Detroit Takes On Problems That Were Once Beyond Reach
“Did I ever think I ever could go to a mayor eight years ago and present to him a wedding party venue? No,” Mr. Dick said. “I was just trying to get the grass cut. I was trying to get trash trucks.”
Detroit remains a place with abundant problems. Abandoned houses, though fewer in number than before, continue to atrophy. Violent crime remains pervasive. And, according to census data that the mayor disputes, Detroit’s decades-long population decline has persisted, with about 620,000 residents today. In 1950, the city’s population peaked at more than 1.8 million.
The simultaneous realities of Detroit add urgency to this moment, when the national economy is healthy and the city’s coffers are flush with federal pandemic relief funds. For the first time in a long time, there is money to go beyond the basics, offering a chance to think about aesthetics.
“Nobody in Chicago ever called their sister to say, ‘My streetlights went on!’ You don’t celebrate that in a vibrant city,” said Mayor Mike Duggan, who was first elected during the bankruptcy and is now in his third term. “And we don’t want to celebrate those things. Here, we want to celebrate the new park, the new riverfront.”
Indeed, parks in the city have flourished since the bankruptcy, when about half of them were shut down. The waterfront on the Detroit River, once an unwelcoming mass of concrete, now features scenic walkways and fishing spots shared by residents and tourists.
Source: The New York Times
