What Can Detroit do to Reinvent Itself and Begin to Change its Negative Reputation?

Pretty weighty question, I know. I saw another thread on here the other day where the poster asked how Detroit got to be the way it is today. Quite obviously the reasons are complex and should be familiar to anyone with even a basic understanding of this area's history; racial strife, over reliance on a single industry and failure to adapt, white flight and economic segregation, and lack of leadership or vision to name only a few. And although understanding how Detroit got to be in the place it is today is important, that's not the reason why I created this post.

What I wanted to start a discussion on was ideas for how the city of Detroit can begin to retool itself, and what the people who have a stake in its success [[ie everyone living in the state of Michigan) can do to contribute to that. It seems strange to me that a city with a history of so much innovation, from being the breeding ground of Edison's workshop and the modern auto industry which changed every facet of our lives and helped win World War II has been completely unable to change to meet the needs of a changed, globalized world.

I see young people retooling closed down schools and factories and turning them into movie theaters and art galleries; just look at the changes happening in Cork Town for example. And that gives me reason for hope, as big things can have small beginnings. Why isn't this sort of thing happening on a larger scale? People said New York way a dying city in the 70s and 80s, and look at it now. How can we bring a revival like that to Detroit?

I think the anything related to improving Detroit's image or reputation should be de-emphasized. I start to wince whenever I heard anybody propose marketing-based solutions, as if a glitzy PR campaign can change anything. With that caveat, ...

I started writing a response to your question that proposed a number of complex and overlapping solutions that are often tossed around....

But really, the answer is much simpler. Detroit needs more residents who care about the city and who are willing to invest in it. That's it. Sure, there are a number of other problems that go much deeper, but such "problems" are actually symptoms caused by the underlying issue, which is a lack of investment and an economically/psychologically depressed population.

Blight is a symptom. Crime is a symptom. Lousy city services are symptoms. High taxes are a symptom. Even Detroit's bad reputation is a symptom.

What can Michiganians do to help Detroit? Move to Detroit. Invest in Detroit.

If you can't do one of the above, visit Detroit and spend some money in Detroit, but most importantly, speak positively about Detroit. Some people say that PR campaigns are purely talk if there is no action at the ground level. But, I think those people have it backward. Almost everything in life is about perception. PR campaigns make people interested in helping. There needs to be an infectious buzz that Detroit is the place to be and then people must actually come here. The city's gems have to be highlighted. Ever been to Belle Isle? It's pretty incredible.

As far as reputation goes, I find it amazing how many people pine about the city when they have never been here or have only come downtown for the auto show or a sports game. Detroit really isn't scary. Believe me, I live here. I am not a scary mutant. Detroit is a major city with a lot to offer and it keeps Michigan on the map, and the Metro region tied together.

The number one thing out-of-town visitors tell me upon visiting Detroit for the first time, is that Detroit doesn't live up to its reputation. They are surprised that they do not feel in danger. They are surprised at how busy downtown is. They are surprised by the beautiful architecture. They are surprised by the friendliness of the people. They are surprised by the plethora of entertainment and dining options. They are surprised by the city's relentless survival. They are surprised that everything they thought they knew about Detroit was dead wrong. But mostly, they are surprised by the sentiments of people in our region who bash their own home town, fight against its progress, and woefully neglect it, speak of razing it, and actively boycott it. New Yorkers are especially puzzled by this. Perhaps it's scary for them to think that if this could happen to Detroit, a powerful U.S. city, it could also happen to them.

So, come to Detroit. Explore it and you will leave loving it. Or, maybe you'll end up like me and end up not leaving.

High crime is one of the critical underlying problems. All the marketing-based glitchy power point presentations in the world mean little so long as crime remains high... it's easier to set up business elsewhere...

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Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

I think the anything related to improving Detroit's image or reputation should be de-emphasized. I start to wince whenever I heard anybody propose marketing-based solutions, as if a glitzy PR campaign can change anything. With that caveat, ...

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how about if we all sip some fresh squeezed kool-aid while donning a pair of your rose-colored idioticales.

Invest in downtown and host the World Series and Superbowl, hoping for comments on how much the D has improved. Then continue the revitalization. Not so much me trying to be smug [[sorry, I know that's annoying) as me wanting to point out that it has already begun.

Be home to a wildly popular cop show [[or even the Real Housewives of Wayne County ;-), please, please, maybe do things like bring back the auto races [[I wouldn't be a fan, but hey) and otherwise draw attention to itself in ways that don't suck.

Build a car that is awesome. You know, like the Prius was one of a kind awesome when it first came out. Cross your fingers for the Volt, even if it looks like it will have competition right off the bat. Even if I don't personally use an ipod or an iphone because maybe I am a Microsoft guy, I can't deny Apple's products blew everything else away when they were first released, and still compete favorably with their imitators, defining their market segments. Mind you, Apple, too, was in a pretty bad way when it started its comeback with the iMac, so maybe the timing is right.

