“Is Detroit worth saving?”

That’s the headline in an article written by Joseph Romm in today’s (Nov. 12) salon.com.

Check it out because Romm makes some compelling points on why if the federal government agrees to “bail out” the U.S. auto industry, there ought to be plenty of strings attached.

Why?

Romm says that in the past, despite it being in the best interest of Chrysler, Ford and GM, Detroit’s once mighty Big 3 walked away from developing electric hybrid cars as soon as the Bush administration came into power.

Instead, they concentrated on producing gas-guzzling pick-ups and SUVs. And instead of heeding the desire of Congress for better fuel efficiency, GM spent millions to lobby against increasing fuel standards. In short, now that the Big 3 are facing bankruptcy, they are getting what’s coming to them.

But despite their faults, greed and extremely poor long-range planning, we can’t allow the Big 3 to go out of business.

It would be catastrophic, and would put the US economy in an economic tailspin from which we may never recover. Millions of people here and across the nation would lose their jobs and have little prospect of ever replacing lost income.

This would have a ripple effect. Many are calling it an economic tsunami – you know, a tidal wave we haven’t seen the likes of.

Already, the drop in car sales, home foreclosures, bank failings, job loss and sharp drop-off of consumer spending has eerie parallels to the events leading up to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

President Jimmy Carter paid a stiff price when he once said that the American people, in the mid to late 1970s were suffering from malaise. People jumped on Carter for daring to point out the country was in a mental funk. Carter’s critics said he lacked leadership and was only feeding into the gloominess of the time.

It was no surprise to me when Reagan defeated Carter. People were suckers for a guy who could spin fantasy stories of hard-working people pulling up their boot straps and becoming successes – even when Reagan spent America into massive debt and began the process to de-regulate everything to the point where the banking institutions and Wall Street firms need bailouts.

The US auto industry needs to be saved, but it’s going to take the stern, supervising eye of the Federal government to make sure it doesn’t continue to destroy itself. And one more thing: as bad as the auto industry has acted, consumers are to blame as well.

While the auto industry focused on producing more and more gas-guzzlers, guess what? We were buying them up – the bigger and more wasteful the better. Who is to blame? Gasoline was relatively cheap and, heck, we’re Americans and we deserve to consume as much as we want, anytime we want.

Few people cared about the fact that gasoline is a limited resource and one controlled by people in far-away lands who really don’t like us.

“Is Detroit worth saving?”

I think so, but we, as a country and as a people, need to do some deep soul-searching on how we want to live and work in this new millennium.

Living in Hamtramck can be challenging on many levels.

One of those challenges is that we live so incredibly close to one another, with maybe four feet separating each house. Not only that, but many of us live either below or above another flat.

So, we tend to get into each other’s space and hear way more than what we want to. For some, this is just a little too much, and weird things begin to happen. For instance, some simply crack and start lashing out irrationally against neighbors or anyone who dares to walk past their house.

I’ve had my share of run-ins with cranky neighbors.

The worst was a guy who yelled at the top of his lungs from inside his house whenever I turned on the light to my spare bedroom at night. If it was after 9 p.m. – apparently his bedtime – and I turned on the light to find something, he’d yell up a storm for me to turn off the light.

Unbelievable.

Things got worse.

For several weeks the Detroit News was delivering papers to each house on the street as a way to drum up subscriptions. I’m a newspaper guy and I didn’t mind the freebie. But the old crank nextdoor couldn’t stand having the paper land on his porch.

Whenever I wasn’t on my porch, he’d toss his News on my porch. At first I just put it the garbage and thought nothing of it. But slowly it began to burn me. This guy thought he could just dump whatever he didn’t want onto somebody else.

So, one afternoon I waited for the paper to arrive. Sure enough, as soon as it landed on his porch the nut immediately tossed it onto mine – except this time I raced out my front door and caught him the act.

At this point I may have started to lose it.

The crank had a soft spot for feeding squirrels. Somehow, in the moment he tossed the paper on my porch and me picking it up, ready to throw it back at him, a squirrel appeared at his front door and stood on his hind legs and waited to be fed.

Just like a trained pet.

At the moment I began to throw the paper back, the crank was bending over to feed the squirrel.

As the paper sailed through air, crank and squirrel turned their heads at me and shot me a look of horror. The wide-eyed look of the squirrel was priceless, a sort of “why are you picking on little old me?”

I think I managed to nail both the crank and the squirrel.

