Comments on: Sicko http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko a blog on the City of Detroit > Metro Detroit (including Windsor, Flint, Ann Arbor, and sometimes Toledo) > Southeast Michigan > Michigan > and the Great Detroit Diaspora Sun, 01 Oct 2017 07:57:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 By: Lee Arthur http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko#comment-46 Lee Arthur Mon, 09 Jul 2007 02:09:39 +0000 http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko#comment-46 Ofcourse I love what GM has done sense taking over the Rencen several years ago. I hope that momentum continues with other power brokers in the Downtown area. Its great hearing about the 50 million dollar improvments to the DTE headquarters that will only add to the classing up of the downtown. I sincerely hope that others in the metro area are taking notice and are coming to the realization that a vibrant Downtown Detroit only can improve the national perception of our region as a whole. I think Ford should retire the Glass House and build a new worldclass headquarters in Downtown Detroit We still have a very long way to go but I feel with the current development enviornment, downtown along with the surounding neighborhoods such as corktown, Brush park, cass corridor, Woodbridge and the east riverfront, things are looking up. I love that many building's are now illuminated at night adding an extra element of excitment and trendiness. Although I think there can be several improvments. First, I don't understand why the New Compuware headquarters does not have it's logo blazzing the skyline in the Campus Martius park area. It's like baking a beautiful cake without any icing to top it off. Second improvment, should be the GM Logo on the rencen, I don't thinks it is big or bright enough. Third which probably be # one is the lighting of the Penopscot building. This is the center piece in the Detroit skyline in my opinion. The white light illumination is just kind of boring and dull. I think they should permenatly go back to the same color light pattern they used during the superbowl, which I believe were blue, red and white. It would be a good idea for the lights to stay on after 1am, which I beleive they are cut off after that time which doesn't make much sense to me outside of saving a few dollars..lets not sell ourselves short on impressions. fourth, on the river front near hart plaza that new metal workers sculpture or whatever that things is, it needs to be illuminated much more brighter, where it can be seen from Winsor maybe a redish illumination. Fifth, I am sure the new at&t is not hurting for cash but for the life of me, why a fortune 500 power player on a global scale such as at&t, why on earth does their Michigan Headquarters building in downtown Detroit only have a 3 foot sign over the entrance of the building with two other nonlit logos on the east and west side walls. I'll have to send them a memo. There Logo should be blazzing in the skyline just as GM, DTE, the Casinos, the FOX, Ford Field, soon to be Book Cadillac Hotel and others. Other improvments of interest: Its great that Roger Penske started the cleaning crew which keeps the downtown pretty clean. But I think Detroit missed the opportunity to knockout three or more birds with one stone. New York city started a program where they have homeless people cleaning the streets which is jointly financed by civic leaders, businesses and Charities. Why not mimic such a program here in Detroit, which has a tremendous homeless problem, Renovate a few abandoned buildings to house the homeless workers providing them with clean low income living while giving them a sense of purpose and selfworth and at the same time getting them off the streets begging for handouts, keeping not just the downtown clean but the entire city for that matter. I lived in Detroit for 39 years I am a over 40 blackmale ex-cop and I work in the downtown area but at times, I am creeped out by some of the homeless. Nothing against anyone down on their luck and I give them money all the time but lets be honest: some of those cats look like extra's from the movie, "night of the living dead," or some other zombie horror flick. Along with that program should be a push for better enforcement of citizens who trash the city via writing more tickets with increased fines which would also help the city financially. I think converting 10-20 percent of parking ticket clerks to more litter enforcement would make better sense than ticking people off who park downtown to spend money and do business with city by writing them tickets in a no standing zone. I once got a ticket parked on fort street at 9:30pm going to the Auto show. Lets actually fine the people who are causing everyone's property value to go south. Another nifty idea is in the area of crime and Law Enforcement. If I am a criminal about to engage in an illegal activity and I see a fully marked patrol vehicle coming my way, yes I'll put that activity on hold until the coast is clear, but that is not going to deter me from commiting that activity at an opportune time. If I am about to commit a crime or I am in the process of doing so and I see a regular citizen driving buy or walking and that individual turns out to be an undercover cop with a hidden micro digital video recorder, and with an ability to call for backup..many more criminals would be caught and taken off the streets. Again DPD should convert up to 10-15 percent of officers should be undercover working closley with uniformed officers while on patrol and not in patrol cars that look like regular unmarked squad cars, I am talking about civilian cars that look like civilian cars. Why not try something new as we can clearly see that whats old is not getting the job done any better. One more very important issue, Our local media has to stop being so negative about the City and that is really the topic of a whole nother conversation that I'll get into at a later time. The local media has to realize that many of the local stories which make it to the national headlines come from them, the local media themsleves, who would have known about that ridiculous Navigator story had it not been for Steve Wilsons non-stop pursuit of the Mayor. I remember a Story about Brooks Patterson and friends being asked to leave a local resuarant because they were desturbing other patrons with their loud unruly behaviour. That Story was buried in the back of the Detriot News in a very small article. Now had that been any Detroit city official it would have been blasted on the front pages of the local papers and in the elelctronic media.. More on the Detroit media later..! Ofcourse I love what GM has done sense taking over the Rencen several years ago. I hope that momentum continues with other power brokers in the Downtown area. Its great hearing about the 50 million dollar
