I was born and raised in Detroit. Until about 1965 it was a great place to live. By the early 70s crime began to take over. The last white administration answered with STRESS: Stop Robberies and Enjoy Safe Streets.
Cops would pose as stranded motorists looking like easy marks, when the criminal attempted a mugging, they were arrested.
The ACLU, NAACP, Democratic Party, and every leftist group in the city screamed. The Chief of Police was replaced, so was the administration. What followed was the message to citizens "as regards crime, you are on your own".
In 2000 my mother was mugged. I live 175 miles away. When I went to the police and asked for more protection an officer told me to move her out of town. I did.
Looks what's left in the city. Drugs, crime, poverty, welfare. One parent households bringing up kids. The schools are a kid's warehouse, and the police merely help victims with paper work for their insurance company.
This is the result of forty years of liberal policy.
It's a shame, isn't it.
I grew up in Chatham, Ontario (born in 1962) and my Mom and Dad dated at the clubs in Detroit in the 1950's. I remember the great flea markets on the street when I was little, we used to go often to restaurants, the Olympia, Tiger Stadium, etc. After the riots, everything changed. I went to concerts at Cobo and Joe Loius as a teenager, but you took the tunnel bus and stayed on the river side of the street under watchful police eyes to walk to the venues. The other side of the Ave looked just scary. It was a beautiful city once, vibrant and fun. No more.
Like I said, it's a shame, really.
I lived the same story. We moved my grandmother out after a mugging. Do you remember Coleman Young? He was the mayor that won election campaigning against STRESS. He really was a racist.
I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit in Milford. My parents owned the most expensive piece of property in town. For years, a Detroit police officer and his wife, kept an eye on our house, patiently waiting for it to go up for sale.
Problem was, being a Detroit police officer, his residence had to be within city limits. He had to time his retirement with the purchase of our home. He was lucky it all worked out and he was able to leave the city and move into the home of his wife's dreams. It just took timing and they were patient.
I wonder how many people want to be employed by the city and remain forced to live within Detroit. It doesn't sound like an appetizing incentive to me.
I've lived all my life in Michigan and have been to Detroit a few times. I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a "Ruins of Detroit" website. Stay away from it; it will make you cry.
Great post. One quibble though...
"One parent households bringing up kids."
s/b
"One parent households letting the kids raise themselves -- or not."