TicketText

So there’s a lot of debate going on about building a new arena downtown Detroit for the Pistons and the Wings to play in. The Pistons currently play in Auburn Hills, which is a pretty far drive out of the city – making going to their games pretty unappealing for me (and more-than-likely most people living anywhere downtown&downriver). So the idea of moving them downtown is very exciting to me. I’d love love love to be able to see Pistons games more easily&often. They were discussing this concept on 97.1 the Ticket this evening on our commute home from work and I don’t think any callers have fired me up more than today. Two men in particular – Gabe&Greg – made me especially angry, claiming downtown hasn’t done anything to “deserve” a new arena and that the suburbs have “done too much” for downtown already – obviously, actually driving down there (in the multiple cars Greg insisted on pointing out owning) to support the local economy is above them. They both called in and bashed downtown, discussing how much they didn’t want to encounter the “un-cut lawns” and “abandoned buildings” blocks away from the proposed new arena. I personally feel these men don’t know anything about downtown, though. Anyone who knows the proposed location knows there aren’t even houses in that “neighborhood” so lawns are out of the question. And that area (where all the athletics would be located) is at most 2 blocks from the highway, so passing anything unpleasant is unnecessary. I’m sure people are scared of downtown … and I can completely understand why … but trying to ignore downtown and abandon the concept of fixing it up or adding to it is completely pointless&ignorant. I couldn’t help but send in a Ticket Text to voice my opinion about these arrogant men and their obnoxious opinions.
“Gabe & Greg are pompous assholes. The longer we neglect downtown, the more likely those un-kept-lawn-residents will creep into their perfectly-manicured-suburban-neighborhoods. I’m a petite, 24-year-old Lions Season Ticket holding female and I LOVE going downtown.”
I don’t know if it was read on-air or not, since I got home and stopped listening, but sending the message made me feel better anyway. I have hope for this city … long-term hope, obviously, since it’ll take time to bring this city back … but I support downtown and long to see it flourish someday.