Rochelle Riley's Tale of Two Cities.

[DetroitPlanner]

Today's column portrays one of the issues hardly ever talked about on this page. Many of us see the City based upon our own experiences. We have posters here who are from both sides of the spectrum and what one sees as a need another sees as a want.

I offer her column as a begining for discourse on this subject.
http://www.freep.com/comments/articl...-of-2-Detroits

Growing up in Detroit my family was defintely on the lower end of the economic spectrum. I never saw my family as poor because we generally had more than many of those who lived in the neighborhood.

I was not blind to issues of poverty, crime, and public transit. We were a once car family, and often had to rely on the bus for transportation. I would often find myself on the bus heading to doctor's visits or the high school. As an adult I see the transit system a shell of what it once was, headways have been reduced, lines eliminated, and the whole system increasingly made less conducive for travel in general. My biggest concern is to improve the transit conncetivity irregardless of mode, and how to do it in a way when there is obvioulsy little money or political will to improve things.

[iheartthed]

Today's column portrays one of the issues hardly ever talked about on this page. Many of us see the City based upon our own experiences. We have posters here who are from both sides of the spectrum and what one sees as a need another sees as a want.

I offer her column as a begining for discourse on this subject.
http://www.freep.com/comments/articl...-of-2-Detroits

Growing up in Detroit my family was defintely on the lower end of the economic spectrum. I never saw my family as poor because we generally had more than many of those who lived in the neighborhood.

I was not blind to issues of poverty, crime, and public transit. We were a once car family, and often had to rely on the bus for transportation. I would often find myself on the bus heading to doctor's visits or the high school. As an adult I see the transit system a shell of what it once was, headways have been reduced, lines eliminated, and the whole system increasingly made less conducive for travel in general. My biggest concern is to improve the transit conncetivity irregardless of mode, and how to do it in a way when there is obvioulsy little money or political will to improve things.

I read it. I appreciate what she was trying to do but I felt it was missing some stuff... Or maybe it seemed like she was trying to be a little too eloquent in resolving the two different sides of Detroit [[and there are more than just two sides) that she discussed. Either way, I was left wanting.

I did chuckle at the woman saying she was ready to go back to Chicago. I doubt that Detroit's crime issues are that much different than issues in the high crime areas of Chicago. Detroit just lacks the balance of upper middle class wealth that Chicago has in its north side and near loop neighborhoods.

[DetroitPlanner]

I did chuckle at the woman saying she was ready to go back to Chicago. I doubt that Detroit's crime issues are that much different than issues in the high crime areas of Chicago. Detroit just lacks the balance of upper middle class wealth that Chicago has in its north side and near loop neighborhoods.

I agree. Chicago has very sectoral areas of affluency. Much of the South End is poor regardless of race [[it is also a lot more racially mixed, with blck, hispanic, and irish groups well represented) while its North Coast is pure yuppie regardless of nationality. If you are lucky and from the North Side you see Chicago as being a great place, however if you live in Blue Island or Pullman on the S Side, not so much.

[laphoque]

This is why I switched to the News. Rochelle Riley and her companion in terrible journalism Mitch Albom love gut pieces. [[Yes, I realize it doesn't affect their bottom line. But I got to tell the cancelation lady that I did it because of Rochelle Riley & Mitch Albom). Where can we turn for journalism that doesn't include false impressions like this in order to elicit some feeling of compassion? Our papers are filled with nonsense like this:

For fun, Thomas usually goes to free festivals at Hart Plaza, "but I heard that only two of them were free this year," she said. "My manager said the tickets were already sold out. The people who do live down here in the lofts, who live in the nice part of Detroit, have already bought the tickets."

If she usually goes to the free festivals then she knows for sure that she's never bought a ticket in the past. That statement doesn't add up. They can't sell out of nonexistent free tickets.

The other is of shadows and longing, tens of thousands of people for whom baseball games and expensive meals out are pipe dreams.

That's hyperbolic. I think in our society whereas having to work and/or raise kids certainly does reduce the amount of leisure time and money for tickets to an event, many events are not out of reach. There are tons of plays, concerts, and events around the city that are free, cheap, or donations-based/on a sliding scale.

I'm going to stop there. Thanks for the reminder as to why I don't read the Free Press's premiere columnists. They are almost uniformly terrible.

On a side note, it is the case that American incomes have stagnated or fallen while expenses [[except buying a house...) have kept pace with inflation. Yes, our society has become unbalanced. Ms. Riley just does such a terrible job of illustrating it.

Gannett needs to hire real journalists. Or somebody needs to come out with a viable business model for funding modern journalism in Detroit.

[AGinthe313]

Hey Rochelle this is not a Detroit thing – it happens everywhere! I’ll bet it is just as bad [[if not worse) in NY and Boston. Or maybe Ashley Thomas isn’t a baseball fan. Inevitably these types of articles turn into discussions of city v. suburb, black v. white, rich v. poor, gentrification, etc – and it’s becoming a joke. Why can’t people just take it for what it was – a nice day, a sold out stadium, another Verlander gem, and a thrilling victory. Not every story needs a riveting, socially conscious slant to it –it was just a baseball game Rocehelle – leave it at that!

[adamjab19]

Yeah I was going to say I am pretty sure there are about three different income levels on my block alone in Berkley here.... and nothing like hitting up the buses for the poor peoples' perspective....so lame.

