True Historic Preservation

A University of Detroit Communications professor has made a documentary about a dedicated group of Tiger Stadium fans who call themselves the Navin Field Grounds Crew. They have voluntarily kept up the basic integrity of the baseball diamond on the site where the stadium once stood. Jason Roche, the aforementioned professor, followed them about their labors and his film will debut tonight at the Detroit Historical Museum. Above all else, what does this about historic preservation?

It tells us that the best way to preserve anything is not to go around asking others to do it, but to get your hands dirty and do it yourself.

In this case, the Navin Field group have seen to themselves that a cherished piece of Detroit history is somehow kept alive. Sure, we know that Senator Carl Levin has some few million bucks pigeonholed in federal coffers for use in redeveloping the site somehow. But as that hasn't happened yet as it is increasingly unlikely that it will, regular citizens, the ones interested in baseball and baseball history, have gotten out to do what they can on their own.

They're doing a good job of it too. A drive past Michigan and Trumbull will show all that a nice green field, well kept, is in place for the enjoyment of all. There are impromptu ball games, and just friends and families having a catch, all the time there. Out of towners drop by just to see what remains of the history of the Corner. Even Lions fans coming downtown for football have been spotted checking out the grounds, remembering that football was once played there too.

It would seem that the people can be trusted to understand and respect history even when millionaires and Detroit politicians spit on it. That is, however, a tale for another day. We have seen real historic preservation, a real concern for our collective past, at work. It is a much more inspiring thing than what any government could do. And it hasn't cost the taxpayers a dime.

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.

Preserving a Treasured Detroit Landmark

Detroit has a lot of vacant land. Most of it will never be used, at least, not anytime soon. The situation is a burden on the city in many ways. Upkeep is costly and difficult, and no tax dollars come in off unused land. No one really knows what to do with it all.

Well, one group does, with one parcel anyway But the city doesn't want them to act. That group is the Navin Field Grounds Crew. All they want to do is keep the site of Old Tiger Stadium in reasonably good condition, and maybe toss the ball around the old ball yard a bit when they're done. The city calls them trespassers and doesn't want them setting foot on The Corner. It has even placed No Trespassing signs on the fences which surround it.

This is precisely the kind of asinine attitude which hurts Detroit in the long run. When the citizenry of their own volition want to do something as benign as mow a lawn and pick up the trash on a lot nobody else wants yet are told they cannot do so legally, well, you begin to think that Detroit deserves its fate. What possible harm can be done?

The reason the city gives is that, because a city owned building once sat there, there are liability issues. If someone gets hurts while on the grounds, they could sue Detroit. While it is pitifully obvious that too many people are too quick to sue these days, that surely would not be so with a dedicated bunch who loved the old stadium and simply want to keep the venue clean and available. Why not take the chance and let them work and play ball? That's what the space was for for well over a hundred years.

But, of course, ridiculous. And Detroit wonders why the rest of the state thinks it vain and, well, stupid. Locking out the Navin Field Grounds Crew simply displays, in microcosm, the troubles Detroit has with itself.

Change comes generally in small increments. This would be an easy first step for Detroit if she is serious about returning to her former glory. Let the people who want to maintain the Tiger Stadium grounds alone. It will solve at least one vacant lot issue and show a decent pliability on the part of city leadership. Short of that, maybe the Emergency Manager will step in and allow it. It's not as though Detroit is willing to act in any positive manner these days.