Suburban Crimes

[DetroitDad]

They have their own security service which they pay for. And they also report suspicious activity. Among other things. Anyone knows that there's pockets of decent neighborhoods here and there, problem is, they are becoming threatened as well. I agree about the gang shootout theory. Not likely there. But that's not the issue.

Many, many, many of the suburbs have active business associations on their main streets that employ private security to help police their main streets, vast parking lagoons, and alley ways [[in some areas). The only difference here is that many of the City of Detroit's good neighborhoods have a real lack of active businesses on their main roads that these good neighborhoods are behind, and so the residents pay extra for the security instead. I really see no other difference.

God, you never would even know there was a nice neighborhood in Corktown if you were to judge from the appearance of Michigan Avenue, or Boston Edison from Woodward. It is the appearance and the nature of our main streets that really needs to be focused on if these areas hope to survive. Who wants to buy a house in these neighborhoods and have visitors have to enter through these grand avenues of disinvestment and urban dysfunctionality? One would assume that these neighborhoods, no matter how nice and safe, are really just the elite of the slums.

You can't throw the rest of Detroit under the bus and expect the perception to change. Concentrating efforts in Downtown [[AKA the Green Zone) and where council members live is counterproductive to the safety of the rest of Detroit. Ask if someone living by Dexter, or Chene feels that warm fuzzy feeling of safety as these "nice" neighborhoods do. Until everyone is safe, no one is.

Oh, this is a bunch of baloney, and the regular misguided popular view behind the choice to focus on super, broad projects and initiatives for the entire city that are supposed to save everything in Detroit. It makes much more sense to experiment in one small area or a few areas until you have something that works, and doing it by making little tweaks to one of those areas. Every time we do one of these broad, sweeping, across the board super prototype projects, we have to fix all the little bugs and possible big mistakes to something that may never work.

Once you have something that works, YOU DON'T GROW IT. Just like a living organism doesn't successfully sustain itself by growing bigger, this successful area will need to grow by replication. Generally, this is how I got so many people to subscribe to rebuilding a few small areas. The promise is that you are testing something that is going to be what your neighborhood or corner of the city, or maybe even your home in a satelite city, small town, or inner suburb will be doing soon. Of course, it makes sense to do this at ground zero, under the harshest conditions, and it can't move to those other areas until we have something that works.

Generally, this is how cities grew, and how they have been rebuilt. It starts excruciatingly slow, but as it begins replicating more and more, the speed of progress picks up over time.

[DetroitDad]

I'm not sure of the exact stats, but I am sure that crime in places like Royal Oak Twp, River Rouge, Ecorse, etc. are on par with some of Detroit's rougher neighborhoods.

But I think the point that DetroitDad is trying to make is that whenever a crime occurs on any square foot of Detroit's 139 square miles, it is then attributed to all 139 square miles... Which is silly at best. Yet, it's what people in that area have been doing for decades. You are as likely to be caught up in a gang shoot out while standing in Sherwood Forest in Detroit as you are while standing in a Farmington Hills subdivision.

This way of describing crime in the city is the only way I can rationalize why Detroit has a perception of being "more dangerous" than other cities with similar crime issues -- other major cities tend to describe their cities in more microscopic terms than does the Detroit area. I guess it's a legacy from the days when suburban politicians were voted into office based on which could portray the city in the most unflattering light.

Yes, I am tired of some bizarre headline from the outskirts being brought up to me at family gatherings or at the bar, and a suburbanite asking what I think about it.

WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I THINK ABOUT IT YOU #$%@!^& MORON!?

They act like it happened around the block from me.

Anyway, I wonder how the name change is working out for East Detroit [[now East Pointe, with extra emphasis on the use of "Pointe").

[LouHat]

A shrinking economy devastated Detroit. Crime was a side-effect.

Hey Johnny, the economy is shrinking, maybe we ought to be thinking about going to Texas and seeking our fortunes there? No Jimmy, crime's where it's at, and I'm keeping my ass planted.

[DetroitDad]

A shrinking economy devastated Detroit. Crime was a side-effect.

iheartthed, thank you. I think I am going to go back to lurking and just read your posts. I could learn a thing or two from you. Bravo!

Detroit is not special when it comes to urban places facing crime and blight, it is just the most notorious. Like many cities, much of Detroit was essentially abandoned by the upper and middle class for suburbia, leaving much of Detroit to be inherited by a lot of people who didn't have either the need or ability to keep up th city. Basically Detroit was given away to those on the margins of society, while the middle and upper class suburbanites seemed to be stupefied why Detroit didn't stay middle and upper class when they handed it over [[this is still happening).

[reddog289]

Good post Det Dad, That was a good way to put it, And that trend trickles down to the suburbs as well. Brush Park, Millionare mansions to boarding houses to Slumpy. I get it. And where the popuation moves the theives follow, You can get more robbing a midle class persons home then a poverty stricken persons home.Therefore causing them fear and driving the middle class further out.

[reddog289]

Another way to put it , Is how my Grandparents moved further west in Detroit.

[Pam]

what has this forum come to? Mizz, what is your point? Spreading a dumbing down of conversation? This is not the Freep Comment section, don't behave like it is.

You might well ask yourself the same question about your earlier post:

Sounds like a couple of Iraqis fighting over a woman with backhair. No story here.

[Zacha341]

Agreed. You still have some reflexively and defensively stating that -tired- "crime is everywhere" blather when the disproportionally high rate of crime is discussed or stated. That same person may be living in fear in their own homes with bars and pit bulls for protection. It's just "justification" and, in part that whole racial thing that "white folks" are criticizing the city. Well that's bull. Crime is higher right now in the city and we must take the energy of arguing about it, to stop it. Oh BTW, I am black.... a long term resident of Detroit.

In the short term it can be perceived as an economic bonus to the city. I would happily take the short term pain of businesses closing if we could miraculously end the drug trade in the city. Crime, social issues and dependency on social services would drop significantly. This would certainly put the city in a position to attract more businesses/residents.

[Zacha341]

Yep, that's the defensive, reflexive response you hear on that side of the fence as it were..... Hah. Drugs are that thing you see from dope fiends wondering down Woodward in de' hood. Nope it is in the burbs too... out of some medicine cabinets and some per overuse of prescriptions etc. Every one justifies their own "stuff".....

How come every time someone mentions crime in the suburbs, so many suburbanites start to froth at the mouth and use the old stand by: "at least its not as bad as Detroit"?

[Zacha341]

It can be argued that the percentage of crime is lower in certain areas. That is true or there is not such thing as variance and we KNOW that is not the case. In any event I try to be careful were ever I am. And prefer to conduct myself and my business in areas with a lesser degree of violent crime. That's just smart...

And I thought moving to the suburbs is a way to get away from violent crime.

[Zacha341]

Yep, anyone wanting to argue over the "crime is everywhere" blather, is ignoring the fallen youth in Detroit--it is appalling!--along with the general increase of un-solved and retaliation style murders, home invastions, breakin and brutal attacks and murders of our elders. Justify that! I want to hear from the person who IS justifying that! And I would like to know their motive and reasoning for doing so.....then again I don't want to. The mind-twist to justify all that would be ugly.......

Because it isn't.........and because it seems to be a continuing, transparent theme of this forum. "Crime happens everywhere not just in Detroit"

The evidence is overwhelming. The manifestations of crime in Detroit are loss of people and businesses. Name one other city in the country that has suffered as deeply as Detroit because of crime driving people and businesses out.

Crime does happen all over, but how it has devastated Detroit is almost a singular thing.