Monday, November 23, 2009
This morning I cleaned up a pile of broken window glass from in front of the Carlton.  Here's the e-mail I just sent out to the 48201 Google Group:

In my opinion, nothing says "don't move here," "don't invest here," "don't visit here," and "don't start a business here" like piles of broken auto glass. Today, I swept up a pile of glass (AKA "road bling," "Detroit diamonds") from in front of the Carlton on John R.  The window smash could have occurred during yesterday's Lions game.  I know that other residents of 48201 (and probably other areas) regularly clean up the road bling.

I'm developing an aggressive plan to counter these window smashes. My plan is to kick this response off before the Tigers' opening day in the spring.  In the meantime, I've started a spreadsheet to keep track of the window smashes.  So, here's what I'm asking of you:

If you see a pile of the bluish auto window glass on our streets, either drop me an e-mail, call me, or post it to this forum.  

Here's what I'm tracking:

Date discovered; time discovered; address or interesection; side of the street; who reported; who cleaned it up (if applicable); any other miscellaneous info, such as, "during a Tigers game"

I'm concentrating on Brush Park, but I'll log any that are reported.  

And don't forget that there's an old police saying:  "No report. No crime."  So please report these crimes to the DPD. 

Detroit Synergy: Stories from the City

My Three Short Stories

St. Clair highball

My father was a part-time TV serviceman who would make service house calls in the evenings and on weekends.  I often went with my father, and helped by lugging his tool box and tubes from the car to the customer’s home.  I was fascinated by the different neighborhoods, the people who spoke different languages, the strange street names, and the different architecture.  I was amazed that my father could navigate his way back home through the myriad neighborhoods of Detroit.  One hot Saturday afternoon, after we completed a service call in the Southwest part of town, we stopped at an old-fashioned beer and wine bar on Michigan near Livernois.  We sat at the bar and my dad ordered a Stroh’s.  The bartender looked at me – I was about 10 years old – and said, “How ‘bout a St. Clair highball for you?”  My dad nodded and I was served water on the rocks in a highball glass.  On the way home I asked my dad why the drink was called a “St. Clair highball,” and he told me it’s because the water comes from Lake St. Clair!  Even today, I refer to a glass of water as a “St. Clair highball.”

The Coolest Subway

A sudden winter storm rolled in from the west with such ferocity that airports from Chicago to Buffalo were totally shut down.  Many passengers who had intended to just catch a connecting flight through Metro Airport unexpectedly had a couple of days to spend in the city.  I was riding the standing room only Detroit People Mover when I heard the man standing next to me excitedly say to his wife, “Honey, look at these buildings!  This is the coolest subway I’ve ever seen.  You aren’t underground.  You can see things!” And then he exclaimed, “And look over there!  There’s Wrigley Field.”  I then pointed out to the obvious visitor that the ballpark he saw was Comerica Park, the home of the Detroit Tigers, and that he was in Detroit!  He gave me an astonished look, then laughed and told me that they were supposed to fly to Chicago after connecting in Detroit, but that their flight had been cancelled.  He assured me that they were having an unanticipated great time in Detroit.

“I’m very sorry.”

I was a young Detroit Police Department officer, assigned to the 16^th Precinct on Grand River.  One Sunday morning about 7AM I was dispatched to a single family home.  “Dead person” was the only information I was given.  It was fairly common to get these calls on Sunday mornings.  An elderly relative wouldn’t show up at church and concerned family members would go the home, only to find that the person had passed.  That’s what I was anticipating this call would be about.

I walked up to the door and was let in by a very solemn couple accompanied by a minister.  I respectfully asked the couple where the deceased person was, and they directed me to a closed bedroom.  I entered the bedroom, but at first didn’t see anyone.  I turned the light on and saw what looked like a pillow in the middle of the bed. The “pillow” was the six-month old infant son of the couple that had let me in.  I had heard about “SIDS,” or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but had never actually encountered a case.  I conducted my investigation.  “I’m very sorry” were the only words I could think to say as I left.

TIME Magazine, November 23, 2009

What the Jesuits Taught Me

 I graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, the prep school you profiled, one month before the apocalyptic riots of 1967.  I am most proud of the fact that U of D chose to stay in the City of Detroit, and not abandon it as the other Catholic schools did.    My class continues to contribute to our namesake City in many ways.  We have purchased two bricks on the world-class Detroit Riverwalk walkway, the only school that has done so.

A few years ago, I moved to downtown Detroit after retiring from the Los Angeles Police Department.  I wanted to be part of the solution to Detroit's problems. There is no doubt that the Jesuits  inculcated in me a responsibility to serve as a "man for others."

Thomas E. Page, Detroit

In response to the TIME magazine article, I sent this letter to TIME Magazine:

November 3, 2009

I graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School one month before the apocalyptic riots of 1967. I am most proud of the fact that U of D chose to stay in the City of Detroit, and not abandoned it as the other Catholic schools did. I would have disavowed U of D had it moved to the suburbs. My class of 1967 continues to contribute to our namesake City in many ways. For example, our class has purchased two bricks on the world-class Detroit Riverwalk walkway, the only school that has done so.

A few years ago, I moved to downtown Detroit after retiring from the Los Angeles Police Department. I wanted to be part of the solution to Detroit's problems. No doubt, the Jesuits of U of D inculcated in me a responsibility to serve as a "man for others."

TIME Magazine highlights my high school Alma Mater, the University of Detroit High School Here's the article.

Assignment Detroit
The University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy is the last Catholic college-prep school left in the city.
Jesuit Message Drives Detroit's Last Catholic School
By Amy Sullivan / Detroit Monday, Nov. 09, 2009
The University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy is the last Catholic college-prep school left in the city.
Corine Vermeulen for TIME

Lunch period at an inner-city all-boys school is an event associated with the sounds of chaos, not classical music. And yet there are definitely strains of Beethoven coming from the piano in the cafeteria at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy. Behind the pianist, another student waits patiently for his turn. Upstairs in the art room, a senior is using the lunch hour to apply more brushstrokes to a portrait. A few kids are playing pickup ball in the gym, but more are crowded in the library.

In a city where 47% of adults are functionally illiterate and only 25% of high school freshmen make it to graduation, U of D is the chute through which bright young men can get to college. The school boasts a near perfect graduation rate and sends 99% of its graduates on to higher education. (In 2009 the one student who didn't go to college turned down a scholarship from the University of Michigan to sign a seven-figure contract with the Detroit Tigers.) (See pictures of Detroit's beautiful, horrible decline.)

Catholic high schools have long provided a way out for high-achieving urban students. But in Detroit, most Catholic schools either closed down or left the city decades ago, after the race riots in 1967, when white Catholics fled to the suburbs and the city's population dropped by half. Only the Jesuits stayed, maintaining U of D's imposing stone structure on the corner of 7 Mile and Cherrylawn. The Catholic order is known for its education systems and its missionary work. In Detroit, they have become one and the same. (See more on TIME's Detroit blog.)

Detroit was once heavily Catholic, dotted with parochial schools in well over 100 parishes that served the Irish and East European immigrants who built the city. Of those, the oldest was the University of Detroit, founded as a Jesuit high school and college in 1877. Elmore Leonard wrote theology papers there before the detective novels that made him famous. The school produced Congressmen, state supreme court justices and a president of CBS.

Then came 1967 and the race riots that lasted five days, took 43 lives and changed the composition of Detroit almost overnight. The trickle of white ethnic Catholics to the suburbs that had started after World War II became a flood. Within seven years, the city's African-American residents had become a majority. But only 50,000 or so were Catholic, which meant the archdiocese could no longer support the same network of parishes and schools. (See the top 10 religion stories of 2008.)

