Question About Detroit?

Travel Info
Ok, I think Chicago is a totally spoiled shithole. However, how come people always pick on Detroit? Is it because of the folks populated there. Crime is EVERYWHERE! You can't single out one bad place without pointing out the other. I didn't see folks bashing in NYC when they had their crime spree or LA or St. Louis. What's up?

Rudeness will be ignored. I want intelligent answers please.

In addition, 3/4 of you all haven't even been here to judge, so why not just shut your pie holes since ya don't know what you're talking about or see for yourself?

Travel Tips

I honestly don't quite understand why Detroit receives such a bad rap. I go up there plenty for hockey, baseball, football, gambling, concerts, etc. and never had any problems (I should probably mention that if I'm driving I tend to get lost EVERY TIME I go there...and have ended up in what some peopel would perceive as very bad areas, yet never any problems).

By the way, I've been a Bears fan since I was kid, but have never been to Chicago due to financial constraints. How in the world could a family of four afford to vacation there??? Heck - I can spend a week in Florida or Vegas cheaper than a weekend in Chicago would cost!!
Others

I grew up in Ann Arbor, except for a year when I lived in Lincoln Park, so I'm a south eastern lower Michigan native.

Yes, Detroit has crime. But every big city does. I personally think St. Louis is way worse than Detroit.

But Detroit has some really awesome restaurants. I love Mario's, its the best Italian around.

I dont understand why people pick on Detroit so much. And I can guarantee that this idiot will respond to you, but I'd ignore him. He seems to have an IQ of a raddish.
There are a lot of historic reasons for this, and there is some reading available on the internet if you google a while. To summarize before I start, Detroit has suffered a long and consistent decline without much redevelopment, and that I believe is the cause and the result of the poor reputation it's had.

Detroit's downtown was never really developed as a business,shopping or entertainment center, partly because of the odd layout of the streets. People judge a city by the downtown they see, and Detroit's was always small.

Real estate agents named "blockbusters" spread false rumors about crime in Detroit in the 1950's and they became self fulfilling. The point was to get a lot of listings; to sell the houses at a low price but at a high volume. There was collusion with home builders in the suburbs, who built huge tracts of cheap, small, brick homes in the 1950's and 1960's.

It is said that large communities of Jews moved first, and all at once, as if it were a diaspora. The 1967 riots caused additional movement of the whites to the suburbs, and many were in such a hurry to leave, they literally abandoned their homes. This white flight was much more extensive and faster than it was in other cities. The new suburbanites never had an attachment to downtown, and once ensconced in their white enclaves, they never ventured into the city, and for mostly racist reasons, but also out of habit, they continued to bad mouth the city, giving it a national reputation as a dangerous rust pit.

Detroit has had a black mayor since 1974 and this further cemented the racial divide. Coleman Young, the mayor from 1974 to 1994, had a policy of firing and squeezing out white city employees. He made controversial public statements that made white homeowners, employees and businesses feel unwelcome. He insisted that a new auto plant be located in a thriving white Polish neighborhood, instead of in an area that needed redevelopment. The result was that the neighborhood was torn down for the plant, and more whites were alienated. He tried to drive such hard bargains with businesses that they also gave up and located elsewhere. In his speeches and by his actions, Young kept the divisive racial rhetoric going for 20 years.

In other words, it's a lot about race, as well as the perception of crime. Crime of course did increase, as did poverty, since for many years, nearly every individual or business who could afford to leave the city, did.

In some ways what happened to Detroit is similar to what is happening with the country, with this Red State-Blue State, Republican vs. Democrat thing. Politicians and business interests conspired to take advantage of the worst tendencies and prejudices of people and to turn minor differences into huge walls. A large prosperous city was degraded, even destroyed, under the leadership of amoral, short-sighted business interests and degenerate, hypocritical politicians.
First, how can you say that Chicago is a spoiled city? The City of Chicago works very hard to maintain their city and to make the city a World Class City and Chicago is just one step away from hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Second, Detroit is NO CHICAGO. Although Detroit and Chicago both have crime, Chicago takes steps to prevent crime while Detroit does nothing to let crime continue. Although St. Louis is more dangerous than Detroit, keep in mind that there is less than 350,000 citizens in St. Louis while there are more than 800,000 in Detroit and besides, St. Louis is a tourist city and Detroit is not.

Finally, Detroit will never be like Chicago. A family of four who visits Chicago has endless possibilites of things to do while with Detroit, a family of four could see everything they want to see in their interest and by the end of the day, it will be the most boriest trip that they have ever taken. The only thing Detroit has going for it are special events, sporting events and Casinos while Chicago has Museums, Skyscrapers, Sporting Events, Parks, Navy Pier, Shopping Centers, and Lake Michigan.
I'll tell you why, its because their is a large # of black people making up the city's population, and wherever their are a lot of minorities, especially blacks so people associate that certain area to be crime ridden.which is not actually true but streotype, and the fact Detroit is the largest city with the black population over 85% in the country.
And one more thing you also forget that this is the most segregated area outside of Mississsippi, with all the blacks being surounded by white populated suburbs. that is why till this day that 8 mile road is so symbolic,because it represents polarization among ethnic groups; its a dividing line between black & white, rich & poor. the thng that makes me mad about the question is that whites who live in the suburbs will talk trash about Detroit saying its bad, and that nothing good comes out of the city, but when one of "OUR" sports teams wins a championship, or becomes the city is center of national attention whites want to claim it as their own, so why wont they live within the city limits?