Another cliche feel-good article about Detroit.

Occurrence · October-16-11, 03:48 AM

Wow, such amazing writing. I feel like I have read this same article a half-dozen times in the past couple weeks. These kind of articles are becoming as cliche as the ever popular "ruin porn" stuff.

http://www.freep.com/article/20111016/NEWS01/110160556/More-more-people-just-love-D-Attitudes-city-itself-changing?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Occurrence · October-16-11, 03:56 AM

While were at it, can people please stop saying "the D". It's really dumb.

**kraig** · October-16-11, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by Occurrence

While were at it, can people please stop saying "the D". It's really dumb.

Did you grow up in Detroit? "The D" is one of the most common phrases you'll hear from Detroiters. If you're hanging out on the south side of Chicago and you don't want anyone giving you a hard time, tell them you're from "the D" when they ask. It will completely change their demeanor.

And while you may feel that the feel good articles are cliched, look at the flipside. How long have we endured that "Detroit is the worst" articles?

**Scottathew** · October-16-11, 07:27 AM

I'm proud to feel good about the great things happening in Detroit. Progress is happening. The progress is perfect. Progress will take years and decades, but it's progress.

Bring on the cliche feel-good articles!

**animatedmartian** · October-16-11, 08:04 AM

Because cliche crime stories are so much more familiar and easier to complain about...

**English** · October-16-11, 08:07 AM

Originally Posted by 48091

I'm proud to feel good about the great things happening in Detroit. Progress is happening. The progress is perfect. Progress will take years and decades, but it's progress.

Bring on the cliche feel-good articles!

Thank you. In the ghettohoods, we were saying "the D" and "the 313" in the 1990s.

Is this an easy city to live in? No. Are things perfect? No. Are they even the way they were in the early 1960s or before? Of course not.

But the mindset change is super important. That's why previous efforts to turn the city around failed. No one believed the 1980s efforts -- "stand up and tell 'em you're from Detroit?" No one north of 8 Mile or west of Telegraph was trying to do ANYTHING like that... and many of us city dwellers were good on that score, too. Folks wanted to be from anywhere but here.

Today, you've got an entire generation of folks in this metro who are proud to be from Detroit... even if they grew up nearly an hour north or an hour west. What's more, the young, vibrant transplants, artists, entrepreneurs, and young professionals, consider themselves more Detroit than some of us whose families have lived within the city limits for several generations.

Things are changing. The young people are changing it. No one my age can remember the riots, and my cohort is firmly in our mid-30s. So... Detroit, stand up!

**eno** · October-16-11, 10:05 AM

I thought Dallas became the "D" when they passed us in population. Detroit is now the "d".

**kraig** · October-16-11, 10:19 AM

Question for Danny and English. What do you call the people that live around you?

I call them neighbors because I believe that I live in a neighborhood and I consider myself a neighbor. I'm wondering what those of you that believe you live in "ghettohoods" consider your neighbors and yourselves.

**Hamtragedy** · October-16-11, 10:28 AM

Never heard "The D" till 2000s. Lived, worked, and volunteered here [[at the Rec Centers, even) and never heard it. Yes, Dallas is the "Big D"

**Melocoton** · October-16-11, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by English

Thank you. In the ghettohoods, we were saying "the D" and "the 313" in the 1990s.!

...which is why I think it's corny when local Chevy dealers or the Detroit Tourism Bureau say it.

DetroitPole · October-16-11, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by Melocoton

...which is why I think it's corny when local Chevy dealers or the Detroit Tourism Bureau say it.

++++

I'm so sick of the feel-good bullshit too. Attitudes are changing - that is a good thing, in a general sense. But ultimately I don't give much of a flying you-know-what that some soccer moms in Novi are now saying they love/live in[[through some strange logic) "the D" because it doesn't really do anything. We have serious problems, incredibly serious problems here that show no sign of abating. I really do appreciate the vibrancy downtown has on game/event nights and the selection of businesses there but the rest of the city [[where most of us live) has absolutely gone to hell. Again, people claiming love for the D from afar doesn't help my block, or those of most, at all. We need more than somebody's PMA at this point.

