Go East... and become homeless (Detroit, Warren: hardwood floors, 2014, insurance)

[soldierhobo]

Update from the dreamer from Portland...

Well, how do we start. I traveled from Portland to Detroit 10 days ago. I arrived about a week ago. What can I say?

Let me first say, problems. Detroit Land Bank couldn't meet the closing date, because of policies they need until the 11th to close. (Grant funding from the feds, not related to anything important to me.)So, I'm essentially homeless with 2000 dollars worth of tools in Detroit, now my starter went out and I get to change it in a parking lot!! Thanks government functionaries, maybe Ayn Rand was right?

The good: the house is a gem. The electric is swiss cheese, but I can do that. The plumbing and sewer is trashed, but I can do that cheap to. Exterior needs paint, interior hardwood floors throughout. I'd say I could have a CoF within 3 months.

The neighborhood is terrible. I'm just on the other side of 8 mile and 5 blocks from Warren HomeDepot. But Warren is working class, my neighborhood is apocolypse class. I'm fine with that, I suspect gentrification has a leafing edge, and will creep into my area as houses without water pop up on the market.

So, here I sit at Pontiac lake. I should be polishing off my electrical rework and planning to plug drywall holes and repaint. Instead, I'm blowing 100 dollars a day to enjoy Michigan mosquitos.

Stray observations, worst drivers ever.

Detroit in a nutshell " I love Detroit, I live in Grosse Pointe," D:Hive activist

There are like invisible walls between communities, seriously, the west coast doesn't have them.

Don't expect to bike here, if you don't have a car, I suspect you just kinda starve to death.

When did Warren, Madison Heights, Troy begin and Detroit end?!!!

Crime has been overblown and there are a lot of people here. Plus, everyone is actually nice to your face.

Etc. I lack a computer so excuse me.

[soldierhobo]

I wanted to add lot to - liquor - check cashing. To me this screams, loser. But they are very successful in my area. I think Portland killed Check Cashing and restricts liquor sales. Just saying, it might be a good start. And I'm for drug legalization and freedom, just against usery and taking advantage of economically disadvantaged.

[Meemur]

Originally Posted by soldierhobo

Update from the dreamer from Portland...

The neighborhood is terrible. I'm just on the other side of 8 mile and 5 blocks from Warren HomeDepot. But Warren is working class, my neighborhood is apocolypse class.

Please write a book about this experience! You can self-publish it with Smashwords or Amazon, if nothing else. You have a gift and I would like to read more!

I watched parts of Detroit die until I moved up North about 1978, just in time for GM to move out and Lansing to turn into a dangerous place in the early 1980s (Lansing, Jackson, and Flint have never totally come back). My grandmother, still in Detroit, passed away on Devil's Night (the night before Halloween) when business owners and others used to torch the buildings for the insurance money. There were five big fires that night, and I and the cousins joked that she used the light from the fires to see and the rising smoke to find her way up to heaven.

I have relatives buried in pioneer cemeteries in Inkster and Cherry Hill. I'm sure they're watching over the new homesteading efforts with a kindly eye. At one time, that area had some of the best farm land, plus there's still a high water table for a well.

Alas, I had to give up on both Michigan and Ohio because of the economy in my field, but I, too, am watching the rebuilding efforts in and around Detroit, but who would've thought the Arabs would eventually take over Dearborn Hts? I watched "American Muslim" (TLC show) and felt really strange seeing Arabs in those old, tidy brick homes that used to house the Ford Plant workers. They have no clue how really strange it is to see them sitting out smoking in garages where fathers taught sons how to fix cars.

Yeah, I know. Times change . . .

See this if you want to understand the Michigan mind set a little better:

See Michael Moore's first documentary, "Roger and Me" -- listen carefully to the interviews. The library may have a copy but Amazon will for sure. It's required viewing for those who really want to understand what happened. . . I lived through it.

http://www.amazon.com/Roger-Me-Micha...s=Roger+and+me


Wishing you the best of luck!

[animatedmartian]

Sucks to hear that you're homeless for the time being. But yea those walls aren't actually invisible, they're drawn on all the maps. And actually, 8 Mile is one of those big walls and if you don't mention which side of that wall you're talking about, people are apt to get confused.

Like when you say crime is overblown, do you mean in your apocalypse neighborhood or somewhere north of 8 Mile? You'll come to learn that those walls are deep and there's a lot of things that simply don't cross those walls (like crime, decay, wealth, and general QOL).

