Donna Palmer
Title
Donna Palmer
Description
In this interview, Donna Palmer discusses growing up in Detroit’s University district, more specifically the changes that she’s seen the area go through over time and what she expects to see moving forward.
Publisher
Detroit Historical Society
Date
9/28/2018
Rights
Detroit Historical Society
Video
Narrator/Interviewee's Name
Donna Palmer
Brief Biography
Donna Palmer was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in 1942, and later moved to Detroit, more specifically the University District when she was 10 years old, and has remained a resident ever since.
Interviewer's Name
Spencer Schoen
Interview Place
Dearborn, Michigan
Date
9/28/2018
Transcription
[Start of Track 1]
[SS] So where and when were you born?
[DP] I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1942.
[SS] When did you come to Detroit?
[DP] I came to Detroit when I was 10, so probably around 1959
[SS] Is there a main reason that you came to Detroit?
[DP] My mother came here so she brought me here when I was little, so she moved here for a
better life
[SS] Had you heard anything about the area, any expectations before you came to Detroit?
[DP] No, I was just too young to even think about it, I just went where she took me
[SS] What was your first impression?
[DP] You know Detroit was really a popular place to be, I mean it was the motor city everyone
was coming here and job opportunities for everyone here, so it was really a nice place to be.
Neighborhoods were good. I came from an area in Pennsylvania that was mostly Italian, so
when I moved here the neighborhoods were mixed so it was an easy transition for me, no
problems with that.
[SS] What neighborhood do you live in now?
[DP] I live in the U of D district; college park district they call it. What do they call it the Palmer
Park district.
[SS] When did you move there?
[DP] I probably moved in there, probably 1969, or something like that.
[SS] What brought you to that neighborhood?
[DP] We were just moving to get into a better neighborhood, it was a Jewish neighborhood
mostly when we moved in there, very good neighborhood, good place to raise your kids,
started a family, buying a house.
[SS] What was your first impression of that neighborhood compared to the first neighborhood
that you moved into?
[DP] It was basically about the same, so that the years between when I first came here to the
city of Detroit, and when I moved to the college park area things had changed during that time,
we had the riots in that area, where I moved from the area was going down the neighborhood
was changing and I was married and I had children, was beginning to have a family and I wanted
to be in an area that was better for my family. So there was like all the years of decay and all
the things changing in the old neighborhood.
[SS] What were some of the things that you liked to do for fun?
[DP] I like to go to the museums, I like concerts, but I don’t go as much as I used to because I
have problems getting around, but I like concerts, I don’t like crowds, I don’t like large crowds in
downtown Detroit, I try to stay away from that area because of all the crowds.
[SS] Are the any places in the Palmer park area that you like to visit frequently?
[DP] In the Palmer Park area? No I usually don’t go around there either, I used to when we first
moved over here because it was a nice place to go and bring your family in evenings and have a
picnic but now with all the garbage, all the things that go on there I don’t go there now any
more.
[SS] When would you say, around what time that started changing?
[DP] I don’t know, lets see, the last time we had a family reunion out there, it had to be about
10 or 15 years ago. We just stopped going, it was dirty, lot of homosexuals and prostitution
going on in that area, things you don’t want your kids to see. They had a nice swimming pool
over there, and we used to go and let the kids swim, and then the pool was not cleaned and
dirty so if I take my grandkids anyplace we go to Metro park out in Macomb county, you know
and we don’t go to Belle Isle
[SS] So currently do you do a lot of your shopping around where you live?
[DP] There’s actually no place to do shopping. It was nice they opened up a Meijer on 8 mile
where the old state fair grounds used to be. That was another fun place to go back then, but
you noticed that they moved. So I imagine Detroit is changing, I’ve gone through downtown
Detroit and have seen a lot of the changes which was long overdue, Comerica park, little
ceasers arena, places like that where people aren’t coming back. We go down there sometimes
for the ice show or Disney on ice or whatever they have down there we go down there for that
which is fun. If there’s a concert down there Ill go down for that but I see it changing and it was
a fun place to go to the state fair, I was really saddened when they closed it, I said how can you
do that after all these hundreds of years of being in the same spot, but then they put a Meijer
there which is good because it services not only Oakland county but the ins of Wayne county
can go there to shop. I usually don’t shop there, If I shop I go to Livonia, or either I go down
river towards Taylor that’s where I shop.
