Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Detroit Rock City
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 11:58 AM
After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Time magazine called the city a "decaying, backwater river town."
One wonders what they might say about us now. Unfortunately — or fortunately, because we've barely lived that label down —Â they're kind of busy right now.
Time magazine is spending the next year in Detroit. They've bought a house, thrown a lawn party, and already written their first cover story about Detroit: "Notown: Hubris, racial tension, myopic politicians and the woeful auto industry brought this iconic American city to its knees. Here's how the Motor City can rise again."
I've long thought of Detroit as Memphis' unofficial sister city. Both cities are shrinking in terms of population; both have high levels of poverty; both have a rich musical heritage. See the subhead above. With the exception of the "woeful auto industry," doesn't it sound sort of Memphisy?
Take this, for example:
“[The mayor] was at first fairly effective, when he wasn’t insulting suburban political leaders and alienating most of the city’s remaining white residents ... When jobs disappeared with the small businesses boarding up their doors and abandoning the city, the mayor seemed to find it more useful to bid the business owners good riddance ...”
Or this:
"During [Mayor Coleman] Young's reign and for many years thereafter, the possibility of city-suburban cooperation — which is to say, black-white cooperation —Â was close to nil. The black city didn't want white suburbanites telling it what to do, and white suburbanites had no interest in assuming the burden of a black city."
[Sidenote: One of the Detroit's suburbs' bond rating is in peril because of its proximity to both Detroit and Flint, Michigan.]
If you consider Memphis Detroit's unofficial sister city, there are bound to be lessons here ... and as the series continues for the next year.
So what does Time suggest, as of now? The magazine says Detroit needs to address the fact that the city is way too large for its new, halved population; that it needs to shrink its footprint to be able to afford to provide fire, police, and sanitation services; that it needs to build greenbelts and encourage urban farming, and it needs to face a new economic reality.
The author, Detroit native Daniel Okrent, suggests a future:
"The fuel-cell technology that dazzled me at the GM Tech Center is less about autos than it is about energy —Â energy, as hydrogen, that exists in every molecule of water. What's to stop us now from turning Detroit —Â its highly trained engineering talent, its skilled and unskilled workforce desperate for employment, its underutilized production facilities — into the Arsenal of the Renewable Energy Future?"
Okay, we don't have that background, exactly, but if Detroit can meet its challenges, Memphis has no excuse.
[Another sidenote: Okrent apparently loves dashes as much as I do. Swoon.]
Comments (17)
Showing 1-17 of 17
Very interesting- as usual- Ms Cashiola. Do we need to have someone from outside the city in order to perform a pre-death autopsy or would you be willing to step up for us? It could be an interesting series. Toledo has played host to a healthy debate concerning “shrinking cities” and even developed a long range plan to deal with the scenario.
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If you really want to know about Detroit mayors read the wikipedia page on Kilpatrick. He makes Herenton look like a saint. There are some parallels but Detroit has some SERIOUS issues if you really research it in depth. They've had some bad luck with mayors who are just bad at the core.
I have long said my new slogan for Memphis is: "Memphis, where Detroit meet New Orleans". Not a compliment for my hometown.
Just so you know, this is an extremely controversial /article Time to people who actually live in and love Detroit.
Y'know, when you go around constantly comparing your partner unfavorably to everyone else's date / partner / spouse, it's considered rude and disrespectful. Same goes for the city you live in. Quit ogling other cities. Build a better relationship with the city you're in.
I recently returned from Detroit and Memphis is no Detroit. No thanks for the death knoll. We can do without your form of objectivity.
"Just so you know, this is an extremely controversial /article Time to people who actually live in and love Detroit."
Well that is great, but if the residents of Detroit can't face that their city is a step above the Balkans, then that might explain the problem. That the same thing holds true for memphis.
"Y'know, when you go around constantly comparing your partner unfavorably to everyone else's date / partner / spouse, it's considered rude and disrespectful. Same goes for the city you live in. Quit ogling other cities. Build a better relationship with the city you're in."
