Most Dangerous Areas

[night-timer]

"I read about a lot of bad stuff going down in the area between Seven Mile and Eight Mile close to the Chrysler Freeway. Based on my observations driving through there a few times, those rumors have some substance.

"

Thats heavy drug territory. The thing is, just a few blocks west of John R is Ferndale, and they really dont have a lot of major problems.It pretty much changes immediatly across 8 mile. One side has mostly stripped, boarded-up houses. The other side is intact and occuppied. Such a sharp contrast for just being a few blocks apart. Kinda eerie.[/QUOTE]

.................................................. .....

... I apologize in advance for bringing up a truly old/archived thread [[2009), but I'd like to hear opinions on how the city of Detroit has improved/changed/worsened since this thread was posted five years ago...

Conyers is now a free woman [[I think), so that's either good or bad, depending on your perspective.

[Danny]

Every street in Detroit is dangerous. I know, because I grew up in the hood! In the ghetto. My friends got killed, some of family members got killed, my family even got beat up and mugged by gang members, thieves and raped. That's is every day life in Detroit. So watch yourselves. All of Detroit is a big ghetto, and people are a part of it.

[Honky Tonk]

And it keeps getting worse. Used to be you got robbed because someone needed money. I'm not condoning it, but somehow you could justify it in your mind. Now you can get killed for sport. Life means nothing to this new breed. Yours or theirs.

[e.p.3]

The Coleman A. Young Municipal Center City Council Chamber hands down!

I'd say the entire building.

[DetroitPlanner]

There are lots of Hoodlums and riff raff in Birmingham.

[That Great Guy]

The voting places in the inner suburbs on August 5, 2014.

Many people will be very angry at people like me who claim voting NO is the smart choice.

[motz]

The voting places in the inner suburbs on August 5, 2014.

Many people will be very angry at people like me who claim voting NO is the smart choice.

Claim is a great word Thanks for your honesty That Great Guy

[WolverineGirl93]

Basically anywhere off the beaten path is pretty dangerous in Detroit. I would have to say that the most dangerous area if I am looking at one area is the area off of the Chrysler between 6 and 8 Mile.

[Honky Tonk]

There are lots of Hoodlums and riff raff in Birmingham.

Midtown is the most dangerous area in Detroit. Things are so bad, the DPD had to be called in to act as crossing guards, so the yupsters could make it safely accross the street.

[G-DDT]

Some parts of Highland Park, seeing as I got shot at there once.

[MorrisRecords90]

If you live in the suburbs and only go downtown when there is an event/concert, those folk would consider the entire city a "dangerous neighborhood". But realistically, one of the worst areas nowadays is near 7 & Gratiot [[east side red zone), harper/van dyke is not a friendly neighborhood, one time i got lost over near Shoemaker & French Road/ Harper & French, that is a BAD neighborhood after dark, 8 mile/I-75 to 7 mile/I-75, parts of southwest have gang problems but nothing real serious, I mean it depends who you are. If you are a nervous surburbanite that is praying to God as you are passing through the city [[Even on the Freeway), than you probably shouldnt be in the city outside of downtown/midtown. I am a white male, I am in the city everyday [[west side), usually walking/busing. I never have a problem. I walk day and night. Any area you are unfamiliar with could be considered dangerous.

[Lombaowski]

Lots of bodies seem to drop west of Linwood, north of Oakman, east of Wyoming, and south of McNichols. From a law enforcement perspective, any area with a denser population with high crime would be considered the most dangerous. Areas NE of city Airport to me are the most dangerous, the NE part of the city in general has concentrated crime.

[rb336]

East St. Louis

[sumas]

Actually always amused that if negative things are said about Detroit the views go through the roof. This thread is over 17K.

Detroit Yes ....folks, find your thrills somewhere else. Or Maybe be a part of a solution.

[softailrider]

West Warren right around Central, near Serena and Holmes Street. Right near where Brooksey's is located. Terrible part of town.

[Hypestyles]

The Grosse Pointes. I might have to sing my way out.

[aj3647]

Actually always amused that if negative things are said about Detroit the views go through the roof. This thread is over 17K.

Detroit Yes ....folks, find your thrills somewhere else. Or Maybe be a part of a solution.

It's also a six year old thread, so maybe that has something to do with it. Why don't you blame the posters who keep resurrecting it from the grave?

[old guy]

East St. Louis

Yeah, I'd have to go with that one. Detroit's got nothing on that area.

[sumas]

It's also a six year old thread, so maybe that has something to do with it. Why don't you blame the posters who keep resurrecting it from the grave?

