Saving Historic Detroit

Cruising the web the other day, I read this piece at CNN.com about Ernest Hemingway's home in Cuba. It seems that the National Trust has placed the author's home abroad on it's list of eleven most endangered places. I know. Big deal, right? Well, we can debate the merits of restoring Hemingway's home some other time, but what really caught my attention was the fact that Downtown Detroit's historical buildings made the list as well.

Now, as the "Historic Buildings of Downtown Detroit" title implies, the organization feels that a large number of buildings in our major urban area deserve to be restored, not just one or two. As a former history major, I can appreciate the desire of people to renovate these wonderful structures. Like all fragments of history, once they are gone, you simply cannot get them back.

I love the architecture of these old places. I love the link to the past. I love the thought of a city reborn with some of its history intact. I suspect no other major U.S. city would even allow these type of structures to fall into such a state of disrepair in the first place.

However, I also realize that the vast majority of these places have no renovation plan at all and even if they did, their owners' probably would be without the financial resources necessary to make renovation an option. (Of course, there's the notion that the owners of these buildings do have the money to renovate, but they just don't give a rodent's behind about the structures, but that's a subject for another day.)

Generally, I'm in the group of folks who believe the city is in desperate need of a bulldozing party in any numbers of parts of town. These buildings, once the heart of a thriving city, have turned into a part of the city's overall problem. They are nothing more today than part of the city's blight and safety hazards.

Only two things can turn that around- renovation or demolition. Unfortunately, renovation appears unlikely. Or, at least, unwanted by the powers-that-be.

That leaves demolition, but having watched Tiger Stadium make the transition from tourist attraction and fan favorite to neglected historical site, I'm in no mood to just randomly knock down everything in town.

The city unquestionably needs to start cleaning up, which has to include the destruction of some of these old sites, but I hope all parties are a bit more cautious before tossing history out the window. Hopefully, our old ballpark will serve as a reminder of opportunity wasted.