Hotels jammed, but officials say Detroit needs more big events to fill rooms

**digitalvision** · April-11-09, 12:16 PM

And it is all about the perception of safety - as downtown IS safe. Midtown is too.

I've been living/working/playing downtown for a decade, and I've only had two incidents. I KNOW that many of the "horror stories" are made up and exaggerations of what happened.

For instance, I was with a suburban acquaintance, and a homeless guy did his "buy a flag" game - you know, stupid flags on toothpicks, and then he hits you up for five bucks - and we just practically ignored him and moved on.

At the bar that night in Birmingham, he's telling all his friends about how he got "accosted" and "got hit" and "was yelled at" and "he had a weapon." Well, if you count a bevy of toothpicks, I guess he coulda hurt him by sticking the toothpicks in his eye. Sorta wished the homeless guy HAD done that at that moment.

That's just one example. The suburban fear thing is bullshit - like the people who talk about how dangerous parts of the city is, but they know because they were BUYING DRUGS and are part of the goddamn problem. Of course, go to a drug-infested part of the city, it might be a bit more dangerous, and even more so if you're scoring coke.

So I have learned to be VERY skeptical of anything I hear; so much of it is inflated b.s., usually laced with racial stereotypes. Bad news always travels better than good news; and information that plays into people's fears travels really well, too.

I'm not saying don't be smart - but I am saying most of the stuff is inflated and overblown.

**Gistok** · April-11-09, 12:28 PM

Sorry Digitalvision [[and I usually agree with you on most things)... but you're going to get clobbered on that post...

Try telling that to former Detroit residents like JAMS who got beat senseless by Detroit thugs, or many of the thousands of other folks who have left Detroit because of the fear for their safety.

Try telling that to the families of the 400+ folks who are murdered on the streets of Detroit each year... try telling that to the families of Detroit children who are murdered by stray bullets flying into their houses.

Granted downtown, midtown, New Center and other areas are pretty safe, but a significant part of the city is not safe to walk at night.

You buddy maybe full of BS, but saying there are not a lot of serious safety problems in Detroit is also just that...

**iheartthed** · April-11-09, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Sorry Digitalvision [[and I usually agree with you on most things)... but you're going to get clobbered on that post...

Try telling that to former Detroit residents like JAMS who got beat senseless by Detroit thugs, or many of the thousands of other folks who have left Detroit because of the fear for their safety.

Try telling that to the families of the 400+ folks who are murdered on the streets of Detroit each year... try telling that to the families of Detroit children who are murdered by stray bullets flying into their houses.

Granted downtown, midtown, New Center and other areas are pretty safe, but a significant part of the city is not safe to walk at night.

You buddy maybe full of BS, but saying there are not a lot of serious safety problems in Detroit is also just that...

He didn't say that Detroit didn't have crime problems. He said that people from the suburbs tended to exaggerate what they witness while in the city. And furthermore, none of the events, like drug turf wars, that give Detroit its crime reputation, tend to happen in areas that outsiders are likely to visit [[kinda like how tourists to NYC don't even know that places like Brownsville, Brooklyn exist). Nothing you said really refuted his point. I lived in Detroit during the 1980s and 1990s, which were arguably the worst periods for crime in the city's history. But I have never witnessed some of the things that people claim to have seen en route to a Tigers game at Comerica Park... And hell, I even worked at Comerica Park for a year!

**Crumbled_pavement** · April-11-09, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

saying there are not a lot of serious safety problems in Detroit is also just that...[[b.s.)

I don't recall DV saying there weren't serious safety issues in Detroit. DV said that Downtown/Midtown was safe. I find it curious though, if someone gets their ass beat in Inkster we don't say the suburbs are unsafe, we say Inkster is unsafe. But if someone gets their ass beat in Brightmore then all of Detroit is a hell hole. That type of thinking helped escalate the problem in the 60's and 70's to where it is today.

**spiritofdetroit** · April-11-09, 01:26 PM

gistok,

he was referring to downtown, which is very safe. Most of the neighborhoods? No, not at all.

But if he is talking about having a night out in Detroit, filling the hotels like the article discussed, and the general safety downtown, he is right.

What happened to Jams is unacceptable, disgusting, and sad, but it didn't happen downtown. For now, the city is and must focus on bringing people downtown, which is what digitalvision seemed to be referring to.

DetroitDad · April-11-09, 03:34 PM

For now, the city is and must focus on bringing people downtown, which is what digitalvision seemed to be referring to.

I think it's time that more emphasis is put on transit, political, and school reform. Downtown is still important, but the goal was to make a place people would see a benefit of living next to, and attracting visitors to see the changes as they happen. So now it's time for the real changes to pick up momentum and happen. If we can get transit, school reform, and political reform during this recession, then and only then will Detroit really be ready to take advantage of the good times that should follow.

Downtown Detroit is as far done as it can be without the proper political structure to keep it up, and good surrounding neighborhoods connected to it.