Metro Detroit and the M-1 Rail

Part I

The M-1 Light Rail Line Initiative is making progress towards their goal of creating a mass transit system between Hart Plaza and New Center. For those of you unfamiliar, it spans from the base of Downtown at the riverfront to about three and a half miles north just beyond Wayne State University. I applaud their work and hope to see it before the expected 2015 opening. It is a start.
     However, I personally don't think it will do much good.
     It frustrates me to the point of sadness to think that this feeble attempt to put Detroit on the map is being perceived as such a profound and altruistic move. I hardly see it that way.
     The truth, as I see it anyway, is that Detroit will only become more gentrified and more segregated with the exclusivity of M-1 Rail. The Woodward Corridor from Downtown to New Center is increasingly occupied with young professionals and college-aged people. This trend will only extrapolate if and when the M-1 Rail is built.
     I think that these people are absolutely essential to the vibrancy and success of any city, however, I also think that the isolation of this area invites a limit to the potential of Detroit. The people who move to this corridor will be confronted with the realization that they are connected to one other hip community, either Downtown or Mid-Town. The meager Mid-Town will never attract the attention that Royal Oak nightlife will. Downtown is definitely growing in popularity as far as nightlife is concerned, but many people aren't quite ready to take the plunge into living there.
     Therefore, it is my contention that the M-1 Rail must stretch from Downtown to Pontiac.
     However self-evident this may be to me, it remains one Detroit's most highly contested questions of our time.
     Ever since Detroit began losing its density in the 1950's, there has been a theme of segregation that has tainted our area. "Urban Terrorism" lurks over suburban communities who have impressed fear into their children and perpetuated the cycle of forging barriers with Detroit.
     The plans of a Bus Rapid Transit is certainly an important part of the overall feasibility of using mass transit on a day to day basis. I fully support the implementation of buses by a Regional Transit Authority that would incorporate Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties.
     However, Woodward Avenue is the main artery of Metro-Detroit and it deserves to be treated as such. There is no other road that is even remotely as iconic and vital to the identity of Detroit. The Woodward Dream Cruise has engraved a sense of history, as well as, urban sprawl. It is time to declare a new identity.
     An M-1 Rail that would cover all of Woodward would start the long awaited Renaissance of Detroit. It would invite the growth of the Woodward Corridor and the desire to live along it. However, I think it would go far beyond that. By symbolically linking the suburbs and Detroit, it would invoke a sense of equality that has never really existed here.
     I know that crime is the main fear that has stymied any sincere thoughts of connecting Detroit and Pontiac with some of the wealthier, northern suburbs of Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills. I believe this is a legitimate concern. Gandhi once said "Poverty is the worst form of violence." Many of the surrounding communities have been viciously weakened by poverty and I am not blaming any individual community or entity. Its just what has happened to our City by forces beyond our control: unsustainable growth in the Auto Industry, population loss, massive highway projects, ect.
     Yet, what message do you send an inner-city child when access to a place is filled with obstacles to deter them from coming because they pose a threat by no fault of their own? I am straddling lines of race and I acknowledge that, but I think that class, age, and LGBT marginalization are also reinforced by those at the helms of the civic infrastructure.
     What the M-1 Rail from Detroit to Pontiac symbolizes is a socialization of the stark borders that separate us, both geographic and demographic. I want my children to grow up in a place where all forms of people are genuinely accepted and present in social spaces. I know that people are apt to have their niche, but being systematically uninvited is what I believe is ethically wrong.
     Metro Detroit is waning. In an age, when connectedness and easy access are essential to staying competitive, Metro Detroit is quickly falling behind. As we continue to lose people, the possibility and success of such massive rejuvenating projects as the M-1 Rail from Pontiac to Detroit is dwindling.
     The world is seldom fair and not everything pans out as we hope it will. Yet, it is our responsibility, as it was the responsibility of the writers of the Constitution, to impart a platform that aspires toward equality.
   

