WDET and The Takeaway offer a "Dateline do over"

[Elle]

Newbie on the boards but with an important message to share.

WDET is bringing in Celeste Headlee and The Takeaway in to co-broadcast the show from our Detroit studio later this week. If you think Dateline missed the mark, we [[WDET & The Takeaway) want to hear what stories you think should be told about the city.

The Takeaway has set up a blog post where you can share what you love about Detroit, but we also want to know what the most important things are about our city that America needs to understand. You can reply to this thread with your thoughts and I'll share them with The Takeaway producers or you can call-in during the show itself [[M-F, 8-10am on 101.9fm).

This is an opportunity to start a conversation on a national level about Detroit that contains diverse voices and perspectives. A "do over" of the story that Dateline told.

Feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions at all and I'll be more than happy to answer them.

[Gannon]

Thanks, Elle, and welcome to the board.


I've been trying to distill some thoughts and feelings ever since I first heard of this. Going for a long run now, I'll see if I have any energy when I get back.


Cheers

[REL]

Yay, WDET, Celeste, & The Takeaway! Thank you for listening. What I want the nation to know beyond the Dateline parachuting:

Detroit's problems are incredibly complex. They are not the result of the decline of manufacturing, race riots, Coleman Young, Kwame Kilpatrick, abandoned buildings, poor schools, poor health and poverty. There is no single cause to our woes. There was not a single factor, or single person to blame. Which is why we cannot be "cured" overnight. There will be no one person or movement that will save us. Instead, our salvation will come from within and without, from people who are committed to what was at one point, one of the grandest cities in the United States. We will never be what we were, but we are in the process of finding out who we will become.

Detroit will be reborn with people fiercely determined to save it. I have never met more passionate people than Detroiters. We are tough, determined and giving, even when others think we have nothing left to give. We believe in miracles, and sometimes we even experience them. These qualities are the foundation of our rebirth, but we need others outside the city to support us in order to succeed.

Detroit has it's problems, but is not a barren wasteland, as the national media continues to portray. There are also tightly-knit neighborhoods, a world-class art museum, ground-breaking medical research, beautiful architecture, an entrepreneurial hotbed, and more.

Chris Hansen's Dateline story was disappointing because it was a 15-year-old story. Too much has happened since then to ignore!

As for individual items that I would have loved the rest of the country to see [[some copied from the other thread):
...the volunteers trying to spruce up Historic Fort Wayne
...The Westin Book Cadillac lit up at night
...the line for a table at Slow's
...Avalon Bakery's success
...religious services at the last standing synagogue
...Techtown
...the ridiculous crowds Eastern Market on a Saturday morning
...a potter at Pewabic throwing a vase
...the lobby of the Guardian

[[welcome to the forum, Elle!)

[lilpup]

If you really want diverse voices I'd love for you to get in touch with author/Zen Buddhist dharma teacher Geri Larkin. She started one of the Buddhist temples in Detroit [[it's over on Trumbull) and used some of her experiences there to help illustrate teachings in her 'real world Detroit' adaptation of the Dhammapada.

I think she could provide and prompt serious thought and discussion from a view many of us see but don't recognize for what it is. The temple should be able to provide contact info - http://www.stillpointzenbuddhisttemple.org/

[hudkina]

One thing I think should be brought up more is the suburbs, not so much as a contrast of Detroit, but rather as an extension of Detroit. People often talk about Detroit's murder rate, but if Detroit were the same size as Houston as far as land area, it's murder rate would be about the same as Houston's. There's also the cultural attractions in the metro area that might not happen to be within the city limits but influence the region as much as anything else. [[The Henry Ford, Cranbrook, Detroit Zoo, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Somerset, the Grosse Pointes, Metro Airport, etc.)

I think the most important thing should be to show a region that might not be as "perfect" as some cities, but isn't all that abnormal...

[sumas]

I would love to see individuals, non profits orgs and associations that make a difference featured. To name a few, Friends of Belle Isle, the Detroit Garden Center's work with Alternative for Girls, Jefferson East Business Association, any of the Neighborhood Organizations [[I highly recommend East English Village) For historical balance, The Village of Fairview Historical Society and Preservation Wayne. Frankly the list goes on and on. Blight Busters, Georgia Street Gardens, the list could take me a year to compile. Just talk to people with vision that enhance their neighborhoods and businesses.

Years ago I remember visiting Boston. Boston had produced a feature movie, called, Where's Boston? People from all over the city were interviewed. I would like to see the same balance presented for Detroit.

Even neighborhood bars act as incubators for artists and activists.

[English]

^ Totally agree with Sumas. Welcome to the forum.

[Gannon]

I went for my short run early this morning, and mused on this a bit.

