Detroit's bet on urban renewal: casinos

Although Newark, NJ and Detroit, MI have much in common, their plans for urban renewal divide in a few key areas including not only mass transit, but also development of new downtown attractions.

Perhaps it's Newark's proximity to Atlantic City and Connecticut's casinos, that's stopped it from pursuing casino development as a revitalization strategy, and maybe that's a good thing. Instead Newark's focused on alternatives such as NJPAC, The Rock, and increased investment in its museum and Rutgers University areas. This assortment of diverse alternatives has helped Newark not only rebuild quickly, but also re-establish the city as a cultural destination for its surrounding suburban areas.

Like Newark, Detroit is surrounded by sprawling suburbs-- the destination for those fleeing the city since the 1950s and 60s. Also like Newark, Detroit's received little support from its suburban neighbors, instead being pretty much ignored for most of the last half of the 20th century as the city falls further into ruin.

Unlike Newark, Detroit is situated across the river from another country, and the city of Windsor, Ontario, a booming "Atlantic City" of Canada. The past 15 years has seen an explosion of casino development in Canada, and Detroit's renewal strategy hinges on cashing in on this phenomenon.

Detroit is now home to three casinos: MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino Hotel, and Greektown Casino.  Unfortunately this redevelopment strategy hasn't been completely successful; for example, the Greektown Casino filed for bankruptcy in May 2008, and the other two Detroit casinos have seen profits plummet as the U.S. economy sinks further into one of the greatest recessions in the country's history.

I think one of the big problems with this sort of development is that it doesn't benefit the surrounding community as promised. Atlantic City is a good example-- the casino areas and boardwalk have been renewed, but walk 2-blocks from that area and urban decay, poverty, and crime are still very much a part of AC.

Another problem with casino-focused development is that it doesn't rebuild a much needed bridge from the downtown urban area back to the surrounding suburbs. By not investing in downtown culture (as Newark has done), Detroit's created a vacuum whereby local culture has taken flight to the suburbs (such as Ann Arbor), with no incentive to return to downtown Detroit.

Art communities rejuvenate urban economies; Chicago and Asbury Park are good examples of this phenomenon. Newark is also home to a thriving artist movement. Although Detroit has created an emerging artist market, it might benefit from rethinking its casino-centric development plans and increase investment in attracting artists communities to downtown Detroit to help increase the diversity of its redevelopment plans.

The People Mover and Detroit's lost public transportation system

One thing that separates Detroit from other American cities is its lack of a consistent public transportation system. Although this can be attributed mostly to Detroit's car culture, the oil industry is also to blame.

Like other early 20th century cities, Detroit possessed several substantial electric trolley lines, and before that, trolleys pulled by horses. Like trolley systems in most American cities, Detroit's was dismantled in the 1950's through efforts of the Rockefeller family, owners of Exxon-Mobil:

By design, the Rockefellers have received no blame for their pivotal role in destroying the vast trolley car system that dominated U.S. cities before the 1940s, thereby increasing city dwellers' dependence on automobiles and gas-fueled bus lines. Yet the Rockefellers' Standard Oil of California joined General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, and Phillips Petroleum to form the National City Lines holding company, which bought out and dismantled more than 100 trolley systems in 45 cities (including New York, Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Tulsa, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles) between 1936 and 1950 (source).

Although a small tourist line was built in 1976 (and dismantled in 2003), today the only public transportation Detroiters have are buses and the fairly useless Detroit People Mover, a fully automated elevated train that travels in a 2.9 mile circle through Detroit's downtown.

Now that I commute from Northern NJ to Manhattan, and use the NYC subway 5 days a week, I can see just how important public transportation is to maintaining a vibrant urban environment. As energy costs increase, mass transit will become even more important. The smartest thing a declining city can do is invest in mass transit programs. Even Newark, NJ, in many ways similar to Detroit, has invested heavily in mass transit, and the payoff has been a resurgence of Newark's downtown area, including NJPAC and the new Prudential Center. 

Buses alone are not the answer to Detroit's urban renewal problems. People won't buy condo lofts in an abandoned downtown center supported by only bus service and a useless circular elevated train. Casinos aren't the answer either. Detroit will never recover as a first rate city unless it can convince the Big 3 and Big Oil to step aside and let the city develop real mass transit solutions to support its renewal efforts. If Detroit's leadership can't do this, then the city, like the Big 3, will never recover.

