Detroit has lost it’s mind.............
This guy has never heard of Joseph Schumpeter.
A long series of mistakes got Detroit to where it is. Tearing down these empty buildings might be a good sign. It shows a belated connection with reality. Left empty, these houses would just attract squatters. It also costs too much to continue serving a neighbourhood, where most of the buildings are vacant.
I’ll always wonder now if the ‘Homesteading’ proposed by Jack Kemp for these blighted areas would have worked.
Ah, well, the Socialists find another way to misalocate resources and blame the capitalists!
Good article about a great teachable moment.
Only fools believe you can cut your way into prosperity.
Surely they're not being influenced by friends in the real-estate business who hold lots of inventory that they bought too dear. Government-induced scarcity? Impossible, pardon my leaping to conclusions.
The Philosophy of “Deconstruction” made concrete.
This is the end result of Socialism. The productive economy disappears. No one is left to pay for the hand outs that 3/4 of the population get. You have a ghost town filled with buildings with nothing going on in them. No one wants to buy even a nice house in the area because there is nothing to do there to make a living. People just flat out forget how to be self-sufficient. The land reverts to its natural state. The standard of living declines rapidly to the point of a Third World nation. Its scary how quickly parts of America can revert to Third World status.
Somebody have a brother-in-law in the demolition business? Just another way to redistribute wealth into the thugs pockets.
So, did PONTIAC finally win his war against Fort Detroit?
For those out of the loop, read THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC by Francis Parkman.
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I’ve no idea of the condition of these 10K buildings but Detroit is full of homes that would cost more to properly renovate than they would ever be worth.
While knocking down the homes alone won’t make things better it is a sign that, finally, Detroit get’s just how much trouble they are in. Right now Detroit needs some seriously good urban planning if they want to save the city
1) Getting rid of the homes that can not be salvaged and *giving* the land to the adjacent homeowner (if the owner lives there) on the condition that the property is properly cared for (landscaped/maintained) for a decade
2) If the lot(s) are big enough give the land land to small businesses or corporations who will serve the neighborhoods with near by jobs and services. This can and should include corporations that have small footprint shops and stores.
3) Forgiving all real estate taxes on the property given to business that employ people who live in Detroit.
4) Reduce the size of government by reducing council seats
5) Increase the number of charters granted for charter schools that are neighborhood based to reduce the cost of busing.
as soon as they’re done knocking down 10,000 homes they’ll be screaming for more Federal Aid for the Homeless
I like the article, but I wouldn’t take the author at face value:
“Houses worth $100K, $200K, $500K, and more will be destroyed.”
So, he would pay 1,2 or 5k right now for them? Really?
Uh huh...
Get off I-75 at 8 Mile go east and look at the homes there. Abandoned decrepit empty home after home. A wrecking ball will be an improvement. It is very sad but these abandoned homes are past renovation. It would be best to knock them down and start over.
If the homes are decrepit, dangerous and vacant (as many in Detroit are), I don’t see any other option.
“And if you knock down 10,000 homes in Detroit, that’s 10,000 fewer homeowners to remodel their basements, finish their attics, or renovate their kitchens with those custom cabinets.”
...sheeeit!..you ain’t ever been to the inner city!...ain’t nobody there gonna renovate, remodel or finish...they’re too busy trying to survive being shot at...I worked on a Habitat house in Baltimore...what a mess that street was!...on a bright day the gutters sparkled with empty crack vials...there are places in this country where everyday life looks like something straight out of “Escape From New York”...uninhabitable by any standard.
Some of them would be worth nothing. Some would be worth salvaging. Pity that people cannot homestead them and have the trashed ones eliminated so each standing house can homestead the land around them too.
Unfortunately there would have to be a shoot to kill policy for the thugs who would prey on the homesteaders and the subsequent businesses.
http://justgetthere.us/blog/archives/US-Cities-May-Have-to-Be-Bulldozed-in-Order-to-Survive.html
Not just Michigan, if Obama has a say...
“Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic “shrink to survive” proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.”
If recall serves, Obama was thinking this needed to happen in new York, too.