It's easy to love Detroit when you treat it like a one night stand - mess around for the evening, do all the fun stuff, then cruise back home. But when you're here and you're married to it, well, let's say it's easier to fall in love than to stay in love.

**PaulGall** · October-16-11, 11:58 AM

There was a radio station, WDEE, back in the olden days when I was young. They would announce it as Double U-D-Double E, and the slogan was "We put the DEE in DEE-Troit."

**313WX** · October-16-11, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by eno

I thought Dallas became the "D" when they passed us in population. Detroit is now the "d".

They became "The Big D" when they passed us in population in 1990 [[Detroit was "The Big D").

That's when Detroiters came up with "The D."

**313WX** · October-16-11, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPole

++++

I'm so sick of the feel-good bullshit too. Attitudes are changing - that is a good thing, in a general sense. But ultimately I don't give much of a flying you-know-what that some soccer moms in Novi are now saying they love/live in[[through some strange logic) "the D" because it doesn't really do anything. We have serious problems, incredibly serious problems here that show no sign of abating. I really do appreciate the vibrancy downtown has on game/event nights and the selection of businesses there but the rest of the city [[where most of us live) has absolutely gone to hell. Again, people claiming love for the D from afar doesn't help my block, or those of most, at all. We need more than somebody's PMA at this point.

It's easy to love Detroit when you treat it like a one night stand - mess around for the evening, do all the fun stuff, then cruise back home. But when you're here and you're married to it, well, let's say it's easier to fall in love than to stay in love.

Great post, I completely agree.

I doubt the positive/rah-rah/feel good attitude lasts much longer though. I highly suspect if the Tigers or Lions had a crappy season none of these positive articles would exist. The same thing happened in 1980, 1984, 1990-1991 and 2005-2006 [[And we see where that got us)

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...well you get it.

**Gistok** · October-16-11, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

Never heard "The D" till 2000s. Lived, worked, and volunteered here [[at the Rec Centers, even) and never heard it. Yes, Dallas is the "Big D"

Gotta agree... lived in Detroit for 30 years.... never ever heard it referred as "the D"... maybe it's a Westside thing.... or maybe when "the neighborhoods" became "the hood"...

**Thames** · October-16-11, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPole

++++

I'm so sick of the feel-good bullshit too. Attitudes are changing - that is a good thing, in a general sense. But ultimately I don't give much of a flying you-know-what that some soccer moms in Novi are now saying they love/live in[[through some strange logic) "the D" because it doesn't really do anything. We have serious problems, incredibly serious problems here that show no sign of abating. I really do appreciate the vibrancy downtown has on game/event nights and the selection of businesses there but the rest of the city [[where most of us live) has absolutely gone to hell. Again, people claiming love for the D from afar doesn't help my block, or those of most, at all. We need more than somebody's PMA at this point.

It's easy to love Detroit when you treat it like a one night stand - mess around for the evening, do all the fun stuff, then cruise back home. But when you're here and you're married to it, well, let's say it's easier to fall in love than to stay in love.

Some would argue that downtown went to hell too. But downtown is on it's way back. That means [[hopefully) the neighborhoods aren't far behind.

**canuck** · October-16-11, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPole

++++

I'm so sick of the feel-good bullshit too. Attitudes are changing - that is a good thing, in a general sense. But ultimately I don't give much of a flying you-know-what that some soccer moms in Novi are now saying they love/live in[[through some strange logic) "the D" because it doesn't really do anything. We have serious problems, incredibly serious problems here that show no sign of abating. I really do appreciate the vibrancy downtown has on game/event nights and the selection of businesses there but the rest of the city [[where most of us live) has absolutely gone to hell. Again, people claiming love for the D from afar doesn't help my block, or those of most, at all. We need more than somebody's PMA at this point.

It's easy to love Detroit when you treat it like a one night stand - mess around for the evening, do all the fun stuff, then cruise back home. But when you're here and you're married to it, well, let's say it's easier to fall in love than to stay in love.

I always get a kick out of your "my bullshit meter is on at high posts" DetroitPole. But people always need to show affection for their town in diminutives. I only disagree with the small d myself.

