"If you take my house, you gone have to kill me, and I mean it,"

There have been 5 different community meetings in Detroit in the last month to discuss the master plan at relocating residents from blighted neighbourhoods and then downsizing the city. As expected there is resistance from residents.

Virginia Pearson, president on the Bewick Block Club on the east side, said she had lived in her home for 61 years was adamant about not moving.

"If you take my house, you gone have to kill me, and I mean it," she said to applause.

Brittany Galisdorfer said she moved to Detroit three years ago from Ann Arbor "because of the authenticity and the character of the people."

"We should keep that in the forefront of our minds as we have these discussions," she said.

More interestingly, there are also all kinds of citizen proposals on what to do with the 'remaking" of Detroit. People talking about the complete altering of the urban idea.

He also suggested the city "become the recycling capital of the world," adding, "We can clean up this city and give everybody that doesn't have something to do on a daily basis something to do."

Read more: Detroiters' relocation fears grab hold of forum | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20100923/NEWS01/9230603#ixzz10N4u4TX0

MORE TO COME?

This week there was a devestating series of fires that ripped through Detroit.

 Fuled by high winds there were 85 homes and structures that burned in different part of the city. Various official claimed that it was an act of God and therefore should be determined to be classified a "natural disaster". However questions have arisin about the response time and coordination of Detroit's fire department. It becomes obvious that 988 firefighters and 66 companies are too few for a city that still covers 140 square miles and has 800,000 people living in and around 2-million-people worth of buildings.

Also, how did all these fires start simultaneously on a not-so-unusual windy night? Reports have surfaced that some could have been arson and many were started when downed power lines, which were spliced by residents stealing power in underpopulated and blighted neighbourhoods, came down and sparked fires near vacant wooden houses.

Are the fires a result of the Detroit circumstances? and more importantly what happens when a "disaster" of this magnitude happens in terms of response?

Reports after the fact revealed that some fires were never even attended by response crews. Other fire and police services took over an hour to respond and crews from 6 nieghbouring cities had to be dispatched to assist Detroit responders. Sadly, the 911 system all suffered near catastophic failure and seemed to be abandoned entirely.

"It didn't have to be like this," said Sharon Kelso, who said she dialed 911 several times to report a small fire in the alley behind her northwest Detroit home, which eventually escalated into a blaze that destroyed several homes.


"I called 911 and the phone rang and rang," Kelso said. "Finally, the call was disconnected. Then I drove to the fire station a few blocks away; nobody was there. A Detroit traffic officer came up and saw the fire, and he was trying to get through to someone, but he wasn't getting anybody, either. So we just stood there and watched while this thing got bigger and bigger. Finally, an hour later, they sent one truck."

What happens when it's a real disaster.?

"RIGHT SIZING"

There has been more and more news lately it seems on the intended transformation of Detroit from it's current state to a "Utopian" city of the future with urban farms, sustainable resources and forward thinking residents. A recent article in the New York Times proclaimed that Detroit was "back on track". However the article was speaking of General Motors; not the city itself. Therein lies one of Detroit's problems that it is irrevocably linked to the failures and successes of the auto industry. Detroit often is used as a symbol for the Big Three auto makers and as a result media coverage can mistake the city for the industry that built it.

The question, as raised in a recent article in the "Next American City" is will this media coverage benefit Detroit in the long run or will messages that Detroit is "back on track" create a collective fatigue where people move on to another issue. NGO's often encounter this with disasters, especially those that closely follow other natural events; known as "donor fatigue". The changes that are required in Detroit are something that requires focus and stamina and very long term commitment.

Right now, the vision for Detroit’s future is myopic, not necessarily in intent, but in scope. Converting abandoned neighborhoods into farmland could actually be an economic and social boon, but without being presented as part of a larger vision for the city, it’s easy for such a plan to sound like a massive step backward, or even a waving of the white flag of surrender. But contrast the image of today’s Detroit with one where a network of compact neighborhoods stretches out between large agricultural tracts, and parents walk their kids to neighborhood schools in the morning on their way to the trains that take them to the hydroponic greenhouses where they work. Americans seem to have a fixed idea of urban fabric as looking something like a quilt, but there’s no reason it can’t look like a web instead.

If there is the political will and the financial might in Detroit to privately fund a light rail line (which would take a miracle in almost any American city, much less one with Motown’s reputation), there should certainly be enough energy to create a broad, forward-thinking vision for the region to tie various initiatives together into a narrative that the whole city can rally behind.  Detroit has everyone’s attention; now it’s time for the city to decide what story it’s going to tell.