[michigan83]

Just an observation here...

Took a drive down Saginaw highway from downtown Lansing, west to I-96 a few days ago, and the current recession seemed to really hit home in a visual way for the first time. I don't drive through there a lot, so it's easy for me to compare that same stretch to what I saw 5-10 years ago.

What I saw: A massive GM plant that is now empty and nearly torn down. Storefront after storefront that was "for lease." Empty small office buildings everywhere. Stopped at the Lansing mall... lots of vacant space. Kinda quiet and eerie too.

It's crazy to compare that to my memories of 5-10 years ago. W. Saginaw was the typical thriving, sprawled, busy commercial strip that can be found in any midsize city. Nothing special, but very healthy. Now... a little depressing to drive through there.

[alliteration]

Eh, I don't think its really all that bad. The factories have been vacant for years and needed to be cleaned up. South of 496 at MLK they tore down all the ones there, and it actually looks a lot better, except now there is all this open vacant space along the river running up to the Board of Water and Light station. It has changed a bit in the past few years, but there are far more depressing placesin this city, like the southside.

[cbmsu01]

Originally Posted by michigan83

Just an observation here...

Took a drive down Saginaw highway from downtown Lansing, west to I-96 a few days ago, and the current recession seemed to really hit home in a visual way for the first time. I don't drive through there a lot, so it's easy for me to compare that same stretch to what I saw 5-10 years ago.

What I saw: A massive GM plant that is now empty and nearly torn down. Storefront after storefront that was "for lease." Empty small office buildings everywhere. Stopped at the Lansing mall... lots of vacant space. Kinda quiet and eerie too.

It's crazy to compare that to my memories of 5-10 years ago. W. Saginaw was the typical thriving, sprawled, busy commercial strip that can be found in any midsize city. Nothing special, but very healthy. Now... a little depressing to drive through there.

I think that GM plant closed about 3 years ago if I'm not mistaken.

There does seem to be a noticeable increase in vacant space, and it's almost depressing, although I'm seeing this in a lot of places (not just in Michigan.)

[Bullmoose]

I think the rust belt area is having a lot of trouble now. But, so is Tucson, and we are in the sun belt. They are going to close a bunch of car dealerships here very shortly. It is kind of scary and depressing. We have many vacant, derelict houses(old and new), rentals(whole complexes too), stores, etc.