Detroit a disaster. (house, unemployment rate, ranked)

[Detroiteratheart]

I think Detroiters are torn 50/50 on the Kwame issue. The 'burbites (such as I...) do NOT like him and want him gone. He's an overgrown spoiled brat who has never learned what the word "no" means. Yes, I believe you would definitely be discriminated against because they don't welcome anyone from outside of the city limits. That's why I'm surprised that Compuware and Quicken have/are relocat(ed/ing) to downtown. That's a thankless move. When I'm downtown, I get an eerie feeling that I just should not be there, and I was born there!

I echo your sentiments, "Can't we all just get along...?!"

[cardwellave]

I think far more than 50% of people want him gone. His supporters even amongst those who live in Detroit proper are getting less and less and if I had to tack a number onto it I would say 10-15% actually want him around.

And yes it is a shocker that Compuware and Quicken have moved downtown. Thankless move indeed.

[55thomas]

the auto companies left after the residents decided to burn down the city- the whites decided they didnt want to be raped and killed and decided to head to the suburbs-- then the residents elected kwime the first hip hop mayor -all the while 7.5 black babies dont have a father -the same idiots elected obama -- the country is lost-- when the lazy and stupid outnumber the smart and industrious thats it --

[jonaos]

Originally Posted by zakian

Correct. In another thread someone is talking about buying whole city blocks and fixing up the houses,another wants to buy a whole city and do the same.
They don't think it will cost much to do this. They'd be smarter to start a business to employ people that can AFFORD to keep their houses out of foreclosure. The property taxes on the still nice areas of Detoilet are almost equal to half of what the average blue collar worker makes in a year. Plus those areas are surrounded by the blight. What needs to be done is something to get the white populous interested in moving back into the city. I grew up there in the 50's. The 60's- early 70's were great. But there is nothing in the works/near future, say 10 years that is going to bring people back. The schools are horrible as is crime as is the economy as is the politics.
I'm leaving again,this time for good ASAP and I live in a suburb.

But why would Detroit want or need White people, afterall white people are born racist and violent, and like to oppress anyone who doesnt have the same skin color.

Thats what Al Sharpton says so it must be true!

Considering that, Surely Detroit is a Mecca with no violence, no rapes, and has unheard of economic prosperity since it has virtually no white population.

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by Cliffie

The benefits don't radiate outward because Detroit needs more than a nosejob -- it needs a new industrry or three.

Well, it took awhile, but gambling has become increasingly legal in more and more states. In many ways, a futile attempt to better the state's economy.

And? What's next, as various cities, counties, states fall to their knees, during this recession, taxing their imaginations as to how to improve their economies.

Not surprisingly, the legalization of the next sin is probably already on the drawing boards of various cities, counties, states: prostitution.

If I was as down on my luck as Detroit, and knowing the negative publicity will probably never go away, I'd go full tilt forward with an international style red light district patterned after Bangkok's Pat Pong district, the sex capital of the world, which attracts sexual tourists from ever corner of the world.

Well? Resurrect Detroit, partly, as the Bangkok of the West? If it's done up professionally, weather will be no obstacle even in winter.

Hey! I'm really being serious and feel so badly about the condition of Detroit.

Please don't hammer me for this idea, I'm just trying to be helpful.

And do it before some other city latches onto the idea.

[michigan83]

If I was as down on my luck as Detroit, and knowing the negative publicity will probably never go away, I'd go full tilt forward with an international style red light district patterned after Bangkok's Pat Pong district, the sex capital of the world, which attracts sexual tourists from ever corner of the world.

I would much rather let Detroit continue to empty out and revert to nature. Maybe it can be a nice State recreation area someday. No thanks to the red light district idea.

[MTUCache]

Originally Posted by michigan83

I would much rather let Detroit continue to empty out and revert to nature. Maybe it can be a nice State recreation area someday. No thanks to the red light district idea.

Ditto... I'm as socially-accepting and open-minded as anybody, but this just has awful consequences written all over it. Opening up a city already as hard-hit and poorly run as Detroit to completely new forms of corruption, scandal, and human atrocities is just asking for trouble. I can't imagine any good press for the city being generated when you turn the "Murder Capital of the US" into the "Murder/Rape/Prostitution/Exploitation-of-Young-Girls-and-Boys Capital of the US". Even if it did work on paper, the national and international media would be tearing Detroit to shreds, undercover investigations, front-page pictures of awful conditions, headline-stories of illegal sex trafficking, etc.

I was skeptical enough when the casinos moved in. Sure, they're great for the rich-suburbanites on the weekend, but the rest of the time they're just filled with people gambling away their government checks and treating it with the same desperation as a scratch-off lotto ticket. And those were in an industry that's relatively easy to control and able to keep in very small, contained areas.

The amount of oversight that it would take to keep a legalized prostitution/drug/sex-trafficking operation going without turning into a gang-run city is something that Detroit is incapable of, and to be fair, I don't think any city in the US could do it. I don't think the international red-light district cities are nearly as "clean, controlled" and "well run" as tourists imagine, I think most people would be shocked if they knew where their tourist-dollars were going to when they're letting loose in Amsterdam or Bangkok.

Afterall, wasn't it just a few months ago when they were threatening to take away the liquor licenses from the strip clubs in the city? This would take quite a reversal of thinking...

[southernnaturelover]

I was just "cruising" around Detriot on Google StreetView and all I can say is WOW! I knew it was bad, not quite that bad, many areas near downtown looked like a rural small town, sidewalks are barely even visible anymore. Where are the people who own all of the abandoned houses? Do they just throw their hands up and walk away? And what happens with the lots, does the city seize them?

[anyone101]

The best outcome would be to have diversified economy in multiple sectors. Even Seattle in 1970 was a near disaster because it was relying heavily on Boeing. Seattle, today, it is an upscale change becasue there are multiple industries besides Boeing and Microsoft. So if BOTH Boeing and Microsoft were to go the way of GM and Chrysler there are still others to pick up the slack like Fred Hutchison Cancer Research, Starbucks, Amazon, Nordstroms, U of Washington (a major university and almost ivy league status), Nintendo, T-Mobile USA, etc etc. An example of that is when Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC and sold to Chase at a bargain price life goes in the Seattle area. Can't say that about Detroit and when the auto industry went under so goes the city that depended heavily on it.

[Maxine3]

Originally Posted by anyone101

The best outcome would be to have diversified economy in multiple sectors. Even Seattle in 1970 was a near disaster because it was relying heavily on Boeing. Seattle, today, it is an upscale change becasue there are multiple industries besides Boeing and Microsoft. So if BOTH Boeing and Microsoft were to go the way of GM and Chrysler there are still others to pick up the slack like Fred Hutchison Cancer Research, Starbucks, Amazon, Nordstroms, U of Washington (a major university and almost ivy league status), Nintendo, T-Mobile USA, etc etc. An example of that is when Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC and sold to Chase at a bargain price life goes in the Seattle area. Can't say that about Detroit and when the auto industry went under so goes the city that depended heavily on it.

Detroit was a disaster long before the auto industry went down.