Quote Originally Posted by jpbollma View Post
I hope I am not offending you in anyway. Yes, we just have different perspectives. In my mind, making a world class park will help to attract more business and tourism therefore creating jobs for people who cannot find work. Many of these jobs would be in the service sector which do not require degrees. Is it perfect? No. I wish there was some magical way to eradicate poverty. I haven't had to deal with poverty in a long time, but I can tell you as a high school student I had religious extremist parents who were not supportive of me "coming out" and I was homeless for my senior year and couch hopped while working and finishing school. I definitely know what it is like to be poor. I also know the only way out of poverty is by creating a climate where jobs can be created that people can actually perform, thereby creating a tax base to also improve education. That may be slightly off topic, but in my mind all of these things are tied up together. Again, just different perspectives of what will or will not improve life for others.
No, I'm not offended. I have a big mouth and it's only fair I grow a thick skin, not that you've said anything that has offended me at all. Thank you for sharing your experience. I think it always helps when we remember that we're all human beings on this forum and brings out the best.

With the exception of some people who have obviously stated that they want some sort of entry fee to exclude poor people, I understand that the goal isn't to hurt the most vulnerable people. [[Heck, did anybody ever get a successful plan off the ground saying, "Let's sock it to those defenseless innocents!")

You understand the poverty part, and I applaud that. Yes, a significant portion of Detroiters will be simply unable to come up with an additional $10. Heck, a lot of Detroiters can't even keep up their stickers as it is.

But I am going to have to remain opposed to any plan that turns away law-abiding Detroiters from riding out onto the park they have had access to for more than 120 years. I would rather not enact anything right now that I know to be harmful -- based upon some future hope that things will get better. Even if you disagree, you have to admit it is a stand based in common sense.

And I wonder, who will be the one to turn away families? Would you volunteer for that job? Who will be the one to leave bridge traffic in a snarl and call in the cops and see parents arrested in front of their own children for the crime of trying something this week that was normal last week? Try to imagine being that official at the guard house facing an angry family ready for a cookout, with a line of honking, yelling angry motorists stacked up on that bridge, many of them now unsure they're getting in. Imagine what might happen. And bear in mind, the 1943 riot broke out on that very bridge.

Would you volunteer to be the one to tell them that you hope that this attracts more people to the island, that there will be more attractions and that, eventually, you hope this lifts them out of poverty so they can afford the $10? I know I wouldn't.