{"id":1312,"date":"2011-03-11T17:16:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T22:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/?p=1312"},"modified":"2019-11-23T17:16:50","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T22:16:50","slug":"detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/2011\/03\/11\/detroit\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had the opportunity (ha!) to spend a few days at my grandfather’s house in Detroit this week. He’s been dead for years, and the care of the property has fallen to me. The house is a two family brick structure with independent street numbers. Three bedrooms, a dining room, a living room and a kitchen on each level. Current assessed value, according to the city, is $24,000. Salable market value is less. Comparables in the area have been going the last couple of years for $10k. It’s near 7 mile and Woodward. Check it out on google maps. If, in the satellite imagery, you see a car parked on the street, odds are good that it’s worth more than most of the houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the next block over, last summer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the worst neighborhoods, in one of the most blighted cities in the country. Unlike Flint, Detroit clings to life. A dense urban art and cultural scene has sprung up. In its defense, I did see a couple of police cars while I was there. That’s new. Also, the mayor is not currently indicted. That’s good too. Just a couple miles up the road, Royal Oak is flourishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I talked with a shopkeeper who sold me some truly awesome t-shirts. He commented that Detroit needs to turn from an “industry,” back into a “community.” I sorta like the image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a tenant. She’s a member of a community of Catholic nuns – living a life of service in the city. I treasure the opportunity to interact with them, and to occasionally do something worthwhile for them. I treasure it so much that I can usually shut my eyes and not worry too much about the rent. This time, I was able to get a little basic home repair done. I fixed an electrical circuit – bringing the basement lights back online. As I was doing the work, I had strong flashes that the most immediate translation of “Lucifer” is “Light Bringer.” There I was, in some sort of urban hell, playing Prometheus to the clergy. You can’t make this stuff up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the evenings, I slept in the bed that was my mother’s when she was a little girl. In the summertime, with the windows open, I’ve heard gunfire through those windows. Out back is the tree under which my parents got married. This time of year, I shivered and turned up the space heater. The furnace for the upstairs unit is off for the duration – and I have no interest in the adventure of getting it fired up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I was doing my repairs, I realized that I needed a common electrical component. I had already been to the hardware store (a good 20 minute trip each way), so I went back into my grandfather’s little workshop, dug around in the drawer labeled “electrical, small.” I found what I needed and I got the lights on before I had to catch my plane. Thanks grandpa. He, at least, left a well organized mess for me to deal with. I guess it’s better than the alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is an adventure, to be lived to the fullest. Don’t let anyone tell you different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had the opportunity (ha!) to spend a few days at my grandfather’s house in Detroit this week. He’s been dead for years, and the care of the property has fallen to me. The house is a two family brick structure with independent street numbers.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1313,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions\/1313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}