The tectonic shifts threw U of D into crisis. In less than a decade, the school's rolls plummeted from a high of about 1,100 students to no more than 500. In 1976 the Jesuits found themselves beset by parents, alumni and faculty arguing that the school should follow the lead of Detroit's other marquee Catholic institution, Catholic Central, and relocate to the suburbs. An intense internal debate was followed by consultation with Rome and finally a decision: not only would the school remain in Detroit, but it would also start investing its resources in the city and increase the racial diversity of its student body.

Today approximately one-quarter of the school's 780 students are city residents, with the rest spread across the inner and outer suburbs. The school allocated $1.4 million in financial aid this year to students who could not afford the $9,990 tuition. "We will not turn away any student who is qualified to come here," says U of D principal Gary Marando.

Jesuits tend to roll their eyes at portrayals of their order's missionary zeal. (Jeremy Irons' action Jesuit in The Mission, says Father Patrick Peppard, one of the school's theology teachers, was "a bit romanticized.") Still, by any measure, U of D's service to the city of Detroit since the Jesuits decided to remain has been remarkable. During a period in the late 1970s and early '80s, the school's president, Father Malcolm Carron, was even made a Detroit police commissioner. (See pictures of the remains of Detroit.)

U of D's continued presence in Detroit offers inner-city boys a way out. But it also gives affluent suburban students a way into a city that has long been neglected by its neighbors. For them, an education at U of D doesn't involve just driving across city lines to attend classes. Seniors are required to spend every Wednesday morning on a service project in the city. And students in all grades (7 through 12) volunteer their time for no credit. Last year they spent more than 3,500 hours in activities from tutoring public-school kids to delivering food to disabled residents. "We made a commitment to stay in the city," says Holly Bennetts, the school's full-time service director. "We have a responsibility to make it better." (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)

Students are told hundreds of times during their education at U of D that they are training to become community leaders, what the Jesuits call "men for others." The phrase comes up in nearly every conversation with current and former students. "It's kinda corny," says Keith Ellison, class of 1981 and a Democratic Congressman from Minnesota, "but that motto really made me think about service. And it set a course for what I'm doing with my life now."

The Jesuit ideal can also be found in more recent graduates like Will Ahee and Tom Howe. Both grew up in tony communities — Grosse Pointe and Birmingham — that may be geographically close to Detroit but are worlds away culturally. Through U of D, they volunteered with Earthworks, an urban garden project that is reclaiming for sustainable agriculture some of the thousands of acres of abandoned lots in Detroit. When they graduated a few years ago, Ahee and Howe could have had their pick of universities. They chose to stay in Detroit and attend Wayne State University, where they study comprehensive food systems. How do these college kids spend their weekends? Working in a community garden they started near Elmwood Park, nine miles from U of D.

Hell IS other people


Today's designee is: Kwame Kilpatrick, former Mayor of Detroit

Basis: At a October 29, 2009 court hearing regarding his failure to pay required restitution, KK said with a straight face that he doesn't know who pays the rent on his mansion in Texas. He also said, under oath, that he doesn't even know if his wife, Carlita, has a job! For these and countless other reasons, Kwame Kilpatrick has earned his very special place in Hell.

New Detroit video on Youtube

A great new inspiring video on Detroit. Thanks to Phil Cooley of SLOWS in particular for doing this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3z0A7BHlr0

Council By Districts
Letter to the Editor
Detroit News, April 14, 2009

Wards foster accountability
Changing Detroit's City Council from an at-large to a district or ward system would be the single most important step to reinventing Detroit: ("Council wards could revive 'forgotten Detroit,' " April 2). Our at-large system means that no one on the City Council is held accountable. Council members routinely say Detroit's "strong mayor" form of government makes council districts unnecessary, since council members have no real power. If that's true, then we should disband the entire council and rely solely on the mayor. I need someone to be responsive to my neighborhood's needs, and to be held accountable. And politicians are held accountable through the ballot. Thomas E. Page, Detroit

Letter to the Detroit News
April 13, 2009

Dear Editor,

The old Michigan Central Train station must not be demolished. It is an iconic building that's become an international tourist attraction. It's also become a frequent movie setting as well as a print advertising element. There's an old saying that when you have lemons, you should make lemonade. Detroit has many ruins of the industrial 20th century. Those ruins that can't be adaptively reused should be cleaned, the grafitti removed, and converted into architectural and industrial museums. We can make them into great ruins.

If the Detroit City Council were the Rome City Council I predict they'd want to demolish the great Colliseum since it's a ruin that's outlived its economic usefullness.

Here are two suggestions for adaptively reusing the Michigan Central Station: Make the grand lobby into a transportation/auto museum; An alternative use would be a market/bazarre similar to the Philadelphia Terminal Market.

The gear logo for the Ich Bin Ein Detroit Ts

Reflected skyline logo, Ich Bin Ein Detroiter, on T-shirt. Available at the Woodward Ave. Welcome Center!

Detroit Metro Airport Transportation a disgrace

October 19, 2009

Last week, the taxi contract for service to and from Detroit's Metropolitan airport was canceled, supposedly due to delay in payment of the contract fee.  That leaves limousine service through Metro Cars as the only transportation service serving the airport.  Here's my letter to the Detroit News:

Re: Taxi contract cancelled at Metro airport

Let's review one's ground transportation options to downtown Detroit from Metro Airport. There are no trains. No express buses. No door to door vans like Super Shuttle.  No hotel shuttles.  And now, a traveler doesn't even have the right to take a taxicab, at $50 plus one-way, to downtown. The only option left, outside of renting a car, is the Metro Car limousine. Laughably, Detroit fancies itself as a transportation hub, even a so-called "aerotropolis."Heck, the ground transportation alternatives at Metro Airport don't even rise to Third world status. This is an absolute disgrace. And one more reason to say No to Michigan.

On October 28, 2009 the Detroit News printed this letter:

"Airport choices a disgrace

"About the Oct. 14 story "Taxi drivers ask judge to block airport contract cancellation": Let's review the ground transportation options to downtown Detroit from Metro Airport. There are no trains, express buses, door-to-door vans or hotel shuttles. And now a traveler doesn't even have the right to take a taxicab, at $50-plus one-way, to downtown. The only option left, outside of renting a car, is the Metro Car limousine. Laughably, Detroit fancies itself as a transportation hub, even an "aerotropolis." Heck, the ground transportation alternatives at Metro Airport don't even rise to Third World status. This is a disgrace.

"Thomas E. Page, Detroit"

Also, I returned to Detroit today (Oct 28, 2009)after a week in Boston. Sure enough, there were signs posted at Metro Airport stating that no walk-up taxi service was available. Ground transportation options listed were the limousine service, rental cars, and SMART (buses). Truly a disgrace.

Here's the article and link to the article that appeared in the Detroit News on August 27, 2009.  My slogan won!  Enjoy.  Tom

http://detnews.com/article/20090827/OPINION03/908270386/1383/OPINION0308
Thursday, August 27, 2009

