Didya hear? The Huffington Post is launching a new website called HuffPost Detroit that will be completely dedicated to countering the narrative of national media that “parachute in to cover the declining metropolis.”
Pretty cool, right?
And also, I couldn’t not blog about the column in today’s Huffington Post by Toby Barlow where he discusses something that I always seem to be talking about with people I know.
“Why do people who aren’t from Detroit (i.e. the suburbs) say they’re from Detroit?!?” is the usual whining question I receive from certain co-workers, friends and even some family.
My response, much like Barlow’s, usually goes something like this: if you’re from Southeast Michigan, which for all intents and purposes is Metro Detroit, you are in fact from Detroit.
But Barlow, goes a step further to explain just how important that tie is between the suburbs and the city itself, and why the sooner we all realize that Detroit and it’s surrounding suburbs are inseparable, the better off we will all be, and the better off the region as a whole will be in the end.
The fact is the suburbs have been trying to run away from Detroit for half a century and all it has brought is ruin and depression for all. It’s time to stop running. It’s time to embrace this place. Luckily for you, right now, it’s a wonderful town to embrace.
The fact is that too many of the suburbanites cling to a past Detroit that was and never will be again, and in the process they fail to recognize the positive changes that are taking place there today, right now.
People will say, “Oh it’s not like it was,” they’ll say they can’t bear what happened to Detroit, but they’re simply blind to the possibilities of the present. Nostalgia for an old bygone Detroit is fine, but it’s not relevant to what is happening on Michigan Avenue, on Woodward Avenue, and in Eastern Market right now.
I do have to make a point to say though that I don’t necessarily agree with Barlow’s blanket statement that “nothing good ever came out of suburbia.” While yes, I would love to see more people ditch the suburbs to move back into the city center, I acknowledge the realities of the situation. City living isn’t for everyone, that’s the honest truth, and quite frankly I had a pretty damn good upbringing in the suburbs so I understand the appeal to some people.
However, while I’m not asking for a mass exodus from the suburbs to downtown Detroit any time soon, I am asking that people at least give Detroit a chance, because like Barlow said: “Luckily for you, right now, it’s a wonderful town to embrace.”
Read the full column here.
