"Dom Polski: Dance Hall Days of Detroit's Polonia" deleted from the DY Forum.

The reason I am posting these deleted posts from the, "Dom Polski: Dance Hall Days of Detroit's Polonia" thread of the DY Forum was to follow the lead of one of the participants of the DY Forum with Member User Name of Townonenorth that said,

"While it's all well and good to complain, this is not really what this little piece of Polish history should be about. I intend to erase my posts on this subject, as it has no bearing on the topic. I suggest that you do the same. As these are HOF threads I'd hate to have them ruined."

I agreed with the sentiment and the reasoning for why we should both remove our posts but I thought what had to say in response to an earlier post by DY Forum with Member Username: Isle_of_fun that said,

"Lowell & Mortalman Chene st. growing up in that area was really great. does anyone remember Felician Academy connected to St. Albertus in the later years or Chene street summer day camp ? here are some web sites that are of great interest.

http://creativegene.blogspot.c om/2006/10/update-on-chene-str eet-project.html

http://www.umich.edu/news/?Rel eases/2004/Dec04/library/index

Also as of 2004 or 05 the people removed from the Immaculate Conception area because of eminent domain stuff won their lawsuit
best to you all"

I considered what I said to be important enough for me to move it from the DY Forum to the blog, DETROIT'SOUL,

Post 1 Deleted from DY

Let me say this about that. What we are talking about here is the difference between commercially collected data to be used for books, academic purposes and institutions, individuals or organizations versus information that will be made readily available to the average person that has no more agenda than to seek the knowledge for their own enjoyment whatever that is. My much larger fear is that there are people in the background or in the above mentioned audiences that are trying to figure out how to corral the internet and make it a pay-for-view venue thereby allowing only those people that have financial resources to access the information. It’s the same principle at work that is the forces that come in and gentrify neighborhoods and push out the people that made the neighborhoods what they had become. In the end it’s all about business and money. It’s not that I have anything against business or money it’s just that people that are in pursuit of those two items seem to never have a happy medium. Then we end of with greed and growth taking over and it never ends.

A real life example is the difference between what and how Marian Krzyzowski goes about collecting and disseminating his information concerning the so called Chene Street Project, and make no mistakes just his attitude when he made his presentation where he took no questions (Above it all and who are you to question me at all!) this is his information, leads one to believe that he is dealing with collective knowledge in a commercial manner i.e. future book and interactive website versus Lowell Boileau and the DY Forum and other parts of the website. Lowell does own it because he pays for it but if you follow the simple rules of courtesy you can be a part of the Forum and the information gathered, and there is a lot of it, is available to not only other Forumers but anyone that wants to come to the site and pursue or do research. And, he meaning, Lowell, makes the information he gathers in an egalitarian manner for all to enjoy. I may have been awkward in the way I presented my thoughts but I think you get the spirit of what I am saying. These are my opinions and concerns.

"Post 2 Deleted from DY

"Let me say this about that, again. What is happening with this information that Marian Krzyzowsk, and, by the way Townonenorth is exactly correct because I remember when the request went out for information many years ago, also, and there never was any mention of a book, commercial endeavor or academic spin on this so called Chene Project. I was led to believe that this was some kind of genealogical project that would be made available to anyone through one of the Polish Cultural organizations. I didn’t trust it then and I certainly don’t trust it, now.

I have run into some of the best and most enlightened researchers on the DetroitYes Forum that give of their time and effort freely with no thought of any kind of compensation other than what satisfaction they get out of making a contribution to something that is like a family, DY! We don’t always get along and we certainly don’t see eye –to-eye on things but together we make up a tapestry of community called DY which I am proud to be a small part of. And, what I really like and love the best out of this experience is the free exchange of knowledge and ideas.

When I first wrote my concerns about the way this Chene Project was going I had some fear of swimming against the current but I’m so glad I said what I said. But, let me take it a step further to really tap into what is really going on with me concerning the knowledge of this Chene Street Project is being handled makes me very sad. I am sad because I am of Polish heritage and I am proud of my heritage that’s why I talk about it. The sadness comes from the Chene Street Project being a metaphor for one more time that the Polish people are not united in their pursuits. We in the “old” country visited much heartache and pain because of our own selfish pursuits going back to the Polish Sejm back in the 16th Century with the principle of liberum (Latin for “I free forbid”) and one person could veto what is in the best interest of the whole of the population and it was always for selfish interests. This in the end led to Poland being divided up amongst the other European powers and Poland ceasing to exist for so many decades or really centuries.

Bringing this full circle to why this is significant to Detroit and DY it is because of this lack of unanimity amongst us Poles that we are watching our heritage crumble before our eyes. We ran away from the problems of Detroit, we assimilated and brought ourselves up by our bootstraps, doing better, making more money, getting more initials behind our names and abandoned the City of Detroit to the destruction that exists today. So, when we see scrappers climb up on the roof of St. Albertus to steal the copper roof we have no one to blame but ourselves because we use to have strong communities where these things could never happen because there we always eyes watching and people walking and there aren’t anymore!"