“You can do whatever you want here. This city’s a free for all.”

“No one will tell you NO. No one’s going to stop you.”

These are just a few of the comments I heard about Detroit while I considered moving here, and continue to hear now that I’m living here, both from outsiders and those from the city.

And on the one hand, that’s not really a bad thing. In fact, the lack of rules, boundaries, or enforcement can be a good thing, allowing people to try, fail, learn, and move forward without the fear of being (unfairly?) punished. So many successful projects wouldn’t have gotten off the ground in Detroit if people asked for permission, tried to go through the proper channels

But as I spend more time here, I see more and more of the detrimental side of this mentality. With this mindset comes a lack of respect for the city, the institutions that are trying to get back up on their feet, the people who are struggling every day to improve quality of life here.

Running a red light (at night OR worse, in broad daylight) because you know there isn’t a police officer to stop you, leaving your trash behind because the nearest trash can is a few blocks away, or cutting corners during the inspection process because it takes too long … I say that though the short term benefits of such actions are obvious and hard to ignore, the long-term lasting impact and perceptions that such actions bring about are detrimental to the rebuilding of the city, to the ability of residents, visitors, investors to take the city seriously.

I say that it’s especially detrimental when those of us living in this city are the ones doing such things. Not that it isn’t frustrating seeing someone from outside the city pop in for a few hours, make a mess and talk some trash about Detroit, and turn right back around to head home. It absolutely is. But I think it’s so much more disappointing and destructive when those of us who live here do that instead. How can we expect those from outside Detroit to respect it when those of us who’ve committed to the city can’t even do it ourselves?

I don’t mean to sit here and preach … I’ve definitely been guilty of (a few of?) such missteps in the past (and may even commit a few more in the future), but now that this is on my mind, I can’t but pause and think about the message I will be sending with my actions if I follow through. More often than not, I stop myself.

So … I urge you to do the same, in only just to pause and think. Because just like you should dress for the job you want and not the job you have, we should treat Detroit as the city we want it to be, the city it could be, and not the city it is!