improvments to the DTE headquarters that will only add to the classing up of the downtown. I sincerely hope that others in the metro area are taking notice and are coming to the realization that a vibrant Downtown Detroit only can improve the national perception of our region as a whole. I think Ford should retire the Glass House and build a new worldclass headquarters in Downtown Detroit We still have a very long way to go but I feel with the current development enviornment, downtown along with the surounding neighborhoods such as corktown, Brush park, cass corridor, Woodbridge and the east riverfront, things are looking up. I love that many building’s are now illuminated at night adding an extra element of excitment and trendiness. Although I think there can be several improvments. First, I don’t understand why the New Compuware headquarters does not have it’s logo blazzing the skyline in the Campus Martius park area. It’s like baking a beautiful cake without any icing to top it off. Second improvment, should be the GM Logo on the rencen, I don’t thinks it is big or bright enough. Third which probably be # one is the lighting of the
Penopscot building. This is the center piece in the Detroit skyline in my opinion. The white light illumination is just kind of boring and dull. I think they should permenatly go back to the same color light pattern they used during the superbowl, which I believe were blue, red and white. It would be a good idea for the lights to stay on after 1am, which I beleive they are cut off after that time which doesn’t make much sense to me outside of saving a few dollars..lets not sell ourselves short on impressions. fourth, on the river front near hart plaza that new metal workers sculpture or whatever that things is, it needs to be illuminated much more brighter, where it can be seen from Winsor maybe a redish illumination.
Fifth, I am sure the new at&t is not hurting for cash but for the life of me, why a fortune 500 power player on a global scale such as at&t, why on earth does their Michigan Headquarters building in downtown Detroit only have a 3 foot sign over the entrance of the building with two other nonlit logos on the east and west side walls. I’ll have to send them a memo. There Logo should be blazzing in the skyline just as GM, DTE, the Casinos, the FOX, Ford Field, soon to be Book Cadillac Hotel and others.
Other improvments of interest: Its great that Roger Penske started the cleaning crew which keeps the downtown pretty clean. But I think Detroit missed the opportunity to knockout three or more birds with one stone. New York city started a program where they have homeless people cleaning the streets which is jointly financed by civic leaders, businesses and Charities. Why not mimic such a program here in Detroit, which has a tremendous homeless problem, Renovate a few abandoned buildings to house the homeless workers providing them with clean low income living while giving them a sense of purpose and selfworth and at the same time getting them off the streets begging for handouts, keeping not just the downtown clean but the entire city for that matter. I lived in Detroit for 39 years I am a over 40 blackmale ex-cop and I work in the downtown area but at times, I am creeped out by some of the homeless. Nothing against anyone down on their luck and I give them money all the time but lets be honest: some of those cats look like extra’s from the movie, “night of the living dead,” or some other zombie horror flick. Along with that program should be a push for better enforcement of citizens who trash the city via writing more tickets with increased fines which would also help the city financially. I think converting 10-20 percent of parking ticket clerks to
more litter enforcement would make better sense than ticking people off who park downtown to spend money and do business with city by writing them tickets in a no standing zone. I once got a ticket parked on fort street at 9:30pm going to the Auto show. Lets actually fine the people who are causing everyone’s property value to go south. Another nifty idea is in the area of crime and Law Enforcement. If I am a criminal about to engage in an illegal activity and I see a fully marked patrol vehicle coming my way, yes I’ll put that activity on hold until the coast is clear, but that is not going to deter me from commiting that activity at an opportune time.
If I am about to commit a crime or I am in the process of doing so and I see a regular citizen driving buy or walking and that individual turns out to be an undercover cop with a hidden micro digital video recorder, and with an ability to call for backup..many more criminals would be caught and taken off the streets. Again DPD should convert up to 10-15 percent of officers should be undercover working closley with uniformed officers while on patrol and not in patrol cars that look like regular unmarked squad cars, I am talking about civilian cars that look like civilian cars. Why not try something new as we can clearly see that whats old is not getting the job done any better. One more very important issue, Our local media has to stop being so negative about the City and that is really the topic of a whole nother conversation that I’ll
get into at a later time. The local media has to realize that many of the local stories which make it to the national headlines come from them, the local media themsleves, who would have known about that ridiculous Navigator story had it not been for Steve Wilsons non-stop pursuit of the Mayor. I remember a Story about Brooks Patterson and friends being asked to leave a local resuarant because they were desturbing other patrons with their loud unruly behaviour. That Story was buried in the back of the Detriot News in a very small article. Now had that been any Detroit city official it would have been blasted on the front pages of the local papers and in the elelctronic media.. More on the Detroit media later..!

