That's the best thing to happen there in 40 years. In fact, I suspect the knowledge that it was coming is probably what's driving the big investors to the riverfront.
Weekly/biweekly Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 02/22/2013 11:26:12 AM PST by Olog-hai
Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: “City of Hope.” The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround.
“Right now, it’s all about survival,” Bing told Forbes.
Two years later, Detroit’s problems continue to multiply, sadly. It is still dealing with high levels of violent crime and unemployment. Home prices, already at historic lows, plummeted a further 35% during the past three years to a median of $40,000 as net migration out of the city continued.
The latest blow was Tuesday’s announcement that the city is on the verge of being taken over by the state. Detroit is in a financial emergency and cannot pay its bills. The city has been issuing debt to fund day-to-day operations. The continuing problems propelled Detroit to the top spot in our 2013 ranking of America’s Most Miserable Cities. …
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
And which party runs that city?
And has run it for years?
And you would be amazed at how many Detroit boosters will actually try to convince you that it really isnt that bad! They always love to brag about their little day-trips there as if walking next to the river and staying in a tight little district in the center of town where the street lights work is the same as being there every day.
Detroit, Chicago, Zimbabwe, South Africa. Once great places reduced to ashes. Common threads, anyone?
There. Fixed it.
Two common threads in all 13 cities.
I'm stunned it's even that high. E-Bay has listings that show sales prices of $1,000 or less. Unless that's being offset by something that passes for high-end sales in a gated and heavily guarded subdivision, that $40K "median" is BS.
Chicago = Detroit? Ever been to either?
Toadsuck, Arkansas has been rated as the happiest city in the US. Toadsuck’s motto is
“YOU ARE ABOUT AS HAPPY AS YOU DECIDE TO BE.”
And the good citizens of Toadsuck have decided to be happy.
And to what end? The best thing that could happen at this point is to bulldoze the entire works, pound it into small rubble, make a large foothill of it and call it "Mount Motown."
Yeah, Dave.. but actually that transformation from affluent, civilized community to decayed, feral jungle has been underway for decades and is nearly complete.
OMG, Zero’s gonna have to redistribute the misery to keep things fair. Everyone’s gotta suffer his fair share of misery.
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
I was headed up 75 to get on 96 a few years back after fishing the river for Walleye when I came upon a detour.
I missed the off ramp and proceded to the next exit.
I think it was Michigan Ave. So I headed west.
After a few blocks I thought I was in Somalia. Trust me, the side arm was loaded and ready for service. I did not like being there at all. Had the boat on behind me. All I could think is If I get a flat Iam screwed...
I was envisioning a re-enactment of Black Hawk Down.
This Homie don’t do side streets in Detroit no mo...
Flint is #2. Fortunately that will no longer be the case soon (largely because if they keep losing 25,000 people per decade you won’t be able to call it a “city” much longer.)
decades. they’ve run it for decades.
it’s like they saw robocop and decided that’s how they wanted the city to look.
I have a detroit side street story that happened in 1985.
my lovely girlfriend (wifey now) and I took in a Genesis concert at Joe Louis arena (down on the river)...stayed at the Ren Cen..
on the way there (I used to live in Michigan), we got detoured off of 96, and ended up on some side street...dont know where, exactly, but I think we were in Dearborn.
anyway...at the time, I was driving a buick riviera..nice car, fit right into the neighborhood, except the skin color of the occupants. First thing we encounter is a burned out hulk of a pontiac grand prix, up on blocks, stripped and toasted...
needless to say, the doors stayed locked, and I got the HELL outta there as fast as I could. funny as hell.....now. a bit unnerving at the time.
BTW, the concert was excellent, as I recall :)
Your post made me curious about demographics, so I visited City-Data. Some interesting facts:
25% drop in Population from 2000-2010!
Median income less than 2/3 of Michigan average.
Whites make up 8% of the population.
Very interesting to me - home sales had a brief jump between the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2009....stimulus money?
In 2011, in all of Detroit, there were 18 single family buiilding permits issued.
The website uses an index to measure crime - the US has a score of 319....Detroit’s is more than triple that at over 1,000.
They come close to averaging one murder a day.
Now this is interesting - they have 3.87 officers per 1,000 people, double the Michigan average of 1.8.
Voted 75% for Obama.
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