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City Err-port

As a child growing up a stone's throw away from Detroit City Airport, I was mesmerized by the airfield and the planes.

I found myself often looking to the skies, wondering where the flying machines were headed, dreaming about far-away, exotic destinations and vowing to visit those places when I was old enough to call the shots.

As an adult, I followed the dreams inspired by the airport, ended up all over the globe during my Navy career and continued to travel frequently as a journalist. Most recently, I spent a month in Turin, Italy, covering the 2006 Winter Olympics for The New York Times.

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So I was shocked and dismayed about two months ago when Detroit News reporter Christine MacDonald started to fill me in on what was happening in the old neighborhood, that Coleman A. Young International Airport (formerly Detroit City Airport) is systematically destroying my childhood home.

A federally recommended project -- called the French Road Mini-Take -- has been taking away the neighborhood one house, one block at a time for the past 13 years.

The project, approved by Detroit City Council in 1994 and slated to be completed in 18 months, was deemed necessary to create a safety buffer zone around the airport's runway. When finally completed, it will have affected nearly 500 property owners, including local businesses, plus the neighborhood park (Fletcher Field) we've been working so hard to restore since August.

The mini-take has taken a nasty toll on the old neighborhood.

I have seen first-hand the devastation caused by the mini-take. The once-vibrant, working-class neighborhood now looks like a scene from New Orleans after the levies failed. Most of the remaining area residents have no idea what's going on -- only that they're surrounded by vacant houses and lots, and that the airport probably has something to do with it.

For the record airport director Delbert Brown said: "We are very concerned about the citizens of the neighborhood."

From what I've seen there seems to be very little concern about this area or the fact that, 13 years into it, the project is only 50 percent complete.

And for what?

The goal is to create more of a buffer from buildings in case of a plane crash, as well as other hazards such as vibrations and fumes.

For more than 60 years, the neighborhood has bordered the airport. For a good portion of those years, the area thrived, coincided in harmony with the vibrations, the fumes, the occassional crash.

The mini-take has caused more devastation than any of those things ever did -- or likely ever would.

Even more disturbing is that the airport is in financial distress. The commercial airlines are gone and will probably never return. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick reportedly considered closing the site not too long ago.

I firmly believe that someday soon there will be a buffer zone around a vacated airfield in the old neighborhood -- acres and acres of abandoned devastation where we used to live, play, worship, look to the skys and dream.

At one time a muse, the airport now has become a Dobel Street kid's worst nightmare.

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: rz0bwr [Member]

Holy smokes, after reading the progress made on Doebel St. and Fletcher field it is sort of sad to read the Det. News today and see that video about the city airport area.....progress in the city of Detroit moves along at a snail's pace...what was it 1994 when a buffer was supposed to be created by the airport and here it is 13 years later and nothing has been done....why am I not surprised.....more of what I said in a previous post, the city has had money pouring in from the stadiums downtown (ticket taxes, levees) and the casinos and the neighborhoods are still blighted and deserted....the politicians are plain out and out stealing the money....where is the accountability....when Dennis Archer was mayor he said tearing down dilipidated homes was priority no. 1....well, after he left it became priority no. 150!!!
Ask King Kwame what in the hell he did with all the money from the stadiums and casinos.....he wont tell you.....the shameful truth about the whole east side is you could just about tear it all down...except for brief pockets around 8 mile/Gratiot/Kelly Rd. and around Chandler Park Drive the rest of the east side is totally shot....firebombed out houses, junk cars and one empty house after another....
From Seven mile rd all the way down to downtown you could demolish the entire east side....my old street Carrie near Miller does not even exist anymore!!!! Carrie and Helen from Miller to Georgia was flattened and demolished, not one single house left!!!! If it wasnt so scary all this - it would be nearly funny....so sad.
It is very hard to explain how all of this got started.....many will blame the riots of 1967 and rightfully so, but gutless politicians who stole and misdirected the city must take most of the blame. The people of Detroit must start electing people not of their color but the best person suited for the jobs of mayor and city council.....an all black or white council does nothing if they are not effective....Coleman Young came in and poured gasoline on the fire in the city's decline and not much else has improved.....funny thing to close, DeLaSalle High school in the early 1980s right at the city airport had to decide to rebuild or move out....very wisely they moved out to Warren...if they had stayed DeLaSalle would be no more....very sad....an institution like that would have padlocked in that desolate area of Glenfield....
Then we have politicians like Bush who spend 50 billion a year in Iraq and then tell us there is no money in the future for social security....ugh!!!
Sometimes I feel like hiding in the woods......sad....Mike Brachakowski*******

