Thinking of Detroit

Recently I read a very interesting article in the Detroit Free Press on-line entitled, “Detroiters carry on amid all the hardships” (yes, even after being gone from Michigan for nearly 20 years I still occasionally read that paper on-line). It was written by Mitch Albom, a well respected Free Press contributor and best-selling book author. His article had been released earlier in Sports Illustrated and it generated a great deal of buzz. I suspect Mr. Albom was prompted to write that great article after the NFL’s Detroit Lions finished this past season winless at 0-16. 2008 was a tough, tough year for Detroit – the big three automakers had to go begging to the U.S. government for bailout money; the Detroit Tigers major league baseball team under-performed and finished last in their division; the Mayor of Detroit was found guilty and faces prison time; and then of course the Lions fiasco. What a year!!

His article, which I urge you to read, was heartfelt, touching, funny, and full of pride for Detroit. My wife and I have plenty of wonderful memories of Detroit. We lived 140 miles to the west in Kalamazoo for seven years back in the 1980’s and quite often Detroit was a getaway place for us to visit family and to have fun. We loved our time in Michigan. We even loved the snow and cold of the brutal winters (the springs and summers were worth the price of putting up with constantly shoveling snow). In the 1980’s the economic wheels of the domestic auto industry, so to speak, had begun to wobble in earnest. I had felt that wobble up close and personal as I worked seven years for GM in Indianapolis prior to our move to Michigan, and although I loved that company very much (they gave me my first job out of college) I knew it was time to leave.

Mr. Albom talks a lot about the optimistic spirit that still prevails in the city of Detroit. It’s a city that at one time was the fourth largest in America. It was full of jobs, full of diversity, full of culture, and at one time was thought to be relatively safe to visit. In my opinion none of those attributes remain today. From what I’m told by many, the city is no longer safe, the jobs continue to dry up, and although much of the culture and diversity remains, it may not matter if no one wants to visit or live there. People have left Detroit in droves. I don’t know what the population is anymore but I know that it has shrunk significantly.

I remember us driving with an uncle and aunt to Detroit from Kalamazoo one time. Just outside of Detroit our relative stops the car, gets out, and takes the wheel covers off of the tires and stores them in the trunk. He didn’t trust Detroit. One time my sister-in-law and her family drove their brand new custom van from Rochester NY to Detroit for a visit. Their van didn’t make it overnight – it was stolen right from in front of our relatives house. The van was found a few days later completely gutted.

Those were awful memories for sure. But they are easily overshadowed by the good memories. My wife and I will always have the memories of Detroit to fall back on – the visits to our relatives in the inner-city (we prayed that our car wouldn’t get broken into overnight, fortunately for us it did not); visiting the amazing Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit; enjoying lovely Belle Isle (a park on an island on the Detroit River); eating famous Buddy’s Pizza (I wonder if it’s still there?); and going to Lions and Pistons games at the Pontiac Silver Dome (at one time I was a Pistons fan, hard to believe since I’m a die-hard Spurs fan now). Detroit was also one of the gateways to Canada. Just by crossing the Detroit River over a huge impressive looking bridge one arrived in Windsor Canada. We took that bridge many times as we headed across Ontario on our way to Rochester NY. The view of Detroit’s lovely skyline from the crest of the bridge was awesome.

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for good old Detroit. I’m sorry for their struggles and I’m sorry that much of our country has such a negative opinion of the city. This past summer my family and I flew into Detroit Metro Wayne airport. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go into Detroit as we had to hustle off to Kalamazoo. I would have loved to see it once again…well, on second thought, maybe not, since so many things are falling apart. Maybe it’s best to just keep the memories. I wish the city well as it tries to recover.