[cripplecreek]

Detroit takes the beating but in reality, few large cities exist without their neighborhoods of decay.

[PowderMonkey]

Well, that was depressing...I must say that I had detected much of the same rot and decay over the years, every time I returned home from overseas assignments. It is truly disturbing when experienced that way, as in time lapse. During the taxi ride home, I've often found myself staring in disbelief at the passing scene. This is America? What the hell happened to us? Welcome to the Third World. We've finally joined it.

[cuban leaf]

The point of clarity in the article:

“The Chestnut Plaza truly represents what is important to this community. This Squalor Center, as opposed to Power Center, includes a video porn store, cash checking/payday loan outlet, smoke shop, donut shop, Laundromat, and liquor store. No need for a wedding ring store or resume writing service. Evidently this community values gorging themselves on fast food, getting high, getting drunk, jerking off to porno, and then having their sheets washed. They wouldn’t want to invest a few hundred dollars of their welfare payments on a washer and dryer, when they can spend it on the Direct TV NBA package. They utilize their 8th grade level education to get payday loans from the check cashing store at 40% interest.”

It is how I see American culture in general, and I spent 45 of the previous 46 years in Seattle.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

I have an aunt and uncle who live in this area am familiar with that area. It used to be ethnic white and turned black. There is decay but you can’t stereotype it. There are a group of religious black Catholics who live in certain parts of that area who keep their houses very nice. You drive down those side streets and there is no trash, the yards are nice and the people take pride in the area. Then there are the older white people who live there who can’t keep their houses up anymore but can’t afford to leave. There also are a number of white and black drug addicts and drug dealers who have turned parts of the area into a ghetto. I guess its that way in a lot of places.

[count-your-change]

Interesting is the article for what it did not say.
In March, 2011 this comment appeared in *Philly.Com:

“On the first day of strikes alone, U.S.-led forces launched from ships stationed off the Libyan coast 112 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, which cost in the range of $1 million to $1.5 million apiece.”

A couple of Tomahawks would pay for a lot of fixing in Philly or elsewhere.

The millions given to the Palestinians would do more good here than in the Middle East but no one cries poverty when filling the Swiss Bank accounts of thugs.

The author rightfully laments the deterioration of a once vital city community but appears unable to articulate the awful truth that society is engaged in a slow suicide and won't tolerate being rescued.

[ArrogantBustard]

Your blogger likes to rant against "wall street" and "big business" ...

I think he would do better to focus his attentions on "capitol hill" and "big government".