The Last Days of Poletown

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As the plan moved into high gear, so did the opponents. The Poletown Neighborhood Council, led by Chairman Tom Olechowski, 37, a state legislative aide and lifelong resident of the area, contacted Nader for his support. The consumer activist fired off a letter to General Motors Chairman Roger Smith, demanding that the company find another site "that does not destroy a community of 3,500 Americans." Young lashed back, calling Nader "a carpetbagger" and labeling his effort as an "obvious attempt at sabotage." The Detroit Coalition of Black Trade Unionists shot off its own letter to Nader, accusing him of "doing the hard-pressed citizenry of their area—both black and white —a real disservice."

City officials defend the plant site as the only one that met all of GM's specifications and contend that they are doing everything possible to ease the plight of Poletowners. Besides offering owners a "fair price" for their properties, the city claims it is paying out generous benefits (up to $15,000 for home owners and $4,000 for renters) to help defray resettlement costs. According to Emmett Moten, Detroit's industrial development director, the city is also purchasing federally owned housing units for Poletowners and offering them mortgages at a bargain 9.5% interest. Detroit hired a professional gerontologist to help assess the impact of the move on the elderly, who make up about half of those to be displaced. So far, 1,154 property owners —about 90% of those affected—have voluntarily sold out to the city. Says Moten of the opposition: "How many mass meetings have been held? Where do you see the evidence of mass support?"

Good question. Opponents contend that city appraisers pressured residents to sell their properties. Yet last week's turnout at Immaculate Conception Church, one of 16 Poletown churches marked for destruction, was hardly impressive. "The area never was very organized politically," says Rick Hodas, 28, vice chairman of the Poletown Neighborhood Council. "People lived here 50 years, paid their taxes and minded their own business." But other residents contend that the plant is actually a godsend, for it gives them the chance to leave the aging community and still get a decent price for their homes. Says John Kelmendi, 27, an area resident: "Ninety percent of the socalled silent majority here want to go."

As for the other 10%, that feisty minority vows to save the neighborhood from the wrecker's ball. Yet even if Poletown were saved, the community would never flourish as it did a generation ago. Concedes Henry Michalski, a Poletown Neighborhood Council supporter: "Over the long term, the place would continue to deteriorate because the old people will die off and the young people have moved off." For many residents, however, Poletown remains very much home, and the shock of being so hastily asked to move out has honed their resistance. "The plant project had a note of finality to it from the very beginning," complains Hodas. Gazing around the withered faces at the church basement meeting last week, Michalski observed: "I see people here who wouldn't be here if they'd only been treated better." —By James Kelly. Reported by Barrett Seaman/Detroit