General motors

After one week in the belly of the beast, I’ve returned to the hustle and bustle of New York City, 600 miles away from Detroit, but it might as well be one million. The sleepless city is hustle and bustle with the last rush of spring before it gives away to summer. People are shopping, albeit with coupons, but they are on the make. What a contrast to Detroit and it’s ancillary suburbs, where everyday life is in a frantic shuffle.

Sunday brunch noon at the once popular Sweet Lorraine’s in Livonia. Only three tables seated. Unemployed get-in-free night at the movies in Novi. Budget dining in Birmingham — the discreetly priced menu to keep people coming back even when they can barely afford it. Flood’s bar downtown Detroit on a Wednesday evening packed to the gills. People still have drinking money. Youngsters clamored for the budget deal of the Movement festival weekend package. Young Detroiters are looking for anyway to take the edge off, to forget, to be together, to get out of the house. Jogging, a free activity (if you don’t count expensive Nike kicks) is growing in popularity. Dance classes I attended were full and fierce. Long lines at job fairs with former proud vice presidents and administrative assistants rubbing elbows, hoping for a few open positions at Comcast or tech serv.

Mile after mile of for sale, foreclosure, forewarned. The conversations I had — with laid off workers, sons of wary car dealers, moms working triple shifts, buyout takers, and fearful students caring for fired parents — are too numerous to recount in quick soundbites. People are bracing for the storm, and their livelihood, their personal struggles deserve to be flushed out and heard. (More on that to come.)

The storm is only beginning to gather wind in the intangibles of banking lingo to the reality of hard-luck times. The impending disaster of GM looms uncomfortably close and very few really understand what this complex process entails for the everyday person, in Detroit and beyond. I’m not the only one shaking in my boots — see this excellent column forwarded to me by a GM spokesperson.

The General Motors question is a quagmire that is so massive, that we have no grasp of the tentacles this giant octopus entails. We’re talking about dismantling the backbone to our infrastructure secured in bonds and financing and hoping that it can be put back together again. I hope I’m wrong, about the supplier networks, the small business hard luck tales, the lack of structural support. I hope I’m wrong that no one will buy cars from a company or two in bankruptcy.

What worries me most is the morale in Detroit and what I felt — the cold, dark blanket of hopelessness, depression taking it’s toll after the buildup of constant anxiety. People need to keep socializing, keep moving, try not to drink too much, and be healthy. People need their basics, too, and the homeless and mentally ill need services, as their ranks grow. The mental health agency where my mother works in Detroit that serves a good portion of this population received a 25% budget cut. Where will these people go? Take a look at the foot traffic in some neighborhoods and see.

This is not to say that Detroiters are a fragile bunch. In contrast, across most communities is a strong, proud stock. I bring that message back, too. It’s what I heard from the musicians who rose to the stage and sang of their city with pride, like Monica Blaire, who performed in a solo showcase at the Charles H. Wright African American Museum and inspired with a message of hope and give-all-you-got effort at full crescendo. (Sing it Blaire!)

Detroiters are rooting for sports teams with more vigor, (even if they can’t afford tickets to the games) looking for signs of small victories and the possibility of elevator interviews.

Some people are plowing forward, who see rebirth in the wake of the destruction, who are plotting about life after cars. In my coverage of Movement, I learned about Recycle Detroit and the efforts of young entrepreneur in the mix on the greening of the city. What’s going to be happen remains to be seen, the unraveling of the Detroit economey seems to extend at least 5 years in the future. The bottom is still coming.

But it does it really have to be this way? Does Detroit need to give up the car business? I’m not convinced we need to throw in the towel. This taste of rain, is bittersweet, a cold damp that is hard to shake. I hope not. What we need now is the greatest turnaround in the history of American business, an All-American happy ending.

At least for now, people are keeping an eye on the forecast:

• America’s Motor City falls apart at seams (telegraph.co.uk)
• The City of Detroit: Getting Its Due If GM Leaves Ren Cen? (blogs.thecarconnection.com)

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