Someone forwarded me a link that I found really interesting. The Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE) "is a growing network of young leaders who are committed to the revitalization of the cities of the Great Lakes region, through building a constituency, sharing information, telling our stories, and advocating for what our cities need." They are collecting images of people with posters that say "I will stay if..." It's an interesting idea, though I'm not sure how they mean to use these images (To convince policy makers what their cities need? Not with images by themselves--these definitely are not representative of the city at large. To illustrate what they've found in surveys of residents? That would add a nice visual. To spark conversation among those looking to improve their city? Excellent!) Over 80 people had submitted images about Detroit.
I admit to being a little disturbed by one sign that wants "loitering in Midtown" to be addressed. Hmm. Really? I work in Midtown and I can't say I've been bothered by excessive "loitering" so I'm a little curious which
undesirables the person does not want in
her neighborhood.
My favorites involve people who've turned the statement around to be "I am staying..." Some completions to that are "to be part of change," "because I am Detroit," "to make a difference" and "to work with my community." And I know it's not a scientific study, but I will mention that several of the people's signs are asking for better public transportation and there are a few that want a better educational system.
One of the images from the site http://gluespace.org/iwillstayif/index.php?/project/detroit/
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