I decided I had totally lost my sanity and decided the neighbor war was officially over. A few months later my apartment was broken into. They came through the spare bedroom window, right around after the sun set. Likely in plain view of the crank – who was all eyes and ears every for every minute of the day. I bet he enjoyed the moment.

Obviously, he didn't call the cops.

I suspected the neighbor on the other side of the house, a kid with a long history of getting into trouble, did it.

I truly had enough by then, and moved out.

See what this city can do to you?

I’m not the only one with tales of cranky neighbors. Christine Komisarz e-mailed us this gem. Take it away, Christine:

To the cantankerous old man with the silver mini-van who lives on Norwalk:

1. I believe it might be illegal to yell and swear at a person for simply walking down your street, with or without a dog;

2. I know for sure, it is not nice;

3. If continued, it might even constitute harassment;

4. My dog just stopped to SNIF;

5. If, in fact, I was in front of your house (I couldn't tell since you were screaming at me as you were driving) and if my dog did poop on your precious lawn, I would have picked up after him as I carry bags for that sole purpose;

6. Don't stereotype all dog owners/walkers because of some irresponsible ones;

7. Next time, take out your frustrations on someone you catch in the act; and

8. Stop harassing me! 

            If you own a bike, better hold on tight.

            A small crime wave of bike thefts has hit town, judging by what we’ve heard on the police scanner and in talking with investigators.

            Monday afternoon was a madhouse, with police officers chasing down three bike thefts in the spate of an hour.

            The most alarming theft happened to a brother and sister who are about 10-11 years old. They were at the Jos. Campau-Belmont area when a group of thuggish teenagers approached them, hit them and stole their bikes.

            Fortunately, officers were able to respond quickly and were given a good description of what the thugs looked like and where they were heading. A teen boy was arrested and will be charged with strong-armed robbery, which is another way of saying he used force instead of a weapon to commit the robbery.

            An investigator in the records department wasn’t sure if both or just one bike was recovered. The investigator, Wally Tripp, said the department has already confiscated about 25 bikes that were likely stolen.

            A couple of months ago the department auctioned off its bikes collected from the previous year. Now the department already has 25.

            According to longtime residents, beware of teens and kids riding double – they’re on the lookout to steal a bike.

            Longtime resident Sandra Dziedziula said bike thefts have been happening here for decades. In an email she gave this account:

“There's NEVER a moratorium on bike stealing - it's just what happens in the city.  And always HAS.  It's been happening ever since we moved back in 1961.  They got my communion present blue green Western Auto immediately.  And they tried to take my sister's from under her butt, SLAPPED HER FACE HARD, but she would not get up. 

“She was just a little girl.  AND they stole Neil's when he was about 6, I just bought the damn thing, and they took it FROM him on our street.  So it's nothing new.”

            How high are your tomato plants?

            That’s a question you hear often among fellow gardeners, and in Hamtramck there seem to be quite a few.

            Mine?

Best ever! 

About 4 feet and quite bushy. There are even a few green tomatoes about the size of a baseball.

          Almost there 

            This year’s plants are doing the best ever. That’s most likely because my girlfriend got fed up with what passes as soil in this area, which is pretty sandy. No matter how many bags of real soil, the kind you buy at a nursery, the sand just sucks it down.

            So, this year my girlfriend, Mary, bought a special kit, so to speak, consisting of a rubber tub, cages and a spout to pour water down. I think it’s supposed to be self-watering, but I’ve been fill it up every day so I’m not sure where the “self-watering” comes in.

            No matter, we’re actually getting some tomatoes this year. Before, we’d get tomatoes, but they were mushy inside despite looking good on the outside. Plus the plants always seemed to look anemic.

            We – I should say Mary – have planted some other things: eggplant, basil, lemon basil, parsley, hot peppers of some kind and a few other things I can’t ever remember. The eggplant is kind of in honor of my dad, who was a devoted gardener since he was a teenager – back when families planted vegetables because they needed to. My dad introduced me to eggplant when I was a boy.

            I can’t remember how I reacted to it. I think I never really understood eggplant – it didn’t taste like an egg. Fact is, didn’t taste like much.

            But I did love eggplant parmigian – and still do (Roma Village’s is to die for).

            After awhile, I discovered grilled eggplant covered with olive oil is also great. And to think of it, the word eggplant, it’s kind of funny sounding. Just like kumquat is.

