As I sat in my apartment working on one of my websites, I felt rumbles so deep that they began to shake my windows. I hurried to the entrance in the back to make sure we weren't under another "terrorists" attack. To my delight, a big yellow bull-dozer was the culprit. A bull-dozer that was tearing down the abandoned building that sit next to a apartment building in midtown Detroit.
My grandmother told me years ago that "suburban white folks will come back to Detroit." That was maybe back in the mid to late 90's. It's 2008 and I see it happening right before my eyes. If you take a look above, you will see a picture will a small group of people gathered around watching the bull-dozer go to work, armed with IPhone's and digital cameras. That small group of people are residents of this neighborhood, whom happen to be white. I find it rather strange that a 23-yr old black student and 6 white people, are the only ones who chose to celebrate this victory. When a car drives by with loud bass, you can see a good 40 people peaking out of their windows, but when this happens....nobody cares. Now we see who really cares about their communities.
The removal of this building is very important because bums and drug addicts used it to hang up and further decrease the value of this area. A few days ago, a neighbor, her friend, and I sat on the back deck staring at this building. While I cited the building as one of the reasons I need to hurry up and get to Royal Oak, she brought up the fact that we live in such a great location, it's almost a bad choice to move. I agreed.
The physical location, minutes away from Wayne State, any major freeway, Tiger Stadium, Ford Field, and the now permanent casinos, is a gold mind. We live minutes away from Hart Plaza and the Detroit River. It's not where you live though, it's who lives there with you. I've had my car broken into once, resulting in a loss of a thousand dollar car stereo. I've had my apartment robbed twice, resulting in the loss of over four-thousand dollars worth of goods. That alone would have made almost everyone I know move within the next week, but I chose to stay. Perhaps the great price on rent and the short commute to work and school played a role in my decision to not act quickly. To this day, I say I want to move to the suburbs, but I'm still here.
As we talked about the pros and cons of midtown Detroit, I saw a body moving about in the abandoned structure. A few seconds later, I watched as a man walked through the alley into the backyard of building. He walked up some stairs and to my surprise, sat down in the building. Then one of my neighbors pointed out that there was a man upstairs moving about. Keep in mind here that I'm talking about the same building that is in the pictures above, just 3 days ago.
Abandoned buildings are safe havens for crime. Living in the Cass Corridor for over two and a half years though, has taught me that not all homeless people are drug addicts or bad people for that matter, they're looking for somewhere to go. Unfortunately, there can not be growth in my neighborhood with the significant homeless and drug addict population. And, wherever you have drug addicts, you have drug dealers. Wherever you have drug dealers, you have crime...alot of it. Even with the police department's Central District located less than 3 minutes away, out right drug deals go on at the few liquor stores we have in this area. Funny that given the amount of alcohol white people drink, that is just my view based on the white people I know, that in predominantly white communities, there are rarely any "liquor" stores in neighborhoods. All the while, Detroit has more liquor stores and gas stations than it has working street lights.
Is this the work of Kwame Kilpatrick's neighborhood initiative? I think not. But who cares? My building manager credits Mario's Italian restaurant, that is just a block away, for pushing this building to be demolished. The building has been on the demolishing lists for a few years and several of my co-tenants say that Kilpatrick is pushing things to get done in the city due to his current legal and political image issues. Perhaps something good can come from something bad.
There are 4 or so new housing developments currently going on in my area. The town homes medium price range is around $200,000 and those are the cheaper units I've seen. I've read about several tax breaks and discounts available to people who buy property in these "empowerment zones." The Calumet community just a block away, which used to house Section 8 residents, is now turning into a regular rent based town house community. Sadly enough, when they push out the Section 8 residents is when they begin to remodel the entire community. I've seen new roofs, appliances, sinks, toilets, and windows all being brought in for what will be the new phase of tenants. Do I blame them? No. You can say that is my honest opinion that black people don't know how to take care of anything.
I don't believe in the success of a black city. I believe in the success of a diverse city. Filled with black, white, arab, mexican, and any other race or culture of residents who want to see their city shine. The type of residents who pick up trash and call the police when they see suspicious activity. The type of residents who go to city council meetings. The type of residents who pay taxes, go to their children's parent-teacher conferences, and don't create havoc in the streets. Detroit has those type of residents now, and they're black, my problem lies not with them, but their children and neighbors who embrace and celebrate the current titles Detroit holds: the most violent city in America and the lowest graduation rate in America.
Despite all of the negative stories and views I could give on Detroit, the removal of this abandoned building is a great thing...one great thing for the caring residents of the city. With every abandoned building torn down, Detroit is one step greater to become the gorgeous city it once was. I will use this as motivation for me to get off my lazy butt and go do something to make my neighborhood a cleaner place.
What are you doing?