[SS] You said you enjoyed the state fair grounds, do you have any specific fond memories?
[DP] They used to have the nicest concerts there, I mean really good concerts. Lots of really fun
stuff to do for the whole family. They used to have family days and things there so it was really
nice.
[SS] What school did you first go to when you moved to Detroit?
[DP] I can’t remember the elementary school, but the junior high school was Jefferson Junior
High School, the High School I went to was Murray Wright, and I graduated from Murray
Wright, and it was good when I went, it was a good school.
[SS] So you would say you enjoyed your experience throughout school?
[DP] Yes, it was good experience. A lot of fun stuff to do. Back then was the Motown, the
birthing of Motown so I remember lots of times when they would have like the groups that are
famous now were not famous back then the temptations, the vandellas, the Supremes and all
those groups we used to have dances where they would have competitions and they would win
prizes and they were just starting out just groups starting out that no one had hear of, so Berry
Gordy and Motown all that was then and that’s when we had so much fun. All my friends and
us. Poodle skirts, do you remember those with bobby socks and ponytails
[SS] You said there’s been a lot of change in your time there, what are some of the most
noticeable changes to the neighborhood (university district)?
[DP] I think underneath everything, the neighborhood is basically the same, except the Jewish
and the white families moved out and black families, it’s a more black neighborhood, the north
west area where black families are there, and the families that are there have been there for a
long time, they’re not, and the neighborhood has not decayed so we don’t have empty houses
or boarded up houses in that area. Its still solid, and even the house are good build, solid build
compared to the new houses that they’re putting up now, the new houses that they’re putting
up now are made out of fabricated stuff and the older houses are nice brick and mortar houses,
the big bad wolf would have a hard time blowing down. So the house are good, they’re good
and sound, the prices of the houses did go down if you look at the average price I guess in some
of the areas you can get into $100,000 $ 200,000 maybe $300,000 if you’re talking about the
Palmer Park area they could be worth a half a million those houses are still nice and sturdy. If
you talk about the Boston Edison area which is all part of that north west area those houses are
good solid houses but over the years they have depreciated and it needs a lot of work to bring
them up to the way that used to be. My house is an older house, I would think it was built in
about 1945 but I’ve been told that my house is nice and solid so if you talk about with your
wireless stuff going through walls the walls are so thick sometimes that you can’t hook up to
wireless communication to go through the walls you usually need an adapter to relay the
waves, but the houses are nice and thick, they’re nicely built, people are still in them and the
ones that the people, when I was there, there kids are in the houses now, so the kids are adults
and they’re in the houses. Their parents have either moved out or went to Florida or some
other place where its warm and given the house to the kids. And the kids are adults with their
families so its like second and third generation that’s being raised in the
houses so the area is nice I mean some of the stores on Livernois, the Avenue of Fashion that
was a key spot, the Avenue of Fashion that runs from probably 6 mile all the way to 8 mile road
its all coming back. merchants are coming back; stores are opening they’re having celebrations.
I’ve seen where there’s a, used to be a [Bseegles?] that we all used to shop at, that was the
place to be, that’s why they called it the avenue of fashion, and Bssegles, that was the bomb
that was the place to buy all your clothes, nice clothes, and then it shut down and that whole
corner now is being renovated. Someone bought it I think the owner is like the daughter or the
granddaughter of the original owner and she held on to it so I think now they’re going to make
restaurants and put in apartments there, then I heard that the apartments are going to go for
like U of D and Merrygrove faculty people, so its gonna go, I see a lot of renovation in Detroit.
Wayne State, wow. They’re expanding and expanding and I see them coming up all over, so I
see, and I’m so glad that Wayne State stayed solid and they’re still there because there were
times were it was kind of rough, enrollment was down and now their enrollment is up and a lot
of students wouldn’t go to Wayne State they were actually going out of state to college, you
know they had a problem “I don’t want to go to school at home” but Wayne State has changed
a lot. U of D has changed a lot. Merrygrove I understand they’re cutting out their masters
program and doing just undergrad. U of D has changed a lot, they’re in the same spot. They
used to be when I was taking classes at U of D, they were on outer drive and Southfield
Freeway, that huge place there, now that’s Wayne County Community College they bought out
so I am so glad I’m still and Alumni of U of D as well as Wayne State. I am more involved with U
of D than I am with Wayne State so I am still active in their alumni association for both colleges
but I can see it changing.