Permalink 12/10/07 @ 09:57

Comment from: ccassisi [Member]

Mike and I have been talking about the Detroit City Airport. Years ago, I was involved in a grassroots organization that was very active in stopping the expansion of the airport. They wanted large commercial jets flying in and out of there. After many studies, lobbyists, meetings with Detroit City Council and city councils from Harper Woods, St. Clair Shores, Warren, Centerline and all the Grosse Pointes, we stopped the expansion. That was after they had already closed 6 mile road. I agree the buffer zone is a joke. Without the expansion it isn't necessary. We lived right next to the airport and survived. And with the current size of planes allowed - the area is just fine. It's all about the federal money that the City is getting. But where is this money? Tearing a house or two down every year is not the way the plan was suppose to go down. This whole airport thing is like a nightmare that won't go away. It's good to see that there are people like Mike and others that are back on the bandwagon to do something about the airport again after all these years.
Christine

Permalink 12/10/07 @ 16:40

Comment from: cantoniceblue [Member]

mike b.
i have been reading your letters i have tried to look over your negative statement about detroit. but when
you spoken about the east side as you did i can't let that go by. i live on the east side of detroit not to
far from fletcher park don't let the area you talk about fool you, their are more to the east side then you
know. suppose someone would say that about your area.most of detroit know what happen in the
(60&70TH)

AND WHY IT HAPPEN.lets stop digging up old politicians.we are trying to uplift this grate city. all of
the negative coverage that detroit get, we don't need anymore from a blog i and a lots of our community
read their are lots of us in this grate city during grate thing to help our community.but will never get on
t v this blog have been a blessing to our community mike and his group has also been a blessing to our
community.not just fletcher park area.but the whole community around city airport.
SO MIKE B. LET IT BE CANTONICEBLUE

Permalink 12/10/07 @ 17:33

Comment from: dennis [Member]

as far as the airport expanding or whatever they want to do has been talked about since i was a small girl back in early 60's my grandparents used to talk about the airport wanting to buy up houses back then & expand.
also as far as keeping up the neighborhood, there is no one to blame but the people who owned home's & didnt care for them, you can have a nice car, nice cloths, nice jewerly, but keep your lawn mowed & the outside of the home maintained, but that wasnt done.
we moved out in probably 1976, that area was failing & fast, not the city's/goverment fault whatever, it was the person in the home's who did not care for them.
the way it was then is gone, it will never be the same, those homes that once stood, beautiful homes are gone they will never be back, but we all do have our memories from then, if the airport takes those properties, then so be it get rid of the unoccupied homes falling apart by bits & pieces, ive never seen so many old car tires laying around like when i visited there 2 years ago, who's to blame for that? i loved that neighborhood & the childhood i had there till the day i die, but face reality those days for that area are gone, the way we lived then is different then now thats for darn sure, we as kids had no worries in the world, we went to the park, rode our bikes till the lights came on, didnt have to watch our backs walking home from a friends house alone, even when i graduated in 1972 from st clements we still were on almont & it was still a good neighborhood, probably a couple years later it changed, so much so that we moved, my parents got nothing as to what that house was worth, the person that bought our home lived 2 doors down in an upper flat, 6 months later he tried to kill his wife by throwing gasoline & starting a fire in the living room
i will cherish my childhood & some of my adulthood on almont forever & no one can take that away. my mom & her siblings grew up in that house too, so there are more memories, im not sure if the house is still there or not but i know it was the hardest thing to do was to leave that neighborhood & house i grew up in broke our hearts to have to leave.
donna s.

