Curbed: GPP doesn't want Detroit

[GP For Life]

The sewer that collapsed is the responsibility of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. I suggest you contact them about fixing the sewer that forced the closing in the first place.

Haha. I forgot about that. I hope we're sending them the bill. The pipe was probably racist, though.

[bailey]

Quote Originally Posted by GPCharles View Post
The sewer that collapsed is the responsibility of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. I suggest you contact them about fixing the sewer that forced the closing in the first place.

Haha. I forgot about that. I hope we're sending them the bill. The pipe was probably racist, though.

It is awfully convenient that the sewer line broke in exactly that spot and has remained un-repaired....

[Wesley Mouch]

What a half-truth, B/S article. The truth is GPP doesn't "want" Detroit stealing their cars and robbing their houses. That's the reality of the situation. There are plenty of mixed residents in Grosse Pointe, and truth be told, they're there to escape those issues in Detroit. I go into GPP several times a week, and have never had an issue finding a way in. I do remove the "D" from my ride, though.

Black flight is nothing new. Its one of the few rational ways of addressing the problems of Detroit, a city where a protective barrier is viewed as an insult rather than a reasonable response. But oh what a powerful symbol. However George Cushingberry will need a few of these symbols to get re-elected. Funny that GPP will effectively be supporting GC, but politics is like that.

[Novine]

"I don't blame them for wanting to limit access. Detroit has its issues, and the neighborhood next to them looks like it got bombed."

I wonder how many of those properties are owned by GP slumlords? Weren't some of the Pointes buying up and demolishing properties on the Detroit side of the border?

[Scottathew]

I wonder how many of those properties are owned by GP slumlords? Weren't some of the Pointes buying up and demolishing properties on the Detroit side of the border?

I've never heard that, but I wouldn't be the authority for knowledge on that subject.

[Detroitnerd]

Yup. Lots of wealthy metro Detroiters live in islands of wealth where their taxes only pay for services for other similarly wealthy people. And because most wealthy people live like this, they sometimes live next to areas that look bombed-out and are full of poor, desperate, uneducated people.

These well-to-do folks won't pay for improving the central city at all. But they will pay any price to stop them from coming into their communities, and will pay astronomical amounts of money to jail or imprison them if they are caught committing crimes.

This is all normal. This is the way we have organized our metro region. But then somebody puts up a wall of snow and everybody's all like, "OMG! WTF?"

[GP For Life]

It is awfully convenient that the sewer line broke in exactly that spot and has remained un-repaired....

I really hope you're being sarcastic.

[GP For Life]

Yup. Lots of wealthy metro Detroiters live in islands of wealth where their taxes only pay for services for other similarly wealthy people. And because most wealthy people live like this, they sometimes live next to areas that look bombed-out and are full of poor, desperate, uneducated people.

These well-to-do folks won't pay for improving the central city at all. But they will pay any price to stop them from coming into their communities, and will pay astronomical amounts of money to jail or imprison them if they are caught committing crimes.

This is all normal. This is the way we have organized our metro region. But then somebody puts up a wall of snow and everybody's all like, "OMG! WTF?"

So, you basically think we should pay for Detroit's mistakes. Got it.

Newsflash, we already do. How much more should we pay? When is it enough?

Basically, the last sixty-years of history has just been us giving Detroiters a wide berth. Now that it has gone full Thunderdome we had to step in and show Detroit how to manage its resources effectively.

[mwilbert]

Without making any judgement on what's going on at Kercheval, if you look at streets the people in Palmer Woods actually closed off, it does in fact look like they were just trying to reduce the number of people using the neighborhood as a shortcut between Woodward and Seven Mile.

Which annoys me a bit, because I liked to use it as a shortcut between Woodward and Seven Mile, but I don't see that it does much to exclude anyone.

[GPCharles]

Many people in GP, including me, work in Detroit and pay non-resident taxes to Detroit. It's not a big amount, but I do make my annual contribution.

[noise]

Then call a spade a spade and cut the shit about entertainment districts.

I predict a reverse backlash from the drunken GP men attempting to get to My Dad's Bar to escape from their harpy Junior League wives.

This is 2014 America we're talking about. We'll never cut the shit, man.

[bailey]

I really hope you're being sarcastic.

that I am.

[GP For Life]

that I am.

After some of the other comments here, I wasn't sure. I am sorry for even doubting you.

[13074Glenfield]

Adding this to your boycott of Palmer Woods? Or, does the boycott extend to all of Detroit?

And Warren...

[Honky Tonk]

And Warren...

I"M the one boycotting Warren.

[poobert]

The ultimate irony is, especially in the past 2 years or so, that Grosse Pointe's entertainment district is the greater downtown Detroit vicinity. Throw a rock downtown on a Friday and you'll hit a Grosse Pointer.

[1953]

This barrier is a reactive, not proactive solution. Got crime? Put up a wall, rather than trying to encourage the growth that will make both cities better off in the long run. Very myopic.

[Detroit Stylin]

This barrier is a reactive, not proactive solution. Got crime? Put up a wall, rather than trying to encourage the growth that will make both cities better off in the long run. Very myopic.