Detroit News 

Neal Rubin

'Kiss the Fist': Readers respond to call for Detroit motto

If you're the sort who thinks crossing into Detroit is like sailing off the end of the Earth, Thomas Page's motto is sardonic and it's for you.
If you're the sort who thinks crossing out of Detroit is like flopping face-first into a tub of Wonder Bread, his motto is serious and it's for you, too.
Best of all, whichever way you read it, you can buy it on a T-shirt and support a good cause.
A few weeks ago, we put out a call for a newer, zippier city motto. Nothing against Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus("We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes"), but it just doesn't make your heart race when you see it on a bumper sticker. Besides, we've always been good at laughing at ourselves, and in those dark, pre-Cash-for-Clunkers days, that seemed like a particularly good idea.Hundreds of people responded, spurred by civic pride, potential immortality and our promise of cheesy prizes. We heard from boosters, detractors, tractor drivers who don't seem to have ever even been south of Grayling, and even the governor's brother-in-law. We liked the entries so much that we've put the three finalists on the market, with the proceeds bound for our Newspapers in Education program.
Our winning motto-maker was a 60-year-old ex-cop who lives in Brush Park, drives a little red Smart, and likes the volume control on his life turned high.
"Every day is an event in Detroit," Page says. That might mean a Tigers game, and OK, he concedes, it might mean a gunshot. But it's interesting, and that's what inspired ...
Detroit: The Fun Side of 8 Mile
Page wins his own creation on a T-shirt, along with a cheap plastic Detroit News cell phone holder and some other promotional stuff like sticky notes and a keychain. The two runners-up win the same thing, except for the cell phone holder; we only had one of those left.
Maybe Steve Gross of Ypsilanti can turn his Detroit News mini-notebook into cash. He's an auctioneer. He's also a sloganeer, with a list of mottos that included "Kiss the Fist" and "Bribe me. I'm from Detroit."
"I spent all kinds of time on a bunch of them," he says, but his prize-winner just popped into his head:
Detroit: Our School's ain't that bad
Entries tended to fall into several broad categories, including blight, bribery, geography and the Lions. Native Detroiter Ron Maki of Troy, closing in on retirement with the post office, summed up the urban landscape in 11 words:
Detroit: Where you can't find the house you grew up in
Among our other favorites:
Detroit: Don't Try to Win a World War Without It
Mark Sweetman, Los Angeles
Detroit: Because I Can't Afford to Move
Gayle W., Detroit
Detroit: Warming the Globe 'Til 2009
Jim Mulhern, brother of First Gentleman Dan Mulhern
Detroit: Yes, We Possibly Can!
Tinley Daniel, Detroit

nrubin@detnews.com (313) 222-1874

X Marks the Spot:  An anti-Road Bling idea!


Nothing says "don't move here," "don't invest here," "don't visit here," and "don't start a business here" like piles of broken auto glass. Today, I swept up five piles of auto glass (Road Bling) on John R between Edmund and Adelaide. These piles, which were next to the west curb, certainly were the result of auto window smashes that occurred during Tiger games. I called the Central District of the Detroit Police Department and asked for special attention during games. I don't expect any results from this. I wonder if a guerrilla tactic of "X marks the spot" would help. I envision spray painting a big "X" with temporary paint at the sites of broken auto glass. Maybe this would encourage visitors to be vigilant and could encourage the DPD to take this crime seriously.

Update September 25, 2009

Well, I cleaned up five piles of auto glass fragments today.  One was directly in front of the Carola.  One of my building neighbors was victimized.  The other piles were on John R. between Edmund and Alfred.  In addition, there were numerous visible piles on Edmund west of John R.  I can only think that this problem will worsen if the Tigers make the playoffs.

I think insurance companies may be amenable to supporting a grass-roots to combat this problem.  My goal is to have something in place by the Spring of next year.  I wonder if I should wait.

Ernie Harwell speech - did he avoid saying "Detroit?"

Legendary Hall of Fame Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell gave a moving farewell speech at Comerica Park yesterday. Harwell has announced that he is dying of cancer. He thanked the people of Michigan, saying that he would die in Michigan. He never said the word "Detroit" even when referring to the Tigers. I wonder if he avoided thanking the City of Detroit since the City has been hell-bent on tearing down the old Tiger Stadium. Ernie was one of the supporters of preserving the old stadium.

Posted: Sept. 16, 2009

Detroit Free Press

LETTERS

Focus on the basics to turn city around

I am thrilled to read that Detroit Mayor Dave Bing will concentrate the city's limited resources on providing core services such as public safety and water. I also encourage the mayor to continue the movement toward the privatization of those services that can be handled more efficiently by the private sector.

At the same time, I hope the mayor genuinely considers consolidating some city departments with Wayne County departments. Many areas around the country, including Indianapolis, Nashville and Miami, have consolidated their law enforcement agencies.

Given the abysmal police services provided by the Detroit Police Department and its embarrasingly low homicide clearance rate, in spite of many outstanding officers, I believe it's time to merge the Detroit Police Department and the Wayne County Sheriff's Department.

