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.
Bo sent tarp money there to get the street people off the streets....when there is a money dole out they all became street people and signed up for the handout....thousands lined the streets to sign up.
Gran Torino’s site was Highland Park.
For all practical purposes,it is Detroit.
I recognized some of the locations in the movie, but in some instances, they made it look better than what it is.
isn’t detroit where they burned the houses just for fun on the night before haloween?
i don’t know....I do know that when there is a fire of one of these buildings they don’t send the foretrucks to put it out...rather it’s allowed to burn down. They should actually burn them all down one by one and tear the others down......will cost millions no doubt.
Or stop watching people on “Angel’s Night”. Every year there is a huge group of volunteers to keep arson down on “Angel’s Night” (used to be Devil’s Night or just before Halloween)
Let them go to town.
I’m not surprised they made it look better than what it is - that says a lot right there!
To top it off, someone committed arson on 12 vacant homes Sunday morning.
I DVR’d that episode of “Dateline,” so I did not see any of the conclusions. Where did the blame end up going? My guess is that it didn’t go to democrats. Detroit is the logical conclusion of Liberal policies. Was that made clear? Methinksnot.....
“Great story, the mayor is right, bulldoze the city and make it smaller.”
Who will absorb the newly vacant land? What cities would expand to take that extra work?
......bulldoze the city......
Bulldoze the former city. Detroit was
As easy as it is - and as much as I’d like to - pin Detroit’s problems on the Democrats, in reality Detroit’s problems stem from corruption and racism. Most of those two problems were initiated by Coleman Young - and then continued through each administration until today.
To this day, I still don’t know why the people of Detroit didn’t drag Coleman Young’s body through the streets behind a truck after he died, followed by hanging him upside down by his feet in the public square. He was no different than any of the corrupt regime leaders and dictators who dragged their country into the pits of hell, and he should have been treated as such on his death.
Instead, he was honored.
Go figure.
For about 18 months as a 5 year old I lived in Walled Lake a Detroit Burb.
Remember going to Tiger Games as a kid back then. Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito-—I was in heaven.
Damn Yanks.
What happened to Detroit?
Democrats and unions.
My brother lives in Walled Lake now
A few years ago there was an attempt to provide houses for free to people who would fix them up and live in them. I read some accounts from some of the families that tried. The way they described it, after dark it was like being Will Smith in "I am Legend."
Nothing that happened in Sarajevo will ever make it look like Detroit!
Devil's night. If your house caught fire you got one engine. If your car got torched, you were SOL. Normal response for most cities is three engines, two ladders and a chief for a structure fire. I talked to a Detroit firefighter, and he told me they were retiring one engine that was three years old. It had 127,000 miles on in.
Supposedly Devil's night has calmed down quite a bit over the last ten years.
“The way they described it, after dark it was like being Will Smith in “I am Legend.” “
LOL
No, but it happened under Cavanaugh’s “progressive” policies.
It’s not to big to fail, let it die.
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