If you would like to be added or dropped from the Michigan ping list, please freepmail me.
Posted on 04/19/2010 6:40:22 AM PDT by TonyInOhio
Chris Hansen traveled to Detroit, Michigan for a Dateline special that aired tonight on the state of what is probably America's most desolate city. And in aerial footage—devastation porn at its best—Detroit's grim plight was revealed.
"Today, from the air, parts of Detroit look like a war zone," Hansen said in a voiceover near the beginning of the special, before he listed some of the most shocking facts about the city's current state—the population is less than half of what it was decades ago; there are 400 liquor stores there, but only eight supermarkets—all while panning shots of the consequences of its deterioration flashed on the screen.
Describing Detroit as "a city that is virtually on life support," Hansen then introduced the audience to an ambitious plan by Mayor Dave Bing to bulldoze down more than 10,000 buildings and literally shrink the city's borders in order to save money spent on public services. Again, disturbing aerial shots were abound.
As the special's end drew nearer, depressing music played as even more aerial shots revealed Detroit's desolation—combined with shocking information, like the fact that there are 40 square miles of vacant/abandoned property within the city's limits—and Mayor Bing explained in more detail to Hansen his plan to shrink its size (something he claims will take 10 to 20 years, if it's able to be completed at all).
Will Detroit ever return to its glory days of the first half of the 20th Century? Probably not. Will it even be able to avoid going completely bankrupt and return from the brink of total destruction? Nobody really knows. What is clear, though—especially after seeing the devastation from the sky—is that the Motor City has a long, long way to go to even become a shell of its former self.
And they filmed it in Dallas, not Detroit.
Well, I was ONLY commenting on the thread subject; the destruction (not decay) of yet another great American city.
I didn’t say they were perfect, just considerably better than the human detritus that destroys every constructive thing they are given.
“The riots happened on his watch.”
###
Was it “whites” who were rioting then, also?
the lost state of michigan...
Rush should do a michigan update with the theme to “Land of the Lost”
Flash forward to 2010: New York is the "Capital of the World", with even former ghetto nabes like Fort Green and Bushwick experiencing gentrification, while Philly is on its way to becoming the next Detroit, albeit with a nice historical district maintained by the NPS at its center. The key is demographics and economics: New York never lost its affluent population (and it is the affluent that make an urban center thrive, NOT the lower middle class, which stayed in Philly at a time when they fled New York) like Philly did and, more importantly, New York maintained its financial services sector, which, along with real estate, is what has driven American prosperity since the 1980s, for better and for worse. There was also somebody named Giuliani, to say nothing of a large immigrant population that, in alliance with the yuppies and the affluent, has kept a certain racial group from seizing power.
lost city of detroid.
Rhodesia, South Africa, Congo, Detroit, Cleveland etc. etc.
If you would like to be added or dropped from the Michigan ping list, please freepmail me.
What’s really sad is that is the same type of area where you could park your car and walk to Tiger Stadium.
Without fear and suspicion.
The problem wasn’t walking to Tiger Stadium, it was walking FROM Tiger Stadium.
Not always the state, nor actually the city even. City used to be awesome, too. Nor did the unions have much to do with Detroit's downfall. It was another factor.
The secret was to make sure you were buying somethiing from the residents/street vendors. Get a baseball, a pennant, a cap as you head to the car.
>>I read where Mayor Dave Bing has implemented a new plan on bulldozing hundreds of old houses and buildings over the next few years. <<
There was ONE, exactly ONE house bulldozed before the state said they must stop because of asbestos.
It was a great idea.
You could also always walk to the Lindell and call your insurance company to report a stolen/vandalized car.
If Lolich can get away with it, why not!
Damn environmentalists killed Detroit, now they won’t even allow a proper burial.
Ya got that right.
Remember what Daily did in chicago?
Detroit should just schedule fire department training.
Archer tried to put the city on the right track but the King Kwame Administration and the collapse of the auto industry were the last straw. Easy mortgages allowed folks from the inner city to finally make it to the suburbs and Detroit lost the last of its productive class and tax base. Pretty much all that is welfare mooches. Downtown was alright the last time I was there but the areas getting there look like Stalingrad after the siege.
Cavanaugh started the decline, Coleman Young exacerbated the process, Archer tried to arrest it and Kwame reveled in it. What is left is a dead city with no law and order.
My daughter used to live next door to the house on the left. They were restoring a gorgeous old house, that suspiciously burned before it was finished.
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