 
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 75
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 8:20 pm: |    |
Forget about statistics. Ignore the fist five minutes of Fox2 Detroit crime reporting. Im originally from 'up north' in a city many of you city slickers would think of as hicksville and I can tell you I have encountered more down to earth, down home friendly helpful people than I have in socially rigid suburbs where it seems that everyone is a potential pedophile, stalker or psycho until proven innocent.
In Detroit there are many neighborhoods with immaculate lawns, well kept homes populated by citizens who are involved in all facets of community improvement. We often hear about city residents who cause problems and forget about residents who are striving, despite the apathy of city governmentand negative media coverage to make a change for the better. Look at downtown: I can remember standing at the bus stop by Hudsons and smelling urine and garbage. Mexicantown is booming with a vibrant hispanic population. We have casinos; block clubs; blight busters; individual acts of kindness.
I can remember back in 98 not being able to sleep so I took the bus downtown and a security guard who happened to be a state trooper moonlighting pulled up on by the ren cen to see what I was doing at 1 in the morning: we ended up cruising around laughing and joking. On another occassion I missed my bus and a supervisor in a ddot courtesy van picked me up and drove me to the next stop in front of the bus. My car was impounded back in 96 and a gas station attendant gave me the five bucks I was short to get my car out of impound at the yard over on Harper. He noticed me hanging out and making calls on the pay phone and inquired about my situation. I was so impressed with his hospitality I returned with his five smackers and filled up my tank. That happened in the mean harsh big city! Those are just several of many positive individual encounters I have had with folks in the D. |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 245
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 9:20 pm: | |
To address some of your first concern, here is what has been said about the media from one of my favorite authors:
"Crime and destruction have come to dominate both national and local programming. According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, the 1993 national evening broadcasts of ABC, NBC, and CBS contained 1,632 crime stories, up 208 percent from the previous year. Meanwhile, the violent and nonviolent crime rates on American streets have declined since the early 1980s…Local stations pushed toward crime coverage because it represents attention-grabbing material while requiring little or no labor costs spent on background research and because crimes sensationalism garners high Nielson ratings…According to Minnesota Planning, metropolitan [Twin Cities] residents do not generally have high levels of exposure to crime. They are therefore likely to turn to media for information about the issue. Minnesota Planning found in 1994 that residents…held expectations of victimization that were in some cases more than six times their true likelihood of victimization. The disproportionate levels of crime covered by television news programs, then, are significant not only in their large audience and skewed coverage, but in their ability to form perceptions and set the public agenda” (p. 22-24).
This is why the media can and do so much affect the image of our favorite city.
Orfield, Myron. Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1997
(Message edited by charlottepaul on January 15, 2007) |
Swingline
Member
Username: Swingline
Post Number: 672
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 10:24 am: | |
Thanks for the uplifting post, Terryh. While Detroit might suffer from more than its fair share of dysfunction among its citizenry, it remains a place filled with positive, talented and caring people. Those kind of folks are easy to find and become involved with if we get up off the couch and find a way to improve our community each in our own individual way. |
Vas
Member
Username: Vas
Post Number: 649
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 11:56 am: | |
nice |
Detroitplanner
Member
Username: Detroitplanner
Post Number: 766
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 12:09 pm: | |
Ninety-five to ninety-nine percent of Detroit's citizenry are nice folks. Its the tiny minority who are trouble makers that give us a bad self-image, and bad image nationally.
Its terrible that the actions of a few reflect so poorly on the rest of us, and even make us doubt ourselves. |
Michmeister
Member
Username: Michmeister
Post Number: 57
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 1:09 pm: | |
Time to get rid of some of them bad apples.... |
Eastsidedog
Member
Username: Eastsidedog
Post Number: 882
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 1:14 pm: | |
news media = anti-urban mind control device |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 251
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 1:23 pm: | |
"An average of 28.5 percent of total news time was devoted to crime alone, and 53.8 percent covered stories of crime, war, or disaster..."
Orfield, Myron. Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1997 |
Chitaku
Member
Username: Chitaku
Post Number: 1051
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 1:33 pm: | |
the-point-about-the-suburbanit es-being-pedophiles-until-prov en-innocent-is-so-true
chitaku-broken-spacebar |
Detroitej72
Member
Username: Detroitej72
Post Number: 452
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 4:24 pm: | |
Excellent post Terryh. It's about time we have more positive posts on this site. |
Detroitrulez
Member
Username: Detroitrulez
Post Number: 116
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 4:31 pm: | |
maybe so, but this thread isn't exactly setting the world afire. pay it forward, folks. Detroit Rises! |
Lizs
Member
Username: Lizs
Post Number: 10
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 5:10 pm: | |
I go to college at a small Christian university near Jackson - meaning everyone is white & from a quiet suburb for the most part. When people hear we're moving to Detroit they usually say something about Novi being a nice place or how they're from Farmington Hills. They're really shocked when we say we want to move into the city, a few have asked me if I'm scared. It's not that horrible, and the only way to help things get better is to move there.
Just thought I'd share - this post makes me even more optimistic about moving to there. |
Citylover
Member
Username: Citylover
Post Number: 2036
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 6:59 pm: | |
I thought this was one of the "turn ons" from the January playmate. |
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 80
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 7:03 pm: | |
And then theres the riverfront improvement; Rivertown developements; professionals moving into the city; Corktown; and so on and so forth.
Glad I could be uplifting. Although I reside in Ferndale Ive spent lots of time in the D, and something tells me It will be home. About ten years ago a man in his seventies who never lived in the city was very optimistic when he advised me "If I was a much younger man with money to invest I would buy property in Detroit; the city is going to make a comeback." |
Warriorfan
Member
Username: Warriorfan
Post Number: 621
Registered: 08-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 7:36 pm: | |
You have to puff up Detroit by putting down the suburbs? Saying that everyone in the suburbs is a pedophile until proven innocent is a little extreme and inflammatory, don't you think? |
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 85
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 8:02 pm: | |
The suburbs for the most part have got it together in many ways. My perception of the burbs is that there are too many uptight easily spooked people compared to the smaller communities ive lived in most of my life. Too often many in the metropolitan Detroit area focus on criticizing and finding the negatives which yes there are plenty but not just...
Ive met friendly down to earth people in the burbs but most people compared to where I am originally from seem standoffish. My neighbor across the hall who happens to be from Detroit has been extremely open and freindly but most don't know me or don't seem to want ot get to know me. I get what I call the cityslicker blank gaze: Ill listen to what you are saying and respond to you but Im not sure why you are striking up a convo as were just neighbors. I can understand why many would behave in that many as there are many more people in a relatively small area. Where I am from there are social problems also but the population is lower with less crime so it isn't unusual for strangers or mild casual aquaintances to offer or ask for a ride or welcome you into their home. If youre vehicle breaks down in a rural or semi-rural area and you have the everyone accept me is a potential psycho, then you are going to have a long walk.
Suburbanites can choose to be a part of the problem or part of the solution. I choose the latter. |