love-hate

i need to start by saying i love Detroit. i get giddy thinking that ill be home in under a month and go bowling at the Garden Bowl and maybe catch a show at the Lager House. or maybe just show up for th $1 PBR. from its slums and crumbling factories to the gleaming new buildings around Campus Martius, i love Detroit.

i hate the powers that be and the corruption. it infuriates and saddens me. no one and no government is perfect, but Detroit's has become a joke. a laughing stock. a mayor who obviously lied under oath and spent over $8 million in city cash to cover his ass and a City Council that has less bite than my roommate's lap dog. and, evidently, a police department that wants to undo all the good thats been done over the last decade.

the Detroit police, heavily armed and in riot gear raided a dance party at an art gallery. the allege that the gallery was serving alcohol after 2. they ticketed attendees and impounded their cars. seriously? a few students and yuppies dancing at 3 AM is really the biggest issue that Detroit has to worry about?

"Absolutely," said police spokesman, James Tate. "Because this is a violation. What's the difference between this location and a location we raided two weeks ago? The law is the law. We can't treat two types of businesses differently."

i dont know about you, but ive seen Detroit SWAT on A&E, and they generally arent busting into art galleries handing out over a hundred tickets and impounding more than 40 cars that will cost $900 to get back. on the show, the take down drug dealers, chop shops, and people with guns and a vendetta. in the briefings they show on TV, theyve never talked about and insidious group of hipsters and students who want to dance, and maybe have a beer at 3am. dear god, send in the army.

this city needs help. Kilpatric and Archer have helped downtown get a face lift and brought some more money in from the burbs, but its business as usual behind the facade. corruption as usual. a DPD cash grab. they stand to make over $39,000 from the impounded cars alone. not to mention the fines handed out. im glad the ACLU has their eye on this one.

Detroit will NEVER be a world class city with tactics and leadership like this. many, myself included, have bemoaned the perception of Detroit by the world at large. we have also joked about its image. i would love to see Detroit be what i imagine it was in the 50's and early 60's. it was a boom town fueled by the Big 3 with dynamic, nationally recognized music scene that defined the sound of the 50's and early 60's. Detroit was Motown. it was a place to be. now its a place to avoid. its a place that loses population. its a place i hate, because it could be so much more, but seems to refuse to pick its self up. refuses to reform.

if only we could live up to our motto: "Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus"
(Latin for, "We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes") the ashes of the riot blew away decades ago, but Detroit still wallows and anguishes in its shadow. and until the leadership changes, nothing will change in Detroit. nothing beyond the superficial, anyway. still, i love Detroit, and i genuinely hope that i see the day when Detroit is a city to respect and revere, rather than an afterthought of urban America.

the raid article. the Free Press may be Detroit's best hope.