**Lowell** · October-16-11, 03:52 PM

"Another cliche feel-good article about Detroit"

What a great problem to have, kind of like having problems finding parking downtown. A sign of better times. Bring'em on. I'll give them just ten years to stop that.

I am not sure how long the OP has been on the scene but for those of us who have endured decades of negativity, scorn and derision this is very sweet music of which we will never hear enough. In fact people bitching about too many good reviews is just as sweet. So I consider even a negative thread like this to be win win for the D*.

*The D = metro Detroit has become how most people use the term, another bright sign as more in our community are thinking of our metro as one entity. It is not the arrogant 'the big D'; just the D, sort of like the old English D we have always worn in a city that was around 130 years before Dallas was settled.

**canuck** · October-16-11, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by Lowell

"Another cliche feel-good article about Detroit"

What a great problem to have, kind of like having problems finding parking downtown. A sign of better times. Bring'em on. I'll give them just ten years to stop that.

I am not sure how long the OP has been on the scene but for those of us who have endured decades of negativity, scorn and derision this is very sweet music of which we will never hear enough. In fact people bitching about too many good reviews is just as sweet. So I consider even a negative thread like this to be win win for the D*.

*The D = metro Detroit has become how most people use the term, another bright sign as more in our community are thinking of our metro as one entity. It is not the arrogant 'the big D'; just the D, sort of like the old English D we have always worn in a city that was around 130 years before Dallas was settled.

Yup. And what good is a gallon of gas if you dont have wheels to put it in anyways.

**brizee** · October-16-11, 04:32 PM

I'll take a positive puff piece anyday. They won't pull up on an opportunity to shit on us in the near future so I'm good.

I do get sick if the only intelligent viewpoints are negative pessimistic ones. My dad is like this. Any positive news he grumbles at, anything negative he gets mad at it too.

Shit gets old after awhile.

**softailrider** · October-16-11, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPole

++++

I'm so sick of the feel-good bullshit too. Attitudes are changing - that is a good thing, in a general sense. But ultimately I don't give much of a flying you-know-what that some soccer moms in Novi are now saying they love/live in[[through some strange logic) "the D" because it doesn't really do anything. We have serious problems, incredibly serious problems here that show no sign of abating. I really do appreciate the vibrancy downtown has on game/event nights and the selection of businesses there but the rest of the city [[where most of us live) has absolutely gone to hell. Again, people claiming love for the D from afar doesn't help my block, or those of most, at all. We need more than somebody's PMA at this point.

It's easy to love Detroit when you treat it like a one night stand - mess around for the evening, do all the fun stuff, then cruise back home. But when you're here and you're married to it, well, let's say it's easier to fall in love than to stay in love.

All of the above, very true. Vast majority of the neighborhoods are a complete and absolute disgrace.

**Jimaz** · October-16-11, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by Lowell

What a great problem to have, kind of like having problems finding parking downtown....

Or like these other problems from today's Free Press:

Metro home buyers in bidding wars

Despite a five-year housing slump that flooded the market, finding a move-in-ready house in metro Detroit has gotten a lot harder with a tight supply sparking bidding wars among house hunters.

Area home builders dusting off equipment

A tight market for move-in-ready homes in metro Detroit has pushed some builders back into action as unsatisfied house hunters crave up-to-date properties they can't find on the regular market.

**Detroitej72** · October-16-11, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by 48091

I'm proud to feel good about the great things happening in Detroit. Progress is happening. The progress is perfect. Progress will take years and decades, but it's progress.

Bring on the cliche feel-good articles!

I agree. Give me the feel good articles any day over the old, tired negative crap we've been used to for the last 30 years.

**401don** · October-16-11, 05:36 PM

It seems every discussion or point of view on here comes around to which Detroit you have in mind. Maybe we should just ask all writers to please specify what Detroit they are talking about before they publish - downtown/mid-town, the city proper or metro. There may not be 3 more divergent places in America.

**canuck** · October-16-11, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

It seems every discussion or point of view on here comes around to which Detroit you have in mind. Maybe we should just ask all writers to please specify what Detroit they are talking about before they publish - downtown/mid-town, the city proper or metro. There may not be 3 more divergent places in America.

Yes, isnt it all about a state of mind on the reader's part and an angle on the writer's part?