Back in America's only Third World City, a vestige of my childhood has been closed: The Belle Isle Aquarium. I visited this aquarium (America's oldest) several times during preschool and elementary school. I will never be able to take my children here, to show them the exotic fish, the electrified eel who turns on a lightbulb, or the architecture of this building, Kwame Kilpatrick has closed it for good. While I understand that the city of Detroit is quite a hellhole, and in quite a lot of shit with its budget, how did the less than $1 million to keep the aquarium afloat (if you'll pardon the pun) for a year really harm the city?
The answer is that it didn't. Kwame would rather spend the money (and much more) on his "African Town" following former mayor "The reverend" Coleman Young's practice of sending all the white people and "crooks" to the "other side of 8 mile road." Doesn't "African Town" sound like one of the most discriminating neighborhoods ever, or is it just me? They will only give city money to black people who own businesses there. If I came up with a business idea that would save Detroit and wanted to locate it there, I would receive no help simply because I am white. The newspapers seem to favor his idea, especially some of the more liberal columnists. What would they be saying if Howell opted for a "European Town" where only those of European descent would receive public funding? I have a feeling Kwame would look down on that.
The Belle Isle Aquarium is just another casualty of this mayor's inaptitude. I don't know much about him, but I can guess why and how he was elected; most likely by following in Mayor Young's footsteps (or bribes...). He is known as the "Hip-Hop Mayor" known for sporting a large diamond earring. I think this title might be misleading. Snoop Dogg would be a better mayor than this guy, at least he would probably decriminalize weed, giving Detroit's largest economy some sort of legitimacy and possibly saving the whole fucking mess of a city that its become...
Here's my solution: get rid of all government programs in Detroit, except the police, which Detroit desperately needs. Let everything else such as businesses, the People Mover, and Casinos revert to a state of anarchy. I have a feeling the casinos will survive and probably gain a lot of business, while things like the People Mover (one of Rev Young's favorite projects) will die a slow death like the Belle Isle Aquarium.
A nice obituary (with less of the bitching) was eloquently written by John at: detroitblog.blogspot.com
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