Michigan Love
The 2011 Liveablility Ranking and Overview was released this month. It takes 140 cities and ranks them based on thirty indicators in five categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.
I cannot begin to express my shock that Detroit is ranked #7 in the Top 10 Most Liveable Cities in the U.S. Especially, after being ranked 3rd Worst City to Live In by Walletpop in 2010, Most Stressfully City in America in 2010 by Portfolio.com, America’s Most Miserable City in 2008 by Forbes, Fattest City in 2004 according to Men’s Health (we worked our way down to #27 in 2010) and don’t forget highest unemployment rate, well, by everyone for years.
While I do not live in Detroit proper but a suburb, putting it down is a direct reflection of my state and I am very proud to live in Michigan. So finally having a report that says it's a "livable city" is fantastic! I am not saying it’s been all double rainbows and unicorns; it has been struggle just to survive. I think that is exactly what makes the people here so fantastic. It is hard to watch the people you love lose their jobs, homes, everything they have ever worked for but we keep going. We lament with our friends and start clubs (we started an unemployment club with my just my friends, we had nine members; there were fifteen of us total) and pick each other up when we get knocked down. Not to be too cheesy but that Chrysler commercial has it right “The hottest fires make the strongest steal.” That’s what Michigan is, a steal maker. It is making the strongest generation of Michiganders this state has ever seen. We are proud, we are driven, we are caring and we have a core of steal. We are the whole idea of cool.
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