 Eggplant 

            One of the non-food things we have is a lavender plant, which produces an intoxicating aroma that I find myself stealing away to just to crush it in my fingers.

            My favorite, though, is a Japanese grass called Variesated Miscanthus. Don’t ask me how to pronounce that.    

            It caught my eye at the nursery. I like shade of green and hint of yellow in it and also how big a bushy it gets. It leaps out at you and seems to say, “Hey!”

 Variesated Miscanthus 

Sometimes as I water in the backyard I just stare at it. I was thinking of getting more, but I’m told there’s a limit to some things.

            Accenting our back alley, where the Japanese grass holds court, is a bamboo fence. We opted for that instead of a regular privacy fence because it has a more exotic look about it and seems more neighbor-friendly than a wooden fence, which is more like a wall.

            You can still see through the bamboo fence and when neighbors walk their dogs in the alley they often say hello as they pass.

 Bamboo fences make good neighbors 

            I think that’s what gardening is all about – especially in Hamtramck. With yards so small, it forces you to engage with your neighbors. But best of all, our garden, which by no means is a contender for a Better Homes and Gardens mention, is where we can just zone out and let the stress from the day lift off our shoulders.

Often in politics people can really tangle up their words.

Sometimes it’s by accident, and sometimes, not so much by accident.

On Wednesday, Councilmember Scott Klein, who is usually an articulate fellow, offered up this doosey of a resolution for members to vote on:

“Do you decline to repeal Ordinance 2008-09?”

Just about everyone in the council chambers scratched their heads over that one. Councilmember Abdul Algazali had to ask twice just what a “yes” vote and a “no” vote would mean.

Even after an explanation was given City Clerk Ed Norris had to ask again for clarification.

So, what was going on here?

First off, the resolution refers to the super controversial “Human Rights” ordinance that a bunch of religious folks are against because it gives anti-discrimination protection to gays, lesbians and transgendered people.

Fr. Andrew Wesley of St. Lad’s Church is telling people the ordinance will allow male transsexuals or males who view themselves as women to use women’s public restrooms. Other people are falsely claiming the law will allow perverts to be perverts.

City Attorney James Allen has stressed that simply isn’t so. This law, he said, does not allow people to break the law, or force the Catholic Church or a mosque to perform gay marriages or even hire gay people.

Religious institutions, he said, are exempt from the law, meaning churches and mosques, if they so wish, can continue to be intolerant of gay people.

Opponents of the ordinance submitted petitions with about 1,000 signatures of voters who want the law to be repealed.

On Wednesday, at 8 a.m., the council took two votes, the one above, and another to create a ballot issue for voters to decide on in the November General Election.

Well, the above resolution caused a lot confusion. It’s one of those double negative wordings that drive people nuts.

Just for the record, a “yes” vote meant you don’t want the ordinance repealed.

A “no” vote meant you did want it repealed.

The vote was split right down the middle – a 3-3 tie, meaning the vote failed and the law was not repealed.

It was moot anyway since the petitions forced the law to be suspended until voters get to vote on it.

The second part of the vote on this issue went unanimously. That vote authorized the ballot language, which means voters will decide in November whether they support a law giving gays and lesbians, as well as a host of other minorities, anti-discrimination protection in housing, employment and in business services.

As for Klein and his double-negative wording, when asked by a Citizen reporter why he presented it that way, he simply shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Keep in mind, Klein spearheaded the adoption of this ordinance and is part of a local group called Hamtramck United, which is promoting the law’s adoption.

If you think that was tricky politics at play, just wait until the coming weeks. We’ve got religious folks on one side of this debate and gay rights activists on the other.

And you’ve also got a faction out there who simply can’t stand Klein and is using this issue to attack him.

Somehow I get the feeling Hamtramck is going to be the loser in this battle.

            It’s said the Lord works in mysterious ways.

            For a group of young people from the Real Church on Caniff, just east of Jos. Campau, their mission in spreading their faith involved a massive cleanup in town on Wednesday and Thursday.

            Unfortunately, Mother Nature threw them a curve by cooking up 90-plus something in temperatures.

            “It was worse last year,” said a grinning Josiah Smith of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

            Smith, who is about to turn 17, and several other young men were sweeping up litter and broken glass in the city parking Thursday afternoon. Other teams of church volunteers had fanned out in the city, armed with brooms, gloves and bags. And some bottled water, too.

            The church will hold a picnic in the parking lot and also at Pulaski Park and at the Col. Hamtramck Homes on Friday, starting at 5 p.m.

