Starbucks and Avalon

was just talking to a local... he told me he never goes to Starbucks and that he goes to Avalon instead because he likes to support the community... that made absolutely no sense to me... how can you not be supporting the community by going to Starbucks??? granted, Avalon is a local grassroots place, but i guarantee that if you purchase something at Starbucks, you're helping the community... if Starbucks were to leave Midtown, it would just be another failed business attempt in the D and that would further reinforce the myth (?) that you just can't do business in the D... Detroit needs Starbucks to do well because if a Starbucks can't make it, why would a decent grocery store bother coming here, not to mention other businesses???

it's funny because living in the city, there's this attitude that says "we don't want any outsiders"... i know that attitude is in the 'burbs, but in over 25 years of living out there, i never felt it as strong as i do down here... it's pretty stupid and i'm pretty certain it contributes to why the city is the way it is today... on the flip side of that, i'm sure that there is a reason that that attitude has come about, a legit reason... still, however legit that reason may be, the "we don't want any outsiders" attitude has got to change...

Kenny Rogers

the pitcher, not the singer....

i find it amazing that just last year baseball fans in Detroit were booing Kenny Rogers at the All Star Game, but this year they're cheering him like crazy... as they say, winning changes everything right??? however, to me it shows just how shifty people are these days... people will honor you like crazy if you please them, but they'll turn on you quick and take you down ruthlessly if you fail them...

all that to say, i wish people were a bit more merciful... think the best about people... about Jennifer Granholm... about Dick DeVos... about Kwame Kilpatrick... about George W. Bush... it took 17 years for Kenny Rogers to win a post-season game, but now that he has, he's just awesome??? if Kwame Kilpatrick does one great thing, will that change your thoughts on him??? what if he does several great things to come??? what if George W. Bush does???

the other day there were some Bush bashers parading down my street and i just wanted to open up my window and yell "SHUT UP I LOVE MY PRESIDENT"... and trust me, i don't love my president because i agree with everything he's done... i love my president because of mercy... i love my president because he's my president... i'd feel the same if people were bashing Granholm or Kwame... you gain authority by respecting authority... you have no authority because you do not respect authority...

i know, i know... too preachy..... but honestly, i ain't ashamed of it... sorry!!! truthfully, i think people often call convicting truth preachy... they call it preachy because they don't like the feeling of being convicted...

Illitch

i can't stand it when i hear people criticizing the Illitches... i'm not saying they're saints or anything, but the mere fact that they even try to do anything in Detroit is a great thing to me... have they handled everything the way i would or would want them to??? no... but why should i expect a businessman to not do things that are in his best interest, that would make him money??? people expect the rich to give up things just because their rich, but often times, those same people don't make similarly proportioned demands on themselves to give up what is theirs for the "greater good" or what is best for a city...

i'm glad the Illitches have restored the Fox, that they helped build Comerica Park and that they haven't given up their properties to crappy businesses (muffler shops, liquor stores) that wouldn't bring about the Downtown Detroit that we all want to see... people accuse them of being slumlords and for harboring abandoned properties, but do people ever think that their properties aren't being used because people simply don't want to do business in the D??? it's not like people are begging to do business here... if someone else owned those properties and fixed them up, i doubt they'd be filled... take a look at lower Woodward... they just "spruced" up that strip and only a small handful of those properties are being used...

i for one am grateful that they'd even take a chance on the D... seriously, if people had the chance to make large investments with that kind of money, most wouldn't gamble on the D... the Illitches could easily go to Oakland County or Chicago and prolly make even more money than they would here... but they're here and have some level of commitment to Detroit... it's more than we can say for a lot of other businessman who started in Detroit and then moved on...

again, i'm not saying that they're saints or that they've handled anything perfectly... but quit the whining and complaining and be grateful that someone would even want to do business in our city...