Grosse Pointe resident calls Detroit 'third-world country' after robbery

**poobert** · September-19-12, 11:51 AM

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...t_calls_d.html

A few observations:

I'd venture to say "Detroit is a third world country" is probably a pretty common phrase in the Pointes, right up there with "Jeeves, bring the Bentley around." A more striking headline would be "Grosse Pointe Resident Calls Detroit 'a pretty nice place'

However while said footpad likely does not reside on Lakeshore Drive [[aka Jefferson to the rest of the world), there is something a little ironic about getting robbed in Grosse Pointe by an unknown assailant and then blaming it on Detroit.

I travel a lot, and if I ever get pick-pocketed in another city I'll exclaim, "Detroit is such a shithole!"

Still goes to show you - you can run, but you can't hide. Say homeboy is in fact from Detroit. Detroit has been the defacto holding cell for poverty and crime in the Metro region for decades but what makes anyone think they can just ignore it and it will conveniently stay there?

I'm on the other side of Mack and while Morningside and parts of Cornerstone can be pretty rough [[Morningside especially) East English Village, Audobon, and the area around St. John is still pretty nice. I'm sorry they got robbed but being called a victim by Mitt Romney and now the resident of third world country by this guy in one week is kind of rough.

**Bham1982** · September-19-12, 11:56 AM

Grosse Pointe's fortunes, more than any other affluent metro-area suburb, are directly tied into Detroit's fortunes. This is why the Pointes have "underperformed" relative to other affluent suburbs, and why they're comparatively cheap.

The Pointes need to do everything in their power to get Detroit turned around. It's critical for their long-term success.

**downtown_racine** · September-19-12, 12:05 PM

It must be getting rough out there if 250 pound 25 year olds are strong arm robbing 11 and 14 year old girls.
What did the robber get ? A iPod and a pack of gum ?

**Honky Tonk** · September-19-12, 12:07 PM

A 230 pound male pushes a 12 year old girl, [[I averaged the ages), to the ground, steals her cell phone, @ 11:30 in the morning, and the outrage is "someone called Detroit a 3rd world City".

**p69rrh51** · September-19-12, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...t_calls_d.html

A few observations:

I'd venture to say "Detroit is a third world country" is probably a pretty common phrase in the Pointes, right up there with "Jeeves, bring the Bentley around." A more striking headline would be "Grosse Pointe Resident Calls Detroit 'a pretty nice place'

However while said footpad likely does not reside on Lakeshore Drive [[aka Jefferson to the rest of the world), there is something a little ironic about getting robbed in Grosse Pointe by an unknown assailant and then blaming it on Detroit.

I travel a lot, and if I ever get pick-pocketed in another city I'll exclaim, "Detroit is such a shithole!"

Still goes to show you - you can run, but you can't hide. Say homeboy is in fact from Detroit. Detroit has been the defacto holding cell for poverty and crime in the Metro region for decades but what makes anyone think they can just ignore it and it will conveniently stay there?

I'm on the other side of Mack and while Morningside and parts of Cornerstone can be pretty rough [[Morningside especially) East English Village, Audobon, and the area around St. John is still pretty nice. I'm sorry they got robbed but being called a victim by Mitt Romney and now the resident of third world country by this guy in one week is kind of rough.

Can you be more predictable! Talk about uninformed! You are the typical Detroiter who is clueless when it comes to the Pointes. I get a kick out of those who still think its the 1920's here. Also its Lakeshore to everyone but you the world included! And yes your homeboys regularly commit crimes here because they are to lazy to get a job as opposed to Grosse Pointers who work hard for their money! Before you jump all over this the days of trust funds are all but gone!! As for Poverty stricken Detroit what should we all do about it? You love to whine out it but never have ANY ideas or a possilbe solutions to the problem. Time to look at yourself before you whine about others.

**dmike76** · September-19-12, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by p69rrh51

Can you be more predictable! Talk about uninformed! You are the typical Detroiter who is clueless when it comes to the Pointes. I get a kick out of those who still think its the 1920's here. Also its Lakeshore to everyone but you the world included! And yes your homeboys regularly commit crimes here because they are to lazy to get a job as opposed to Grosse Pointers who work hard for their money! Before you jump all over this the days of trust funds are all but gone!! As for Poverty stricken Detroit what should we all do about it? You love to whine out it but never have ANY ideas or a possilbe solutions to the problem. Time to look at yourself before you whine about others.

p69, aren't you whining about it in the other direction right now? It's funny how hypocritical you are being about stopping the sterotypes and accusations and coming up with ideas. Have you ever tried being part of the solution yourself? Have you ever at least gone into Detroit and volunteered to help? I can tell you that the entire city is not a war zone, and I'm not talking about Midtown, Downtown, etc. BTW, I'm from Livonia and I still call it Jefferson.

