What Killed Detroit (Southfield, Coleman, Atlanta: violent crime, credit, home equity loan)

[DoreenCampbell]

Economics, Entitlement mentality, industry going downhill, Japanese cars, the same things weakening the US, but concentrated in one place, it kills the "grass" in a spot instead of just making it brownish on the tips all over the lawn....

They are among top 5 in US now for foreclosures - due to fraud and the Hope that Real Estate booms will save an area. Not if they are severe and lack underlying Fundamentals (not just jobs but Growth in them) etc. Of course those in places like Detroit would be more willing to go for any idea of "free money" like subprime loans, being in a tough spot to begin with.

Lots of reasons, concentrated in my HO

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by DoreenCampbell

Economics, Entitlement mentality, industry going downhill, Japanese cars, the same things weakening the US, but concentrated in one place, it kills the "grass" in a spot instead of just making it brownish on the tips all over the lawn....

They are among top 5 in US now for foreclosures - due to fraud and the Hope that Real Estate booms will save an area. Not if they are severe and lack underlying Fundamentals (not just jobs but Growth in them) etc. Of course those in places like Detroit would be more willing to go for any idea of "free money" like subprime loans, being in a tough spot to begin with.

Lots of reasons, concentrated in my HO

I don't believe that Japanese cars killed Detroit so much as Ford and GM stopped making good cars and the gas crunch of the 1970's called for vehicles with higher gas mileage. Any automobile could always set up shop in Detroit if it wanted to, but would Honda, BMW, or Nissan open a plant in Detroit? No. The ones in Detroit now are closing down.
The entitlement mentality, IMO, could be solved by work. Anyone with an entitlement mentality should be working instead of asking for a handout. The question is will industries ever set up shop in the Detroit area? Not unless the politicians make Michigan sound like a good place to put up a new automobile plant, meaning easing up on the restrictions.

[dbrooks411]

I agree with you 100%

[dbrooks411]

My mother and stepdad owned an apartment building and doctor office in Detroit, the city Detroit billed them for a tax for running your air condition plus no tax breaks for businesses. The city of Detroit was good for issuing tickets for trash on your property but next door an empty lot full of trash and weed tall as trees which the lot belongs to the city. I sold real estate in oakland county only because of the b.s. you had to deal with the county tax office. It cheaper for business to setup outside the city so they don't have pay taxes on your air, your business sign outside and high property taxes. as much property taxes homeowners and businessowners pay Detroit should be super clean.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by dbrooks411

My mother and stepdad owned an apartment building and doctor office in Detroit, the city Detroit billed them for a tax for running your air condition plus no tax breaks for businesses. The city of Detroit was good for issuing tickets for trash on your property but next door an empty lot full of trash and weed tall as trees which the lot belongs to the city. I sold real estate in oakland county only because of the b.s. you had to deal with the county tax office. It cheaper for business to setup outside the city so they don't have pay taxes on your air, your business sign outside and high property taxes. as much property taxes homeowners and businessowners pay Detroit should be super clean.

I agree with you about why businesses set up outside Detroit. With that said, I don't believe that is the ONLY reason. My theory(and I could be very dead wrong about this) is that Detroit, with it's reputation as violent(it is violent) and majority black(which it is) would make businesses not want to set up anywhere in Detroit, or most parts of Wayne County(taxes will cause some problems too.).
Detroit is a city in need of some reconstruction and in a way it could become a model city and rise like a phoenix out of the ashes of race riots, the decline of the automobile industry, violence, and economic failures if it would learn from its own mistakes and remodel itself better. It could happen if the city of Detroit reconstructed itself. For starters, turn all of those abandoned factory spaces and other abandoned buildings over to manufacturers and small business owners. Second, do a reconstruction of the police infrastructure and government officials. I heard of police corruption and violence on the streets. Along with that, put police on the streets, in all areas, especially the places where they are needed the most.

[starr.angel]

All The Auto Companys Moving To Other Countrys Plus The Casinos That Were Suppose To Help Bring Money In To The City Yeah Right.

[pirate_lafitte]

I think the conclusion comes down to: Need of better leadership and an economy based on more than just the automobile and investment IN THE CITY OF DETROIT not outside of it.

[deslok]

Detroit needs a conservative mayor. Redlining practices in the 1960's ( sure you can work for us, but you can only buy houses here). Retalitory riots. Coleman Young dividing things further. High taxes keeping businesses out. Lots of instances of people acting too slowly, or too quickly. What now is left is a mess. My optimistic parents remind me much of Detroit. All people wanted was a place to call their home, a safe, fun place to live in. Go to Tigers games, drink at nice bars, go home in Downtown to your wife. Shop at the Hudson's store, be proud of the city that had the 5th highest population in the entire United States.
A conservative mayor would hopefully bring in new business to downtown, tear down blighted, non-historical buildings, rebuild historic ones, brutalize crime, lower taxes, stop hand outs, and then see who is left standing in four years. Make Detroit a destination town, clean it up, concentrate on the strong points like being voted top sports city in the US. I apologize for talking in note taking form, as opposed to carefully constructed sentences.

[mrkue]

don't be stupid! We all know that crime is what killed Detroit...for a city of under a million people it has a higher murder rate than Houston and Philly.

[Briolat21]

The question is I guess - when do you think Detroit "died"? If you say "crime" killed Detroit - what crime? The historically high murder rates (when Detroit and Washington D.C. vied with each other for "murder city" was not really until the '80's. Do you think that Detroit was still "alive" before that?

I don't.

The Riots started the state that Detroit is now in. As I was not alive in 1967 (born in '72, thanks) I can't comment on the social issues that sparked the riots. However, if you talk to the old guard suburbanites (the ones who fled Detroit it the late '60's early '70's) most of them mention the Riots.

If you talk to people (again, middle aged) from other big cities and ask why they don't like Detroit or if they ask you why you live here - they'll often mention the Riots.

the Riots left a Perpetual Stain on the city that is heard of NATION WIDE. A suggestion that this was a continual event, rather than a few days in the late '60's. Other cities rioted (Chicago did, for one) and yet they managed to repair their reputation.

After the riots, whites fled the city in droves (into the '50's and early '60's Detroit was a much more mixed city racially) as most of them earned more than the African American's left behind, property values in the city fell, taxes and social services waned.. This continued.

in the late '70's and '80's African Americans who could afford to began fleeing the city as well. Southfield (and other old ring suburbs) became newly majority black suburbs as whites fled further North (Clawson, Milford, etc..)

What can be done to fix it? Who knows. My whole life every couple of years people have been crowing about the resurgence of Detroit. I have yet to really see it. Yes, there is a small vibrant sports/theatre area that attracts revenue and "tourists" - but most of those people take the highway there, park, walk 1 block, eat, see a show, and take the highway out. Most of the city does not benefit.

there are many many deep seated issues in Detroit, how it defines itself, how it wants to define itself, how the country views it, how the surburbanites view it, and I don't think they're going to be fixed any time soon.

That said, I think Detroit is a great metro area, and I think Detroit (in its heyday) must have been something magnificent to see. Can you imagine in the '40's and '50's with all the factories operating at full steam and the street cars going down woodward and people strolling the main boulevards to shop, eat and actually LIVE in the city?? Must have been beautiful.

I hope it'll happen again in my lifetime. I'm actually relocating (in the process of) out of state, so I may not be around to really be a part of it, but I still hope it happens.