The Pebble And The Mill Pond
Contrary to popular belief, many of our more well-off suburbs with great police departments and neighborhood watch programs, still choose to employ private security at night, especially in business corridors.
The issue is that upper income areas will always be possible targets because that is where the opportunity for criminals actually is. Even with their self seclusion, state of the art security systems, and gated style, they still manage to be occasional targets. I don't think it will be any different in Detroit, and it will be a challenge to mix incomes the way an urban area should be. Before you do that, you better have a good support system [[temporary safety net and/or place of entry) for the poor and lower income folks, along with several easily identifiable ladders to better lives.
It also might help to figure out a way to stop sending our citizens to prison, essentially a college for becoming a better criminal. A commitment to education... no, scratch that, to sticking with individuals from the beginning to beyond college, should be the goal. We should be learning what our citizens dream of, and make it possible to accomplish right here in Detroit.
The sacrifice for all of us is that we will likely not see the results of our actions, and just have to understand that our actions create ripples through eternity the same way throwing a pebble can send ripples across a mill pond.
Why Gated Communities Won't Work
Quote:
Originally Posted by
oladub
Public transit is great in places where people aren't afraid of getting mugged walking home. "Improving the vitality of the urban core" is a cliche rather than a concrete idea. Additional residents and their money will help Detroit. Large gated communities are just one way to attract these new residents. Noone in their right mind is going to endanger their own kids if they can afford not to.
I've never even seen such an experiment attempted. Maybe no major cities have revived themselves, or at least improved their financial condition, doing this because none have done it. I'm curious. Name a few cities the size and financial condition of Detroit that have pulled themselves back from the worst of urban decay.
Mayor Bing and the Federal government are going to be spending $10,000 a house to tear them down. Then someone has to maintain the empty lots although Detroit can't afford to cut all of it's grass now. Detroit is 139 square miles. What if a one-half square mile area [[about 44 blocks, or 3,700' square) were set aside for such an experiment? Picture an area the size of St. Jean to Cadilac and Goethe to E. Jefferson becoming a thriving community of about 11,500 taxpayers with the need for building necessary housing, shops, schools, and businesses for that many people. It wouldn't, by itself, turn Detroit around but 10 or 20 such developments would make a great start. Just that amount of construction work would be a help and this could be done without holding out a hat for years hoping for federal dollars.
I hope some developers are reading this now. Deatroit real estate is cheap and Detroit has a Mayor who wants to start turning things around. Time to work out a mutually acceptable deal!
This won't work.
Many people have some attraction to a more rural living arrangement in America, for many reasons that would make this post too long if discussed here. To many, a city is generally a environment that can easily overstimulate an individual. There is generally three types of people/reactions in a society [[city and suburbs).
- Eunice The Over Enthusiastic Embracer; Generally, Eunice is the person who is powered and inspired by a city. They view the society and city as something they are amazed by, and eagerly want to be a part of it, or capture it's essence in some way [[art, business, community service, etc.).
- Deal With It Dan; Dan has some issues with the city, it makes him feel lost, just another cog in the clock, or blade of grass in a field. Dan copes with city life, and resides in the city, but generally does not enjoy it in itself. Dan deals with his over-stimulation by withdrawing.
- Run For The Hills Hank; Hank deals with the city by rejecting it outright, and tends to avoid it when possible, often living in the suburbs, since many small towns are now in about as bad of shape as many cities.
Dan will be your prime buyer of gated communities, since he want's to be secluded from the city, but still needs or wants to be nearby. Dan feels his home is where he feels most comfortable, and wants to withdraw himself and relax there. Eunice on the other hand, is the opposite, and views the home as uncomfortable and public places more like home. Hank on the other hand will not be moving into your gated community, since he already rejected the location.
I'm not sure we have enough Dans left for the type and size of communities you are suggesting. The other two groups will never embrace that living arrangement. My reason for thinking this is seeing what happened when smaller gated communities failed to attract enough residents before the current depression/recession.