The writer, a 38-year-old MSU graduate, posts this commentary on social media Wednesday morning. He's a reporter and weekday early morning anchor at WJBK (Fox 2), which he joined in May 2009. His essay is published with permission.
By Roop Raj
People still are asking if someone paid the electric bill here after the blackout on Tuesday which affected a handful of public buildings in the city. Residential lights remained on.
We can take the laughs and blows. Detroiters are tough folks.
Roop Raj: "We took the hit first. We will rise first."
But let's get serious for a second and look inwards, everyone else in America. It's old infrastructure. And for elitists who wish to cast a furrowed brow our way, please look at your bridges, roads and grids and understand this can happen anywhere as cities age. The same can be said for pension debt.
Chicago has $600 million in pension debt, Detroit has a clean balance sheet after a humbling bankruptcy proceeding.
You will hear that conversation during important upcoming elections in Illinois, which has an overwhelming pension obligation -- worse than Detroit's which landed us as the poster child for mismanagement. These are not Detroit problems alone, but American problems.
We took the hit first. We will rise first.
It happened with housing here in 2009. Today, metro area neighborhoods -- along with Detroit's downtown and Midtown -- are seeing impressive upticks in growth. It's hard to rent a place in Detroit under $1,200 a month in the swankiest of neighborhoods, which didn't exist 10 years ago.
So remember, the housing bubble can burst whether you live in a brick house or a glass house. So pay mind to the problems in every American city -- in your city -- or else the ones who are fixing the issues now will be the last ones laughing . . . lights on and all.
You can follow Raj on Twitter at @rooprajfox2.