]]> By: technician http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko#comment-47 technician Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:31:22 +0000 http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko#comment-47 Lee, you got a lot to say! That's great. I have upgraded your user account to "author" so you can post your thoughts so let me know if there are any problems. Things sure are looking up, from downtown to those neighborhoods you mentioned, Corktown, Woodbridge, Midtown, etc. Regarding signage downtown, more could be done, although I like Campus Martius the way it is now and never felt like a corporate logo was missing. I look at street scenes from more than 50 years ago for inspiration. But maybe that's why I like the new Fox sign, even though it's been brought into the modern age. Turning the homeless into helpers and killing three birds with one stone is an interesting idea. I wonder how that would work? How do you keep them honest? We do need to look outside for solutions that have worked elsewhere. Agreed that we need to set parking enforcement in line with what will bring the most money to the city in the long run. That may mean not scaring off outsiders. But it also may mean going after repeat offenders, people who consistently park without paying because they know they can get away with it and the city won't go after them to pay their tickets. What you said about visible police simply delaying a crime makes sense. I had an idea the other day that the city should take a poll and see which neighborhood has the most support for cameras or some type of surveillance. I know that some people are against their houses being watched, but some areas will be less reluctant than others. Then we can see if it has any effect on crime in that neighborhood. The local media, which serves the metro area, which is now dominated by Oakland County rather than Detroit (if you consider that the metro area is roughly two parts Oakland County, one part Detroit, one part Macomb County, and one part the rest) wants to confirm the skeptics suspicion's that the city of Detroit is still badly managed. The media should be holding government accountable. But in this case they wasted so much time and headline space to ultimately perhaps deter the mayor from spending an extra few dollars spread over his term. So maybe few dollars were saved out of Detroit taxpayer's pockets but in the meantime more important stories were not covered. It's true the media is part of the problem when it ought to be part of the solution. Lee, you got a lot to say! That’s great. I have upgraded your user account to “author” so you can post your thoughts so let me know if there are any problems.