**rex** · September-19-12, 12:46 PM

Its a little thirdworldy.

**p69rrh51** · September-19-12, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by dmike76

p69, aren't you whining about it in the other direction right now? It's funny how hypocritical you are being about stopping the sterotypes and accusations and coming up with ideas. Have you ever tried being part of the solution yourself? Have you ever at least gone into Detroit and volunteered to help? I can tell you that the entire city is not a war zone, and I'm not talking about Midtown, Downtown, etc. BTW, I'm from Livonia and I still call it Jefferson.

Being from lilly white Livonia you do not hear the automatic weapons fire every evening! Yes its a war zone just a couple blocks from my home. So no I not whining just stating the facts. Although I am glad you can actually find Lakeshore! Last YES i do volunteer along with my wife on various Detroit Charities as well as give money to worthy causes. I also try to support to the best I can all of the needy Catholic Churches in the city. In fact I have not been a mass at my own parish church in 5 years instead I attend mass all over the city! What do you do?

Shollin · September-19-12, 12:58 PM

As a former Harper Woods resident, it's getting real bad around Grosse Pointe. Harper Woods has pretty much been swallowed by Detroit. Not sure what I'm suppose to do when people are breaking into my car and burglarizing my home.

**bailey** · September-19-12, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...t_calls_d.html

A few observations:

I'd venture to say "Detroit is a third world country" is probably a pretty common phrase in the Pointes, right up there with "Jeeves, bring the Bentley around." A more striking headline would be "Grosse Pointe Resident Calls Detroit 'a pretty nice place'
.....

I'm on the other side of Mack and while Morningside and parts of Cornerstone can be pretty rough [[Morningside especially) East English Village, Audobon, and the area around St. John is still pretty nice. I'm sorry they got robbed but being called a victim by Mitt Romney and now the resident of third world country by this guy in one week is kind of rough.

Having lived in two "third world"/developing countries for extended periods of time.. i would say Detroit is virtually indistinguishable from a third world city. Every third world city has it's nicer parts where the ruling class, expats doing a 'hardship' tour for some multinational, Embassy, or NGO, and the local government apparatchiks live... the rest is a semi lawless wasteland. To paraphrase Sam Riddle, the only difference between Detroit and a third world city is the lack of livestock roaming the streets. [[see thread about 32 murders in 15 days)

Be offended about it all you want, it doesn't change the fact Detroit is failed city and the effect of that failure on the communities that border it is they are continually exposed to predatory crimes such as these.

**dmike76** · September-19-12, 12:59 PM

I go down to Motor City Blight Busters all the time and volunteer rebuilding some of that area. I also attend charity events for Detroit. As for lilly white Livonia, my mother was stabbed to death in her home so don't play the safe suburb card with me.

**antongast** · September-19-12, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by p69rrh51

And yes your homeboys regularly commit crimes here because they are to lazy to get a job as opposed to Grosse Pointers who work hard for their money!

You don't think robbing people for a living is hard work? I'm almost certain that my job is significantly easier, safer, and less stressful than planning and executing enough successful robberies to consistently earn a comparable income, especially in a place as heavily patrolled as Grosse Pointe. I'm a pretty lazy guy, and there's no way in hell I'd give up my job to steal stuff from people full time, even if I lacked or rationalized away any moral inhibitions.

**Motor City Sam** · September-19-12, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by antongast

You don't think robbing people for a living is hard work? I'm almost certain that my job is significantly easier, safer, and less stressful than planning and executing enough successful robberies to consistently earn a comparable income, especially in a place as heavily patrolled as Grosse Pointe. I'm a pretty lazy guy, and there's no way in hell I'd give up my job to steal stuff from people full time, even if I lacked or rationalized away any moral inhibitions.

I've also heard that pimpin' ain't easy...

**EastsideAl** · September-19-12, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

Having lived in two "third world"/developing countries for extended periods of time.. i would say Detroit is virtually indistinguishable from a third world city.

Although the biggest difference between Detroit and most 3rd World cities is that the 3rd World cities are usually over-crowded, with more people flooding in every day. In the 3rd World, the cities represent a chance, however, remote, at employment and a better, more modern, life. Much of Detroit's population though consists of people who've been left behind, while the economy and the population has flowed away from them.

This why I, and I think many other Detroiters, cringe and react badly when people start in with the "3rd world city" talk. Because, although Detroit does have some superficial resemblance to cities in the developing world, what it mostly sounds like is a none-too-subtle code for "city full of uncivilized black people".