[SS] Are there any renovations being made to U of D itself?
[DP] I don’t know if there’s renovations being made to U of D itself, I can’t see U of D spreading
out I think they’re just in that one, you know just the campus there on 6 mile and Livernois,
unless they made some changes within, but because I’m an alumni sometimes I’m asked to
come back when they have those new students coming in to talk, especially my program there
was in, actually my degree is in industrial organizational psychology, so we have people coming
back that’s in that area that we come back and fellowship with.
[SS] What are some of the main things you would like to see changes about your neighborhood
today?
[DP] I can’t really say, I’m worried about that spot there on Livernois because I belong to the
neighborhood group and I get the news letters, but for years I worried about what they were
going to do with that Livernois and 7 mile area, but now I see it coming through. I think they
were supposed to do that years ago, there might have been some money allocated to improve
that area the neighborhood, I’d like to see more of that money put in the neighborhood rather
than just in the businesses, I would like them to put more into the neighborhoods, I would like
to get some grants too to fix up my house, and you know make some changes in my house, but
the houses that were empty there, one of those banks, they’re like land banks, they kind of take
these houses and fix them up and then they sell them, so these houses are really not empty
that long, and I see than changing but I’d like to see more of it. More of you putting money into
the neighborhood. There must be something there that a lot of people are trying to buy those
houses. I see the neighborhood changing like last night, and its not that I’m a racist or anything
but I’ve seen a white man riding his bike down the street, I see a lot of white family’s now
coming back, I see a lot of bike clubs, what do they call it, bicycling through the neighborhood,
and you know the question that I probably that I say to myself in my head is I wonder why
they’re here, but then I have to realize that the neighborhood could be changing back. I would
hate to see the blacks move further out because the whites are coming back in. The city of
Detroit is changing and they’re coming back to the downtown area. I have gone downtown a lot
of times when there’s hockey games and stuff and I see a lot of whites coming back downtown
because its becoming safer and there’s more things down there to get involved in. I see them
coming back, I see the neighborhood changing.
[SS] During your time in the neighborhood was there ever a time where you felt you wanted to
move out?
[DP] Never. Never. Never. I’m not moving out, I told my kids they can try and get me to move
out there 18 and a half mile road, I said no. “Sell the house ma and move out” no. I have two
houses, I have my mothers house, which my daughter lives and and then my house. I said I’m
not selling either house and I’m not moving out. Now, if I get to a point in life where I cannot
get around, and I absolutely cannot handle being in a house with up and down, with two floors,
then I’ll get an apartment somewhere but I’m thinking where. I would love to move downtown
in those apartments but they are very very expensive, very expensive, even if you’ve got a loft
they are very expensive and so my thing is why should I go out and pay 2 or 3 thousand dollars
a month rent when I’m here for free and my house is paid for. So until I get to that point I have
to figure out a way that I can maneuver that if I decide to go that way but I think its an awful a
lot of money to pay for rent, those rich people can pay that. Those doctors and lawyers, those
doctors that work at the DMC and all that they want to live downtown close to their jobs they
can pay that, I can’t pay that.
[SS] Do your kids still live in the area?
[DP] I have one son that lives in Pontiac and one son that lives in Houston, and then my
daughters are here in Detroit, in fact my one daughter just bought a house and my other
daughter is living in my mother’s house, why buy a house when I can live in grandma’s for free.
[SS] Is there ever a time where you felt uncomfortable in your neighborhood?
[DP] Oh yeah, crime rate yeah, breaking in, you know, but I can’t even say just my
neighborhood, it happens now in all neighborhoods. So where can I run and why would I run
and hide from what’s happening, just the neighborhood is changing. We just have to clean it up,
we just have to get rid of those misfits. I mean I shop at the Walmart on Middlebelt, Plymouth
and Middlebelt, that’s where the old lady 88 years old got beat up, mugged and they stole her
car. So its out there you can’t even go in the broad open daylight. So these guys if they’re going
to rob you and they’re going to make it unsafe for you they’re going to do it anywhere and they
have done it. So it’s unsafe, you just have to watch your back take safety measures, like putting
in a ring door bell, like putting in ADT cameras all around your house, you know, like getting in
your house at a certain time at night, not being out dilly dallying around. My neighbor across
the street got robbed in her driveway. Why, because she came in late and had packages in the
trunk of her car, so there she was bent all over in the trunk of her car getting the packages out.
She says she’s seen these 3 guys coming down the street but it didn’t dawn on here because my
neighborhood is fairly safe, but they were up to no good, and they robbed, they robbed her of
her purse, they didn’t take her car or anything like that, but it’s unsafe a lot of places you go, so
I’m not going to say just Detroit. I could get robbed in Oakland County too, the only thing about
it is if I got robbed in Oakland county I might get a quicker response from the police department
but my house is already in that area, a lot of the houses are on alert, so the police are there
quickly I can honestly say that. My alarm went off accidently and they were there. I mean she
called me, the operator called me on the phone for ADT but I didn’t punch it and you know set
it off, and she asked me if I was ok and I told her yeah, she said the police were already on there
way so they had already been alerted and then they came up, you know as soon as I was talking
to her, so I can say that I get quick police response there.
[SS] Well I think that’s all I have for today; I really appreciate you taking the time to talk about
this.
[DP] Yeah it’s just Detroit is changing and I hope I’m around to see it completely changed
because I see it turning around, it’s turning around, we still have some little things that we have
to critique, police time the EMS time, you know stuff like that we really have to do that,
neighborhood watch, watch your neighbors all that kind of stuff, until we feel safe that we
don’t have to do that anymore, but my neighbors watch me. You know I find all types of things
that I can do to protect myself and I tell them all the time the neighborhood watch group, if
you’re coming in and you think you’re gonna be robbed push your panic button on your car. No
thief wants to be there when that thing is going off, and while it’s going off your neighbors are
going to be nosey and look out the window, so if you do that and push the panic button and
then throw your keys away somewhere where they can’t get them and turn it off. They’re
gonna run, so you have to think of all kinds of stuff to protect yourself and you need to tell. If
you know something and you see something tell, tell it. A lot of them say well “snitches get
stiches” no, they make your neighborhood safe so tell. That’s about it Detroit is good.
[End of Track 1]
[SS] So where and when were you born?
[DP] I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1942.
[SS] When did you come to Detroit?
[DP] I came to Detroit when I was 10, so probably around 1959
[SS] Is there a main reason that you came to Detroit?
[DP] My mother came here so she brought me here when I was little, so she moved here for a
better life
[SS] Had you heard anything about the area, any expectations before you came to Detroit?
[DP] No, I was just too young to even think about it, I just went where she took me
[SS] What was your first impression?
[DP] You know Detroit was really a popular place to be, I mean it was the motor city everyone
was coming here and job opportunities for everyone here, so it was really a nice place to be.
Neighborhoods were good. I came from an area in Pennsylvania that was mostly Italian, so
when I moved here the neighborhoods were mixed so it was an easy transition for me, no
problems with that.
[SS] What neighborhood do you live in now?
[DP] I live in the U of D district; college park district they call it. What do they call it the Palmer
Park district.
[SS] When did you move there?
[DP] I probably moved in there, probably 1969, or something like that.
[SS] What brought you to that neighborhood?
[DP] We were just moving to get into a better neighborhood, it was a Jewish neighborhood
mostly when we moved in there, very good neighborhood, good place to raise your kids,
started a family, buying a house.
[SS] What was your first impression of that neighborhood compared to the first neighborhood
that you moved into?
[DP] It was basically about the same, so that the years between when I first came here to the
city of Detroit, and when I moved to the college park area things had changed during that time,
we had the riots in that area, where I moved from the area was going down the neighborhood
was changing and I was married and I had children, was beginning to have a family and I wanted
to be in an area that was better for my family. So there was like all the years of decay and all
the things changing in the old neighborhood.
[SS] What were some of the things that you liked to do for fun?
[DP] I like to go to the museums, I like concerts, but I don’t go as much as I used to because I
have problems getting around, but I like concerts, I don’t like crowds, I don’t like large crowds in
downtown Detroit, I try to stay away from that area because of all the crowds.