Dinner in Mexicantown

After the Coney Island stop I drove around downtown Detroit some more, then made my way down to Mexicantown which, like Newark's Ironbound, is past the RR tracks that divide the city. 

The abandoned Michigan Central Station can be seen in the background by the old Tiger Stadium when traveling to Mexicantown.

Downtown Detroit's "American Coney Island"

So I drove into downtown Detroit on Tuesday. The snow and wind were much worse than I'd thought--near blizzard conditions and impossible to take many photos. I got a few...but mostly I just drove around in the slush since none of the streets were plowed. 

The snow gave the old pre depression-era buildings a surreal look, almost made them clean and new, and there were a couple of streets that looked almost Manhattan-like in their canyonish layout. There were other cars and some buses around too, but not many people on this day before Christmas eve, but then again there was no shopping to be done because there are almost no businesses of any kind in this barren cityscape. Like midtown Manhattan after the apocalypse.

After sliding around in my rental car for about an hour I decided  to take a break, but that's a problem in a nearly abandoned city like Detroit. Unlike Manhattan, or even downtown Newark, there's really no coffee shops, bodegas, or Starbucks anywhere--just abandoned storefronts of what probably used to be restaurants.

I finally found something on Lafayette Street-- two "restaurants": Lafayette Coney Island and American Coney Island, located next to each other in dumpy old buildings, which was next to what looked like a 1960s-era skyscraper that was abandoned with graffiti in all its  windows up to the top floor. The bottom of that building looked like it was home to the "Lafayette Deli" which was long ago boarded up and abandoned.

I parked across the street in a rising snowbank. For a city with no population it was strange to see that on-street parking was managed by fairly new muni-meters. As other people parked near me I observed that they didn't pay the meter, so I decided not to as well. What are the chances of a cop giving out parking tickets in a snow storm anyway?

The American Coney Island looked less dumpy than it's sister restaurant, so I went in, wondering again WTF "Coney Island" implied. Inside it looked as if time had stopped--checkerboard floors, old counters with stools, and a very retro feel. The 3 men behind the counter wore Happy Days era paper hats and white uniforms. They were all Albanian immigrants.  The only other customer was a homeless man huddled in one corner smoking a cigarette.

I learned that "Coney Island" had nothing to do with the now defunct NY amusement park. "Coney Island" is a type of hotdog style made popular here by Greek immigrants in the late 19th century. Apparently these immigrants sold their dogs under the assumption that they were what was eaten at the real Coney Island--which I guess sounded exotic to a land-locked place like Detroit. The hot dog includes chili, onions, and mustard and reminds me of what NJ refers to as a "Texas Weiner". 

American Coney Island is some sort of landmark here, and I'd chanced upon it in a snow storm. It's counterpart next door, Lafayette Coney Island, is also a landmark but a bit dumpier.

Not my usual food, but it was cold and I was hungry, so I ordered 2 with coffee and asked if I could take some photos, and they agreed. 

The food was ok, but I think Nathan's is better (and more authentically Coney Island), or any cartdog in NYC for that matter. After I ate I started taking photos. That's when the owner walked in and asked if I was going to use the photos for "commercial gain". Seeing that this place was in the middle of an apocalyptic nowhere land straight out of Mad Max, I was puzzled by this because I think at this point any publicity would be better than none. I stifled a smirk while answering "no" and explained that my intent was artistic only. 

The photos will be up on Flickr when I get back.

Looking Around

Today I'm going into Detroit. It snowed this morning and the temperature is about 10 degrees, but I'm going to see what I can find.

Detroit Metro Tide Packets

As the news has blared for weeks, Michigan's economy is tanking. I think its been on this track for at least 30 yrs, but the recent economic tsunami really impacted this region, perhaps even more than lower Manhattan.

I guess a sure sign of economic end times are half empty stores 2 days before Christmas...which is what I experienced last night as I shopped to replace my lost luggage.

Walmart was busier than Sears, but not packed. Probably because Walmart's prices are so dirt cheap. But even with that, most of the purchases I observed at Walmart were for food.

At home I deliberately don't shop at Walmart because I don't like how they treat their employess. Here I had little choice-- its the only cheap game in town. I have to admit they are super cheap, and  had some unusual stuff I don't remember seeing in Kmart or Target.

Probably the best item I purchased yesterday was Tide's Travel Sink Packets. For $0.33 I can recycle what I wore on the plane in the hotel sink, so one less change of clothes to buy. Neat.