When you partner/city is a crack addict, at some point you have to have a intervention. You can build a relationship with something that is slipping fast.
"Out with the old spiritual mumbo jumbo, the superstitions, and the backward ways."
Thus meaning that you don't have to vote for someone the same skin color as you , and because they're a preacher doesn't mean they have your best interest at heart.
Never comment from a Iphone. Here's the correct version.
"Just so you know, this is an extremely controversial /article Time to people who actually live in and love Detroit."
Well that is great, but if the residents of Detroit can't face that their city is a step above the Balkans, then that might explain the problem. The same thing holds true for Memphis.
"Y'know, when you go around constantly comparing your partner unfavorably to everyone else's date / partner / spouse, it's considered rude and disrespectful. Same goes for the city you live in. Quit ogling other cities. Build a better relationship with the city you're in."
When your partner/city is a crack addict, at some point you have to have a intervention. You can't build a relationship with something that is slipping fast.
"Out with the old spiritual mumbo jumbo, the superstitions, and the backward ways."
Thus meaning that you don't have to vote for someone the same skin color as you , and because they're a preacher doesn't mean they always have your best interest at heart.
I have to agree with gbbarnes here. While I normally disregard the ever popular hobby of Memphis-bashing, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem and part of that is identifying and naming the problem. As one comment above correctly noted, Memphis is no Detroit. However the danger signs are there: our metropolitan population growth has nearly stagnated over the past decade, our heavy reliance on one industrial segment- distribution activities- has left us extremely vulnerable to changing economic conditions and business models (not to mention resulting in many of the regions new jobs being of the low skill, low pay variety) and the regional population is both extremely divided along several lines and if the early voting is any indication, has become apathetic to the current state of the city. We may not be in the same situation that Detroit is in, but the ingredients are there to lead us down that path.
These are the reasons my family and I fled to Orange Mound. In fact; the city council even gave me a T-shirt; "I moved to Orange Mound, and all I got was this lousy chest wound!"
That last post was intended as a slam on those who defect to Germantown & Bartlett. It was not meant to be racist.
In response to gbbarnes,
It's pathetic that folk like you can't seem to understand that not all "Memphians" cast their votes for candidates based upon skin color, but rather those with similar views/ideas. It's evident that you're still with the backward ways yourself. You assume that everyone in Memphis is either a crack addict with a grade school education at best. Your post pretty much sums up your reasoning which is far from the truth. Most people, regardless of race, want a leader to move them forward. Unfortunately, this city is bound for doom because the leaders are buying into this racial divide moreso than looking at the big picture, the placeholders of Memphis jobs. If it's too poor of a city for you to reside, let alone, play in because the extreme crime stats, then why risk driving to and fro daily for our decent paying jobs?? BTW, just because a person is of a different race, not a preacherman, but some good ole boy with managerial experience, doesn't mean that he/she has your best interest at heart either!
Instead of "never comment from an Iphone", gbbarnes's guiding principle should probably be, "never comment."
Quit your bitching and do something. I know our issues seem too big to handle, kind of like that 3rd room that has become mini-storage. But change comes from one thing at a time, not some big government sponsored initiative. ie. http://www.volunteermemphis.org. Go out, do something, then bitch, you've earned it.
Had to say more. Suburban flight is nothing new. When those who flee got to the county line, they simply crossed over.
That's fine. But it is irritating to have those who are not vested in the success or failure of our city to sit high on their throne and criticize. While the writer of this article may live in Memphis, the tone of her article is reflective of the comments made by those who abandoned our city.
We know what the problems are. The conversation and writings should be about solutions, what's working or some good investigative reporting on a topic.
You have the bullhorn Ms. Cashiola and this is what you've chosen to broadcast. Just keep dumping on Memphis . . . it's getting old.
While the problem with white/middle class flight may be similar, Memphis is by no means Detroit. They once had a huge well-paid (unionized) manufacturing economy that collapsed when their product became obsolete and robots took their jobs. Memphis has the same low-pay labor economy it's always had, whether loading and unloading the cargo of steamboats, trains or 747s.
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