Growing Up in Birmingham

            It was not long ago that I was highly critical of Birmingham. I scoffed at the well-groomed lawns and the conspicuous collections of cars in the driveways. The houses and people adorned in luxury and materialism angered my socialist sensibilities. Thoughts about how wealth perpetuated wealth cycled through my mind like mailmen on a daily route.

            As my rebellious high school funk faded, I began to notice what it is that makes Birmingham such a desired place to work, live, and, most of all, to raise children. It is hard to decide where to begin, but I think my childhood home is as good as any.

            I grew up on Westwood in the neighborhood known as Quarton Lake Estates. Looking back, I see pleasant images of all the neighborhood kids playing together. Reels upon reels of sports memories form a montage in my mind’s eye.

            After walking the block and a half home from school, the hockey pads would be strapped on or the basketball would be recovered from the next store neighbor’s yard. In the fall, football consumed countless hours as we tried to mimic the catches of our favorite Michigan or Michigan State receivers.

            It wasn’t all sports. The shortening autumn days gave way to reflection and contemplation. Death made itself known through withering leaves on gusty Sundays.

            As the years past, I got to knowing that life on Westwood would not last forever. I took to taking walks and writing poetry to capture the moments that seemed as fleeting as glimpses of a humming bird.

            My high school days were filled with the juxtaposition of living in Birmingham and going to high school on 7 mile at U of D High. The mix, combined with some radical political ideologies, led me to grow critical of Birmingham.

            However, I have grown to accept this place not as a country club for benefactors of wealthy families, but as a promised land for those who maintain the work ethics that were bequeathed to them, and only rarely, the trust funds.

            What charms me so much about growing up in Birmingham is the space I have been given to think. My life has been an incubator of thought and experimentation. The road I have chosen has certainly had its harmonious rifts and its dissonant progressions, but they have only rendered me more able to appreciate the music of life.

            As I move into my mid-twenties, I know what motivates me more than anything else is the hope that I will raise my kids on one of the neighboring streets, or perhaps, on the very street I was fortunate enough to grow up on. 

Detroit or Royal Oak

I had a conversation with a good friend about the prospect of moving downtown the other week. For him, it has come down to two options: Detroit or Royal Oak.

I am not a fan of Royal Oak. I enjoy a few bars there, namely Gusoline Alley and Ye Olde, but I do not think I could ever live there.
   
For me, it comes down to an unpleasant feeling. When I am in Royal Oak, I feel like I am living some run-of-the-mill twenty-first century life in which everything is merely a replica of something else. The bars, houses, and restaurants all exist in a timelessness that invites the people who live there to partake in the illusion that this is life and it will continue on forever in the same fashion.

I know that time is fleeting and that these years in my early twenties won't last long.

When I am in Detroit, I feel that I am a witness to the truth of time. I am made aware of the importance of each moment because I have seen what happens when things are not tended properly. I know what can happen if we forfeit our original thinking and sync into routine. The character of Detroit has the idiosyncrasies that Royal Oak lacks. Sure, not all of the details are good, but it offers a  personality distinguishable from the rest. I see each moment as one of privilege and joy when I am able to tour a unique building like the Detroit Boat Club or the Detroit Public Library. These structures exist like Great Lakes reminding me of the cultural epicenter that Detroit once was and in many respects, still is. The charm of Detroit reaches far beyond these landmarks; relics and symbols mold the streets like cobblestone.

When I sit in a Detroit bar, I feel the intriguing history all around me waiting to be poked at and investigated. I don't feel that in Royal Oak. Living in Detroit, for me, is about living in a place that has significance in the history of the world and deriving meaning to my own life by being a part of it all.

If Royal Oak has any significance in the world, it is that it kept thousands of young, educated people out of Detroit.

The Writing Way

I have decided to go ahead and begin to blog again. My past experience resides around a travel blog I conducted when I was traveling around Florida and Louisiana last winter. My newest endeavor will be aimed at sharing my opinions, experiences, and stories. I promise to give my reader the utmost respect. I will only write when I have some pressing idea that must find a voice. The topics may span politics to social issues or may even be philosophical or anecdotal. My aim is to produce provocative insights. As an aspiring writer, I am delighted to have anyone who is willing to read my work. Welcome...