Do you think Phil Cooley will be written about in history books as a social reformer because he opened a rib shop? Do you think Dan Gilbert will be remembered 50 years from now as the savior of Detroit because he opened up an office and moved his suburban employees there? Will the new Red Wings arena go down as the final piece of the puzzle in Detroit's renaissance?
Or is it all a load of baloney, bread and circuses as a great American city continues to crumble? It could just be that you suffer from normalcy bias. It could just be that your numb. You can't drive the length of Grand River or Woodward or Gratiot or Jefferson and tell me that Detroit is a city on the rise.
So you have more places to drink and eat that you feel comfortable patronizing in Detroit than ever before. Is there not also less houses and more decay than ever before? We can't wait for the driftwood in the city's great tide of human misery to wash upon another's shore, so we can fill the empty lots with new condos for the more fortunate.
Is that a grand accomplishment? How will posterity remember us? We let Detroit die, but we saved a couple buildings and erected some Royal Oak-style lofts. I'm not happy.
It's called downsizing, folks, and it's nothing to glamorize. We can only pray and hope for a different future.
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