Of course, the biggest difference between Detroit and an actual 3rd world city, is that Detroit is part of one of the wealthiest countries on earth. A country that mostly pretends we don't exist, that we have no history and should get no opportunities, except when they want to have a rhetorical whipping boy.

**poobert** · September-19-12, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

Having lived in two "third world"/developing countries for extended periods of time.. i would say Detroit is virtually indistinguishable from a third world city. Every third world city has it's nicer parts where the ruling class, expats doing a 'hardship' tour for some multinational, Embassy, or NGO, and the local government apparatchiks live... the rest is a semi lawless wasteland. To paraphrase Sam Riddle, the only difference between Detroit and a third world city is the lack of livestock roaming the streets. [[see thread about 32 murders in 15 days)

Be offended about it all you want, it doesn't change the fact Detroit is failed city and the effect of that failure on the communities that border it is they are continually exposed to predatory crimes such as these.

I pretty much agree with this.

However this guy could have just as easily been from Harper Woods - as an above poster mentioned, Harper Woods has fallen apart. I'd rather be where I am in Detroit right now, to be honest. They're not alone, either.

So when does a criminal stop becoming "from Detroit"? [[besides when they're not black) When does this become a regional problem, instead of Detroit's problem? The problems are just out of control.

As I said, we've tried to centralize poverty, ignore it, and decentralize jobs and population for the past 50 years and pretend Metro Detroit is just a wonderful fucking place to be, telling foreign nationals "Oh I live in Detroit. Well, not in Detroit.[[insert suburb here). Yeah, Detroit is bad, but the suburbs are nice". Well, now the chickens are coming home to roost and that isn't so true any more - look at Eastpointe, Harper Woods, south Warren, and to say nothing of Redford, Ecorse, Rouge, etc.

I don't want to make light of or minimalize the victims of the robbery. I just think they are extremely fortunate and we can be grateful that they were unharmed.

You are a piece of work, p69whatever. You get all pissy with me for cracking wise and then turn and stereotype me and turn again and stereotype some guy from Livonia! I can assure you I'm probably not what YOU think of as a "typical Detroiter."

Answers? I don't have them. I think things are too far gone. I predict more of this is in store for Detroit and the entire region and that we are entering a very bleak period in our history which no one can escape as long as their zip code begins with a 48 [[the pains of hell are no longer reserved for the 482's). Abandon all hope all ye who enter here, and have a nice day.

**rjlj** · September-19-12, 01:30 PM

I have been to third world countries and cities that are much nicer and safer than Detroit.

**Danny** · September-19-12, 01:30 PM

So those those folks in Richville called Detroit a third world country. You all living next door to us so deal with it! If there was a shooting coming from the West of Alter Rd. or west of Mack Ave. don't call the Detroit Police because its not their jurisdiction to investigate a bullet coming through your window while you're sleeping or relaxing. Don't even call the Grosse Pointe Police. They are not going to investigate your woes in Detroit because they got no jurisdiction. So too bad! At least your neighborhood is not filled with low income black people.

**dmike76** · September-19-12, 01:35 PM

Well, you know what will happen, Poobert? Like way too many of my friends, people are gonna keep moving west and building shiny new mcmansions or cookie cutter homes where there's so much land between them they can't look out the door and say hi. Meanwhile, the blight will keep moving behind them into Livonia, Canton, etc until there's nothing left behind but a bunch of rotting homes. The flight won't stop until people reach lake Michigan, then they'll just start building house boats and keep going. Unfortunately, these people do not realize that a better Detroit makes better suburbs too. To be fair, there are plenty of people in Detroit who don't give a rat's ass about a better life for everyone, just who they can step on to get ahead, so I realize that all this third world talk is not completely unfounded. I for one, am going to move into Detroit in a couple of years and do my best to make it a great city.

**p69rrh51** · September-19-12, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by antongast

You don't think robbing people for a living is hard work? I'm almost certain that my job is significantly easier, safer, and less stressful than planning and executing enough successful robberies to consistently earn a comparable income, especially in a place as heavily patrolled as Grosse Pointe. I'm a pretty lazy guy, and there's no way in hell I'd give up my job to steal stuff from people full time, even if I lacked or rationalized away any moral inhibitions.

Sitting around watching people come and go is not hard, and I bet they can time to GP police to the minute. There is no planning just observation. Although I think everyone would love a job like that. And yes they are to LAZY to do something productive and that insight is from almost every hard working black customer of mine!

Shollin · September-19-12, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by dmike76

Well, you know what will happen, Poobert? Like way too many of my friends, people are gonna keep moving west and building shiny new mcmansions or cookie cutter homes where there's so much land between them they can't look out the door and say hi. Meanwhile, the blight will keep moving behind them into Livonia, Canton, etc until there's nothing left behind but a bunch of rotting homes. The flight won't stop until people reach lake Michigan, then they'll just start building house boats and keep going. I for one, am going to move east into Detroit in a couple of years and do my best to make it a great city.

