Detroit has gone from being known as the “arsenal of democracy” to the poster child for government disinvestment, deindustrialization, and capital/white flight. All of these factors contributed to the city’s inability to adjust to broader economic restructuring.[iv] Detroit has lost almost half of its population between 1950 and 2002.[v] According to sociologist William Julius Wilson, the city shed 51 percent of its manufacturing jobs between 1967 and 1987.[vi]
..less than 20 percent of the jobs are now located within three miles of the city center.”[vii] This explains why one notices that the central business district resembles a virtual ghost town after business hours.....Detroit has also closed almost half of its schools since 2005....
Now, couple this bleak data with the recent bailout of GM and Chrysler and I'm not sure how the Detroit Symphony musicians can justify or even imagine maintaining their $100,000/year plus salaries. I'm sure the auto industry in Detroit has been a generous benefactor of the symphony in years past, but I can't imagine the public relations nightmare that would ensue if they continued this tradition after the recent federal bailout. Explaining how they can give money away after a federal bailout would be cause for another tough round of testifying before a Senate committee in Washington.
Let me be clear, musicians in world class orchestras should be paid a minimum of $100,000/year. Becoming a professional musician is a long, arduous and very expensive process. However, world class orchestras reside in world class cities, a title that Detroit can no longer lay a claim to holding.
Perhaps because like most US orchestras the support has always come from the suburbs-not the inner cities. Detroit's suburban area is about 4.5 million and has some of the biggest concentration of wealth in the US. A population this size, and a wealth of this order should easily support a major orchestra. Cleveland does it!
ReplyDeleteAlso perhaps before painting and posting gloom and doom, one should take a drive through an area like Bloomfield Hills, which does not look like there are any financial shadows of any kind present!
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a few of such areas surrounding this city.
Plus, the Big Three are starting to slowly turn a corner.
Pictures like the one above can be found in any major city and does not have to be the model of that city, as portrayed here!
Whatever happened to an "American Pioneer Spirit" of trying to find better ways of life, in spite of adversities?
And succeeding!
You could take that exact same photo above in any city, not just Detroit. Is Pittsburgh a world class city? Cincinnati? Cleveland? An accurate report in the situation in Detroit would involve research....and reporting the mismanagement of the DSO's finances over the last few years. When a sports team does poorly....who is fired? The manager...
ReplyDeleteOne more thing...Oakland County (approx. 15 minutes from Detroit) is the 4th wealthiest county in the United States. The majority of the DSO audience comes from Oakland County.
ReplyDeleteSome use their fortunes as benevolence to do good deeds and make the world a more pleasant and comfortable experience for all who live in it. Others use their good fortune as a weapon to have the world their way. It is a choice.
ReplyDelete