I’ll get it all taken care of.

It’s also come as quite a surprise to my how controversial my hair has become.  When you have short hair, people don’t ever say to you “You should grow it out”even if they like long hair. But if they don’t like long hair, when it’s long they all tell you to cut it. I only bring it up because I did one of those stupid MySpace bulletins that was a Valentine app, and this seems to be the consistent message: If you have short hair, people don’t tell you they hate it if they do. But if you have long hair, you will get hell for not cutting it. Well, not hell as much as harassment. But still, very weird.

In other news, Jenn’s taking me to Flogging Molly next Month. I’m super stoked, last year’s show was such a blast.Maybe this year one of us standing outside will have a camera that actually works. They have a new album dropping in March which I’ve been listening to quite a bit of lately. It’s called “Float“, and the title track is just awesome, it’s such a good song. The rest of the album is pretty good too. It’ll be great to hear some new material (hopefully) at the show. I’ve decided that I don’t care if I can’t fully walk by then, I’m going into the pit and will be pushing my way to the front regardless. I’m well used to standing on my feet for hours on end, so I’m not too worried about how it’ll all end up. As long as I can still walk at the end of the night, it’s all good

Speaking of concerts and new albums, I sincerely hope Counting Crows keep touring as their new album “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings” is dropping 3 weeks after Flogging Molly’s. To make things juicier, 3 tracks have already been released for download through the internet (MySpace, their website, etc). I doubt they’ll release more with the album right around the corner. If the rest of the album is half as good as the first 3 tracks has been, then I’ll definitely be one of their best. From what I’ve heard thus far, it sounds like it would chronically fit in between August and Recovering. I’m sure Gil Norton (who produced Recovering the Satellites and half of the new album) had something to do with all of that. On a more personal note, how Adam describes the album is “…it’s about a flood of sin and liquor and dissolution and insanity and it’s about trying to rebuild the life you wrecked in the wake of that flood. It’s about the way it feels.” Sounds entirely too much like my life over the past year or so. Liquor, sin, and regret. Que sera sera I suppose.