I didn't leave Harper Woods because of blight. I'm tired of getting blamed for moving to create a better situation for myself and my family. Blame the people who came into these cities and started carjacking residents, shooting them, breaking into houses and cars and making it unsafe to raise a family.

**p69rrh51** · September-19-12, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

I pretty much agree with this.

However this guy could have just as easily been from Harper Woods - as an above poster mentioned, Harper Woods has fallen apart. I'd rather be where I am in Detroit right now, to be honest. They're not alone, either.

So when does a criminal stop becoming "from Detroit"? [[besides when they're not black) When does this become a regional problem, instead of Detroit's problem? The problems are just out of control.

As I said, we've tried to centralize poverty, ignore it, and decentralize jobs and population for the past 50 years and pretend Metro Detroit is just a wonderful fucking place to be, telling foreign nationals "Oh I live in Detroit. Well, not in Detroit.[[insert suburb here). Yeah, Detroit is bad, but the suburbs are nice". Well, now the chickens are coming home to roost and that isn't so true any more - look at Eastpointe, Harper Woods, south Warren, and to say nothing of Redford, Ecorse, Rouge, etc.

I don't want to make light of or minimalize the victims of the robbery. I just think they are extremely fortunate and we can be grateful that they were unharmed.

You are a piece of work, p69whatever. You get all pissy with me for cracking wise and then turn and stereotype me and turn again and stereotype some guy from Livonia! I can assure you I'm probably not what YOU think of as a "typical Detroiter."

Answers? I don't have them. I think things are too far gone. I predict more of this is in store for Detroit and the entire region and that we are entering a very bleak period in our history which no one can escape as long as their zip code begins with a 48 [[the pains of hell are no longer reserved for the 482's). Abandon all hope all ye who enter here, and have a nice day.

Poobert for your info Livonia is the whitest city for its size in the United States. Grosse Pointe is far more integrated than Livonia. I am just stating the facts you need to learn them! Also stop whining and be part of the solution!

**Danny** · September-19-12, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by Shollin

As a former Harper Woods resident, it's getting real bad around Grosse Pointe. Harper Woods has pretty much been swallowed by Detroit. Not sure what I'm suppose to do when people are breaking into my car and burglarizing my home.

Yes, I can see it now on the 11:00pm. news. A 45 year old Harper Woods woman has been raped by 3 men while walking along Mack Ave. and Vernier Rd. in Grosse Pointe Woods. The police are in the scene investigating. The woman was taking to Beaumont Hospital. She is on critical condition! The police are looking for the men.

After Harper Woods is turning into a hybrid ghettohood of Highland Park and Detroit East Side by the year 2030, most home are vacant home are either torn down or turn into drug houses or squatters' inn. I can't wait to see what happens. That's when I tell my folks.

**antongast** · September-19-12, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by p69rrh51

Sitting around watching people come and go is not hard, and I bet they can time to GP police to the minute. There is no planning just observation. Although I think everyone would love a job like that. And yes they are to LAZY to do something productive and that insight is from almost every hard working black customer of mine!

Productivity and hard work aren't the same thing, and I don't lend additional credibility to people just because they "work hard." I don't give a shit if you work hard or not. I think people should work as hard as they deem necessary to live the kind of life they want to live, and no harder. As our economy becomes more productive through various forms of innovation, we should be able to work less hard for comparable benefits [[this is why folks in actual third-world countries commonly engage in subsistence farming, which is just about the hardest work imaginable, while that line of work has all but disappeared in more productive industrialized economies like ours). Hard work is a necessary evil, not a moral virtue.

**TKshreve** · September-19-12, 02:00 PM

Maybe we can summon 3rdworldcity for a real answer to this highly palatable and indulging debate.

Shollin · September-19-12, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

Yes, I can see it now on the 11:00pm. news. A 45 year old Harper Woods woman has been raped by 3 men while walking along Mack Ave. and Vernier Rd. in Grosse Pointe Woods. The police are in the scene investigating. The woman was taking to Beaumont Hospital. She is on critical condition! The police are looking for the men.

After Harper Woods is turning into a hybrid ghettohood of Highland Park and Detroit East Side by the year 2030, most home are vacant home are either torn down or turn into drug houses or squatters' inn. I can't wait to see what happens. That's when I tell my folks.

That's nothing. When i lived there a woman was carjacked by a 12 year old and two rival gangs had a shootout inside Eastland Mall. I heard someone broke into someones house by using a sledge hammer to gain access.