Posted on 01/01/2009 8:10:59 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The Detroit River has the fuel that does not catch fire but kills, none the less.
Detroit will never be the new Cleveland, as Cleveland is the Paris of Northeastern Ohio. The real difference between Cleveland and Detroit is that Cleveland has all the glitter.
Sucks to be Detroit -- hard to think of a less appealling major city in North America.
The Lions record this year says it all for Detroit.
Cleveland in the 70’s was looked at like Detriot is today, only they turned things around, Detriot will not turnaround because they are to hostile to the Engines of Commerce.
I’ve read a couple of articles that have the abandoned and burned out homes being bulldozed to make way for Community Gardens.
How long before Windsor CA seals the border with Detriot?
I’m only half joking.
“I just don’t understand blaming the teachers for this sorry state of affairs.”
Well, the media is peppered for the last couple of decades of examples of teachers doing this. Example, the teacher in who takes her grade school class on a field trip to protest the war. Or this b.s. on global warming being taught in class, or talking down religion. Examples abound. Any teacher who teaches liberalism in any form is part of the problem. Teachers are definitely part of the problem, though I’ve yet to meet one who says he or she, specifically, is. But teachers would not be part of the problem if society didn’t allow it to be, and government virtually mandates it. I understand that this is a multidimensional issue.
Again, it distills itself nicely down to liberalism. Liberalism: bad in any form it takes.
All you would have to do is completely and utterly abolish welfare, in all its forms, throughout Michigan. No section 8 grants, no SSI for addicts, nothing. If you can't hold a job, here's a bus ticket to another state, go on welfare there.
Of course, it would never happen.
Newark?
Rudy Giuliani did amazing things for NYCity......never say never.
Your post # 8; Yep, Detroit can also be the capital of Zimbabwe. And Michigan is rapidly turning into Zimbabwe.
I worked Cleveland, from Detroit, from 1983 until 1987 and wish I purchased shares in all the rust belt companies, as they transformed themselves with buy-outs and recapitalizations. My bad. I hope Detroit gets new and good or even great leadership to turn it around, as I am stuck here, with my dirt being “under water” in a resale sense of the word. It is too scary.
Good Lord. I feel as if I have just read a book. A book so bad that it is a classic. In that reading a paragraph stood out in stark relief. It was this:
I ask how this could be, where is their funding? “I’ll tell you what happened to our funding,” Nevin says, stomping over to pick up a newspaper with a picture of Kwame’s mistress copping a plea. “Kwame Kilpatrick, who is a f—ing retard. There’s 20 years of Coleman Young, who is a f—ing retard.” He doesn’t limit it to black Detroit politicians. He suggests that Congressman Sandy Levin, who represents most of Detroit’s northeastern suburbs, “can suck my nuts.” Nevin is furious. His friend is dead. He’s tired of do-nothing politicians who cuddle up to firemen like kewpie dolls during election time, then underfund them and fail to demolish the thousands and thousands of structures that burn again and again. The surprise isn’t that Walt’s dead, it’s that more of them aren’t. (When I ask Nevin later if he wants to exhibit such candor, he reconsiders, “You’d better have Levin kiss my balls,” he says, much more gingerly.)
If there ever was one paragraph that describes the demise of this once great country, there it is. The ruling class has figured out how to enrich themselves with the remains of a civilization while enjoying its good will just long enough to get the job done.
Newark’s definitely in the running for that prize, though I don’t know if it could qualify as a “major” city...... I was thinking more of contenders among the top 30 in population. If we’re talking top 75 in population then Newark has to be in the running for worst.....
....but I haven’t visited enough of them to judge. I’m sure others here will have their “favorite” nominees, but no one would leave Newark and Detroit off the list. Sad cases......
That's the common mentality in Detroit.
Here's an excerpt from Nolan Finley's column in the Detroit News:
"With the Detroit Public Schools near disintegration, it ought to be noted that it's been five years since Plymouth philanthropist Bob Thompson was told to take his $200 million and get back to the suburbs.
Thompson, a retired road builder obsessed with spending his fortune to get urban children a high-quality education, ran into a political buzz saw when he offered to open 15 charter high schools in the city that would guarantee to graduate 90 percent of their students and send 90 percent of those graduates on to college.
Community activists denounced Thompson as a white meddler out to steal their children. They were joined in their absurdity by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who threw their lot in with the teacher union.
The rejection of Thompson's millions became a national story of a city so seized by racial divisions it couldn't set them aside even to save its children."
I was disappointed to see the Standard article didn't highlight the terrible miseducation in Detroit more, but it would've been hard to stop there's so much wrong with it.
Here's the URL of Finley's piece: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081228/OPINION03/812280304/1271/OPINION01
It’s easy and safe to blame the teachers. What about the students? People are to afraid to even mention them.
Generations ago children learned in one-room school houses. They were taught by teachers with little training, shared their books, and wrote on slates. The difference: the students were motivated.
Detroit then add in many other places along the old “rust belt”. New Orleans...How many decrepit cities and towns does it take to realize the kind of trouble we are in financial or otherwise?
How long before we literally have “Mogadishus”?
Damn good article, excellent, first rate.
UPDATE:
Lions 0-16
“I’ve seen Google Earth maps of Detriot and it is astonishing, whole city blocks look like a WW2 battle rolled through them.”
That is absolutely true. I’m not originally from Mich. I now work for a utility in Mich and working out of Detroit one day decided to avoide traffic by diverting through 8 Mile road. I was literally scared for my life. Later told a co-worker and he exclaimed “You did what?!”.
Burned out and boarded up buildings outnumber the iron bar windowed business about 10 to 1. I and my company truck were the center of attention from every avenue and corner I passed through.
Spell check and grammer fix:
That is absolutely true. I’m not originally from Mich. I now work for a utility in Mich and working out of Detroit one day decided to avoide traffic by diverting through 8 Mile road. I was literally scared for my life. Later told a co-worker and he exclaimed “You did what?!”.
Burned out and boarded up buildings outnumber the iron bar windowed business about 10 to 1. I and my company truck were the center of attention from every avenue and corner I passed.
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