Here's a random one: Place a vast [[albeit perhaps vastly expensive) mural on the inside wall of the library or something that is a 2010-ish take on Rivera's mural for some free press about Detroit, the city of high culture, and ancillary stories about the history of the labor movement, the modern-day role of the UAW, the improvement in downtown, and so on.

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Originally Posted by BrushStart

Detroit needs more residents who care about tthe city and who are willing to invest in it. That's it. Sure, there are a number of other problems that go much deeper, but such "problems" are actually symptoms caused by the underlying issue, which is a lack of investment and an economically/psychologically depressed population.

....New Yorkers are especially puzzled by this. Perhaps it's scary for them to think that if this could happen to Detroit, a powerful U.S. city, it could also happen to them.

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I think you're absolutely right here and bring up a number of good points. Perhaps the first step is just getting people to realize that they do indeed have a stake in Detroit, and to build a sense of community and pride in the city. If the city of Detroit is going to be revived, it's not going to be by politicians with programs but by ordinary citizens with changed minds and a new vision.

Fix the school system. Fix the school system. Fix the school system. Fix the school system.

The only way to change the reputation is to change the reality.

Abysmal schools
Parenting skills [[or lack thereof)
Crime
Corruption
Blight
Low morals
Low self esteem
Entitlement attitude of citizens and politicians alike

These things are at the root of the myriad of problems that Detroit faces and have been for many many years.

Yes, I know, an over simplified list of generalizations that just scratches the surface. But you've got to start somewhere.

The only way to change the reputation is to change the reality.

Abysmal schools - Does not boil down to money. It boils down to good teachers. You can throw all the money at schools you want but if the teachers don't connect with the students things will never change.

Parenting skills [[or lack thereof) - Can't change bad parents. You can however try to help their children not to repeat their parents mistakes.

Crime - A matter of enough good cops with enough pay. This is indeed a matter of money and skilled professionals. It is also a matter of the residents. You will never be completely free of crime but you can limit it. Due to lax enforcement of law Detroit has attracted a bad crowd who will do as they please until enough people with enough money move in and push/crowd them out.

Blight - Years of removal but eventually it will be done.

Low morals - Start with the children.

Low self esteem - Start with the children. Their parents are too set in their ways to change. It is much easier to mold the mind of a child then to change the consistant behavior that adults have had for years.

^ Exactly

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Originally Posted by BrushStart

Blight is a symptom. Crime is a symptom. Lousy city services are symptoms. High taxes are a symptom. Even Detroit's bad reputation is a symptom.

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I don't think you understand what the word "symptom" really means. Please consult a dictionary.

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Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

Fix the school system. Fix the school system. Fix the school system. Fix the school system.

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Hamtragedy is right, right, right, right. If you create an educational system that gives children hope and opportunity, all your other problems begin to solve themselves. The school system needs leadership and a sustainable financial structure.

There are other things: reduce by four-fifths the number of city employees who work in offices [[by which I mean to exempt policemen, firefighters, bus drivers, etc.). Spend the City's money strategically rather than just photocopying last year's budget. Cooperate with Bob Ficano and Paul G. on a regional transit system.

PR is not going to help us. People aren't that easily misled; put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. Fix the pig instead.

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Originally Posted by DC48080

The only way to change the reputation is to change the reality.

Abysmal schools
Parenting skills [[or lack thereof)
Crime
Corruption
Blight
Low morals
Low self esteem
Entitlement attitude of citizens and politicians alike

These things are at the root of the myriad of problems that Detroit faces and have been for many many years.

Yes, I know, an over simplified list of generalizations that just scratches the surface. But you've got to start somewhere.

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This is much closer to the truth than the ra-ra stuff, although there is a groundswell of improvement/development in the downtown/midtown area.

The other thing that will help Detroit improve its image is TIME. Not the magazine, but time. It took a long time to get to this point, it will take a long time to get back. There are indications that things are beginning to change, just not overnight. The political turnover in the last couple of years, along with the Feds, even the negative press, etc., may mean issues are finally getting noticed and dealt with.

One day Kwame may get what he espouses, and be credited with starting Detroit's comeback. He anchored this City to such embarassing depths people were forced to take notice, and forced to start making changes.

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Abysmal schools - Does not boil down to money. It boils down to good teachers. You can throw all the money at schools you want but if the teachers don't connect with the students things will never change.

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Non-sense. Bad schools are not created in a vacuum and blaming the teachers is an easy way out. Schools are only one supplement in a much bigger picture. Swap GP or Birmingham teachers into DPS and I can assure you there will be no noticeable improvement in the schools or the scores. The corruption at the adult level cretainly needs to be addressed but blaming the teachers is an easy way.

