Detroit upgraded

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 02:49 PM 5/6/99 -0400, Charles wrote:
>But the personality analysis I give falls into the error the media wants
me to make. Coleman Young was not so much the problem as the overwhelmingly
Black population, which was the basis of his election and reelections,
carrying forth the spirit of activism and revolt from the 1967 rebellion etc.
>The Black majority was created not by a Black invasion , but by White
flight to the suburbs. The bourgeoisie were not comfortable with investing
in an overwhelmingly proletarian AND Black population, which Detroit is,
especially when it symbollically continued to represent its militancy and
Blackness and working class elan by repeatedly electing Young, a legendary
Black red, even when he had made many compromises. 

WS: That's quite an interesting contrast with Baltimore which shares many
similar features with Detroit (i.e. blockbusting, white flight, working
class population).  But my reading is that the current population of
Baltimore (80% black) is not at all interested in politics, let alone
radical - to the point that Schmoke (the current black mayor) can virtually
ignore black concerns and pander exclusively to the interests of his
cronies, gambling promoters and local robber barons (who are mostly white -
but I think that the only color that matters to the mayor is green).  Most
bumper stickers you see in the city threaten you with assorted perils if
you do not find Jesus, rather than call for a radical political action.


>
>Now all the big bourgeoisie are happy with current Mayor Archer, so
Detroit gets a good grade as a reward , and good press. We are "coming
back", according to them. Compuware is now going to locate a headquarters
downtown. GM just moved its headquarters from midcity to downtown ( the
significance being they didn't move it OUT of the city). Casinos are being
built. Land values are going up. Archer wants to abolish the city business
tax altogether.

WS: Well, but I think there must be using using some seemingly objective
criteria, not just "because we say so."  There is clearly some urban
revitalization going on, but what makes me wonder is how urban
revitalization in Detroit or Baltimore compares to that in, say, NYC,
Chicago or Boston?  Any stats?

Wojtek