The Ruins of Detroit

[Razor Sharp]

I never managed to make my way up to the Motor City, but after seeing these photos I almost feel like I need to, for posterity's sake.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddes...otography-detroit#/?picture=370173054&index=0

Truly amazing buildings with an insane amount of history. Unbelievable that this is one of the quintessential cities representing the American Dream - it looks like a post-apocalyptic mess!

Curious to hear from you Detroit residents out there - is the city really this f*cked, or are these just isolated instances/neighborhoods?

 

[romangod]

Curious to hear from you Detroit residents out there - is the city really this f*cked, or are these just isolated instances/neighborhoods?

I live near Detroit on the Canadian side of the border. In the 80s I partied there almost every weekend and it was and still is our destination for concerts, sports, shopping and other social and cultural events.

First off, let me say that I love Detroit. I'm a fan of their sports teams and grew up listening to Motown. It has a "soul" that is hard to describe.


Those pictures were amazing yet sad. The architecture in Detroit is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. But the city is broke and decaying. The once vibrant auto sector is slowly recovering but the city has a long way to go.


Still, I think there's hope but it will take time. The suburbs are still vibrant and a lot of fun to visit.


Cheers!

 

[Julius_Seizeher]

Last year I saw some pictures of entire neighborhoods in Detroit abandoned and taken over by coyotes. Literally, there were coyotes sitting on porches, standing in the street.

It would be motivating as hell if GM would go back to Detroit and rebuild it, we should all start emailing GM's PR dept. and making the suggestion. Our country needs more stories like that, now that GM is selling stock again they are capitalized.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Parts of St Louis are not much different:
http://www.builtstlouis.net/

 

[Marvin Gaye]

Motown stems from Detroit, so it's an amazing state in my eyes.

EDIT: city lmao

 

[cordoncordon]

Detroit really isn't that bad. I mean yea, where they are talking as bad bad is right in the actual city of Detroit, but no one goes there anyway unless.....you go to downtown Detroit right where Comerica Park is, Ford Field is, Joe Louis Arena, etc. Actually pretty nice down there with lots of bars and restaraunts. And you also have casinos down there as well, so it isn't THAT bad.

Plus there are many suburbs of Detroit that are very nice, very wealthy. I don't know what the number is now, but I know at one point Detroit had 3 of the wealthiest county suburbs in the country. Lots of very nice homes and country clubs, bars, etc.

 

[squirrels]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hhJ_49leBw

 

[Alle_Gory]

I heard there's pretty bad crime in the ghetto neighborhoods.

 

[Razor Sharp]

@Roman & Marvin,

I have always wanted to go there mostly for the musical significance. Aside from the timeless Motown classics, Detroit continues to crank out some of the most incredible music acts in the country. From well known groups like White Stripe to underground cats like Moodymann, there is definitely something funky in the air over there, a cultural potpourri you probably won't find anywhere else.

@cordon,

you just frikkin sold me bro. I'm definitely gonna check it out this year. Gonna wait for the warm weather though, the winter there looks pretty brutal. They can keep that 40 below zero sh*t

@Bible,

I suppose the same could be said of many American cities, each one has its ghetto. It's just shocking for me to see these opulent, historical buildings fall into such decay. This phenomena also seems much more widespread in Detroit than any other city, too. The fall of the automotive industry was like a swift kick in the nuts, things seem to have fallen apart ever since.

Just goes to show what happens when you sacrifice productivity of manufacturing for the quick/easy money of services industries. America still has a chance to turn things around, we just need to wean ourselves off cheap, foreign labor and start actually making things in the USA again.

@squirrels,

thanks for posting that video - it was eye-opening to say the least. As a moderate liberal I had no idea that Democrats could be so bad for business. Goes to show that any political extreme is never a healthy thing. I'm actually not surprised this topic piqued your interest, being that you are studying Roman history. In a lot of ways Detroit has become a symbol of the downfall of America's empire.

@All, I am finding myself more and more fascinated by this city and will be doing some research. If anyone else has book/film suggestions I'm all ears.

 

[EA Gold]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hhJ_49leBw

This video goes well with the thread Is apathy the root of all evil.

This is just the Capitalist version of communism. Instead of taking your life, they take all your money, your house, you and your family's livelihood and multiply that by millions of families over a period of several decades that started in the 60's.

 

[Teflon_Mcgee]

Has anybody read the book "Innovation and Entrprenuership" by Peter Druker?

The book was written in 1983 and Druker predicts this exactly. It's amazing to read.

He writes that the auto-workers (I believe he referred to them as "smokestack workers") were so completely incompetent and ineffective that there is/was no way to sustain them. These are/were people who never even had to apply for a job. They simply went to uncle bob and got hired at the plant at wages way above their skill level.

There was absolutely no incentive to gain skills or improve the plants. In fact, the opposite is true. The older and less efficient the plant, the more menial skilled people had to be hired to operate it. This is opposed to becoming the most technologically advanced plant with the most skilled workers in the world. Japan would have not stood a chance if it wasn't for this mentality (of the unions.)

 

[Warrior74]

I heard there's pretty bad crime in the ghetto neighborhoods.

Crime? In a ghetto you say? And it's bad? Shocking!!!!!

 

[Alle_Gory]

Crime? In a ghetto you say? And it's bad? Shocking!!!!!

I know! Right?