Thomas Page, Detroit

Hell IS other people

Today's nominee is: Serena Williams

Primary Basis: Her obscenity laced tirade against the line judge during the U.S. Tennis open. Her tirade was followed by a half-hearted smirking apology. She says she "keeps it real" because she's from Compton, California.

Hell IS other people

Today's designee is:

Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina

Primary Basis:

For showing a total lack of class by interrupting the President's address on health care. Wilson yelled out "You lie" while the president was speaking.

September 14, 2009

Hell IS other people

Today's designee is:

Kanye West

Primary Basis:

For rushing the stage at the Video Music Awards while Taylor Swift was accepting an award, and for once again demonstrating that planet earth is too small for his inflated ego.

The City and the ‘Burbs: The Battle Continues

In the twilight of the past Detroit Tigers baseball season - the time when
there was fast fading yet lingering hope for a playoff spot - I attended a
college alumni event at Comerica Park. The pre-game event took
place at one of the picnic party decks. I attended alone, and not spotting
anyone I knew, sat down with a group of friendly looking name-tag people and
proceeded to enjoy my ballpark hot dog and hamburger. Light cocktail party
type conversation ensued as my new companions and I struggled to read the
name tags in the harshness of the setting sun. The distinguished looking
coiffed brunette sitting across from me remarked that she had recently
served two terms as mayor of an upscale suburb north of the City. She then
mentioned that her children lived in California. I remarked that I had
recently moved back to Michigan from the Los Angeles area. The former
suburban mayor politely asked me "And what community do you live in?" "I
live right down the street from here - in Brush Park," I replied. "In fact
I rode my bicycle down to the park tonight." The FSM looked at me for a few
seconds (it felt much longer) with a speechless mannequinesque stare. Like
she was waiting for the punchline of a joke. The kind of stare I'd expect if
I had told her I just landed from Mars. I briefly thought that maybe the
FSM didn't hear me. The FSM stirred, and in a prosecutorial tone, said,
"Well, I need to ask you some questions." At least she didn't try to tell
me I was under oath!

Question #1: "Where do you shop for groceries?"
Reply: "I regularly shop at the Eastern Market." I also pointed out that
there are stores in the Eastern Market vicinity, such as the butcher shops
in the Gratiot Central Market, that are open thoughout the week. "My
favorite market is the Honey Bee / La Colmena Market in Mexicantown on
Bagley." The FSM didn't acknowledge my response, and rapidly turned to the
next question.

Question #2: "Where do you go for dry cleaning?"
Reply: "I went to University Cleaners on Cass and Forest earlier today.
Next to Wayne State." Again, no response from the FSM.

Question #3: "Ok. Where is your doctor's office?"
Reply: Getting in to the rhythm of the cross-examination, I officiously
responded, "My physician is at the Henry Ford Hospital complex on West Grand
Blvd. My eye doctor's office is on Woodward next to the Detroit Medical
Center. In fact I can see his office from my balcony."

The FSM gave me the "no further questions for this witness" look and turned
away to talk to someone else. I doubt the FSM believed a word I said.

I was dismayed - even angered - at the ignorance of the FSM. Uncharitably I
thought, she probably lives in a suburban "little boxes" community,

gets on an expressway in her tinted windows SUV, and then
magically winds up at Comerica Park, the DSO, the Fox, the Joe, or some
other downtown venue. Without seeing anything but cars, trucks, and Exit
signs in between. She probably thinks that the only people who actually
live in the City are those who are too poor or maybe too deranged (me?) to
get out.

My much more rational sister had a much more rational response than me. She
suggested that I look upon conversations with people like the FSM as an
opportunity to educate. She pointed out that the FSM and others like her
have read about the new lofts and housing developments downtown, but have
never actually met someone who lives there. Someone like me. And my sister
is probably right. I shouldn't be angry at people like the FSM. I should
work to educate them.

On the other hand, the next time I’m asked "Where do you shop
for groceries?" I think I’ll answer "meals on wheels."