Things sure are looking up, from downtown to those neighborhoods you mentioned, Corktown, Woodbridge, Midtown, etc. Regarding signage downtown, more could be done, although I like Campus Martius the way it is now and never felt like a corporate logo was missing. I look at street scenes from more than 50 years ago for inspiration. But maybe that’s why I like the new Fox sign, even though it’s been brought into the modern age.

Turning the homeless into helpers and killing three birds with one stone is an interesting idea. I wonder how that would work? How do you keep them honest? We do need to look outside for solutions that have worked elsewhere.

Agreed that we need to set parking enforcement in line with what will bring the most money to the city in the long run. That may mean not scaring off outsiders. But it also may mean going after repeat offenders, people who consistently park without paying because they know they can get away with it and the city won’t go after them to pay their tickets.

What you said about visible police simply delaying a crime makes sense.

I had an idea the other day that the city should take a poll and see which neighborhood has the most support for cameras or some type of surveillance. I know that some people are against their houses being watched, but some areas will be less reluctant than others. Then we can see if it has any effect on crime in that neighborhood.

The local media, which serves the metro area, which is now dominated by Oakland County rather than Detroit (if you consider that the metro area is roughly two parts Oakland County, one part Detroit, one part Macomb County, and one part the rest) wants to confirm the skeptics suspicion’s that the city of Detroit is still badly managed. The media should be holding government accountable. But in this case they wasted so much time and headline space to ultimately perhaps deter the mayor from spending an extra few dollars spread over his term. So maybe few dollars were saved out of Detroit taxpayer’s pockets but in the meantime more important stories were not covered. It’s true the media is part of the problem when it ought to be part of the solution.

