Memories of Detroit

If our public finances feel a bit dire over here at the moment, spare a thought for the Motor City. The Times reports that "unburied bodies tell the tale... of a city in despair" - having used up the county budget for state-sponsored burials back in June, Detroit is unable to afford to bury unclaimed corpses. Meanwhile, the city budget faces a $300 million budget shortfall and cannot afford to run services such as schools and refuse collection.

(Above: the Book Cadillac before renovation and the centre of metro Detroit)

Detroit is a city that has fascinated me for a number of years now: the cliche of the dark side of the American Dream, of affluence, confidence and splendour tarnished by decay, social and political crisis and a perennially uncertain future. Buildings like the Book Cadillac hotel before it was refurbished, Michigan Central Station and the theatre they turned into a car park are icons of Detroit's past and present.

Lots has been written on Detroit elsewhere so I won't spend too much time reinventing the wheel, but instead draw on my experiences from when I visited Detroit two years ago. The Michigan State Legislature was experiencing political deadlock over passing its annual budget - all operations of the state were under threat of paralysis with public servants going unpaid and cash to pay for services unavailable. The local press was running a story about two senior police officers on trial for selling cocaine from the evidence room or something similar - it's difficult to be precise, a quick look back over Detroit's corruption cases in the last 2 years shows that these reports are quite common, with allegations of corruption going right through to the top of the City's administrations. (does this sound like another American city we know in fiction?)

The people I spoke to on my way through the rust belt in Pennsylvania and Michigan told me I was mad to want to visit Detroit, that it was polluted and falling apart physically and socially, that I would have my car stolen and would probably be shot. I have to say my experience was somewhat different - the people I spoke to there were friendly Americans in much the same way as they were in the rest of the country. Certainly there were miles of derelict factories, empty plots where houses once stood and what was left standing was in many cases going the same way, but then I saw that in Chicago and Cleveland too. The roads were choked with traffic - lots of old American classics and 18 wheeler semis trashing the heavily potholed asphalt of the freeways. But there were also gleaming factories in the suburbs, and rejuvanated plazas in the centre of the city where the offices like the Renaissance centre dominated the skyline, but nestled in next to some fantastic deco architecture from the 20s and 30s and some striking modern architecture from the 50s and 60s.



(Above: Thunderbirds architecture meets art deco, and the front entrance of Detroit's police headquarters)

I got the feeling back then even before the banking crisis was fully understood that America was living on borrowed time, and Michigan more than most: the local press was discussing Congress' new "restrictive" low emissions laws that would signal the end to the SUVs coming out of Michigan, Kansas and Kentucky. Michigan's economy was still hugely dependent on buoyant motor sales, and it was being reported that price reduction deals to buy new cars were actually outpricing the second hand market. Since I visited, unemployment has soared to 28%, Chrysler is now a foreign-owned and government subsidised company as is GM (if you count the Canadian government as "foreign", which I would imagine most Americans would).

I hope Detroit can reinvent itself. It was one of the most fascinating places I visited on my trip across the US and deserves to become a great city again.