Detroit City is the place to be : the afterlife of an American metropolis / Mark Binelli. New York : Metropolitan Books, 2012.
1st ed.
There is a tenacious optimism rampant throughout the city of Detroit. Artists, Internet start-ups, and many other players seem to feel that Detroit could be the new Brooklyn, according to Mark Binelli, a native Detroiter who spent a year in the heart of the city. In this extremely readable narrative, Binnelli brings to light quite a few of the many counterintuitive realities of the city. For instance, many do not know that Matty Maroun, the owner of the Ambassador bridge linking Canada and the US, makes about 60 million dollars a year on the tolls he charges for the use of the bridge. It is unthinkable that the bridge, which carries a fourth of the commercial traffic between Canada and the US, is privately held. One would assume that this link is held in the public trust. Or that the Detroit Public Schools would even consider closing the Catherine Ferguson school, a school for pregnant and parenting teen moms with a graduation rate of 95%. Through all of the stories and interviews, Binelli shows why there is such optimism in this city, even when there seems to be no evidence that this mindset is even realistic, let alone warranted. This book was a lot of fun to read, and I learned a lot about my home town that I never knew. It was good to walk the streets of Detroit with Binelli. He is a great guide, and the city itself is fascinating. This title is recommended for those who are interested in the renewal of urban areas or who love Detroit and would like to know more about it.
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