Letters to the editor
FROM OUR READERS: Detroiters, clean up your city
May 12, 2006
I have to admit I am amazed that someone needs to be appointed to clean up Detroit ("Dear Mr. Penske: Clean this first. Readers weigh in: Every corner of Detroit could use some attention," May 10). I don't get to Detroit often, but when I do I am always amazed at the litter embedded in the chain-link fences, broken glass on sidewalks and other junk.
I am also amazed at the efforts to get people who don't live in Detroit to clean up the place. If you want to clean up Detroit, Detroiters need to clean their yards. To the many people who keep their homes immaculate, take a garbage bag to the nearest intersection, clean up the junk and put it out for pick-up.
You don't need Roger Penske, you don't need Dave Bing, and you don't need me to clean up Detroit. All you need is some elbow grease.
Randy St. Laurent
Lapeer
Get inmates to help out
We could have had Detroit cleaned up long ago if people on welfare and non-dangerous prisoners were used to clean the streets, remove graffiti, etc., as a way to pay back society.
We have a huge, untapped workforce receiving money for 26 weeks or three hots and a cot for the duration of their sentences, paid for by taxes. It's not too much to ask for a little elbow grease in return.
Pauline Costianes
Canton
Focus on the neighborhoods
What wonderful news to hear that millions will be spent on spiffying up Detroit's downtown. The sustainable value reaped from the millions spent on the Super Bowl fell short of expectations, so why not do more of what does not work? Entertainment and sports venues are important, but they should not be the primary consideration.
Until we put equal resources into more complex needs of the neighborhoods, it is futile to think we have any future as a city.
Mary Therese Lemanek
Allen Park
Change may be under way
In response to your article on cleaning up Detroit, I would like to compliment Roger Penske on his fine efforts and the work he has done in Detroit. His leadership with the Super Bowl should be praised not just for showing the world a cleaner Detroit, but also for starting a revolution. After seeing what Detroit could be like with a little bit of effort, more people are taking action to clean it up. Penske started what could be the transformation of Detroit from a trash-covered place, to a cleaner, safer and better city.
Nathan Yu
Troy
Penske is the man for the job
I read with great interest your May 9 article, "Super Bowl czar to help clean up Detroit," and must say I'm extremely glad to see that Roger Penske has chosen to stick his flag, his stake, right here in the city of Detroit. Penske did a remarkable job with putting together Super Bowl XL and cleaning up downtown Detroit. I have no doubt that downtown Detroit will look like a scintillating star with him at the helm.
Thomas A. Wilson Jr.
Detroit
Let's also have clean water, air
Just one word for Roger Penske's decision to put his energy and reputation behind keeping downtown Detroit clean: Bravo! His investment should be a catalyst not just for clean streets and sidewalks, but for healthier air and water to make downtown and its neighborhoods great places to live and work.
David Howell
Chairman
Friends of the Detroit River
Lana Pollack
President
Michigan Environmental Council
A waste of resources
As someone who has worked cleanups in the city before, I can tell you it is a waste of time, money and effort when you are confronted by residents sitting on their porches, saying it is about time someone cleaned up as you pick up trash at their lawn and curb. Residents need to care about their own property and city before anything will change.
Mark Levis
St. Clair
Take personal responsibility
While I am excited about Roger Penske's involvement with the city, I can't help but think of the cliché "putting perfume on a pig." Too many of my fellow residents are thoughtless pigs, constantly leaving their trash for others to clean up.
This conduct is condoned by others who step around the trash because "it's not mine." Until there is personal responsibility, Detroit will have more than its share of sties.
Lee W. Astrauckas
Detroit
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