I do not blame anyone. Just commenting. Indeed though, why resurrect negativity.

I find joy, kindness, fellowship where ever I go. It's what I get and give, that is what I do. I could write volumes on the good, the bad, the ugly. I prefer to focus on the good.

Plenty of problems and I still say most Detroiters are the best people around.

[aj3647]

The two threads with the most views on the front page are Detroit's Wealth Of Architectural Talent! with 320,000+ views and Old Detroit Bars with 94,000+ views. That's way more views than this thread and neither one of those are negative about Detroit. So I don't see a connection between negativity and page views. I don't think 17,000 views is unusually high for a thread that is six years old, regardless of its subject matter. There are threads created this week that have several thousand views already.

If anything, the threads that get the most views/traffic around here are the nostalgia ones. The "hey, remember stuff from 60 years ago when Detroit was great?" threads.

[Dan Wesson]

I do not blame anyone. Just commenting. Indeed though, why resurrect negativity.

I find joy, kindness, fellowship where ever I go. It's what I get and give, that is what I do. I could write volumes on the good, the bad, the ugly. I prefer to focus on the good.

Plenty of problems and I still say most Detroiters are the best people around.

Positivity and Negativity...

Interestingly, negative reinforcement gets things done more than positive reinforcement at times.

For Sumas unasked for advise...http://lifehacker.com/5948124/counte...tuations-worse

[Honky Tonk]

Positivity and Negativity...

Interestingly, negative reinforcement gets things done more than positive reinforcement at times.

For Sumas unasked for advise...http://lifehacker.com/5948124/counte...tuations-worse

Good post, Dan. You're like the Dr. Phil of DetroitYES!

[sumas]

Positivity and Negativity...

Interestingly, negative reinforcement gets things done more than positive reinforcement at times.

For Sumas unasked for advise...http://lifehacker.com/5948124/counte...tuations-worse

Perhaps I agree or maybe not, sorry no longer open attachments. Tired of malware.

I treat my neighbors well and they return same courtesy. We do well with the three C's.

Co operation, consideration, communication.

[Jimaz]

Perhaps I agree or maybe not, sorry no longer open attachments. Tired of malware....

The article was so short, I thought I'd just copy it here:

Countering Negativity with Positivity Makes Situations Worse

When faced with a negative situation, many of us want to correct the problem. We often think to look on the upside and share that with others. Our attempt to shift a negative emotion to a positive one seems like a good idea, but it actually makes things worse. Peter Bregman, writing for Psychology Today, explains why:

Countering someone's negativity with your positivity doesn't work because it's argumentative. People don't like to be emotionally contradicted and if you try to convince them that they shouldn't feel something, they'll only feel it more stubbornly. And if you're a leader trying to be positive, it comes off even worse because you'll appear out of touch and aloof to the reality that people are experiencing.

He also suggests a better approach. Instead of telling the negative person to look on the bright side, validate how they feel and agree with them when you honestly can. Finally, find out what they are positive about and encourage it. You can't force your specific positivity on others. It makes the problem worse. Instead, look for their positivity and help it grow.

That makes sense but I think just three paragraphs doesn't quite cover the topic adequately.

Oh. Which is why they link to the longer article at Psychology Today:

How to Respond to Negativity: A three-step process for effectively turning around negative people

"I'm getting to the end of my patience," Dan,* the head of sales for a financial services firm, told me. "There is so much opportunity here — the business is growing, the work is interesting, and bonuses should be pretty good this year — but all I hear is complaining."

When he passed his employees in the hall and asked how it was going, they would respond with a critical comment about a client or they would grumble about the amount of work they were juggling.

"How can I turn around the negativity that pervades my team?" he asked me.

I asked him what he was doing now. "At first, I told them how much opportunity we had in front of us, and I reiterated our mission statement," he said. "I wanted to remind them what we're all working towards. Now though?" he threw his hands up in the air, "I'm just pissed. I want to shake them out of their slump."

Dan's response is completely natural and intuitive. Unfortunately, it's also completely ineffective.

Initially, he tried to counter the negativity with positivity. When that didn't work, he became negative himself. Both responses reaped the same outcome: More negativity.

Here's why: Countering someone's negativity with your positivity doesn't work because it'sargumentative. People don't like to be emotionally contradicted and if you try to convince them that they shouldn't feel something, they'll only feel it more stubbornly. And if you're a leader trying to be positive, it comes off even worse because you'll appear out of touch and aloof to the reality that people are experiencing.

