FLIPSIDE-- It's so cold in the D...

It's so cold in the D. No, it really is cold. We've seen more snow and lower temperatures this winter than we did all of last winter total. It snows every three days. The snow never fully melts because its still cold by the time the next storm system flows through. So we wait.

Somewhat similar to our struggling economy. We just wait.

Wait for the tide to turn or for our luck to somehow change. We are very optimistic. We wanted to believe in our hearts that the Lions would probably prevail in their last game. They couldn't put together a win and finished the season winless. So, we wait until next season to see what our beloved Lions will manage to put together. We just wait.

Wait for the economy to rebound and the recession to end while our workers get back to work. Our homeowners get their homes back and our college graduates have a place to hang their degrees as opposed to carrying them around to countless interviews searching for entry level positions, even though that paper should earn them more than that.

It's so cold in the D. Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

FLIPSIDE - The city you love to hate

First off, I have to say welcome to 2009! I have been on a small sabbatical, but now I'm back. Back in rare form, I might add. I am ready to tackle the issues - political, social, and cultural everyday. Just as I sit at my favorite laptop computer, you know, the one with the missing "c" button. The one that used to belong to my ex-girlfriend, so whenever I power it on it reminds me of her. Yes, that one. Anyway, just as I sit down to check my email, I open the first one and it is the one I'll share with you today.
The email had a link - this link to be precise - www.weeklystandard.com-content-public-000-000-015-945aynyk.asppg=1.url - The link has a story from the Weekly Standard that talks about one journalists visit to Detroit. It made my stomach turn. The writer in this story repeatedly referred to the city as "ruins". He even compared the East side of our city to that of the 9th ward in New Orleans after Katrina.

I was upset to see first hand, just how bad my city is in the eyes of our nation. The writer even kept referring to us as the murder capital. Strangely enough, cities like Philadelphia, New Orleans and St. Louis have kept us out of the top slot for a while, but Detroit is still the butt of the nations' jokes. How do we fight out of the grave and save our dying city?

The auto industry is failing, so the economy is failing along with it because you are looking at a city that was built on the auto industry. Before Ford offered his generous $5 a day jobs to build cars, there was not a booming population or economy in Detroit and now that the auto industry is crumbling, so is the city that was built on its infrastructure.

Looking back on his article, I guess I am not really mad, just embarrassed. A lot of what the article says is true. There are a lot of vacant houses on the east side. A lot of them have been there since the riot of 1967. Tall burned out creatures casting shadows in the graveyard that we call home. A declining education system and a steadily inclining crime rate add to the dismal economy of our dying city. How do we get out? Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE