Trash Day Thursday is here again. The weeks keep rolling on, and I like it.
Twenty Costco workers in New York, five bucks each in the pool. One hundred chances to hit the "Power Ball" super duper lotto. They had been doing this for about a month, the pot kept getting larger. Twenty Costco workers in New York, five bucks each in the pool. As of June 1 they can all go swimming in a pool full of money.
How we can dream. This is not the first time I have written about lotto winners. It will not be the last. How we can dream. It's fun to think about what we would do.
Twenty Costco workers in New York won 201.9 million dollars. They all opted for the lump sum payout, 70.2 million dollars after taxes. Each of the twenty lucky people will have 3.51 million dollars to add to their savings or checking account. Or maybe they'll just stuff the bills in a mattress and sleep on it for a while.
Internet information differs on the weight of one million dollars in hundred dollar bills. One source is 22 pounds, another is 20 pounds. Approximately 70 pounds would be a weight gain no one would mind.
I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. I moved to California just after the riots in 1967. If I was homesick I could usually find something about Detroit on the nightly news. The year 1974 had 714 reported homicides. The "Automotive Capitol of the World" slogan was replaced with "The Murder Capitol of the World." National news covered the city fires every "Devil's Night." The house and structure burnings peaked at 800 in 1984. Crime of all types has declined over the last 30 plus years, thank goodness.
In 1993 Wanda and I went to a family function in Cincinnati, Ohio. After the festivities there we drove, with my brother, to Detroit. I was anxious to show Wanda some of my old "stomping grounds" when we arrived in the city late on a Sunday afternoon.
We began on Woodward Avenue in front of the abandoned 25 story J.L Hudson department store. When I was a kid this area would be teeming with shoppers, people overflowing the sidewalks. This evening you could fire a cannon, and a shotgun and hit nothing but air. What few people we did see wandering the streets looked lost.
We saw Hitsville USA or the Motown building, the Fox Theater, and Tiger Stadium. Over two hours we saw a few dozen people. Following our "Ghost Town" tour we drove through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. We surfaced fifteen minutes later to a remarkable scene, people and cars, everywhere.
This was a different country, Canada. Downtown Windsor, like Detroit, is on a river. This is where any similarity ends. It was busy, the bars and restaurants, full. People were lined up outside waiting for tables. There was joy in the air, laughter resonated through the streets. If Detroit was a funeral then Windsor was a wedding reception. Standing in Windsor we could see Detroit across the river. Rather than two different cities they may as well have been two different worlds.
Over the last thirty years Windsor has averaged 5 homicides a year. In 2010 the city had none.
After two months of playoff hockey, the season ended last night. It was the seventh and deciding game between the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks. The winner of the game would hoist the Stanley Cup. Boston, for the first time in 39 years. Vancouver for the first time in it's 40 year history. Boston won the contest and the Cup, violence erupted on the streets of Vancouver.
Violence in a Canadian city, over a hockey game. The papers reported the majority of fans were respectful. It's sad that a small number of people can make such a large impression. Police had to use tear gas, people were burning cars and breaking store windows. I feel terrible for all the great fans in Vancouver and Canada. I know they must feel, ashamed and embarrassed. The rioting and looting, the fires and vandalism will long be remembered.
Like Detroit in 1967.
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