The Huffington Post has brought its liberal brand of online reporting to Motown, debuting its new Huff Post Detroit website this morning.
The new site is part news, part celebration of Detroit’s arts and culture. And it includes the obligatory the-suburbs-suck column, which makes the claim that people living north of Eight Mile have no idea what’s going on in the inner city.
Author Toby Barlow writes this:
“… Many, if not most, of the people who identify themselves as being from ‘Detroit’ have really no idea what Detroit is like. That’s because they really live in, say, Novi, Warren, even neighboring Redford, and haven’t explored downtown in years. Holding onto mythologies perpetuated by a hysterical press over the past quarter century, they cling to the belief that there are no grocery stores in the city (we actually have 115) and still ask me where I get my dry cleaning done … They’ve been to the Fox, to Comerica Park, and maybe waited in line at Slows, but they haven’t been to MOCAD, Astro Coffee, D’Mongo’s, Good Girls Go to Paris, Le Petit Zinc, Supino’s Pizza or any of the other places that have popped up over the past half-decade.
“People will say, ‘Oh it’s not like it was,’ they’ll say they can’t bear what happened to Detroit, but they’re simply blind to the possibilities of the present. Nostalgia for an old bygone Detroit is fine, but it’s not relevant to what is happening on Michigan Avenue, on Woodward Avenue, and in Eastern Market right now. It’s great that you still know the Faygo song, but do you know about the College of Creative Studies’ massively incredible new Taubman Center? Who do you want to be? That guy hanging out at Starbucks sporting a Mark Fidrych T-shirt who has no idea where Cliff Bell’s, Honest John’s or the Russell Street Deli are (that last one’s on Russell Street, by the way) or do you want to be really, actually, honestly, 100 percent from Detroit?
“The lack of knowledge comes from a very specific history. The last two or three generations got out of Detroit during the enormous boom years, leaving the city limits for the American dream of a suburban house with two cars in the garage. In their wake, they saw Detroit go through an enormous upheaval of poverty, extreme racial division, and abandonment. The problems seemed too huge and too intractable so, out of frustration, they simply stopped looking. When they turned their back on the city, their children and their grandchildren did the same.
“But you can’t have a region without a center. If you’re from Detroit, you’ve got to know it and be a part of it, embracing all of its opportunities, its troubles and its beauty. It is not just some idealistic dream, it’s an economic necessity: The reason this is so fundamentally important is because — get this — it’s the straightest path to getting your property values back. It’s that simple. You may be from Berkley or Dearborn Heights or Beverly Hills or even Ypsilanti — it doesn’t really matter how far out you go — but if you’re in Southeast Michigan, you’re from Detroit. It’s your brand.”
You can read the entire column here.
"The last two or three generations got out of Detroit during the enormous boom years, leaving the city limits for the American dream of a suburban house with two cars in the garage. In their wake, they saw Detroit go through an enormous upheaval of poverty, extreme racial division, and abandonment. The problems seemed too huge and too intractable so, out of frustration, they simply stopped looking. When they turned their back on the city, their children and their grandchildren did the same."
Sir, people left because Young's 1973 Mayoral campaign addressed the role of the "violence" inflicted upon a predominantly black city by a disproportionately white police department. Drove white people out with affirmative action. So yes, every one left and made the "the-suburbs-suck" (also the same ones that built the City) as you put it. Where there are good school systems and little crime, compared to the 260 murders to date in the City. So say all you want, yes the city has a nice part of maybe 2 X 2 sq mile but out side off that is waste. I will stay in my " the suburbs-suck" where my tax dollars are not being stolen by criminals, and where the city government works!!!!!!!
Huffpost, your clueless. I was born in the city of Detroit. My wife & I bought our first home in the city of Detroit. My wife is a graduate of Wayne State University. My wife spent most of her career working in Detroit city hospitals, many of which are no longer there. You can no longer drive down the street of which our home was located in the city of Detroit without endangering your life. If you think you can over simplify the reason folks explain they are from Detroit when asked "where are you from" is obvious. If one was to say they were from Lincoln Park, MI it would not be a locator as if they were to say Detroit. It's not a brand. Honest John's original location is deserted. You wouldn't be found there alone at any time of day. You think somehow folks north of 8 mile don't know what's going on in the Big "D", they came from there. If you think southwest Michigan can't survive without Detroit your not from the area. Let me give you an example of how dysfunctional the city is. On the way to picking my wife up from work at a Detroit City Hospital I was exiting the expressay & as I entered the exchange I was T-boned by a lady who blew the red light. Detroit ploice responded. Whitneses said she was at fault but when I asked the police if they were ticketing her they said they weren't trainded to do so. Really!! Because Michigan is a no fault State my insurance paid the $10,000.00 cost to repair my vehicle.
Toby, I don't know where your from but you don't know Detroit.
Often Detroit was listed by FBI crime statistics as "most dangerous city in America" during his administration. Crime rates in Detroit peaked in 1994 at more than 2,700 violent crimes per 100,000 people.[13] However, crime has continued to be a problem in Detroit long after Mayor Young left office; according to national statistics the arson rate in Detroit was 6.3x the national average in 2003 and the murder rate was 5.1x the national average.
Yup, Mr. Toby you go live in Detroit! You know nothing of the city, you sir are just reporting what you want people to see. If it was not for the the-suburbs-suck folks going down to Comerica Park or Ford field. Detroit would have no cash flow!
the people that live in the suburbs,used to live in detroit before it was destroyed by coleman young and kilpatrick.
Dear Mr. Barlow, It is with deep regret that I inform you of the fact that you know not of which you write. This is from a man who worked on 8 Mile for multiple decades. Doesn't matter where I live, it matters that I have been all over the city for a good while. Why don't you rent a place at McNichols and Gratiot, live there a year and let us know. To be closer to city center make that Conner and Gratiot. Oh, I have been to Comerica Park once ( it was free ). Ford Field once ( again free ). I quit supporting players with such high incomes simply because they just are not worth it. Absolute Bull S—. I will not support it. Let me know in which location you decide to live, heck, I might be able to help you find a program that will cover some or all of the rent.
Mr. Barlow will be impressed when he comes out of his favorite restaurant, finds the window of his car smashed out and everything of value taken from his car. From then on he will notice that on every street in front of these wonderful businesses he supports there is broken glass from OTHER victims.
Well Mr. Barlow….the glass from one of my cars is down there in all that other debris in the uncleaned streets and I'm NOT going back to leave more.
Detroit is the result of Democrat policies.
Detroit is a joke. It's overrun by criminals, and the city and county governments are completely corrupt. Despite all the whining and complaining by liberals, Detroit is DEAD and will never come back. Law-abiding people don't go to Detroit because they fear for their lives, and with good reason. Iraq is safer than Detroit.