I keep returning to the mystical echoes that repeat throughout Detroit's history.


Best latest one is when Cub got that confirmation that his Georgia Street Garden was 'ordained' by the Universe, when he heard that someone's ancestor had done the exact same thing on that very street over a hundred years ago.

Worst latest one is the legacy of our 1967 unrest, which largely appeared racial...but was also economic and anti-repression against the heavy abuse suffered via those damn STRESS units from the Detroit police. Our history is plagued by these periodic riots, and unfortunately I think we're overdue for one.



The Spirit of Detroit is not just some statue downtown. Heck, I can walk through the monuments at the intersection of Woodward and Jefferson and tell enough of the TRUE and real story of Detroit, revealing the foundations of how we'll survive in the future. It won't be like anyone assumes, and it won't involve multi-national corporations.

We are freedom...end of the Underground Railway...destination for generations of those who came to skim off corporate capitalism's dawning throughout the 20th century...and a breeding ground for those who observe, collect, and transform everyday experiences and surprises into art in various forms.

Everything created in Detroit is a unique blend of genre and style. My theater, artist, poet, writer, musician, sculpture, and [[recently) performance art friends are total dynamos of creation...and after being derailed slightly last year by that deli debacle, I'm back to helping them succeed with every ounce of time and energy I can muster. We've got some of the most amazing grass-roots artists everywhere I turn in this city...and with four new performance venues downtown opening in the past few months, it will be a great year for all of us.



I applaud and support local growers of foodstuffs, and their zeal eating healthy foods and living a lifestyle complicit with the endurance of our planet...double-damn corporate and governmental efforts to usurp our fundamental right to food and sustainable living.


MY heroes in town?


-Kate Devlin from Spirit Farms.
-Mark Covington and his family & neighbors on Georgia Street.
-Gregg and Angela Newsom of Detroit Evolution.
-Greg [[Brother Nature) Willerer.
-Jean Wilson
-All of the Capuchin Monks.
-Everyone who's ever worked with the Greening of Detroit, staff and volunteers. [[superheroes, all)
-Those who took a dangerous stand against gangs and a maniacal mogul on the SW side, turning it into the vibrant community we have now.
-Dan Carmody of the Eastern Market [[superhero)
-M.L. Elrich and Jim Schaefer from the Freep
-Kym Worthy [[especially fronting the whole McNamara/Cheeks/Kilpatrick corruption)
-Danny Overstreet from the Old Miami [[for taking a stand in the middle of hell more than once in 'Nam, then doing it all over again in the Corridor for us to enjoy)
-Sean Harrington of the Towne Pump [[and the development that followed)
-Jerry Belanger from the Park Bar [[and the development that followed)
-the Cooley Brothers and their hard-working level-headed Father [[and the development they've done, directed, and assisted)
-Tim Tharpe of Foran's Grand Trunk [[and what he's done, another amazing dynamo)
-Dave at the Majestic complex
-Bert Dearing in Eastern Market [[and all that he's done)
-ALL of the people who quietly do the right thing, keeping up their neighborhoods and families and the whole structure of the actual city...they are my favorite [[if yet largely UNMET) heroes...but I see them everywhere I go in this town.



I could go on and on...heroes abound in this town...please forgive what I've missed...


[[and please don't bash me on my list filled with bar owners...they are in a very unique position to promote my musician, artist, and poet friends...and they trend to improve their surroundings greatly with every passing year...and to survive and even thrive in this city's abundant corruption combined with rampant incompetencies...makes them nearly superheroes, too)



Cheers

[Wintersmommy]

^^^that brought a tear to my eye

[Michigan]

Newbie on the boards but with an important message to share.

WDET is bringing in Celeste Headlee and The Takeaway in to co-broadcast the show from our Detroit studio later this week. If you think Dateline missed the mark, we [[WDET & The Takeaway) want to hear what stories you think should be told about the city.

The Takeaway has set up a blog post where you can share what you love about Detroit, but we also want to know what the most important things are about our city that America needs to understand. You can reply to this thread with your thoughts and I'll share them with The Takeaway producers or you can call-in during the show itself [[M-F, 8-10am on 101.9fm).

This is an opportunity to start a conversation on a national level about Detroit that contains diverse voices and perspectives. A "do over" of the story that Dateline told.

Feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions at all and I'll be more than happy to answer them.

If she can get The Takeawy here, we can get other shows as well. THis is exactly what I am talking about.

[Elle]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone and for sharing so many heartfelt comments. If you haven't been listening, The Takeaway has already started their Detroit coverage.

