Uptown Again

Let me tell you a story.

This past Friday morning, I was in the shower, and my roommate yelled something to me. It sounded like "hey, Jeff, your car's up on blocks!" I assumed that I mis-heard him, and decided to just finish what I was doing, then come out and ask him to repeat. No, I heard him right. The rotors of my front disc brakes and the drums of my rear brakes each had two bricks holding them (and the car) up off the ground. Nice.

My first reaction was to call work and tell them I wasn't going to make it in to work. Second reaction was to call State Farm and find out what my deductible is. Third reaction, file a police report. One and two were quite simple. Three became the most difficult thing all day.

Detroit has a non-emergency phone number. It's 311. If you're calling from a cell phone its a different number, I can't remember it right now. So, I call the front desk at the 13th Precinct, they tell me the cellphone version of the 311 number. I call, and sit on hold for over a half hour before the system boots me off. It hangs up on me. Then I tried again and waited for about forty minutes before it hung up on me. So then I tried calling 911, and they told me to call 311. I called Wayne State Police, and after giving the dispatcher all of my info, she realizes that she has no car available to send out to me. She told me to call 311. Then, this is the best, I was out in the street with Aaron messing around with the replacement wheels, and a cop drives by in an SUV. We flagged him down and he came back. He sat there and called in to have a cruiser sent out to me to take a report. I was there at the same address at home from the time he drove away, until I went to bed at 10:30pm that night. No police car came to the house. Obviously, the city of Detroit, the Detroit Police Department, and Wayne State Police do not want people to file reports of non-violent/non-emergency crimes. I don't think I'm going to file a claim and risk my premium shooting up, but what if I needed to? What if my whole car had been stolen?

This city is getting worse before its getting better. Seriously, from when I moved here in 1997 til now it seems like there's been so many good developments. New mixed-income housing, new businesses, new undergrad dorms at Wayne State, and a general renewed interest in a serious renaissance. But the city has to go along with it. People throw fits and complain about the high cost of car insurance in the city. Well, maybe if you take a look outside when you hear strange noises and maybe call the cops more often, the crime will go down, and insurance rates will drop with it. Maybe, I don't know anymore. You wonder why city taxes are so high? Well, so do I! Why is this city laying off emergency personnel? Why did Detroit's population go down by 10,000 people in the past few years? No one can afford to live here. No one can afford to have cars stolen, wheels stolen, they can't afford to get violently mugged (two old roommates were mugged elsewhere in town the same night my tires/wheels were stolen). Who can afford to replace broken windows and stolen personal property? Who can afford to have their homes burglarized? Why do we stay in this city? I love it here, but I almost think its time to leave for awhile and support it from afar.