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Parenting skills [[or lack thereof) - Can't change bad parents. You can however try to help their children not to repeat their parents mistakes.

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Agreed 100% that this is the case with many but there are alos good parents that are trying and struggling. There are a lot of single moms that are spending 4-5 hours a day on a bus to get to minimum wage jobs. If we had more job opportunity in the city that is time that could be spent with their children. Just like the performance of the schools this can't be viewed in a vacuum.

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Crime - A matter of enough good cops with enough pay. This is indeed a matter of money and skilled professionals. It is also a matter of the residents. You will never be completely free of crime but you can limit it. Due to lax enforcement of law Detroit has attracted a bad crowd who will do as they please until enough people with enough money move in and push/crowd them out.

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Agree and disagree. Bringing more cops will help but until this city has opportunity [[jobs) and courts that will actually come down hard on the criminals adding 10,000 officers won't change things as drastically needed. The weak courts are a morale killer for DPD and it sends 1,000s and 1,000s of criminals [[that DPD arrested) back on the streets. Until we address the lack of jobs and opportunity in the city we won't be able to take away the appeal of crime.

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Blight - Years of removal but eventually it will be done.

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Agreed but we also need the resources and legislation that allows the city to go after slumlords, banks with delinquent properties, etc. Right now people and banks can walk away from their blight with little or no consequence. I say the city and Lansing need the tools to go after these people for every penny they can get.

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Low morals - Start with the children.

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Cheap, dismissive and devoid of thought. It is easy to dismiss kids as having 'low morals' when they grow up in an environment with no opportunity, criminals that are continually being put back on the streets, etc. 'Low morals' are an effect of what some kids are stuck in - let's look at the bigger societal issues before we start wagging our finger at the kids.

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Low self esteem - Start with the children. Their parents are too set in their ways to change. It is much easier to mold the mind of a child then to change the consistant behavior that adults have had for years.

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Again, dismissive and easy to state but we need to fix the issues that impact the kids. Until that happens it is disingenious to expect the kids to 'pull themselves up by the bootstrap'. Certainly having some guidance, mentors, etc will help but this needs to be a supplement to many other imrpovements or it will have no lasting impact.

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Originally Posted by bartock

This is much closer to the truth than the ra-ra stuff, although there is a groundswell of improvement/development in the downtown/midtown area.

The other thing that will help Detroit improve its image is TIME. Not the magazine, but time. It took a long time to get to this point, it will take a long time to get back. There are indications that things are beginning to change, just not overnight. The political turnover in the last couple of years, along with the Feds, even the negative press, etc., may mean issues are finally getting noticed and dealt with.

One day Kwame may get what he espouses, and be credited with starting Detroit's comeback. He anchored this City to such embarassing depths people were forced to take notice, and forced to start making changes.

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Very true. If anything from the KK saga, maybe the general citizenry will become more involved in elections and elect better leaders. I think electing Bing and some of the new council members is a step in the right direction. Re-electing CAY jr was just sadly more of the same.

I am not blaming the teachers. Children however have a tendancy not to listen and learn from teachers that they don't connect with however and that was what I was trying to get at.

What is going on with transit? I am not from Detroit so forgive my ignorance. The appeal of crime will always be there and I agree that we need more jobs. However due to the high crime rate many businesses simply overlook Detroit. It is really a double edged problem that I hope will eventually work itself out. I don't have the solution and I won't pretend to.

The children of Detroit have not been raised in a hopeful atmosphere. That is fact. They can not be expected to pull themselves up. They need the helping hand and guidance from those with power in their lives. School programs are a must in this situation in my honest opinion. Even good schools like the one I grew up with are operating with a negative 5K per year budget and they often look to the parents to fill that void but in Detroit the parents are often deeper in debt than the school. It seems to be a vicious cycle.

Get behind your elected mayor and help him do the job he is suppose to. If not, vote him out. Don't complain about the problem do something to help. You're never going to change Detroit rep unless you change the ghettohoods too. It's all inclusive.

I think the rest of MI right now is helping Detroit through state taxes. I know I'm helping through my Fed income tax. Everytime Detroit or some other city receives stimulus money, I'm helping.

Next, New York was never a dying city. It's the landing point for thousand of immigrants..both legal and illegal. Check out the surrounding cities in New Jersey to see the number of immigrants there. New York just went through and cleaned up Manhattan which changed the whole reputation of the island. There are still parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn where I wouldn't set foot alone.

Others had it right by saying fix the schools. That is the 1st priority in attracting young people.

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I am not blaming the teachers. Children however have a tendancy not to listen and learn from teachers that they don't connect with however and that was what I was trying to get at.

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Agreed to some extent. Connecting is one thing but there are great teachers that will not succeed in DPS. My opinion is that schools are a supplement to a child's education. There is only so much that can be done. Add in the corruption at the admin level and the teachers have limited opportunity for success.