]]> By: Lee Arthur http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko#comment-218 Lee Arthur Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:14:19 +0000 http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko#comment-218 ofcourse all of the homeless may not be suitable for the work/cleanup city program but the ones who are, will be motivated by a sense of selfworth and having a warm roof over their heads. Just think about the average homeless person who spends the better part of 24 hours going through garbage cans looking for 10cent bottle deposits to have enough for a bite to eat or a shot of liquor. Another motivation to kept them in the program would be to pass a law prohibiting begging on the streets that would compel many to participate out of necessity. within the homeless living centers could be self help facilities the counselers on hand 24/7. Just think about it for a moment...."Detroit voted the cleanest City in America," in the headlines..! That would be something..! I don't think there is much of a honest issue with the homeless, being that, If they were really of the dishonest persuasion, I don't think they would settle for being homeless in the first place, they would be making a living with some form of criminal behavior. Its the folks who have a house or apartment payments that I would be more concerned about they have more to lose than a homeless person who has no mortgage, rent or utilities to worry about but then there is the drug addicts and alcoholics. The trail camera's in test neighborhoods sounds like an good idea. At times I get the impression that some of the detroit police officers are not as motivated as they should be. I think they should institute some type of added financial bonus program for actually getting criminals off the streets, and deterring crime.... something!.... you know anything different is worth a try. In light of the recent Kilpatric scandal rocking the city, I hope they have enough to get him out of office and give the city a fresh new start BUT if after all of the media's coverage of the Text message sex scandal, this guy is still in office or is vendicated. Then you have to ask yourself.......how did it benifit Detroit in the greater scim of things or how did it hurt Detroit the metro area and the state. And if that turns out to be the case then the local media should pack up and get out of town..... how could they have put out all of that dirty laundry and garbage embarrassing the region on a national and international level for absolutely nothing. Just leave and let the Metro Times, which in my opinion, is more of a fair and balanced publication take their place. It seems that the Detroit Media or to more accurately put it, the suburban owned/controlled Detroit media seems to operate in the capacity of a foreign destablizing enemy within. If GM's advertising and Marketing departments on a daily basis acted like many, not all, in the Detroit News they would have been fired a long time ago.. I can't imagine seeing a comercial for a Chevy Malibue saying how much it sucked and how bad it was. Detroit Media seems to be very counter productive and anti Detroit. I am not saying to never report on the negative stuff but atleast have balance... I like reading the positive news about the city.... I really do. I don't think any other big city news paper bashes its own core city on the level of the Detroit Media. Which unfortunatley leads me to some very disturbing conclusions...they in fact don't give a crap about the city of Detroit as long as it has a majority African American population and political leaders they will do anything and ever thing they can to stabb us in the back, even if they cut their own throuts from time to time in the process. ATLANTA, WHICH IS THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL OF AMERICA DIDN'T GUT THEIR CORE CITY BECAUSE THEY HAD A LARGE BLACK POPULATION, NEITHER DID CHIGAGO, L.A. OR NEW YORK CITY.... Now just try to think about the early 1900's when Detroit was booming and our Automoible industry was putting America on wheels and building historic monumental Iconic skycrappers in new York city such as the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State building which was built by an GM excutive, "John Jacob Raskob." Let me paraphrase some of this..."as Detroit scruggles with an image problem as a gutted out 4th rate big city, add in the twisted paradox that the worlds most famous skycrapper was built by a GM auto executive. That seems to be a very unbelievable fact when I hear people bashing Detroit and saying that you can't compare Detroit to other big cities such as New York and Chicago.. LET ME REPEAT THAT AGAIN THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING WAS BUILT BY A GENERAL MOTORS EXECUTIVE. Now my brain is really in overdrive with thoughts of what if's..What if the Empire State building and Chrysler buildings were built in Downtown Detroit, how novel of an Idea that would have been back in the 1920's and 30's, what if the political economic and geographic make up of Detroit was more like other Big regions. what if Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties were all one big city where we all shared in the economic pot of our area? I wonder then if the Detroit News's Journalistic philosophy of bashing Detroit would be different? Common sense and logic says probably so. The french gave New York the staute of Liberty, thats a known fact but how known is it that Detroit gave New York City two of its greatest skyscrappers. There is something very wrong with the history of this great city something diabolical, evil and twisted