Saturday I found myself dancing along to the cutest band that ever there was, who happen to be from Ypsilanti, Michigan, right next door to where I grew up, and just a wee bit west of Metro Detroit.
Oh, poor Detroit.
The whole state is suffering terrible economic times, with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country; much of its woes concentrated in Detroit. How many news items about the area have you seen that feature an endless image parade of decrepit, boarded-up homes? It’s really like that, and it didn’t used to be.
Sufjan Steven’s 2003 song, Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head (Restore, Rebuild, Reconsider!) describes Detroit as “Once a great place, now a prison,” perhaps alluding to people being too financially insecure to be able to leave. Interestingly, in the background of the last chorus he repeats “Hesitate to burn the buildings,” but that is exactly the city’s plan to revive itself.
“The basis of Detroit’s new plan is essentially the shrinking of a city. While it seems counter intuitive to most city planners: making a city smaller instead of bigger…what’s left is a bold plan to concentrate the city population…Mayor Bing has implemented a task force to oversee the destruction of over 3,000 homes in the next few months alone, with the goal of removing 10,000 during his four-year term. 77 public parks are also on the list to close. Trash cans will be removed, events canceled and the once-groomed lawns and gardens will return to the wilderness…A large city with vast open space is an unknown.”
Bulldozing half a city and rebuilding it is a risky move, and it will be interesting to see what will become of the once-great Motor City. Will it be able to start from scratch, to rebuild itself into modernity like the European capitols after the world wars? Or will southeastern Michigan be reclaimed by meadows?
Cross your fingers.