[SS] Are the any places in the Palmer park area that you like to visit frequently?
[DP] In the Palmer Park area? No I usually don’t go around there either, I used to when we first
moved over here because it was a nice place to go and bring your family in evenings and have a
picnic but now with all the garbage, all the things that go on there I don’t go there now any
more.
[SS] When would you say, around what time that started changing?
[DP] I don’t know, lets see, the last time we had a family reunion out there, it had to be about
10 or 15 years ago. We just stopped going, it was dirty, lot of homosexuals and prostitution
going on in that area, things you don’t want your kids to see. They had a nice swimming pool
over there, and we used to go and let the kids swim, and then the pool was not cleaned and
dirty so if I take my grandkids anyplace we go to Metro park out in Macomb county, you know
and we don’t go to Belle Isle
[SS] So currently do you do a lot of your shopping around where you live?
[DP] There’s actually no place to do shopping. It was nice they opened up a Meijer on 8 mile
where the old state fair grounds used to be. That was another fun place to go back then, but
you noticed that they moved. So I imagine Detroit is changing, I’ve gone through downtown
Detroit and have seen a lot of the changes which was long overdue, Comerica park, little
ceasers arena, places like that where people aren’t coming back. We go down there sometimes
for the ice show or Disney on ice or whatever they have down there we go down there for that
which is fun. If there’s a concert down there Ill go down for that but I see it changing and it was
a fun place to go to the state fair, I was really saddened when they closed it, I said how can you
do that after all these hundreds of years of being in the same spot, but then they put a Meijer
there which is good because it services not only Oakland county but the ins of Wayne county
can go there to shop. I usually don’t shop there, If I shop I go to Livonia, or either I go down
river towards Taylor that’s where I shop.
[SS] You said you enjoyed the state fair grounds, do you have any specific fond memories?
[DP] They used to have the nicest concerts there, I mean really good concerts. Lots of really fun
stuff to do for the whole family. They used to have family days and things there so it was really
nice.
[SS] What school did you first go to when you moved to Detroit?
[DP] I can’t remember the elementary school, but the junior high school was Jefferson Junior
High School, the High School I went to was Murray Wright, and I graduated from Murray
Wright, and it was good when I went, it was a good school.
[SS] So you would say you enjoyed your experience throughout school?
[DP] Yes, it was good experience. A lot of fun stuff to do. Back then was the Motown, the
birthing of Motown so I remember lots of times when they would have like the groups that are
famous now were not famous back then the temptations, the vandellas, the Supremes and all
those groups we used to have dances where they would have competitions and they would win
prizes and they were just starting out just groups starting out that no one had hear of, so Berry
Gordy and Motown all that was then and that’s when we had so much fun. All my friends and
us. Poodle skirts, do you remember those with bobby socks and ponytails
[SS] You said there’s been a lot of change in your time there, what are some of the most
noticeable changes to the neighborhood (university district)?
[DP] I think underneath everything, the neighborhood is basically the same, except the Jewish
and the white families moved out and black families, it’s a more black neighborhood, the north
west area where black families are there, and the families that are there have been there for a
long time, they’re not, and the neighborhood has not decayed so we don’t have empty houses
or boarded up houses in that area. Its still solid, and even the house are good build, solid build
compared to the new houses that they’re putting up now, the new houses that they’re putting
up now are made out of fabricated stuff and the older houses are nice brick and mortar houses,
the big bad wolf would have a hard time blowing down. So the house are good, they’re good
and sound, the prices of the houses did go down if you look at the average price I guess in some
of the areas you can get into $100,000 $ 200,000 maybe $300,000 if you’re talking about the
Palmer Park area they could be worth a half a million those houses are still nice and sturdy. If
you talk about the Boston Edison area which is all part of that north west area those houses are
good solid houses but over the years they have depreciated and it needs a lot of work to bring
them up to the way that used to be. My house is an older house, I would think it was built in
about 1945 but I’ve been told that my house is nice and solid so if you talk about with your
wireless stuff going through walls the walls are so thick sometimes that you can’t hook up to
wireless communication to go through the walls you usually need an adapter to relay the
waves, but the houses are nice and thick, they’re nicely built, people are still in them and the
ones that the people, when I was there, there kids are in the houses now, so the kids are adults
and they’re in the houses. Their parents have either moved out or went to Florida or some
other place where its warm and given the house to the kids. And the kids are adults with their
families so its like second and third generation that’s being raised in the
houses so the area is nice I mean some of the stores on Livernois, the Avenue of Fashion that
was a key spot, the Avenue of Fashion that runs from probably 6 mile all the way to 8 mile road
its all coming back. merchants are coming back; stores are opening they’re having celebrations.
I’ve seen where there’s a, used to be a [Bseegles?] that we all used to shop at, that was the
place to be, that’s why they called it the avenue of fashion, and Bssegles, that was the bomb
that was the place to buy all your clothes, nice clothes, and then it shut down and that whole
corner now is being renovated. Someone bought it I think the owner is like the daughter or the
granddaughter of the original owner and she held on to it so I think now they’re going to make
restaurants and put in apartments there, then I heard that the apartments are going to go for
like U of D and Merrygrove faculty people, so its gonna go, I see a lot of renovation in Detroit.
Wayne State, wow. They’re expanding and expanding and I see them coming up all over, so I
see, and I’m so glad that Wayne State stayed solid and they’re still there because there were
times were it was kind of rough, enrollment was down and now their enrollment is up and a lot
of students wouldn’t go to Wayne State they were actually going out of state to college, you
know they had a problem “I don’t want to go to school at home” but Wayne State has changed
a lot. U of D has changed a lot. Merrygrove I understand they’re cutting out their masters
program and doing just undergrad. U of D has changed a lot, they’re in the same spot. They
used to be when I was taking classes at U of D, they were on outer drive and Southfield
Freeway, that huge place there, now that’s Wayne County Community College they bought out
so I am so glad I’m still and Alumni of U of D as well as Wayne State. I am more involved with U
of D than I am with Wayne State so I am still active in their alumni association for both colleges
but I can see it changing.
[SS] Are there any renovations being made to U of D itself?
[DP] I don’t know if there’s renovations being made to U of D itself, I can’t see U of D spreading
out I think they’re just in that one, you know just the campus there on 6 mile and Livernois,
unless they made some changes within, but because I’m an alumni sometimes I’m asked to
come back when they have those new students coming in to talk, especially my program there
was in, actually my degree is in industrial organizational psychology, so we have people coming
back that’s in that area that we come back and fellowship with.
[SS] What are some of the main things you would like to see changes about your neighborhood
today?
[DP] I can’t really say, I’m worried about that spot there on Livernois because I belong to the
neighborhood group and I get the news letters, but for years I worried about what they were
going to do with that Livernois and 7 mile area, but now I see it coming through. I think they
were supposed to do that years ago, there might have been some money allocated to improve
that area the neighborhood, I’d like to see more of that money put in the neighborhood rather
than just in the businesses, I would like them to put more into the neighborhoods, I would like
to get some grants too to fix up my house, and you know make some changes in my house, but
the houses that were empty there, one of those banks, they’re like land banks, they kind of take
these houses and fix them up and then they sell them, so these houses are really not empty
that long, and I see than changing but I’d like to see more of it. More of you putting money into
the neighborhood. There must be something there that a lot of people are trying to buy those
houses. I see the neighborhood changing like last night, and its not that I’m a racist or anything
but I’ve seen a white man riding his bike down the street, I see a lot of white family’s now
coming back, I see a lot of bike clubs, what do they call it, bicycling through the neighborhood,
and you know the question that I probably that I say to myself in my head is I wonder why
they’re here, but then I have to realize that the neighborhood could be changing back. I would
hate to see the blacks move further out because the whites are coming back in. The city of
Detroit is changing and they’re coming back to the downtown area. I have gone downtown a lot
of times when there’s hockey games and stuff and I see a lot of whites coming back downtown
because its becoming safer and there’s more things down there to get involved in. I see them
coming back, I see the neighborhood changing.
[SS] During your time in the neighborhood was there ever a time where you felt you wanted to
move out?
