Those Things

    On the list of bad ideas implemented by the city of Detroit, right up there with putting freeways through neighborhoods, doing away with the streetcar system,  and tearing down Tiger Stadium, is certainly the 1.2 million dollars spent to put plastic shields over 21,000 streetlight poles in an effort to prevent thieves from stealing the copper inside.
    It took the thieves somewhere between two and ten seconds, depending on their intelligence, to figure out they merely had to lift the plastic shield in order to commit their crime.  Not only that but, once repositioned, the shield covered the evidence of any wrong-doing, the thief could lean against the pole and smoke a cigarette if they wanted, as though nothing ever happened.  Prophylactically the shields were a catastrophe. 
    This was all very well known at the time of their installation; and it should come as no surprise that it was during the Kilpatrick years, when the taxpayer's money was freely given to anyone the mayor wanted to enrich.  Apparently he had a friend who made worthless, not to mention hideous, plastic covers for streetlight poles.  Thankfully this friend did not make a similar item for abandoned houses.

    The problem is, this was seven years ago.  Today there are still thousands of them jokingly protecting streetlights all over town.  And, as has been the case for years, you would be hard-pressed to find one fully intact.  Collectively they produce a far greater eyesore than any 100-year-old abandoned Beaux-Arts train station ever could. 
    It wouldn't take long to remove them, instead the city seems to wait until each one slowly deteriorates and falls off.  In the meantime they are a constant reminder of corruption, stupidity and waste.