Detroiters yield to no one in their love and loyalty to their city. For many, staying in the D is a matter of community and, yes, racial pride. Still, nearly 150,000 of them left over the past decade. That’s more people than live in either Warren or Sterling Heights — Michigan’s third and fourth largest cities.
Since 2000, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments estimates an average annual population loss for Detroit of 14,000 — more than 1,000 people a month, 250 people a week, 35 people a day.
A city that held nearly 2 million people in the 1950s could drop below 800,000 in the 2010 census. Three decades ago, white flight led the exodus. Today, African Americans make up more than 80% of Detroit. In 2008, nearly three out of four people leaving Detroit were black. A third of the city’s 140 square miles are now vacant. In some east-side neighborhoods, up to 80% of the land is vacant, abandoned, burned out.
Some left due to vandalism or violence, or cops that don’t show. They seek better schools for their children. They want fresh fruit without driving 15 miles. They weary of dark, unplowed streets or telephone lines that don’t work because copper thieves cut the wires. They can’t afford $4,000 a year for car insurance. “I love Detroit but Detroit doesn’t love me,’’ one ex-Detroiter told me. I talked to one family who left for an upcoming Sunday column. Their heart remains in Detroit, but repeated gunfire in their southwest Detroit neighborhood, including bullets that pierced their home, finally pushed them out.
More and more, those remaining are poor people living in neighborhoods where the only convenient shopping is the liquor and lottery store. Without cars or decent public transit, they pay $5 for a box of cereal, 65 cents for a single cigarette, or $1 to cash a $20 check. When committed families leave, it costs the city thousands of dollars in income and property taxes. More important, it erodes the social glue that holds a struggling community together.
As Detroit becomes smaller and poorer, it must consolidate its depopulated neighborhoods, while creating a safer, healthier and more livable city. Despite the odds, Mayor Dave Bing and other city leaders have a powerful ally: The fearless affection and undaunted loyalty Detroiters have for their city. All they need is a reason to stay.
BY JEFF GERRITT
FREE PRESS EDITORIAL WRITER
