Posted on 05/18/2011 12:46:12 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
Detroit was once called the Paris of the West, but at this point it’s more reminiscent of Venice. Like Venice, its demise has been imminent for some time, as crucial businesses and huge chunks of the population flee. * * * * Imagine blocks that once boasted 30 houses, now with three; imagine hundreds of such blocks. Imagine the green space created by the city’s heartbreaking but intelligent policy of removing burnt-out or fallen-down houses. Now look at the corner of one such street, where a young man who has used the city’s “adopt-a-lot” program (it costs nothing) to establish an orchard, a garden and a would-be community center on three lots, one with a standing house. (The land, like many of the gardens, belongs to the city and is “leased” for a year at a time. But no one seems especially concerned about the city repossessing.)A young man who adopts eight lots and has bought another three has an operation that grows every year and trains eager young people. A Capuchin monastery operates gardens spanning 24 lots. . .
(more at link)
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Yeah, “farms”. Must be a liberal “green” fantasy. Turn the cities of the “postindustrial” USA into “clean” farms and let China be the “filthy” manufacturing cesspool, I mean powerhouse.
Usually liberals get all hopped up over any hint of toxic contamination of land, but nobody’s asking whether these plots have residues of arsenic, mercury, lead, or other hazardous household wastes sufficient to get into the produce of the gardens. Even land like that might be good for growing flowers, but there ought to be a way of checking it.
How wonderful. The democrat party has finally gotten back to their roots!!!
Those folks democrat fascist love so much are back down on the welfare plantations and can work with the earth all day in exchange for their benefit check. Then, at night they can sing and dance, tell stories and talk about what the democrat leadership is doing up in the big house. If only it was a suitable place to grow cotton.
No one is willing to waste a good device there... Cost/benefit analysis and whatnot.
I an so evil in spirit that I welcome my death.
It must seem weird. Maybe even better, let the city turn back into woods and forests.
Letter from a lawyer came. Remember that guy that stumbled over a rake last month? He wants his medical bills paid...now, or he sues the owner, the city.
What's the red tag? Health in specter’s warning. For what? Who cares...his brother owns a market in a strip mall.
What could go wrong?
Not to be the skunk at the picnic among my fellow freepers, but I think this is a splendid idea. It took far too long. I’ve been saying to do this in abandoned neighborhoods in Cleveland for a decade.
I’ll love it even more if the gardens/orchards/farms are operated as private enterprises, rather than collectives. Yes, profit generating entities. This article demonstrates once again, that capitalism succeeds every place it is earnestly tried. Imagine, someone thought to sell, via delivery, fresh produce in areas where many people are without autos. And I suspect there are no supermarkets in the area to buy fresh produce, either. To the residents, this must feel like a godsend.
And don’t underestimate the value of gardening outside all day long in the summer; you’re too damn tired to get into any trouble. :)
In case you want to alert the usual suspects, boss!
:)
That`s a really good point. The EPA required DOD to do exhaustive studies of soil contaminations and other eco-impact prior to closing military bases. One would think that that would be a consideration for a broken-down Rust Belt city, much of which is about to be plowed under.
In theory it’s a good idea, but sounds inefficient to me.
Maintaining the road, water and electricity grid over 50 square miles with 20% population costs 5x as much as maintaining 10 SM fully populated.
Instead of having a sparsely populated “city” of large geographical area, it would make a lot more sense to abandon entire areas and return it to agriculture and create a much smaller but still densely populated city.
black farmer subsidies?
I’m sure it’s inefficient, short term.
I’m banking on free-market capitalism and entrepreneurs. This is a concept that truly needs to be introduced in these decaying urban areas, like Detroit & my beloved hometown of Cleveland. Too many big unions, too much dependency, too much LIBERALISM, have killed off these places. I’m hoping a return to first principles sparks a new day.
Perhaps, once there are enough “farmers” someone will acquire the capital to put up a farmers market. And the locals who still want to make deliveries can still do so. That means someone will not only need an extra truck but some auto place to service that truck! Hopefully, they buy gas from a local station. Maybe a cooking school will spring up. Or maybe young people will begin to become interested in this stuff again; most kids have no idea what real food is or where it comes from.
I’m always trying to walk on the sunny side of the street. :)
I smell a massive democrat scam in the making. The soil in that area is loaded with decades of urban decay. And large portions of the waterfronts are soo toxic, any fish that dares venture in ends up floating soon after.
And exactly what crops would they plan on growing up there given the geography and climate?
Yes... green, postindustrial COLLECTIVE, communal farms... where everything is shared and nothing is owned.
Where, during the day, children attend indoctrination classes glorifying the Rev - “O” - lution.
Where happy, smiling, contented workers sing songs — in unison, of course — praising The One while toiling in the fields until sundown.
Where, at the end of each workday, the people of the new, liberated land ... relieved of the burdens of self-determination, personal “freedom”and organized religious faith.. gaze lovingly at 500-foot murals of Obama the Supreme smiling toward the skies.
Where, after opening as ordered with celebratory chants thanking the One for deliverance from the evil past, the people wait silently and obediently.. beneath the ubiquitous guard towers... in column formation with assigned, government-owned farming tools laying beside them.. for pre-recorded words of praise from the One Himself...
Where their hearts swoon as they hear the first teleprompter - generated words emerged from the loudspeakers...
“My dear subjects..”
I agree with you. Either do it there or, “Coming to a neighborhood near you”. The people who are suffering aren’t the a$$ wipes that destroyed the city. The idiots who couldn’t make an honest (non-corrupt) decision if their lives depended on it have long gone to find some other community to help with “the man’s” money. Community, hell they’re part of the president’s cabinet/czarism.
The libs will wave their magic fairy dust and wands over the land and pronounce it clean.
Since the land is leased from the corrupt feudal lord, the City of Detroit, any growing success and profit that is significant enough to be noticed by the bureaucrats will soon be swarmed by a mass of government leeches and ultimately crushed like an orchid under the hooves of a donkey.
I thought the police/fire were encouraging them to move the remaining population into a more compact, manageable area (and that the city intended to do this).
Your depiction of the green society actually gave me shivers. I think this is exactly how the liberals who destroyed these once great cities think.
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