Permalink 12/11/07 @ 07:20

Comment from: rz0bwr [Member]

Mike Brachakowski writing again...I have never meant to offend in my articles...I just hate to see a great city like Detroit getting buried more and more.....all of my youthful memories as I have reported many times in articles were about how much fun I once had in Detroit....Edgewater Park, Tiger Stadium, Belle Isle, the Eastown Theatre, all the great kids in and around Harper and Van Dyke.....as far as the politicians, yes they have caused a great deal of harm....people pay taxes, very high taxes in Detroit and they should get their money's worth and like I said not all development should be in the downtown area....neighborhoods are where a city thrives....the kids, adults talking to each other, keeping homes and yards well kept up...that is what makes a city - not gambling casinos where people deposit their money foolishly into the hands of big business or those $90 tickets at Ford Field and Joe Louis Arena....
Neighborhoods need to rebuild...it takes commitment from the people. Sort of what Mike Happy has done on Doebel street.....it breaks my heart to go to Harper and Van Dyke and see how desolate that area is....once, years ago it was thriving with activity. I should have mentioned also that the Outer Drive area on the east side is still a very nice area of Detroit....that and Chandler Park Drive...Moross Rd, area around Denby High School on the east side......my biggest wish is for a comeback for the neighborhoods in Detroit.......that is where the vitality and life of a city is.......Mike Brachakowski********

Permalink 12/11/07 @ 10:07

Comment from: cantoniceblue [Member]

mike b.
we are on the same page now!! I AGREE WITH MOSE OF WHAT YOU SAID YESTERDAY.
marry christmas& a happy new year!!
CANTONICEBLUE'

Permalink 12/11/07 @ 16:37

Comment from: debbie d [Member]

As a child growing up in the old neighborhood,
I remember my grandparents talking about the airport expansion.
But they were refering to the 1920's and 1930's.
That is how long this rumor or whatever,
has been going on.

Permalink 12/12/07 @ 12:38

Comment from: d.butki [Member]

To Kustarz:I lived kitty corner from Greg Barone on Almont. Do you remember Mark Rowjeski(R0je)? Dave Smith's sister is named Denise,I had heard that she had married Ronnie Kramer long time ago,Do you remember him? I had heard what had happened to Greg,but I sure like to know what happened to the others.

Permalink 12/20/07 @ 15:33

Comment from: Jim Morey(Kustarz) [Member]

dead, in jail, or moved to the burbs. Ricky Turner is doing a long stint in jail. If Im not mistaken, both the locklear brothers have gone on to a better life, along with Jerry Devine.John Maulmeister writes on here once in a while. Nawrockis, own a shop in Hamtramck, Rocks Auto( their dad worked for det. edison and did the electrical for the festival at the school) I talked to Louie Bianchie and Archie Woodall a few weeks ago, Most of the Kruemmers, Moninskis, and Dacenzos and still around metro det. My hockey bud Jimmy Sagan, gone to see our maker. yea I remember roje how about dave bommerrito and his green caddi? How about ron tibs with his little chevy that had like 400 H.P. I saw Andy dombecki at stoney creek about 10 yrs ago, hes a steel worker.Steve"fuzz"Gura is a golf pro(imagine that). Go to stevegura .com and you can see his web site Chris works in livonia and mary lou is a C.P.A. I cant type as fast as this chit is going through this mush of a brain I have today.
As far as the bubble on the cop car. I can still see john taking it off( dont know why I though it was ricky turner, and Rob getting bashed in the head, then the cops dragging him like he was a rag doll. I saw the whole thing. Burned into my long term memory.Amazing all the chit I got into and my brain functions quite well at times, lol

Permalink 12/21/07 @ 00:39

Comment from: sandralu29@msn.com [Member]

Never heard of Jim Morey(Kustarz) from our neighborhood when we lived there in the 60's and 70's. Ricky and Ronnie Turner went to Lynch with my children as did the Locklear brothers. What makes you think they are dead? What about Joey Zelinski and Jimmy Nischalke ( sp? ) and Dixie Bottles and Pamela Paddock....anyone know their whereabouts????Are you an undercover cop that you were privvy to witness Ricky Turners beating? in the police car? My sons played hockey and never heard of you.

Permalink 06/05/09 @ 15:07