Ridiculous, Irrational, and yet...Typical Detroit

Culprits: Waldemar and Louise Quade
Fine: $130
Location: Brightmoor
Violation: Misplacement of trash can?!

Sounds insane, right?

After pleading with the city of Detroit for years to clean up the dirty and dangerous streets near their home, the Quades were recently fined $130. These longtime, responsible residents were for leaving their trash can out on their curbside for more than 24 hours. Although they were simply confused as to when the trash was going to be picked up (since it was President's Day) a city functionary still found it necessary to swoop in and save the day!

"I never have been so humiliated in my life as I have been with this stupid thing with the garbage container," Mr.Quade expressed his anger after this event, "I see cans out at the curb all the time. Are those people getting tickets?"

Columnist Stephen Henderson agreed with the irrational action taken by the city's Next Detroit initiative. He uses logos throughout his article to show the city's lack of common sense. He asks, “Shouldn’t the city be working on the real problems in the neighborhood, like taking out the burned-out heaps, rather than hassling responsible home owners with tickets for their garbage cans?" This reveals that the city's priorities are what are really misplaced. If the city were not the ones confused here, this incident would not have occurred. Henderson explains the contrast of the negligent residents surrounding the Quades that make their home seen like an "oasis in an area that is just a disaster."
He further shows the senselessness of the situation by bringing up the tree trimmers. He uses sarcasm to enforce his point: Detroit's clean-up crews are focusing on the wrong aspects of the city. "So while there's no apparent move afoot to deal with the squatters or the fires or the trash, at least the trees will be nicely pruned."