The pictures - as always - are depressing.
However, after reading the article, is it only me that found that if one dug beneath the flowery writing, there was little - if any - substance?
Generalities like “failed this or that,” don’t hack it.
Something went wrong. Actually, lots of things went wrong. Dammit, put on an engineering hat and figure it out so we won’t do it again.
And keep the nice sounding verbiage for publications that don’t matter - like the NYT.
What happened to Detroit was done on purpose with malice aforethought.
Despite the usual articles about Detroit there are some good things there. There is a vast pool of practical engineering knowledge wasting away on retirement around Detroit. Unfortunately the unskilled population of Detroit doesn’t want knowledge, they just want money.
When it comes right down to it, if given a choice of vaporizing Detroit or Ann Arbor, I would allow Detroit to survive. Detroit may be a parasite but its an indifferent parasite. Ann Arbor on the other hand is an angry, self righteous and demanding parasite that has as much to do with Detroit’s downfall as Detroit does.
“Something went wrong.”
No, life happened. All things have a lifecycle, some longer or more elegant than others. Cities too. I’ve seen enough constructs appear, flourish, and - despite the vibrancy exhibited in their prime - die.
One of the killing problems for Detroit and similar cities is that the income of the white citizens was large enough for them to afford to move out of the city. It seems that once white people have enough money to leave the farm they will, and when they have enough money to leave the urban slums they will.