Although the drive over from New Jersey to Michigan is pretty long, my family and I have done it about five times. We hit small suburbs like Canton and Bloomfield Hills and even larger ones like Dearborn or Ann Arbor. However, we never drove through or set foot in Detroit.
It's always been just too dangerous.
However, this weekend, I explored the Renaissance City for the first time on a trip with my architecture studio class at Carnegie Mellon. I expected to see the "worst-of" lists that Detroit tops and the constant negative press that the city received. I ended up seeing what might just be the most beautiful city that I've ever been in.
At one point, Detroit was a staple in American culture and was a major production center for both rock music and the automobile industry. It was the '50s and, with a population over 1.8 million, Detroit might have been the most important city in America. Eventually, both rock music and the automobile industry found new homes and, soon enough, the city was left without a distinct culture and industry to sustain it. People moved and settled elsewhere. By 2015, the population was a third of what it once was.
Now, Detroit faces a wide array of issues from a public school system that is completely falling apart to water and health issues that are similar to nearby Flint and crippling crime rates. In 2013, Detroit fell on the wrong side of history by becoming the largest American city to ever file for bankruptcy.
We need to bring Detroit back.
Let's face it, there's a lot that's wrong with Detroit. However, there are also a lot of things that make it an amazing city. As a major cultural center, Detroit is still home to one of the greatest art collections in the world at the Detroit Institute of Art, the oldest surviving movie palace of the Roaring Twenties at the Fox Theatre, and a haven for freelance installation art and sculpture on the lawns of Heidelberg.
Detroit is also still home to General Motors, Quicken Loans, DTE Energy, OnStar, Comerica, Chevrolet, Campbell Ewald, Fretter, Little Caesar's, Vinco, and over 150 other major companies. It is the thirteenth largest financial center in the country.
Many universities can also be found in Detroit, including Wayne State University, Lawrence Technological University, the University of Michigan - Detroit, Central Michigan University, and dozens of other campuses.
Detroit has the makings of a world-class city because that's what it was. To me, that's what it can be again. If we lose Detroit, we lose one of the cornerstones of American history and a place that over five million locals depend on. If we lose Detroit, we lose the foundation of American culture that we so cherish.
We need to fight to bring Detroit back to its former glory. We need to invest in the city, its infrastructure, and its people. My fellow millennials, let's refuse to write off Detroit as yet another American wasteland. There is still so much potential left for it.
Get rid of the stigma behind the city. Study its history and how it became the city that it is now. Apply for jobs in Detroit. Take a weekend and a group of friends to go see the city. I promise that you will feel the same way that I do.
