Growing up in the city of Detroit, there have been plenty of frustrating moments throughout the course of my life here. From having my old car broken into 5 times (actually stolen the 5th time), to the abandonment and stripping of housing, and even the lack of having quality grocery stores have all contributed to my frustration I have had with the city over the years. However there is probably nothing that frustrates me more than when I drive or walk by a business and see trash that is literally everywhere.
When I travel to work I’m usually taking the streets of the city to get to work. Usually it’s to avoid the madness of traveling on Interstate 94, but more so it’s to checkout the community. I like to see what is going on and to see if anything has changed whether good or bad. However, as I was on my way to work this morning, there were at least three establishments where trash was just everywhere!
One was a car wash and the other two were party stores (BTW, both of the party stores were fully open at this time). Why is it that these establishments believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping up the upkeep of your business? That has probably been my biggest frustration with my time growing up here. Day after day, these business are raking in thousands of dollars, but yet they don’t feel it’s important to at the very least provide a clean establishment.
Here’s how we change that:
- Hold these business owners accountable – If they are going to be apart of your community, demand that they take out the time to clean the parking lots, sweep the sidewalks, make sure the trash container is changed daily to prevent overflowing garbage from spilling over.
- Stop patronizing their establishments – if residents open their eyes and see that the conditions are unacceptable, simply stop spending your money there. Travel the extra 5-10 minutes going to the next store.
- City of Detroit: Reinforce laws – for years this haven’t been a top priority and it’s about time to start making this one a priority once again. Provide a warning, allow 2-3 days for the owners to comply, return after the 3rd day and there still hasn’t been any improvement, apply a heavy fine.
It’s simple as that. For things to truly turn around citywide, we all have a responsibility to make this city thrive again. For my business owners, you have an obligation to provide and serve quality products. You are apart of this community just like any other member who live or works there. You have a responsibility to make sure its clean too.