[DP] Never. Never. Never. I’m not moving out, I told my kids they can try and get me to move
out there 18 and a half mile road, I said no. “Sell the house ma and move out” no. I have two
houses, I have my mothers house, which my daughter lives and and then my house. I said I’m
not selling either house and I’m not moving out. Now, if I get to a point in life where I cannot
get around, and I absolutely cannot handle being in a house with up and down, with two floors,
then I’ll get an apartment somewhere but I’m thinking where. I would love to move downtown
in those apartments but they are very very expensive, very expensive, even if you’ve got a loft
they are very expensive and so my thing is why should I go out and pay 2 or 3 thousand dollars
a month rent when I’m here for free and my house is paid for. So until I get to that point I have
to figure out a way that I can maneuver that if I decide to go that way but I think its an awful a
lot of money to pay for rent, those rich people can pay that. Those doctors and lawyers, those
doctors that work at the DMC and all that they want to live downtown close to their jobs they
can pay that, I can’t pay that.
[SS] Do your kids still live in the area?
[DP] I have one son that lives in Pontiac and one son that lives in Houston, and then my
daughters are here in Detroit, in fact my one daughter just bought a house and my other
daughter is living in my mother’s house, why buy a house when I can live in grandma’s for free.
[SS] Is there ever a time where you felt uncomfortable in your neighborhood?
[DP] Oh yeah, crime rate yeah, breaking in, you know, but I can’t even say just my
neighborhood, it happens now in all neighborhoods. So where can I run and why would I run
and hide from what’s happening, just the neighborhood is changing. We just have to clean it up,
we just have to get rid of those misfits. I mean I shop at the Walmart on Middlebelt, Plymouth
and Middlebelt, that’s where the old lady 88 years old got beat up, mugged and they stole her
car. So its out there you can’t even go in the broad open daylight. So these guys if they’re going
to rob you and they’re going to make it unsafe for you they’re going to do it anywhere and they
have done it. So it’s unsafe, you just have to watch your back take safety measures, like putting
in a ring door bell, like putting in ADT cameras all around your house, you know, like getting in
your house at a certain time at night, not being out dilly dallying around. My neighbor across
the street got robbed in her driveway. Why, because she came in late and had packages in the
trunk of her car, so there she was bent all over in the trunk of her car getting the packages out.
She says she’s seen these 3 guys coming down the street but it didn’t dawn on here because my
neighborhood is fairly safe, but they were up to no good, and they robbed, they robbed her of
her purse, they didn’t take her car or anything like that, but it’s unsafe a lot of places you go, so
I’m not going to say just Detroit. I could get robbed in Oakland County too, the only thing about
it is if I got robbed in Oakland county I might get a quicker response from the police department
but my house is already in that area, a lot of the houses are on alert, so the police are there
quickly I can honestly say that. My alarm went off accidently and they were there. I mean she
called me, the operator called me on the phone for ADT but I didn’t punch it and you know set
it off, and she asked me if I was ok and I told her yeah, she said the police were already on there
way so they had already been alerted and then they came up, you know as soon as I was talking
to her, so I can say that I get quick police response there.
[SS] Well I think that’s all I have for today; I really appreciate you taking the time to talk about
this.
[DP] Yeah it’s just Detroit is changing and I hope I’m around to see it completely changed
because I see it turning around, it’s turning around, we still have some little things that we have
to critique, police time the EMS time, you know stuff like that we really have to do that,
neighborhood watch, watch your neighbors all that kind of stuff, until we feel safe that we
don’t have to do that anymore, but my neighbors watch me. You know I find all types of things
that I can do to protect myself and I tell them all the time the neighborhood watch group, if
you’re coming in and you think you’re gonna be robbed push your panic button on your car. No
thief wants to be there when that thing is going off, and while it’s going off your neighbors are
going to be nosey and look out the window, so if you do that and push the panic button and
then throw your keys away somewhere where they can’t get them and turn it off. They’re
gonna run, so you have to think of all kinds of stuff to protect yourself and you need to tell. If
you know something and you see something tell, tell it. A lot of them say well “snitches get
stiches” no, they make your neighborhood safe so tell. That’s about it Detroit is good.
[End of Track 1]
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Detroit, Michigan, Avenue of Fashion, University of Detroit Mercy
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Citation
“Donna Palmer,” Detroit Historical Society Oral History Archive, accessed December 14, 2024, https://oralhistory.detroithistorical.org/items/show/777.