Holiday in Detroit
Posted by Aeron Bergman
The shock of driving through the endless grids of over-lit shopping and suburban Detroit sprawl deadens after a while, but two years passed since I last visited my childhood home, and the shock hit me fresh. How much energy do Americans need to burn up everyday? Big distances divide mundane routines, lack of public transport means heavy car use, and there is no long term plan to change anything. Locals laugh, “is there really a problem?”
As Alejandra and I observed arraignments at a district court one morning (I wont get into why), we saw ten automobile related misdemeanor cases. If Detroit would have had the reliable, extensive public transport that it had before dismantling it in the mid 20th century, not one of these cases would have been cases. Yet another public savings if they ever install trains.
As the sub-prime mortgage crisis continues to hammer the working class around here, (including at least 3 members of my immediate family), the New York Times named Detroit one of the “Top 53 Places to Go in 2008”. According to the article, the great new renovations at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the blazing MGM Grand Casino are worth the flight. Both buildings closely resemble local mall architecture, which, I suppose, makes the upper middle classes comfortable. Especially appealing for them is that art that sits harmlessly behind glass at the DIA. I am looking forward to seeing MOCAD, the new art museum in a former car dealership. Detroit needs a contemporary art museum that looks like the rest of the city.
Hey, everything is going to be alright, the Pistons are streaking, Mexicantown is bustling, the Eastern Market is hopping, Grace Boggs is teaching kids to grow gardens, and the city is as strange and beautiful as always. It is snowing, temporarily covering cracked cement. Have a look at DETROITBLOG about a guy who breaks into derelict buildings, takes photos of christmas lights and talks to people still living and working in Detroit.
I am looking forward to going back to our adopted home, also named in the NYT article on cities to visit in 2008: functional, fabulous, clean, overpriced, sleepy Oslo.
New Year’s Resolution? Don’t let dysfunction bother me.