Detroit a disaster. (Troy, Jackson, Wayne: houses, rental, vacation)

[washata]

I was listening to the Hanity show today and former speaker of the house Newt was on, he said that Detroit was a disaster that we did not want the rest of the country to follow.
I guess Detroit just can not catch a break. LOL

[1eyedjack]

Originally Posted by washata

I was listening to the Hanity show today and former speaker of the house Newt was on, he said that Detroit was a disaster that we did not want the rest of the country to follow.
I guess Detroit just can not catch a break. LOL

Ah the FINE,QUALITY, and HONEST leadership they have in that city will straighten it out.

[natterer]

I think the question should be phrased like this: Imagine that you are building a new city. Now you are told that your city, upon completion, will look like today's Detroit.

You'd consider that a disaster, no?

[malamute]

Originally Posted by disney$ucks

No one in their right mind goes to Detroit to vacation. It is and was an industrial city. Now that industry is leaving for the south US and overseas it will just die a slow death.
It is an ugly city with nothing to offer. Maybe there can be a tour of how things used to be.
You have a president that gives contracts to buddies, and sends contracts to airbus of france for military planes.
Does not even know that gas is high when asked, and says the country is not going into recession. Any one who votes Republican votes aganinst his own interest unless you are one of the top bush grubbers in the country. Just yesterday Limbaugh said that health care is not a right it is a privlage. Nest time your kid is sick and you need help, Remember it is a privlage not a right. People who vote republican need a labotamy.

I didn't know Detroit is a Republican city.

[cardwellave]

It is DEFINITELY not. Not Detroit proper. Oakland county has a lot of Republicans but Wayne County is blue all the way.

[Cliffie]

Livingston County is pretty Republican too.

Detroit is a disaster at the moment, but when the auto industry was on the rise it was the best place in the country to live. Tons of jobs, houses going up everywhere, the future's so bright we gotta wear shades, etc. But we put all our eggs in one basket, and put all our car companies in one freakin' city, like a bunch of mooks.

I think a step in the right direction would be to get the villagers out there with their torches and pitchforks, and send Detroit's mayor on, um, "sabbatical," forever. A guy like that should not be drawing a huge paycheck when his constituents are eating out of dumpsters.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Detroit can be saved, but I think the downtown area needs some improvement, then maybe the rest of the city will see some improvement.

And I hear a lot of complaints about Hannity (sp?).

[esluv]

Kwame needs to quietly and calmly resign. Unfortunately, he just keeps running his damn mouth. Has anyone noticed his bizzare habit of saying things that everyone else knows is an absolute fabrication and how similar this behavior is to Bush Jr. A few months ago I started to notice that Kwame and George are pretty much politicians cut from the same cloth. At first glance you might think no, not at all. Kwame is Black, Bush is white, Kwame is the Hip Hop mayor, Bush is WASP guy who trys to act like Texan guy, Kwame is a Democrat, Bush a Republican. If you ignore these initial surface attributes, if instead you focus on their public speaking behavior, and their complete indifference to their constituents, well......they could be twin brothers. Each uttering lies, and behaving badly while being completely out of touch with what life is like for the majority of the people they represent.

My 2 cents

[Drover]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

Detroit can be saved, but I think the downtown area needs some improvement, then maybe the rest of the city will see some improvement.

And I hear a lot of complaints about Hannity (sp?).

I haven't been to Detroit (yet), but to hear from people who have, there have been substantial improvements to the downtown area over the last decade or so. But it's not so easy to translate that into improvements for the donut of crumbling poverty all around the downtown area. The main beneficiaries of downtown improvement have been people who whisk right past the impoverished parts on expressways on their way to work or play downtown. Very little of that benefit has radiated outward.

[HappyNCGirl]

Best thing that ever happened to me is that I married a man from the Detroit area! We've been married almost 6 years, and live in NC.

His parents, and grandparents were raised in the city. His paternal grandfather helped with the construction of the Eaton Tower in downtown Detroit, back in the 1920's. His maternal grandfather was a business man with an office downtown. His step-grandfather worked for Customs in downtown Detroit for many years.

His parents moved to Troy more than 40 years ago. When we go visit, they are so good about taking me into Detroit and showing me around. This past visit, we went downtown to the Ren Center, attended a ballgame, ate dinner in Greek Town, walked along the river, etc. We visited lots of other places that were interesting to me.

I was of course very aware of how "empty" and abandoned looking much of downtown Detroit is. Really sad situation.

On a separate note - would you believe that my favorite vacation week of my life was spent in Michigan? It's true! After my husband and I married, we went to Michigan so I could meet the rest of his family. After visiting the family in Detroit and Troy, we spent a week driving around Michigan, as I had never set foot in the state. We stayed in Walloon Lake area which was great. Then onto Traverse City for the Cherry Festival, explored Petoskey, and those other cute little towns within driving distance. I can think of the names but don't remember how to spell "Charlavoy" (that's not the correct sp. is it!!). We went to the giant sand dunes (Sleeping Bear?), visited Mackinac Island, the falls in the upper part of Michigan, and a whole lot of other places. We put 1000 miles on the rental car in less than a week. It was in July of 2002. The weather was great, not too hot, lovely blue skies. My husband somehow always manages to get me to Michigan when the weather is fanastic. He says he doesn't want to disallusion me as to how gray and yukky it can be!.

We've vacationed in Europe, Napa Valley, and a bazillion other places. But that week exploring Michigan is still my favorite vacation. I've come to love the state, and fervently hope someone or some group can develop a viable plan for reinvigorating Detroit as well as the rest of the state. Seems like a huge, complicated task that would take someone with uncommon foresight and abilities!

I'm originally from the small coastal city of Wilmington, NC. The entire economy of the county Wilmington is located in suffered a near fatal blow when the railroad moved their headquarters to Jacksonville, FL in the 1950's. The railroad was the backbone of the economy for the entire Wilmington area. In the hopes of never allowing such a calamitous economic event from happening again. the Committee of 100 was formed. This diverse group of 100 was given the task of researching, then formulating a plan to bring a broad spectrum of businesses to the area. It took many, many years to implement but was ultimately very effective.

Of course Detroit is many times larger in size, so I'm guessing it would take a committee of more than 100 to figure out solutions!