[hortonz]

I gotta agree with the Freep writer this time. My last visit to the Windy City two years ago was an eye opener. It was my first trip to Chicago in twenty-five years and the grim-looking city I remembered was gone. On my first visit my impressions were mostly negative. Downtown looked empty and deserted. Where the hell were all the people I asked myself? The few people I did see wandering around looked like they belonged in a psychiatric facility and there were layers of dirt and grime on everything. Lots of boarded-up and dumpy-looking businesses. Well, all that was gone two years ago. The layers of dirt and grime were gone, I saw people from all walks of life walking around, the boarded-up buildings and dumpy-looking businesses were gone and trees and flowers lined the streets. Detroit's come a long way in twenty five years but it has a long way to go before it competes with Chicago.

[poobert]

This is why I switched to the News. Rochelle Riley and her companion in terrible journalism Mitch Albom love gut pieces. [[Yes, I realize it doesn't affect their bottom line. But I got to tell the cancelation lady that I did it because of Rochelle Riley & Mitch Albom).

I couldn't agree more. Mitch Albom writes shmaltzy drivel and Rochelle Riley...well, Rochelle Riley can't write a column to save her life. She can't even string together a coherent train of thought. I understand Mitch might have some appeal because of that book he wrote and, I don't know, maybe church ladies or something who like inane nonsense might go for his junk, but I can't fathom how Riley has a job. Tokenism, perhaps? She's pretty obnoxious in person, too. I, too, like the News better.

[Parkguy]

Don't confuse feature columnists with reporters. Columnists serve a totally different purpose. They write opinion pieces and articles that are emotional. They interpret things rather than report factually.

[Det_ard]

Don't confuse feature columnists with reporters. Columnists serve a totally different purpose. They write opinion pieces and articles that are emotional. They interpret things rather than report factually.

Or, in Mitch's case, they just make up stuff and say it's factual until they get caught. Then they say "sorry" and continue to write their column.

[Ray1936]

Well, y'know, here's a shot of the inner city of Chicago I took a year ago on my last flight in to Chicago Midway Airport. Take a look around. Not one vacant spot of land, not one burned out hulk of a home.

Sure looks a lot better then when you fly in to DTW and come in from the northeast into Metro. Chicago is doing SOMETHING right.

[313WX]

Well, y'know, here's a shot of the inner city of Chicago I took a year ago on my last flight in to Chicago Midway Airport. Take a look around. Not one vacant spot of land, not one burned out hulk of a home.

Sure looks a lot better then when you fly in to DTW and come in from the northeast into Metro. Chicago is doing SOMETHING right.

That actually looks better than some of the NICE areas in Detroit.

[wolverine]

I did chuckle at the woman saying she was ready to go back to Chicago. I doubt that Detroit's crime issues are that much different than issues in the high crime areas of Chicago. Detroit just lacks the balance of upper middle class wealth that Chicago has in its north side and near loop neighborhoods.

She's right actually. Violent crime rates in Detroit are well above any city. About twice as bad as Chicago. In the past I looked at violent crime rates per census tract. Crime in Chicago was much more localized where Detroit's had an even distribution. So it's an incorrect assumption for people to generalize and say "south and west sides are bad"

[Carey]

Some of the criticism of Rochelle Riley in this thread is fair, but this column was one of her best. It's hardly news that Detroit has many poor and working poor people who don't appear at the games, concerts, restaurants and other cultural events that take place in their city, supported by their tax dollars. That's because they can't afford to, just like the young woman on the bus Riley interviewed. It's hard to avoid the have/have-not reality when you attend an event in Detroit like Opening Day. I give Riley credit for paying attention to it.

[iheartthed]

She's right actually. Violent crime rates in Detroit are well above any city. About twice as bad as Chicago. In the past I looked at violent crime rates per census tract. Crime in Chicago was much more localized where Detroit's had an even distribution. So it's an incorrect assumption for people to generalize and say "south and west sides are bad"

I thought Chicago withheld some of its crime stats thus why its not usually included in these violent crimes lists?

Anyway, I know that the overall violent crime rate in Detroit is highest for a major city. But if your controlled for socioeconomic characteristics in comparing stats then I don't think the variations would be that stark. For instance, how does Hyde Park stack up against North Rosedale Park? How does downtown Detroit stack up against the Loop?

[wolverine]

I thought Chicago withheld some of its crime stats thus why its not usually included in these violent crimes lists?

Anyway, I know that the overall violent crime rate in Detroit is highest for a major city. But if your controlled for socioeconomic characteristics in comparing stats then I don't think the variations would be that stark. For instance, how does Hyde Park stack up against North Rosedale Park? How does downtown Detroit stack up against the Loop?

Uh they're stark.

[ghettopalmetto]

Some of the criticism of Rochelle Riley in this thread is fair, but this column was one of her best. It's hardly news that Detroit has many poor and working poor people who don't appear at the games, concerts, restaurants and other cultural events that take place in their city, supported by their tax dollars. That's because they can't afford to, just like the young woman on the bus Riley interviewed. It's hard to avoid the have/have-not reality when you attend an event in Detroit like Opening Day. I give Riley credit for paying attention to it.

And these are the exact same reasons why Detroit has been stupid to rely on Bread and Circuses [[professional sports, casinos, Big Events) to "revitalize" the city.

With that said, maybe Ms. Riley needs to travel a bit. As has been stated above, this dichotomy exists in every major city in the world. There will always be "haves" and "have nots". The challenge for Detroit isn't to address this discrepancy, but rather how to retain more of the upper and middle classes, and thus diversify its economic activity.

Unless, of course, Ms. Riley thinks Detroit would be better off as a homogenous uneducated poverty-stricken city.