Detroit City vs Metro Detroit
Metro Detroit is a larger tri-county area with Wayne County, Oakland County and Macomb County. Detroit City, the place we are talking about in this text, is located in a corner of Wayne County.
Detroit City is located in Michigan State in the USA. Michigan was part of 8 states in the USA which in 1950 collectively produced 36% of the world’s GNP.
Detroit City was founded by French settlers in 1701. In 1920, it had become the fourth largest city in USA and the greatest manufacturing city in the world during 1940s. Detroit was the manufacturing hub for America’s “Big 3” automobile manufacturers - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Detroit itself was run by a tri-power structure of the auto industry, unions and local government: all of which were corrupt.
Demise of Detroit
The demise had various factors:
- Whites largely left the city, Blacks domination and many cases of racism against white children
- the dominant Black population wanted a predominantly Black administration to serve their cultural interests
- the administrative leaders gave primacy to interests of auto industry
- used govt. money to tear up well developed lines of rails for public transportation, forcing people to buy cars
- demolishing neighborhoods to create roads
- automotive industry was not paying adequate taxes after a while and soon, property owners too stopped paying taxes
- monopoly of automakers
- Detroit had no major economic contributors except the auto industry
- all infrastructure and political actions were on the will of auto industry
- unions were demanding better wages from auto manufacturers
- simultaneously, tax rates were being increased
- auto manufacturers started shifting production elsewhere
- Japanese automakers had entered American markets with their newer innovations and engineering
Rise of crimes
- 1943 Detroit Race Riot happened in backdrop of WWII where automotive factories were converted to military production with high wages.
- Around 400K migrants flocked to Detroit City in search of jobs, leading to high competition and feelings of racial tension
- The 1967 Detroit Riot is seen as a tipping point after which the city went into a spiral of decay
- this was the bloodiest riot in USA during the Long, Hot Summer of 1967, which consisted of over 150 race riots
- scale of the riot was the worst in the United States since the 1863 New York City draft riots during the American Civil War, and it was not surpassed until the 1992 Los Angeles riots 25 years later
- After this, crimes shot up. The situation was worsened because of illiteracy.
- Detroit is regarded as the most dangerous city in the USA.
- 2015: half of homicides in Michigan State were in Detroit City.
- leftover residents till date carry guns whenever they head out of their house to buy supplies
Revitalizing via tourism and entertainment
- tourism currently accounts for 9% of city’s jobs
- despite the safety issue, people visit the city due to its cultural & historical significance
- Metro Detroit is home to casinos and resort hotels which drives people to visit Detroit City too
- suggestions to redevelop Detroit City as an entertainment hub, similar to Las Vegas