Ward on Words

When the homeless become the subject of an article in the WSJ, poverty is an issue that is getting greater attention these days. "Cities tolerate homeless camps," is the headline of the WSJ story , and it offers a glimpse into life at tent cities in Nashville, Tampa, Sacramento and other urban areas: "Last summer, police [in Nashville] responding to complaints about campfires under a highway overpass found dozens of homeless people living on public land along the Cumberland River. Eviction notices went up -- and then were suspended by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, a Democrat, who said housing for the homeless should be found first. A year later, little has been found -- and Nashville, with help from local nonprofits, is now servicing a tent city, arranging for portable toilets, trash pickup, a mobile medical van and visits from social workers. Volunteers bring in firewood for the camp's 60 or so dwellers." According to the story, vagrancy is developing an ...

Seems if you want to open a store in Detroit these days, you really are a "fool for the city." According to a story in the WSJ , retailers are fleeing the Motor City as if inspired by the V8 engine, fast and furious. Just four Starbucks remain within the city limits. (In my little Chicago suburb of 20,000, we have nearly that many 'Bucks to visit.) The affordable luxuries that bring happiness to so many appear beyond the reach of most Detroit residents. I went to Detroit once, about 15 years ago. One of my friends had grown up in Detroit (the city proper, not an affluent suburb on the ring of it) and her mother was moving out of the family house. Back then, in the early 1990s, it had sold, this little house in Detroit, for about $5,000. You couldn't get a Chrysler for that price in those days. I'm sure there were houses in Bloomfield Hills where you couldn't get a door for that price.... The house was on a block that had "changed" abo...