There's a relief and an eagerness about the Kwame Kilpatrick scandals. Things haven't been going well in this city-- for forty years. Suddenly the reason is found. There he is! Fingers pointing; the populace up in arms with pitchforks and torches like in a Frankenstein movie. After him! A culprit has been discovered who can now be blamed for Detroit's many problems. It's all Kwame's fault!
People seem to think we need, and can have, a Mr. Clean mayor on the order of Philadelphia's Michael Nutter, when Detroit's problems are way beyond that. With the city facing even the disintegration of infrastructure, from schools to firehouses, the only requirement now is a person of talent willing and able to turn the city's financial situation around. That's it. Personal corruptions in a crisis situation are irrelevant. The area do-gooders look to the mediocrities of City Council for a replacement, which is no solution at all.
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Throughout the discussion about the mayor, the suburban/city, white-black divide in this area remains as subtext. How could it not?
The liberal media feeds into the Subtext with their headlines without context-- with illustrations of the city's failure which fail to mention real causes. The stories sustain the Subtext, this area's gigantic Godzilla monster which overshadows all. On a scale of 1 to 10 of metro area problems, mayoral corruption is a 3, auto company stagnation is a 20, and the racial divide is 100.
An irony is that the conservative business community better understands the importance of the core city. They know you cannot have a hole of devastation existing at the center of your metro area-- a vacuum into which all else will collapse. Or if you do have such a vacuum, and we do, you'd better find a way to "spin" it, to turn devastation-- grittiness; authenticity-- into a strength.
Which is where I come in.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
East Coast Follies
THOSE who look in on my other blogs know I've been busy exposing the aristocratic focus of those who run U.S. print media from their Manhattan island. Entities like the Conde-Nast empire, which cranks out many millions of New Yorker Vogue GQ Vanity Fair et.al. magazines, are dominated by upper class Brits and wealthy east coast Ivy Leaguers. They know NOTHING about the rest of this country-- and don't want to know.
It's incumbent upon leaders in heartland cities like Detroit to redo their strategic thinking. To realize that the nation-- at least its D.C. and NYC power centers-- right now doesn't understand them, or care about them (largely disdains them) and will not grant them anything. In the new reality of the global economy, the thinking has to be in competing city vs. city-- until original American ideals are restored in this country. As long as Detroit is unable to create its own national media image, it's doomed to failure.
It's incumbent upon leaders in heartland cities like Detroit to redo their strategic thinking. To realize that the nation-- at least its D.C. and NYC power centers-- right now doesn't understand them, or care about them (largely disdains them) and will not grant them anything. In the new reality of the global economy, the thinking has to be in competing city vs. city-- until original American ideals are restored in this country. As long as Detroit is unable to create its own national media image, it's doomed to failure.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
New Hot Dog Vendor
SIGNS OF LIFE IN DOWNTOWN DETROIT
A hot dog stand has appeared downtown at Cass and Michigan, across Cass from the Federal Building. It's an open stand with an umbrella; is run by a black woman. Please frequent so we don't lose this hot dog stand!
A hot dog stand has appeared downtown at Cass and Michigan, across Cass from the Federal Building. It's an open stand with an umbrella; is run by a black woman. Please frequent so we don't lose this hot dog stand!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Bizarro
WHEN ONE returns to Detroit after ten years living elsewhere, it's like entering a bizarro universe.
Case in point is the article in yesterday's Detroit Free Press by Dawson Bell, detailing how an already-broke Michigan state government will be paying out-of-state filmmakers huge sums of money to make movies here. On a $100 million flick, the state will pick up $40 million of the cost.
This would make sense only if the filmmakers were building infrastructure here-- such as soundstages-- and relocating lock, stock, and barrel, including offices, including headquarters. No mention of this in the article. Without this, as soon as the massive payoff ceases, the individual movies complete, the moviemakers are gone.
This project will be paid for by a state treasury which right now contains only dustballs.
(See www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080331/NEWS06/803310344&imw=Y)
Case in point is the article in yesterday's Detroit Free Press by Dawson Bell, detailing how an already-broke Michigan state government will be paying out-of-state filmmakers huge sums of money to make movies here. On a $100 million flick, the state will pick up $40 million of the cost.
This would make sense only if the filmmakers were building infrastructure here-- such as soundstages-- and relocating lock, stock, and barrel, including offices, including headquarters. No mention of this in the article. Without this, as soon as the massive payoff ceases, the individual movies complete, the moviemakers are gone.
This project will be paid for by a state treasury which right now contains only dustballs.
(See www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080331/NEWS06/803310344&imw=Y)
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