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82-year-old pizza baron Mike Ilitch, owner of the Tigers and Red Wings. He is fervently trying to resurrect life in his hometown of Detroit.
His downtown office might be surrounded by poverty and despair on the streets, but when Ilitch looks outside all he sees is resurrection and revival. Once the fourth-largest city in the country, Detroit lost 25% of its residents in the last decade, and nearly one-quarter of its homes are unoccupied. But he thinks his city will return to prominence.
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thenewgreen · 4864 days ago · link ·
Does your wife have an experience that made her afraid of it or is it because of the "meme"? Too bad, there are some great restaurants, outdoor concerts, shows, sporting events etc.
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thenewgreen · 4864 days ago · link ·
I completely understand. I grew up in Michigan and always heard of the dangers of Detroit. Mostly from nightly local news.
- My wife is still afraid of it though.
There are so many people in the burbs that are afraid of Detroit only because that is the narrative that they are told for so long. I grew up in Oakland County, and you are told, explicitly and implicitly, not to go downtown. You'll get robbed or murdered as soon as you leave your car. But check this out!
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thenewgreen · 4864 days ago · link ·
Crime mapping is an often under appreciated advancement for society. I once saw Rudy Giuliani speak and he referenced it as the leading reason his administration was able to cut crime in NYC.
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thenewgreen · 4864 days ago · link ·
Crime mapping is based on where crimes have occurred, no? How could that be profiling of race? I guess it's the old chicken and the egg conundrum.
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thenewgreen · 4864 days ago · link ·
Huh, I didn't realize that. It seems to have had a positive impact on the entire city though. right? How is it racial profiling? Not saying it isn't, I just haven't heard of it in this context before.
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There's a big law enforcement problem, however, because the overwhelming majority of crime, both violent and non-violent, in Detroit is committed by blacks (disproportionate to the already large majority of citizens blacks constitute). If you're a police officer, how do you separate the idealist notion that everyone is equal from the reality that disparities in crime rates among racial groups are very pronounced?
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thenewgreen · 4864 days ago · link ·
If you're going to "pat someone down" you had better have probable cause beyond "that guy looks suspicious".
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thenewgreen · 4864 days ago · link ·
Thanks, now I know about this. I appreciate it.
thenewgreen · 4864 days ago · link ·
There are a number of really talented and dedicated people that are doing their damnedest to "resurrect life" in Detroit. But I think if you were to ask people that are living there now they would say that it isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. There are certainly areas to be avoided but you could live in Detroit, be safe and enjoy a great and vibrant cultural scene. It's getting better each time I come home to visit. b_b, you're right downtown right? I think it was you that mentioned before that the city isn't as dangerous as its reputation lends us to believe.
Go Tigers! Go Wings! and Go Illitch!!
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I love it here. I think its the most free city in America. There are a couple of big money players who are doing their best to brighten things up downtown, Illitch, Peter Karmanos and Dan Gilbert come to mind (all professional sports team owners oddly enough). They are throwing their weight behind the big money projects, and simultaneously there is a resurrection of the small business; lots of them have popped up in the last few years. I think both are really important to make a great place to live.