and at times it creeps me out. I think I will leave it at that and enjoy the rest of my day..time for a cup of coffee..! Take care all, Lee ofcourse all of the homeless may not be suitable for the work/cleanup city program but the ones who are, will be motivated by a sense of selfworth and having a warm roof over their heads. Just think about the average homeless person who spends the better part of 24 hours going through garbage cans looking for 10cent bottle deposits to have enough for a bite to eat or a shot of liquor. Another motivation to kept them in the program would be to pass a law prohibiting begging on the streets that would compel many to participate out of necessity. within the homeless living centers could be self help facilities the counselers on hand 24/7. Just think about it for a moment….”Detroit voted the cleanest City in America,” in the headlines..! That would be something..! I don’t think there is much of a honest issue with the homeless, being that, If they were really of the dishonest persuasion, I don’t think they would settle for being homeless in the first place, they would be making a living with some form of criminal behavior. Its the folks who have a house or apartment payments that I would be more concerned about they have more to lose than a homeless person who has no mortgage, rent or utilities to worry about but then there is the drug addicts and alcoholics.
The trail camera’s in test neighborhoods sounds like an good idea. At times I get the impression that some of the detroit police officers are not as motivated as they should be. I think they should institute some type of added financial bonus program for actually getting criminals off the streets, and deterring crime…. something!…. you know anything different is worth a try. In light of the recent Kilpatric scandal rocking the city, I hope they have enough to get him out of office and give the city a fresh new start BUT if after all of the media’s coverage of the Text message sex scandal, this guy is still in office or is vendicated. Then you have to ask yourself…….how did it benifit Detroit in the greater scim of things or how did it hurt Detroit the metro area and the state. And if that turns out to be the case then the local media should pack up and get out of town….. how could they have put out all of that dirty laundry and garbage embarrassing the region on a national and international level for absolutely nothing. Just leave and let the Metro Times, which in my opinion, is more of a fair and balanced publication take their place. It seems that the Detroit Media or to more accurately put it, the suburban owned/controlled Detroit media seems to operate in the capacity of a foreign destablizing enemy within. If GM’s advertising and Marketing departments on a daily basis acted like many, not all, in the Detroit News they would have been fired a long time ago.. I can’t imagine seeing a comercial for a Chevy Malibue saying how much it sucked and how bad it was. Detroit Media seems to be very counter productive and anti Detroit. I am not saying to never report on the negative stuff but atleast have balance… I like reading the positive news about the city…. I really do. I don’t think any other big city news paper bashes its own core city on the level of the Detroit Media. Which unfortunatley leads me to some very disturbing conclusions…they in fact don’t give a crap about the city of Detroit as long as it has a majority African American population and political leaders they will do anything and ever thing they can to stabb us in the back, even if they cut their own throuts from time to time in the process. ATLANTA, WHICH IS THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL OF AMERICA DIDN’T GUT THEIR CORE CITY BECAUSE THEY HAD A LARGE BLACK POPULATION, NEITHER DID CHIGAGO, L.A. OR NEW YORK CITY…. Now just try to think about the early 1900’s when Detroit was booming and our Automoible industry was putting America on wheels and building historic monumental Iconic skycrappers in new York city such as the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State building which was built by an GM excutive, “John Jacob Raskob.” Let me paraphrase some of this…”as Detroit scruggles with an image problem as a gutted out 4th rate big city, add in the twisted paradox that the worlds most famous skycrapper was built by a GM auto executive. That seems to be a very unbelievable fact when I hear people bashing Detroit and saying that you can’t compare Detroit to other big cities such as New York and Chicago.. LET ME REPEAT THAT AGAIN THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING WAS BUILT BY A GENERAL MOTORS EXECUTIVE. Now my brain is really in overdrive with thoughts of what if’s..What if the Empire State building and Chrysler buildings were built in Downtown Detroit, how novel of an Idea that would have been back in the 1920’s and 30’s, what if the political economic and geographic make up of Detroit was more like other Big regions. what if Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties were all one big city where we all shared in the economic pot of our area? I wonder then if the Detroit News’s Journalistic philosophy of bashing Detroit would be different? Common sense and logic says probably so. The french gave New York the staute of Liberty, thats a known fact but how known is it that Detroit gave New York City two of its greatest skyscrappers. There is something very wrong with the history of this great city something diabolical, evil and twisted and at times it creeps me out. I think I will leave it at that and enjoy the rest of my day..time for a cup of coffee..!