Here's a link to check out:

Detroit Residents Fight Negative Media Portrayal

They also just did an interview with Detroit writer [[and advertising creative director) Toby Barlow on this morning's show about artists in Detroit. I'll post the link once they have it up on their site.

All of your comments here and on The Takeaway blog are making such an impact on how our story gets told. You can call and leave a voicemail for The Takeaway at 877-8 MY TAKE and share your thoughts as well. Looking forward to Thursday & Friday's broadcasts of the show from WDET's studios!

[PQZ]

If ever a city stood as a symbol of the dynamic U.S. economy, it was Detroit. It was not pretty. It was, in fact, a combination of the grey and the garish: its downtown area was a warren of dingy, twisting streets; the used-car lots along Livernois Avenue raised an aurora of neon. But Detroit cared less about how it looked than about what it did—and it did plenty. In two world wars, it served as an arsenal of democracy. In the auto boom after World War II. Detroit put the U.S. on wheels as it had never been before. Prosperity seemed bound to go on forever—but it didn't, and Detroit is now in trouble.

Detroit's decline has been going on for a long while. Auto production soared to an alltime peak in 1955—but there were already worrisome signs. In the face of growing foreign and domestic competition, auto companies merged, or quit, or moved out of town to get closer to markets. Automation began replacing workers in the plants that remained. In the past seven years, Chrysler, the city's biggest employer, has dropped from 130,000 to 50,000 workers. At the depth of the 1958 recession, when Detroit really began reeling. 20% of the city's work force was unemployed. Even today, the figure is an estimated 10%, and the U.S. Government lists Detroit as an area of "substantial and persistent unemployment.''


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...#ixzz0mP78HIsi

That's Time Magazine in October 1961.

Detroit has been in decline for decades. All the Emily Gail rah-rahing is not going to change a god damn thing.

Lines out the door at Slows? All cities have great restaurants that are packed. [[actually, they usually they have dozens) Holding Slows up as a shining example of all that is right with Detroit when it is the lone bright spot for white hipster dining only highlights that what is routine in other cities is unique in Detroit.

Detroit has serious and fatal flaw problems that go beyond whether Jackie Victor and The Sconettes get on NBC. If one tenth the energy spent on this ridiculous diversion was spent on tackling real problems, imagine what Detroit could really be. Why, you might have TWO hipster joints with long lines out the door. And a choice of places to get scones instead of just Avalons.

Want a concrete example? Dan Kildee is a recognized national leader in land bank policy and right sizing cities. If ever there was an opportunity for a governor who could set a state agenda for the support of the right sizing efforts in Detroit, this is it. Unfortunately, Kildee was forced out of the race by the unions who want Dullard Bernerno to be Governor. Bernerno is not a solid candidate, but he mouths the union paltitudes so, he gets the early support and a candidate of real change and real potential is shunted to the side.

Where the fuck is outrage over that?

Get your priorities straight people. You got bigger problems than whether the two insurance salemen in Peoria who are the entirety of the Dateline audience know whether the light are on at the Book Cadillac or not. The real stroy is the shithole Detroit is stuck in, not whether someone opened a creperie.

[lilpup]

They also just did an interview with Detroit writer [[and advertising creative director) Toby Barlow on this morning's show about artists in Detroit.

More Cordette Grantlings and fewer Toby Barlows!!!

One's the real deal, the other is a transplanted faker.

[daddeeo]

Amazing how these crybabies are circling the wagons when they should be
looking in the mirror and fixing things in their own backyards.

[PQZ]

More Cordette Grantlings and fewer Toby Barlows!!!

One's the real deal, the other is a transplanted faker.

Yeah, fuck those people moving to our shrinking city, buying homes when others are torching theirs and doing pro-bono work for community groups while others rant on messgae boards. Don't need no ass - munches like Toby here. And their opinions don't mean shit either! Don't need to learn ANYTHING about why those types of free-loaders moved here!

[Caseyc]

Spot On, PQZ....Spot On. It's always sad when the shrill methinks-thou-doth-protest-too-much crowd gets worked into a lather with every perceived slight. It is, as one astute commentator has noted, a "Bread and Circus" spectacle which has, not surprisingly enough, played out many times in the course of the past 40 or so years. Not uike an annual PR exorcism which then allows everyone to go back feeling good about themselves.

Look....people know what the city's [[relatively, in comparison, meager) attributes are...it's no mystery, and NBC doesn't need to spotlight resources that other functioning cities have in abundance. That's not really a story worth telling. People need to focus on the systemic institutional problems and how to fix them....not D'Mongo's and Pewabic Pottery.

This puffed up umbrage parade is so played out..played out now, and played out ten...twenty...thirty years ago.

Just let it go and move on to what matters.

[daddeeo]

I can't see getting out the pom poms for this.