            So, what does a young guy from Ft. Wayne think of Hamtramck?

            “There’s a lot of diversity. Here, everything is so close together. In Ft. Wayne, everything is spread out.”

I’ve jumped on the bandwagon.

            Well, I’m not really much of a jumper on bandwagons, and in truth I’ve been gearing up for the past few weeks to begin riding my bike instead of driving around town. At least as much as possible and weather permitting.

            I have to admit, when Citizen reporter Terry Parris Jr. started biking to work from his place in Ferndale as part of an assignment he has from Model D (a webzine about all things Detroit), I became motivated.

            I’ve been going kind of green – sort of. – by walking to The Citizen office as much as possible. Heck, it only takes about 10 minutes to walk here from where I live. But the problem with walking to the office is that if there is a fire or some other breaking news event on the southend of town, I’m kind of stuck.

            It would take about 20 minutes to walk there, so I have found myself driving more than I want to.

            The solution to zipping around quick in town has been sitting, deflated, in my garage. My rusty old Royce Union three speed was in need of attention. Namely, I had to get a working tire pump to see if the tires were still good.

            I tossed around the idea of going to the store to get one for a few weeks until last Sunday. Not to my surprise, tire pumps have come a long way since I’ve dealt with such things.

            Now they have all sorts of high-tech attachments that not only aggravate me, but cost about $40. That’s right, 40 bucks for a lousy tire pump.

            I went to Target and found one for $15.

            Long story, short, my bike is up and running, and I am rolling through the streets of Hamtramck. It takes – oh – four minutes to bike to my office. Half of that time I’m coasting.

            Some things I’ve noticed along the way: When walking the first thing you see are large amounts of filth and broken glass. When you bike around town, the glass thing becomes a lot more critical.

            Folks, what gives with this? You’d think people would care enough to sweep up the glass. But, sorry to say, I’m not surprised by the apathy.

            Another thing you encounter on the streets is the range of odd behaviors by drivers. Some are timid and trail behind you, not wanting to pass by. Others could care less and roar by.           

            I haven’t yet come across an outright crazy, reckless driver, at least while biking, but I know my day will come.

            I’ll let you know more about biking in Hamtramck in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, check out Terry Parris’s blog. He’s a lot more amusing to read.

            

Here’s a closer view of the demolition cranes chomping away at old Tiger Stadium. It’s like watching the butchering of an animal.

Every Wednesday I drive downtown to deliver newspapers for some of our subscribers.

            I drop off 13 bags of papers at the huge postal complex on Fort St.

            On the way back, I sometimes take Trumbull Ave. just because I like to see what’s happening along the way. The highlight is going by the old Tiger Stadium.

            I have a lot of fond memories of the place and it still boggles my mind – and frustrates too – that it was abandoned eight years ago. I have not stepped inside the new stadium since then as part of my own little (and largely unnoticed) protest to the powers that be who are responsible for the death of my beloved stadium.

            OK, enough cheesy sentimentality.

            But I’m still mad, mad enough to stubbornly hold on to my boycott of the Tigers new stadium. Yeah, my girlfriend is about to give me an ultimatum if I don’t attend a game this year. I hear it’s still fun to drink some beers and watch the Tigers play.

            Anyway, I digress.

            The real point of this ramble is, Tiger Stadium is slowly being demolished, which of course everyone knows. There’s a huge, gaping opening where left-center field used to be, allowing folks to line up outside and get a view of the blue and orange seating still left inside.

            It’s an amazing – and disheartening – sight.

            I have pulled over several times just to gawk and take a few photos, and I am not alone. I always see dozens of like-minded folks do just the same at all times of the day and night (the construction lights at night make for a very eerie scene).

            I still can’t believe this is happening, but hopefully a preservation group will come up with the city-required minimum of $400,000 to preserve just the Michigan-Trumbull corner.

            The plan is to keep that portion of the stadium, roughly from dugout to dugout, and turn it into a once-again active playfield for high school and amateur teams, as well as build a museum.

            I think this plan is terrific and would spur more development in an area that’s already one of the hottest development spots in Detroit.

            It would also draw a lot of visitors, from around here as well as out of state and from throughout the world.

            The Tigers, after all, are one of the oldest teams in the league.

            That corner has seen baseball since 1895 when it was called Bennett Park.

            I think the ghosts of baseball’s past would be mighty upset if we did anything but play ball at that spot.