Detroit Holds the Cards on Tiger Stadium Preservation

It is a question which vexes the body politic: what do you do with a property which has a certain historic value yet currently lies dormant? There is little doubt that we Americans, as persons and a society, tend to think with a little too much certainty that what we think important is indeed important. We are then insulted when the next person doesn't agree. Ah, man. The political animal.

An interesting example of this exists in the City of Detroit today. We have, on one hand, a hearty group of preservationists working diligently to keep a strong memory of the past as intact, well, as intact as they can. On the other hand, we find (or supposedly find) developers wishing to do something quite different with that same parcel. Each is sure they have the best idea for the land in mind. But do they?

We are talking about the land which once contained Detroit's Tiger Stadium. Preservationists such as the Navin Field Grounds Crew wish to keep it for its purpose of more than 100 years: baseball. Developers want to do something else: put up shops, apartments, or even facilities for the Parade Company, which oversees the annual Thanksgiving parade in town.

Each side has their talking points. One says history and tradition could and should be kept alive there. The other, that it's just a piece of land, and yadda, yadda, the back and forth begins. But to get to the point, there really is an easy answer to it all.

Let whomever actually owns the land decide what to do with it.

Yes, that means the City of Detroit. Yes, that means the old ballyard is subject to the same stupidity which has brought the city to bankruptcy. But who else has the moral right to do something with their property except the owner?

We will readily concede that it would be a fine gesture on Detroit's part to sell or cede the land to those doing the upkeep. Or perhaps they could up with the money to purchase it and keep it up as they now do. We even sympathize with the preservationists, for what that's worth, knowing how poorly the city does things.

But its their thing, and there's no getting around that. It's theirs, and all else is subject to their whims. What else can be said? We must wait Detroit out and hope for the best. Any other idea is simply a pipe dream.