Take care all,

Lee

]]> By: Lee Arthur http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko#comment-219 Lee Arthur Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:49:51 +0000 http://www.dtownie.com/2007/07/06/sicko#comment-219 After reading some to the facts listed below...it becomes very clear that blacks folks in Detroit are for sure not the only cause of the deline of the city. As you read through many of them. What do you notice? most of the gutting of Detroit has been at the hands of whites who own and control the economic resources of the city of Detroit. I mean lets get real hear...! How can you manage any organization, business or any entity, when you don't have direct control of your own resources. How inept and crippiled would At&T be if Sprint owned 70 percent of its telephone network and capital and sprint was the marketing advertising arm of AT&T..that would be absolutely ludicris and ridiculous. This seems to be the perpectual situation the city of Detroit finds itself in year after Year. And the Detroit Media represents the Sprint controlled advertising/marketing arm of At&T. I Remember when the Casino votes where upon us and the Detroit media went on a Don Bardon smear campain trying there best to cripple his chances of owning one of the three Casino's in Detroit saying such things that he sold out the Black community by seeling his cable company, saying he was too in-experienced in business, wouldn't get the backing of Wall street and a whole host of other negative's, which have turned out to be complete falsehoods, He is currently the owner of the biggest black owned casino business in the world and his businesses are still growing. another example, Why the the love of God does the city of Detroit have get get permission from Oakland and Macomb counties to expand a convention (COBO), why does L. Brooks Patterson throw a monkey wrench in every proposed plan for Cobo center in the city of Detroit and not to mention a regional mass transit system like other world class cities. I trully believe that certain powers to be in the metro Detroit do not want to see African Americans owning and controlling their own economic and political destiny. You can call me race bating, pulling the race card or whatever but the facts bear the simple truth of the matter and are undeniable. The listed info provided by www.buildingsrus.co.uk/detroit/population_change/population_change.html Detroit probably experienced more fluctuation in population in the 20th century than any other city. At the begining of the century 286,000 people lived in Detroit. 50 years of automobile fuelled immigration later the population was 1,850,000. Yet by the close of the century this population had halved. Why? Here is a timeline of catalysts... 1950: Detroit population: 1,850,000. Regional population: 3,350,000. 1954: Northland mall opens in Southfield, the first regional shopping center. 1956: Ford builds new headquarters in Dearborn. 1956: A water plant in northeast Detroit opens as the burgeoning suburbs decide it is cheapest to tie into Detroit's pipes. By allowing the new communities to join the system, Detroit officials encourage the exodus from the city. 1956: The Federal-Aid Highway Act paves the way to the suburbs. It's a system of 41,000 miles of interstate highways constructed with 90 percent federal funds. 1956: General Motors begins moving workers into Warren Tech Center. The new facility consists of research, engineering, design, environmental, manufacturing and testing areas as well as headquarters for several GM divisions. 1957: Eastland Mall, patterned after Northland, opens in Harper Woods. 1959: Kern's department store in downtown Detroit closes. 1960: Detroit population: 1,670,000. Regional population: 4,180,000. 1965: Westland Mall opens; unlike Northland and Eastland, shopping center is enclosed. 1967: Forty-three die in Detroit riots; damage totals $45 million. White flight intensifies 1968: City's income tax doubles to 2 percent for Detroiters. 1970: Detroit population: 1,510,000. Regional population: 4,740,000. 1971: U.S. District Judge Stephen Roth orders cross-district busing, but it is overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court. A Detroit-only busing plan was ordered in 1975, but by the time the plan was to go into effect in 1976, there were too few whites in the district to effectively integrate. Still more white parents pull their kids out of the schools and moved to neighboring cities. 1971: Catholic Archdiocese closes 62 schools. 1972: Kmart Corp. moves headquarters from Detroit to Troy. 1972: Jeffries Freeway, Interstate-96, opens. 1974: Coleman A. Young becomes the city's first black mayor, and white flight continues. 1975: The Pontiac Silverdome opens, and hosts the Detroit Lions and Pistons as well as rock concerts, religious rallies and tractor pulls. 1980: Detroit population: 1,200,000. Regional population: 4,680,000. 1983: Hudson's closes its flagship store, ending 102 years downtown. 1988: The Palace of Auburn Hills opens as the new home of the Pistons. 1989: 27 Catholic churches close in Detroit, the largest mass closing of Catholic churches in U.S. history. 1989: Walter Reuther Freeway, I-696, becomes major east-west corridor. 1990: Detroit population: 1,030,000. Regional population: 4,590,000. 1991: Chrysler Corp. headquarters moves from Highland Park to Auburn Hills. 1992: Governor's commission calls lack of coordinated planning a major environmental threat. 1993: Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer takes office, promising downtown redevelopment and an era of cooperation with suburbs. 1994: Republican caucus in state House draws up 21-point plan for improving planning and growth management. Eight years later, little has been implemented. 1994: Detroit voters pass $1.5 billion to repair deteriorating schools. It is the largest bond issue in state history. 1996: Compuware announces plans to move world headquarters from Farmington Hills to downtown Detroit. 1996: Michigan raises gas tax to pay for crumbling roads and freeways. 1999: Casinos open in Detroit, drawing some suburbanites back downtown for the first time in a generation. 2000: Detroit population: 950,000; Regional population: 4,740,000. 2001: 30-year fixed mortgage rates fall under 6.5%, the lowest rates in 30 years. 2001: African-American Brenda Lawrence is elected mayor of Southfield, signaling suburbanization of black political power. 2001: Planning reform stalls in Michigan Legislature. 2002: Formerly rural South Lyon, Brighton and Howell are combined in a new federally designated urban area. After reading some to the facts listed below…it becomes very clear that blacks folks in Detroit are for sure not the only cause of the deline of the city. As you read through many of them. What do you notice? most of the gutting of Detroit has been at the hands of whites who own and control the economic resources of the city of Detroit. I mean lets get real hear…! How can you manage any organization, business or any entity, when you don’t have direct control of your own resources. How inept and crippiled would At&T be if Sprint owned 70 percent of its telephone network and capital and sprint was the marketing advertising arm of AT&T..that would be absolutely ludicris and ridiculous. This seems to be the perpectual situation the city of Detroit finds itself in year after Year. And the Detroit Media represents the Sprint controlled advertising/marketing arm of At&T. I Remember when the Casino votes where upon us and the Detroit media went on a Don Bardon smear campain trying there best to cripple his chances of owning one of the three Casino’s in Detroit saying such things that he sold out the Black community by seeling his cable company, saying he was too in-experienced in business, wouldn’t get the backing of Wall street and a whole host of other negative’s, which have turned out to be complete falsehoods, He is currently the owner of the biggest black owned casino business in the world and his businesses are still growing. another example, Why the the love of God does the city of Detroit have get get permission from Oakland and Macomb counties to expand a convention (COBO), why does L. Brooks Patterson throw a monkey wrench in every proposed plan for Cobo center in the city of Detroit and not to mention a regional mass transit system like other world class cities. I trully believe that certain powers to be in the metro Detroit do not want to see African Americans owning and controlling their own economic and political destiny. You can call me race bating, pulling the race card or whatever but the facts bear the simple truth of the matter and are undeniable.

The listed info provided by www.buildingsrus.co.uk/detroit/population_change/population_change.html

Detroit probably experienced more fluctuation in population in the 20th century than any other city. At the begining of the century 286,000 people lived in Detroit. 50 years of automobile fuelled immigration later the population was 1,850,000. Yet by the close of the century this population had halved. Why? Here is a timeline of catalysts…

1950: Detroit population: 1,850,000. Regional population: 3,350,000.

1954: Northland mall opens in Southfield, the first regional shopping center.

1956: Ford builds new headquarters in Dearborn.

1956: A water plant in northeast Detroit opens as the burgeoning suburbs decide it is cheapest to tie into Detroit’s pipes. By allowing the new communities to join the system, Detroit officials encourage the exodus from the city.

1956: The Federal-Aid Highway Act paves the way to the suburbs. It’s a system of 41,000 miles of interstate highways constructed with 90 percent federal funds.

1956: General Motors begins moving workers into Warren Tech Center. The new facility consists of research, engineering, design, environmental, manufacturing and testing areas as well as headquarters for several GM divisions.

1957: Eastland Mall, patterned after Northland, opens in Harper Woods.

1959: Kern’s department store in downtown Detroit closes.

1960: Detroit population: 1,670,000. Regional population: 4,180,000.

1965: Westland Mall opens; unlike Northland and Eastland, shopping center is enclosed.

1967: Forty-three die in Detroit riots; damage totals $45 million. White flight intensifies

1968: City’s income tax doubles to 2 percent for Detroiters.

1970: Detroit population: 1,510,000. Regional population: 4,740,000.

1971: U.S. District Judge Stephen Roth orders cross-district busing, but it is overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court. A Detroit-only busing plan was ordered in 1975, but by the time the plan was to go into effect in 1976, there were too few whites in the district to effectively integrate. Still more white parents pull their kids out of the schools and moved to neighboring cities.

1971: Catholic Archdiocese closes 62 schools.

1972: Kmart Corp. moves headquarters from Detroit to Troy.

1972: Jeffries Freeway, Interstate-96, opens.

1974: Coleman A. Young becomes the city’s first black mayor, and white flight continues.

1975: The Pontiac Silverdome opens, and hosts the Detroit Lions and Pistons as well as rock concerts, religious rallies and tractor pulls.

1980: Detroit population: 1,200,000. Regional population: 4,680,000.

1983: Hudson’s closes its flagship store, ending 102 years downtown.

1988: The Palace of Auburn Hills opens as the new home of the Pistons.

1989: 27 Catholic churches close in Detroit, the largest mass closing of Catholic churches in U.S. history.

1989: Walter Reuther Freeway, I-696, becomes major east-west corridor.

1990: Detroit population: 1,030,000. Regional population: 4,590,000.

1991: Chrysler Corp. headquarters moves from Highland Park to Auburn Hills.

1992: Governor’s commission calls lack of coordinated planning a major environmental threat.

1993: Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer takes office, promising downtown redevelopment and an era of cooperation with suburbs.

1994: Republican caucus in state House draws up 21-point plan for improving planning and growth management. Eight years later, little has been implemented.

1994: Detroit voters pass $1.5 billion to repair deteriorating schools. It is the largest bond issue in state history.

1996: Compuware announces plans to move world headquarters from Farmington Hills to downtown Detroit.

1996: Michigan raises gas tax to pay for crumbling roads and freeways.

1999: Casinos open in Detroit, drawing some suburbanites back downtown for the first time in a generation.

2000: Detroit population: 950,000; Regional population: 4,740,000.

2001: 30-year fixed mortgage rates fall under 6.5%, the lowest rates in 30 years.

2001: African-American Brenda Lawrence is elected mayor of Southfield, signaling suburbanization of black political power.

2001: Planning reform stalls in Michigan Legislature.

2002: Formerly rural South Lyon, Brighton and Howell are combined in a new federally designated urban area.

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