BY ADAM PARKER
DETROIT CITY IS THE PLACE TO BE: The Afterlife of an
American Metropolis. By Mark Binelli. Metropolitan Books. 336 pages. $28.
On March 1, Michigan’s
Republican governor and venture capitalist, Rick Snyder, declared that the city
of Detroit was no longer able to manage its eviscerated budget and, pending a 10-day
appeal period, he would appoint an emergency financial manager to step in and
try to set things right.
It was an announcement decades
in the making, and one Mayor Dave Bing and many others had hoped could be
averted. It had been postponed already: In April last year, when Detroit was
awash in $12 billion of debt, city council signed a compromise “consent
agreement” permitting a nine-member oversight board to help implement budgetary
reforms.
Attempts at a state takeover
were made before that, prompted by the stubborn desolation and political
failures of a city that has lost more than half its population since 1950.
Today, perhaps 700,000 remain within its borders. (Most whites and blacks with
means have left for the suburbs, an exodus that gained steam after the 1967
urban rebellion.)
It’s no secret that Detroit is
a mess, and Mark Binelli’s “Detroit City is the Place to Be” describes the stunning
decay with journalistic flare. He treats his sad subject with smart dashes of
humor and wit. He refuses to wallow in uncalled-for optimism, but he doesn’t
give up on his hometown either.
The result is a fabulously
written case study of a major American city which, in many ways, exemplifies
the sad failures of capitalism and partisan politics. The topic is Detroit, but
the allegory is universal, making the book essential reading for all those who
care about economic justice.
Binelli, a magazine journalist
who’s written mostly for Rolling Stone, returned to his place of birth for a
two-year stint to explore what all the fuss is about. There has been a lot of
fuss: lately publications such as The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine and
Time have been featuring photo essays and intriguing stories that emphasize
either Detroit’s utter devastation or its struggling urban farmers and
entrepreneurial hipsters who are moving in, clearing the burnt carcasses of
abandoned homes and attempting to juice up the place a little.
One of the great
accomplishments of Binelli’s book is the utter lack of sentimentality or
romanticism. One might be forgiven for getting excited about the thin ray of
hope cast upon the city by the few who care enough to risk their investments
(and lives) in this desolated patch of earth, for it suggests redemption and
rebirth. But the challenges, which have mounted substantially over the decades
and which are methodically laid bare by Binelli, are profound enough to temper
such enthusiasm.
The tax base cannot sustain
basic city services. Whole streets go without illumination at night for lack of
funds. Violent crime remains a plague engulfing what’s left of the population —
mostly very poor, black people. The film industry, spurred by tax incentives
that proved absurd, came for a while, then went. Whole skyscrapers are
purchased for a dime, but remain largely vacant for lack of residential
interest.
The city’s politics are
alternatingly tragic and pathetic. A few people really are trying to address
the problems, but others are too concerned with personal matters to affect any
significant change. The previous mayor, the lawless and corrupt Kwame
Kilpatrick, eventually text-messaged himself out of office in 2008. He was
replaced by Bing, a sober technocrat, businessman and former basketball star,
who nevertheless didn’t always get along with city council.
Binelli writes engagingly about
the auto industry and its legacy, about the horrific crime that verges on the
absurd, about the fascinating history that made Detroit into an industrial
supercity, then helped undo it. All of this is presented with an observant wit
and informed by lots of direct interaction with Detroit’s various actors, from
politicians to emergency responders to the DIY urban farmers and
post-industrial reclaimers.
Another of the book’s great
attributes is its focus on people. Revealing conversations abound; and
Binelli’s clever analysis and personal touch helps this urban biography add up
to much more than its respective parts. The humanity thus laid bare, one is
inclined not to lose all hope. But the impending state takeover is reason
enough to rely little on such reverie. Binelli addresses the matter and
concludes that any state oversight is unlikely to help, especially when the
overseers are proponents of what’s euphemistically called “austerity.” For
economic austerity is precisely what Detroit needs the least.
“Detroit City is the Place to Be”
lingers in the reader’s mind long after its replaced on the shelf. The
post-apocalyptic images — of Binelli and a guide scaling an abandoned
skyscraper, of human scavengers transforming factory detritus into public art,
of entire neighborhoods left to burn and rot — unsettle and confuse. This is
the United States of America. We have allowed this to happen?
And Detroit is only the worst
example. Other communities are enduring the hardship of our new age, too. Will
we let them rot? Or will we transform our economy so that it might rescue those
left behind?
Reviewer Adam Parker is Book Page Editor for The (Charleston) Post and Courier and a
Detroit native.
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