Yep very 1950's Mississippi....

[mtburb]

I wonder what will happen next, with the way this is going...

1. GPP opts out of SMART and bans all SMART and DDOT vehicles from even entering their community,
2. GPP builds 25-foot-tall walls all along the city limits,
3. GPP charges all non-residents a $50 fee to enter the city,
4. all of the above or
5. none of the above [[hopefully!)

[Wesley Mouch]

Yup. Lots of wealthy metro Detroiters live in islands of wealth where their taxes only pay for services for other similarly wealthy people. And because most wealthy people live like this, they sometimes live next to areas that look bombed-out and are full of poor, desperate, uneducated people.

These well-to-do folks won't pay for improving the central city at all. But they will pay any price to stop them from coming into their communities, and will pay astronomical amounts of money to jail or imprison them if they are caught committing crimes.

This is all normal. This is the way we have organized our metro region. But then somebody puts up a wall of snow and everybody's all like, "OMG! WTF?"

Nerd, you are 100% wrong here.

You are allowed to hold opinions about whether the wealthy support the poor as much as you'd like. But you are wrong if you don't think they do.

Do you really think that the wealthy don't pay taxes? Sure, maybe not enough. But they do pay. And maybe in smaller percentages than the poor, but in much larger total dollars.

Do you think philanthropy doesn't exist? Just the other day, Bill Gates on Charlie Rose. Asked about the 1% and their support for charity. Said he's probably 1%er #1 -- and that 'all' of his money will be spent for charitable purposes.

Maybe its all not enough. OK.

"their taxes only pay for services for other similarly wealthy people" -- UNTRUE. A large percentage of taxes are state and federal, not local. Entitlement spending by government is not small.

"well-to-do folks won't pay for improving the central city at all" -- UNTRUE. Where do you think the DIA is going to raise $100,000,000?

Fight for more, but don't mislead and say they aren't contributing.

[313WX]

The ultimate irony is, especially in the past 2 years or so, that Grosse Pointe's entertainment district is the greater downtown Detroit vicinity. Throw a rock downtown on a Friday and you'll hit a Grosse Pointer.

But see, downtown is a GOOD part of Detroit. They wouldn't dare venture any direction outside of downtown, unless they're on roadways named I-94 or I-75.

They'll be perfectly content if the rest of the city between GPP and downtown was bulldozed into the river to make room for a mega highway to get them to/from downtown faster.

[[BTW, my post was 99% serious and 1% tongue-in-cheek)

[Scottathew]

But see, downtown is a GOOD part of Detroit. They wouldn't dare venture any direction outside of downtown, unless they're on roadways named I-94 or I-75.

They'll be perfectly content if the rest of the city between GPP and downtown was bulldozed into the river to make room for a mega highway to get them to/from downtown faster.

[[BTW, my post was 99% serious and 1% tongue-in-cheek)

That's not how suburbanites feel about Detroit. We want Detroit to recover. We want to see the urban prairies filled with new houses and middle class families. We want good things for Detroit. However, when ever someone from the outside tries to help they're accused of trying to steal Detroit's gems and are treated as unwanted.

Outsiders can only change so much in Detroit. At some point the excuses have to stop and Detroit needs to change Detroit. Folks will help along the way, but the main driving force needs to come from within.

Until Detroit is fixed you'll see communities doing what they need to do to protect their residents and their interests.

It's easy to demonize suburban cities that want to protect themselves from Detroit. It's much harder to actually address the problem and fix Detroit.

[Wesley Mouch]

That's not how suburbanites feel about Detroit. We want Detroit to recover. We want to see the urban prairies filled with new houses and middle class families. We want good things for Detroit. However, when ever someone from the outside tries to help they're accused of trying to steal Detroit's gems and are treated as unwanted.

Outsiders can only change so much in Detroit. At some point the excuses have to stop and Detroit needs to change Detroit. Folks will help along the way, but the main driving force needs to come from within.

Until Detroit is fixed you'll see communities doing what they need to do to protect their residents and their interests.

It's easy to demonize suburban cities that want to protect themselves from Detroit. It's much harder to actually address the problem and fix Detroit.

Well said.

Leaders who spend their time demonizing the suburbs do not respect the majority of suburbanites [[IMO) really want to see Detroit succeed. The world has changed. And local leaders like Cushingberry and regional leaders like LBP have not kept up with the times.

[nain rouge]

If we want to bring up suspicious construction, you'd swear the city was intentionally trying to cut off any way to get in or out of Delray. You almost have to sneak in on one of the north-south roads to reach Delray, and the city sure doesn't seem in a hurry to rectify the problem. They want that neighborhood dead and gone, and they want it gone now. Southwest Detroit is going to resemble one of those terrifyingly large Chinese industrial zones soon enough.

Just pray the wind never blows from the south.

[warsaw7]

See I heard through the "grapevine" that this construction is to be a new water fountain in the middle of Kercheval. This just what I heard. But yes they it would in fact be blocking off Kercheval.