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What is going on with transit? I am not from Detroit so forgive my ignorance. The appeal of crime will always be there and I agree that we need more jobs. However due to the high crime rate many businesses simply overlook Detroit. It is really a double edged problem that I hope will eventually work itself out. I don't have the solution and I won't pretend to.

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Agreed on the catch 22. I deleted my transit comment but the issue is that working, struggling families [[the kind that the right wingers praise) often have to find jobs 20-30 miles away which can be hours on a bus each way. This is time taken away that could be spent reading to their kids, playing with their kids, etc. It's an unfortunate situation thrust on many good parents and the lack of jobs in Detroit coupled with horrible transit in the region results in parents spending their lives to feed and cloth their kids but not having the time to raise their kids.

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The children of Detroit have not been raised in a hopeful atmosphere. That is fact. They can not be expected to pull themselves up. They need the helping hand and guidance from those with power in their lives. School programs are a must in this situation in my honest opinion.

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Agreed but we just need to look at them as a supplement and work to address the bigger issues. But overall I agree with this point

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Get behind your elected mayor and help him do the job he is suppose to. If not, vote him out. Don't complain about the problem do something to help. You're never going to change Detroit rep unless you change the ghettohoods too. It's all inclusive.

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Wow.

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I think the rest of MI right now is helping Detroit through state taxes. I know I'm helping through my Fed income tax. Everytime Detroit or some other city receives stimulus money, I'm helping.

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And I'm sure your city is receiving fed stimulus money. Now if you live in SE Michigan it is also to assume over the last 50 years Detroit has paid a significant amount of money to build infrastructure in your community. This would be a good place to bring facts, not throwing shit at the walls and seeing what sticks.

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Others had it right by saying fix the schools. That is the 1st priority in attracting young people

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Yes, because those cities like NY and Chicago that are bringing in tons of young people have the finest schools in the country. [[please note the sarcasm)

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Originally Posted by jt1

Yes, because those cities like NY and Chicago that are bringing in tons of young people have the finest schools in the country. [[please note the sarcasm)

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They both have fantastic art schools. However having well educated children who are from Detroit would be a huge benefit. You want the youth to stay in Detroit and have children there and increase the population with even better citizens who have more opportunities than they themselves had. That is why fixing the schools should be at the top of the priorities list in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by papillonaquatique

They both have fantastic art schools. However having well educated children who are from Detroit would be a huge benefit. You want the youth to stay in Detroit and have children there and increase the population with even better citizens who have more opportunities than they themselves had. That is why fixing the schools should be at the top of the priorities list in my opinion.

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Art schools are one piece but by and large many, many families in NY and Chicago send their kids to private schools, etc.

I agree that it is necessary in Detroit to improve the schools, I just don't think that the schools can only improve if many other things in the city aren't improved. Leaving the crime, lack of jobs and opportunity, blight, etc remain there is no chance of ever developing a viable district. It's a sad reality but I agree that a focus on the schools in parallel with other items is critical

Classic chicken-and-egg stuff going on here.

First of all, trying to fix the image of Detroit is not important. Trying to "educate" people about how Detroit got this way, warts and all, is the best you can do. Trying to throw tinsel all over a train wreck just don't work.

But I agree with the "symptom" post. The problems are myriad, but Detroit's failure is our regional failure. We can't get beyond the "home rule" battles of the 1920s, have no desire to build cities that aren't just strips of concrete with sewers underneath, and seem to want to build new municipalities every 10 years just for the "haves" while the "have-nots" get blamed for their poor schools, police response times, garbage collection, taxes, etc. Of course, nobody wants to look at that, so it's much easier to say, "I'll respect Detroit when it gets its schools [[police, fire, garbage pickup, taxes, etc.) in order," knowing full well that it will never get them in order.

Put it another way: If your fellow man is starving to death, and you say you'll help him "once he gets his act together," this is simply a way of avoiding any responsibility for the common welfare of your neighborhood.

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Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Put it another way: If your fellow man is starving to death, and you say you'll help him "once he gets his act together," this is simply a way of avoiding any responsibility for the common welfare of your neighborhood.

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Agree, 'nerd, but it's easy to help a man who's starving, at least for the moment: buy him dinner. It's difficult to help, even for the moment, a city which has become structurally unsustainable and which has a reputation for aggressively rejecting outside help unless it's cash without strings.

I think the reinvention needs to start at the very bottom: declare bankruptcy, tear up all existing contracts and start over.

Lock the doors to City Hall, fire every worker in there and make them reapply for their job. Only hire back one-third, and make it easier in the future to fire the lazy workers.

Clean out every last twig left in the Cheeks-Kilpatrick family tree left lurking around, and get rid of all of their friends.