McDonald's "Classic"

Then there's McDonald's "classic" 'restaurants'. This throwback to hulahoops and communism sports no indoor eating area. As I drove by one tonight I thought it was a great idea to put one in Dearborn, MI where  the current temperature is 10 degrees. Despite that, I did see a long line at the drive through on the side.

The Little Wedding Chapel

While driving around trying to find the local Walmart, I was reminded of Detroit's Midwesterness by some of the roadside attractions, such as The Little Wedding Chapel.

Apparently some sort of franchise, The Little Wedding Chapel has five locations throughout Michigan. Why go through a real church when you can rent a fake one?

Dale Earnhardt Pajama Pants

Although the Detroit Metro area reminds me of Newark, NJ and its suburbs, there's a Midwesterness thats unique to this area. Like Dale Earnhardt pajama pants and a complete sewing and clothing pattern section at the Walmart.

Its Lost

I tried to inquire about my luggage. The results: NWA doesn't know where my luggage is according to its website, plus, despite the fact that I gave their attendant my DL to copy my address, she completely screwed it up...I now live on "DOOD" Street.

Calling both Northwestern and Delta got nowhere too. The reality is that I may never see my luggage again.

It was time to go shopping in the Detroit Metro area.

Adventure: 1st Day Finals

By the time I picked up my rental car and drove to the hotel it was 5:00 am. It was probably a good thing that my luggage got lost because I was too tired to lug it to my room anyway.

Adventures: Detroit MC

Take off from Logan was rough. Once in the air I realized Patricia was sitting in front of me. We exchanged pleasantries.

I sat next to a woman who missed her connection to London. She'd just converted from PC to Mac and was playing with her new Macbook laptop. We had a nice chat trashing Microsoft's incompetent, crappy products.

Except for a mid-flight granola bar incident, the flight was uneventful. We landed at 1:20 am but didn't deplane until 1:45 am when the airport finally decided to deploy the gate walkway extension.

On the earlier flight Patricia and I inquired about our luggage. The attendant assured us the luggage would "follow us" to the Detroit-bound plane.

However, upon arriving at the baggage area, Patricia and I were greeted by a vast expanding sea of luggage throughout the concourse. Luggage who's owners hadn't made it on their flights. At this point Patricia and I parted ways. I think she found her luggage. I was unpleasantly surprised to find that mine was in Boston at Baggage Claim #3.

Despite the NWA terminal advertising ("Delta and NWA have merged and it's business as usual!") Delta and NWA's systems aren't integrated, so although the Delta baggage claim could tell me where my luggage was, I'd have to file a claim with NWA's trashy baggage office down the concourse to actually get the bag on a flight.

By the time I finished this  procedure it was 3:30. Time to catch the shuttle to my rental car.

Adventures: Boston

Since Boston's Logan was still such a mess there was a theory on the plane that we may not have missed our connections after all.

Upon deplaning at Logan the flight attendants told Patricia and  I that if we hurry to NorthWestern at terminal E (we arrived at Delta in terminal A)  we might still be able to catch the now 3 hr delayed flight, despite what Delta's automated flight info said.

The captain asked if passengers not on connecting flights could wait for the 20 of us who did to get off before they got up into the aisle. The minute the door cracked open everyone got up at once and stuffed themselves into the aisle.

I'd made no formal agreement with Patricia that we'd team up. Somehow she'd made it off before me and was waiting when I deplaned.  Logan was packed with disgruntled travelers. The race was on to get to Terminal E.

After asking 4 airport workers one finally provided coherent instructions - we had to catch Terminal Bus #11 outside by the taxis.

We ran down the escalator to the taxis. Of course buses 55, 42, 12, 16, and 9 showed up first. All going everywhere except to the lost terminal of E.

Finally 11 arrived and we jumped on. As it meandered thru 3 stops each at terminals A, B, C, and D, I thought for sure we'd miss the flight and I'd be sleeping on an airport bench, just like the holiday rituals I'd seen on the news all these years. Maybe I'd get on TV!

When the doors opened at Terminal E, Patricia and I sprinted the 1.5 miles thu the huge NWA area only to be told to "hurry up" to gate E2B, about 3.5 miles at the other end of the terminal. But first, we'd have to go thru security. Again.

Upon arriving at the gate a humorless agent reprinted our boarding passes. I was the last  person on the plane! Confronted by an NWA attendant who was also humorless, I was ordered to stow my bag asap so we could "take off".

We sat on the runway for another 2 hrs.

Adventures: Delta is Incompetent

2 minutes before our scheduled boarding time Delta changed the gate from 28 to 1, on the other side of the terminal.