The other instinctive approach — confronting someone's negativity with your own negativity — doesn't work because it's additive. Your negative reaction to their negative reaction simply adds fuel to the fire. Negativity breeds negativity.

So how can you turn around negativity?

I discovered the answer when I made Dan's mistake with my wife Eleanor, when she was complaining about our kids fighting. At first I tried to convince her that all kids fight and ours weren't so bad. Then I became frustrated with her complaining and told her as much.

She got angry. Who wouldn't? But then she did something really helpful to me: She told me what she needed from me.

"I don't want to feel that I'm alone in this," she said, "I want to know you understand. I want you to tell me that we're in this together. And if you share my frustrations, I want to know that too."

In fact, I did share her frustrations, but I was trying not to be negative - which, of course, made the whole interaction more negative.

After my conversation with Eleanor, I had a surprising insight: You don't need to change your response. You just need to redirect it.

What Dan had done with his employees is respond negatively against them [["I want to shake them out of their slump") and positively against them [["I told them how much opportunity we had in front of us").

But a much more productive response is to respond negatively with others and positively with them.

Here's what I'm suggesting, translated into a three-step process for effectively turning around negative people:

1. Understand how they feel and validate it. This might be hard because it could feel like you're reinforcing their negative feelings. But you're not. You're not agreeing with them or justifying their negativity. You're simply showing them that you understand how they feel.

2. Find a place to agree with them. You don't have to agree with everything they've said, but, if you can, agree with some of what they're feeling. If you share some of their frustrations, let them know which.

During steps 1 and 2 you are responding negatively with others not against them. This relaxes and opens them. It helps them feel that they are not alone and you are not out of touch.

Instead of telling Eleanor she shouldn't be so negative about our children, I told her that I shared her frustrations about their fighting. That I was also lost about how to deal with it much of the time and that it made me feel helpless — all of which was true. It's not enough to simply say "I understand how you feel." For this to work, you need to be specific.

3. Find out what they are positive about and reinforce it. This doesn't mean trying to convince them to be positive. It means giving attention to whatever positive feelings they do show — and chances are they will have shown some because it's unusual to find people who are purely negative. If they are purely negative, then make sure they see you supporting others who have shown positivity. The idea is to give positive attention to positive feeling. And to offer concrete hope. It's concrete because it's based on actual positive feelings people already have, rather than harping on positive feelings you think they should have.

During step 3 you are responding positively with others, not against them. You are showing them that you support them. And you are showing them that they will be rewarded — with your support and attention — when they do and say things that are positive. During step 3 you are transforming the downward spiral into an upward one.

In my conversation with Eleanor, I asked her what did work to keep the kids playing nicely together. She talked about a previous morning when we directed their attention more proactively by doing an art project with them. It also worked well, she said, when she and I took each kid individually to do an errand or a project.

In less than five minutes, my conversation with Eleanor reversed its course from negative to positive.

These three steps are not easy to do because we have to fight our own highly emotional — and even reasonable — tendency to be negative about people who are complaining.

When I initially spoke with Dan, he was ready to fire some of his team. That would have, of course, simply exacerbated the negativity of those who stayed.

Instead, he started to listen and validate their negative feelings. What he found underneath the complaining was fear. The company had recently experienced lay-offs and the survivors were still shaken. Were their jobs at risk? [[Step 1.)

Dan couldn't say that they weren't — especially since he was ready to fire some of the complainers. But what he did do was listen and tell them that he shared some of their anxiety — not about being fired, but about feeling unsettled with so much to accomplish and fewer people to get the job done. In other words, he was negative with them. [[Step 2.)

Then he highlighted some positive things he noticed on his team — people taking smart risks, working together on complex sales, and partnering successfully with clients — that were helping to grow the company and secure people's jobs. In other words, he was positive with them. [[Step 3.)

Before, he never missed an opportunity to highlight — and criticize — a person's negativity. Now he didn't miss an opportunity to highlight — and praise — a person's positivity.

And it worked. Eventually the mood in the sales group turned and they worked together to bring in the largest client the company had ever won.

As for me? The truth is, it's often easier to teach this stuff than it is to do it. In the heat of the moment, I can still get frustrated with other people's frustrations. But following these three steps has helped tremendously. And having a partner who reminds me of them? That helps even more.

*Names Changed

[sumas]

Jimaz, thank you for your consideration. I am seriously computer disfunctional. Electronic things and I have problems. That is actually not a joke. Electric aura????

Totally know what my computers can do, just don't know how.

Have a friend 67 who plans to buy a laptop and thought we would pitch in together for a computer tutor.