An Obituary for Detroit
As a younger participant of the Ricochet community -- pace all you who despise the use of the buzzword, "community" -- I can't recall a moment of consciousness in which I was under the impression that Detroit was a great city. So long as I can remember, Detroit has always been a wasteland, a city that stood alongside Flint, Michigan and Gary, Indiana as perhaps the least desirable places to visit or live.
So I found it startling to hear Bill McGurn in last week's podcast reminisce about the former glory of Detroit. It was a lot like hearing about the stunning beauty and brilliant acting of Elizabeth Taylor, whom I only ever knew as an older lady who starred in perfume commercials. Bill's column today in the Wall Street Journal picks up where he left off in the podcast and reads rather like an obituary for Detroit, that once great city that I never knew. Here's an excerpt:
It wasn't always this way. For years, Detroit was a synonym for American energy and opportunity. Here Motown Records was born and General Motors became the first company to make a billion dollars in a single year. And here the auto industry that we now think of as geriatric drove the American economy, helped create the American Dream, and defined American culture to the world.
What happened to this Detroit? In many ways the answer is liberal politics and expanding government....
What's left is the city so embarrassingly exposed by the census figures, a place that people are fleeing as fast as they can. Think of all the dysfunctional measures you can: poverty rates, unemployment, crime, failing public schools, falling home values. Detroit has them all, and most of its indicators rank among the worst in the nation.
What's happened to Detroit is sad. Sadder still is that though the human dimensions of this tragedy are as cruel as any earthquake, they elicit so few second thoughts.
A shame we can't bid Detroit a peaceful rest.
(Image credit: John Szot)
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May '10
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
"Take him...TO DETROIT!"
"No! No! Nooooooooooooo!"
--Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBF8_VVjBAw
Edited on Mar 29, 2011 at 12:55pmJun '10
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
A community can support a business. A war zone can't.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/jan/02/photography-detroit#/?picture=370173036&index=6
Mar '11
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
Well, I was born and grew up in Detroit. It was a great city once - the really precipitous decline started in the late 60s and accelerated rapidly. My father was an engineer with Ford, as were his five brothers. I worked at Great Lakes Steel for a year when I left school to figure out what I wanted to do. I spent a lot of time "downtown" as we Detroiters used to say.
The last time I visited - in person - was in the late 70s - 1978, if I recall correctly - just before I left for good. There were still some sparks of life.
Since then, I have kept in touch with the few people I knew there and occasionally read new stories - and most recently, I "visited" on the internet. The lot where my grandparents gracious house stood is vacant, filled with garbage, the house I grew up in is so changed that it is impossible to recognize. Very sad.
But - there are still people there who want to make it better. And people who work in real industry, making actual, tangible things. I wish them well and hope other Americans do as well.
Aug '10
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
I've been a car nut since I was eight, and had three before I was licensed to drive. I built high performance cars back in the day when it could be done in a garage with a little money and imagination. It was a crime, a grievous atrocity, what the corporate moguls did to our car industry, America's icon of independence and freedom.
We didn't just lose out to the Japanese and others, we forfeited the game by refusing to innovate and rediscover our passion for great cars. Obviously most Americans didn't lose their desire for great machines, and are paying huge money to foreigners to produce them.
Ford Motor Co. is making great cars now, so there's still hope.
Jun '10
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
River: ........We didn't just lose out to the Japanese and others, we forfeited the game by refusing to innovate and rediscover our passion for great cars. Obviously most Americans didn't lose their desire for great machines, and are paying huge money to foreigners to produce them.
Ford Motor Co. is making great cars now, so there's still hope. · Mar 29 at 3:04pm
They bought new technology. We bought new worker benefit contracts.
May '10
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
At 41, I cannot remember thinking any northern city was a great. Detroit, Chicago, New York all looked pretty dirty and lackluster to this southern boy.
Jun '10
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
It makes a big difference in how you view your town--both buildings and neighbors--on whether your primary social institution is your church, or your union hall. Churches provide dignity and no money. Unions provide money and no dignity.
Dec '10
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
I'm 51 and grew up in a small town in the Canadian Rockies. My image of Detroit was always an old, ugly rusty town with smoke stacks belching. Oh, and it was the home of the Red Wings who - in my youth - were always an easy win for my beloved Bruins (circa Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, et al).
I find it interesting the Pittsburgh had an even worse image in my mind - nothing but steel mills. In a couple of brief visits there, it seems to be a city that has done a pretty decent job of reinventing itself. The people I know from Pittsburgh - down to the very last person - are fiercely proud of their city and what it is becoming. Those from Detroit? They try to hide the fact that they came from there.
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
The Great Adventure!:
I find it interesting the Pittsburgh had an even worse image in my mind - nothing but steel mills. In a couple of brief visits there, it seems to be a city that has done a pretty decent job of reinventing itself. The people I know from Pittsburgh - down to the very last person - are fiercely proud of their city and what it is becoming. Those from Detroit? They try to hide the fact that they came from there. · Mar 29 at 4:56pm
Wow, I have the same negative image of Pittsburgh in my mind. But in recent years, I know of several young people -- scientists and engineers -- who've relocated there from beautiful N. California, so the city must be doing something right.
Jan '11
Re: An Obituary for Detroit
I grew up reading of Detroit's glory days and didn't give it a second thought until stories of its decline were front and center. In addition -since I am a Disney kid- this Sherman Brothers song would come to mind when seeing someone working on a car.
Edited on Mar 29, 2011 at 9:28pm