Back in the day (like during 60s when Detroit was at its "prime") things were a helluva lot more racist and more in your face. Black people were shunned from crossing north of 8 Mile and it used to be expected that blacks could get pulled over by police for simply being black in the suburbs. And boy, was it an experience just trying to buy a house. Nowadays, blacks have an easier time crossing 8 Mile, but of course the wall is still sort of there psychologically. People still are a lot less willing to cross south of 8 Mile (into Detroit) pretty much because the neighborhoods are crap now and the news of crime and etc. It's a sensitive issue but a very well-known one.

[tuebor]

Originally Posted by Meemur

Please write a book about this experience! You can self-publish it with Smashwords or Amazon, if nothing else. You have a gift and I would like to read more!

I second this motion.

No, Ayn Rand was egregiously wrong, but that's a whole 'nother conversation. You write better than Ayn Rand does, btw.

Why are you spending $100 a day? Are you staying at a motel? If you can't move in until the 11th, consider camping. It might be cheaper. There are a few campgrounds within 30 miles of Warren. Just a suggestion.

I haven't lived or camped in that area myself, but maybe someone on that side of the state can suggest some other budget-friendly short-term accomodations.

[soldierhobo]

Thanks for all the compliments. I'm flattered, 100 a day maybe a gross overstatement. It' about 18-22 to camp a night, coffee 10 bucks a day, 20 on food, ( local Coney's and Buddies were al right) 10 in gas to get around (could be less, but I'm visiting animal shelters for motivation. ) Mostly its just frustration that I'm sitting on my hands, and know the past pricing for every hot water heater in the area.

I'm really thinking of squating my place, but I'd imagine an armed dude in an abandoned building could get ugly. Not to mention, vagrency is rough to explain in a job interview.

My area every 6th house has burned or is abandoned. I'm actually kinda cool with that, 2 went on auction and i didn't win them. I can say one of my neighbors has his car parked in my driveway, without plates. Considering he's got options for parking his car, this does not bode well. Another neighbor helped start my car, nice guy. He did mention that my _hite _$$ is going to pay his property taxes. Which I assumed ment, he was happy someone affluent was coming to share the public burden.


The wall is more porous.. I sit in Troy now, and I the people are diverse. But the economic diversity is the still very prominent. I'm actually kinda surprised when I mention n were I live, people who know were it is actually laugh or are puzzled.

I think the best way to illustrate those invisible walls is go to the bank. Greektown out Gratiot to 8 mile, they have a double door metal detector on entry. With bullet proof glass on the interior. Pride lake, they have in store branches. And Securitas must be making a fortune downtown. In reality, I've never really stepped into really terrifying place. I got stuck in front of my driveway, and when a younger group of men walk down my block, things get tense. But if I avoid shooting hoops in the park, lock my doors, and not spend all night at the gentlemen's clubs. I feel pretty safe. At least in my area, the fire has burned out.

Your government and services are what is killing Detroit. I had a long talk about taxes with a pet shelter volunteer. After old racism, taxes, corruption, and services keep people in the exurbs. Detroit needs a friendlier, cheaper face.

I went to the police station to register my CCW and firearm. First they seriously threatened to confiscate my weapon, then the firearms unit was closed. 2 problems, i am doing the right thing, relax. 2 prompt and adequate service would change the perception that the public is dragging along a corrupt and ineffectual social service. Trust me, I saw it in Iraq, security means also keeping the sewer working and lights on. Otherwise, why respect the government?

Anyways... Another day another... Coney?

[Jwo85]

To be honest you viewed the house before you bought it and saw how the neighborhood was so you should know the slogan. Location location location. People are not moving in that location of detroit. The current hotbeds are downtown, midtown, cork town, Woodbridge, the villages and mexicantown.

[Meemur]

I will be interested to see how the OP fares. It might work out OK.

I lived on a terrible street in Lansing for a time. The police wouldn't go there. We didn't have anything to steal, no TV even. I lived with two other extremely broke MSU students. We left the front door propped open one of those 90 degree nights. I was asleep in the living room on the $10 charity couch, the other two on air mattresses in the basement, with the rats.

A drunk guy wandered in around 2 am. I heard him in the kitchen. I had a dull butcher knife under the couch. I grabbed it and walked out there. He was starting to eat my cheese but he put it down when he saw me. He was slurring, "Don't hurt me, Mama!" as he tried to open the chain on the back door. I pushed him back to the front and then shut the door.

That's the worst thing that ever happened while I lived there. By rights, we should've been raped or robbed or otherwise bothered but that was it.

God really does look after fools and little children.

[fumbling]

$10 / day for coffee?

[Meemur]

Originally Posted by fumbling

$10 / day for coffee?

Being from Portland, I imagine he drinks a lot of coffee. (: