Detroit in 1990

**Lombaowski** · July-20-14, 12:15 AM

I have an article I found, maybe you've read it before, maybe not. What's in it is stuff we've all read in newspapers, books, on this forum and anywhere else information exists. It is important to me because it is a perspective of the time that I live in Detroit, from my birth to the late 80s.

I think the opinions of the downtown area are most intriguing, I try to tell people who aren't from here how much better it is now than when I was growing up. I remember downtown in the late 70s on, so I missed all the good years when its shopping and entertainment was at its peak. I missed all the trips, all the commerce, all the good times. The downtown area as I remember it was a concrete and mostly abandoned place.

Anyway, all the stuff in the article just makes me remember all the stuff my parents, grandparents, family friends and neighbors were talking about at the time. How the city had fallen so steeply, so quickly, and how it once was. Just think, this was 24 years ago...and how much further the city has fallen since [[sans downtown).

For me I just know that I went to a tough school and that the High School I was going to attend [[but never did) down the road at Cody, had a reputation as one of the city's toughest. I had friends, hi-jinks, good times and got into a lot of fights. Our neighborhood didn't have the murders and aggravated assaults, that was east across the Southfield Freeway. All we had was larceny and some businesses got the wrong end of a robbery now and again.

Now in my old neighborhood all those businesses are gone, a dairy now a liquor store, a meat market now a nail saloon, a local diner now just blight. But for me I still remember 1985 and for me 1985 was a good year, even though it was certainly not a good year for the city. I was around the talk, I remember what was said, but as a kid I just went about my business of being a kid. This is why I love the city even to this day, because you can't take away what Detroit was to me.

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/29/ma...m&pagewanted=1

**canuck** · July-20-14, 04:52 AM

Best article I have read about Detroit's plight so far. The author makes plain the differences between other US cities and this one better than any one else. Thanks for the link Lombaoski.

**ABetterDetroit** · July-22-14, 06:21 PM

What I like best about this article is that even though some of the core problems still exist it also exemplifies how far we have come in 25 yrs. The pure "us vs. them" distrust between the suburbs and city is rapidly disappearing. Finally. If you want proof, all you have to do is look around the metro area and see that integration is nearly everywhere. And in the city, you don't have to look any further than the mayor's office, ON A WRITE IN campaign to boot. Racism in southeast MI has been beaten back a long way and if you are really unhappy about that fact you're probably getting older and are going to die anyway in the near future. That is just what I like to call a good riddance.

**313WX** · July-22-14, 06:24 PM

Don't forget as well the 1990 ABC Primetime Special in Detroit...

For the most part, the region faces the same problems below as they do now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbsgLcV4o1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTvLk2zySw

**ABetterDetroit** · July-22-14, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Don't forget as well the 1990 ABC Primetime Special in Detroit...

For the most part, the region faces the same problems below as they do now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbsgLcV4o1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTvLk2zySw

313WX
I remember watching it when it aired vividly. Not anybody's finest hour. My point is that even though the core problems still exist are not the "us vs. them" bullshit finally going away? I think it is and now a new hope can begin to rise as we bury some of that shit and become one community like every other good city in America instead of a house divided. Only when the blame game ends does the great things happen.

**hortonz** · July-22-14, 11:53 PM

Detroit, for better or worse, is the canary in the coalmine. It was the birthplace of mass production, which transformed America and the world in the 20th century. It was one of the first American cities to industrialize on a grand scale, making it a symbol of America's undisputed industrial dominance. Its' factories were crucial to America's victory in two world wars. Where Detroit led, other followed. When American oil production peaked in the late 60s and went into a sharp decline in the 70's, it was one of the first places to feel the effects in the form of de-industrialization, mass unemployment and wholesale abandonment. Detroit is where the future comes to rehearse.

**EL Jimbo** · July-23-14, 08:48 AM

I think the big take away from this, among other things, is the discussion about the state of downtown at that time. I think it provides some context for one of the other discussions that is currently active on the board at the moment.

Right now, there is a very vocal group of people who are very adamantly opposed to the new Red Wings Arena development in part because the Ilitch Family has sat on large swaths of property for 20 years. The lament that the land could have and should have been filled with apartments, shops, and offices years ago.

However, this piece should stand as a reminder as to just exactly what the climate was at that time and just how far gone even downtown was at that time. If the Ilitches had redeveloped their land years ago it would have sat empty because there was practically no demand to support those developments. Keep in mind that they were only a few years removed from being described as "crazy" for moving their operations to the Fox at that time.

We need to step back and appreciate just how far downtown has come since 1990 and the context of why some things that would be big successes today would have been massive failures back then.