I helped the old woman to the new terminal. It took forever and when we got there we were last in one of 2 huge disorganized lines. The woman had been coughing since I met her, but now she was starting to have coughing fits so I went and got some water.

As we waited we made friends with a guy traveling from Dubai. He was totally not dressed for the weather. He wore a white cotton tunic suit and embroidered sandals with mother-of-pearl inlays. I wondered what he'd do when he got to Boston. Would he walk in the snow with his sandals or did he have mother-of-pearl embroidered booties in his carry on? I was getting tired.

The flight was delayed - 15 min, then another 15 min, then another. I was getting worried I'd miss my connection to Detroit.

One of the lines at the gate was for people from (I guess) that woman's earlier flight that got bumped and had no seat assignment. Tons of people; crying babies, sullen teens, baby boomers, foreigners. What a mess.

We finally got to board. The old woman did indeed have a first class seat (good for her) and looked really relieved and less tired. We said goodbye.

I sat next to a woman named Patricia who was trying to get to Detroit  and some sarcastic British guy who kept interjecting himself into my conversations with the woman and flight attendants. He kept saying "The problem with Americans is..." Many times during this flight I had to squelch the urge to belt him.

At the last minute Patricia and I tried to deplane because the attendants thought we'd missed our connection, But it was too late, and we ended up sitting on the runway for 90 minutes before finally taking off.

Adventures: Snow in Las Vegas

Again, anticipating an ocean of humanity at JFK airport, I played it safe and reserved off-airport parking ahead of time. 

I received the royal treatment from the attendants because I was the only new parker there.

Me and a foreign couple (I think from either Spain or France) rode the lot's bus to JFK.

I'd checked in online (and also prepaid Delta's exciting new $15 bag fee) so dropped off my luggage at the curb, tipped the skycap $3 and joked, "please make sure my luggage gets there."

"Yes ma'am, of course."

Unfortunately I didn't specify when the luggage should arrive.

Having hours to spare I got a soda and people-watched again. At one point I dozed off, and when I woke up I misread my watch and panicked because I thought the boarding time had passed. I got up and made my way towards a security guy who was lecturing an old lady. Apparently she'd been bumped from an earlier flight to Boston and was now on my flight, but she needed to call her son and let him know what was going on. She was pleading with the guy to let her use a phone, that the Delta person who promised this hadn't shown up. She looked disheveled, disoriented and really old. The security guy looked like he couldn't care less.

I offered my phone. She didn't know how to use it so I dialed, spoke to her son and gave him all the info.

As we sat waiting she told me she'd been flying around since yesterday. Started in Las Vegas, where she'd lived for 30 yrs. Apparently 2-inches of snow fell right before her flight, and since Las Vegas has no idea nor equipment to deal with the white stuff she'd sat on a plane for hours before the snow on the runway finally melted.

Then at JFK she'd boarded a flight to Boston, her final destination. Unfortunately Boston was in the middle of a huge snow storm, so halfway there the plane turned around and came back to JFK. She'd waited for 2 hrs and somehow secured a seat on my flight, firsts class, I think. She told me how circus-like Las Vegas gets when it snows. Apparently its snowed there 3 times in the past 30 yrs.

Adventures: NY

The affects of weather are unpredictable. Google Directions predicted traveling to JFK airport from Newark could vary from 54 min. to 2 hrs. 56 min. w/traffic.

Anticipating hours of traffic jams due to bad weather on Sunday morning, I left for JFK airport 3.5 hrs early.

I've never driven thru the Lincoln Tunnel w/o some sort of traffic jam, except for Sunday morning. it was eerily, apocalyptically isolated; maybe 10 other cars and I breezed thru the tolls and into the tunnel.  Hit some red lights and slight traffic driving east on 36th St. towards Queens, but nothing bad.

While waiting at those red lights I people watched. Despite the bad weather elsewhere, Manhattan was mostly untouched; all kinds of people poured into the crosswalks and around the sidewalks. NY was bustling along on this "Black Sunday" before xmas.

Now that I commute daily into NY I see the city differently than when I was a NJ squab. No matter what kind of day you're having, you can never really feel alone in New York. Because space is at such a premium, the 18 million people that walk these streets live the majority of their lives in public, and even if you're only here for 8-10 hrs a day, you become part of that energy vibration. You can't ignore it. New York is a vibrant, living city. I feel the buzziness everyday when I step off the train at NY Penn.