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Why don't they tear down the huge hollow shell (old train station) in the middle of the city that is the poster child for abandoned cities? Detroit is a disaster with very few areas worth saving.
The Michigan Central Station is NOT in the middle of the city. In fact one of the main reasons why it closed is because it was a very poor location to begin with. It was sited where it is in an effort to "stretch" downtown back in the day.
Since Detroit was the motor city, one of the earliest cities where the car started to shape its geography, there was an effort to disperse its economic activity. Thats what the whole New Center was. Americas first edge city. If the train station was right in downtown it most likely would NOT be abandoned today. But it stands as it is a national historic landmark, and so there is a lot of controversy about tearing it down.
Like others mentioned, there are LOTS of areas worth saving: Google streetview the neighborhoods of Downtown, Wayne State, Woodbridge, West Canfield, East Ferry, Indian Village, the Cultural Center, Palmer Woods, Boston Edison, North Rosedale Park, Corktown.
One can make a fortune, if they went around to showing picture to people asking whether this was Detroit or (fill in the blank popular city) and if you guessed wrong you owe me a nickel. I should do that.
I realized you were being facetious....so was I. hey, a little humor never hurts.
Ah, yes, the Renaissaince Center. That was the big deal. I remember going with my mother, being very impressed, but still, we chose to go during the daytime. Well, after 2-3 visits, it got old, there's only so much you can do there. the, I think within the first year it opened, there was a horrible murder in one of the ladies bathrooms, someone stabbed to death in the semicircular winding hallway going in to the restroom. Well, after that, it ceased to be a tourist attraction. Its main purpose,anyways, was to lease out office space, but that soon dropped off. I believe originally they offered excellent lease terms just to attract tennants. But after 1-2 years, they decided not to renew. It just wasn't worth the hassle, the security was lacking, couldn't get tennants, couldn't attract workers, shoppers and customers shied away. It sat half occupied for a long time........don't know about now.
Also, the revival of Greektown, and the people mover. I remember my mother and I having a blast, going up and down the quaint little shops, the restaurants---we decided to eat at a different one each visit, then top it off with a ride on the People Mover. Until one time we were down there a little too late in the evening, got "stalked" by a group of teens on the People Mover asking for change, felt uncomfortable. Then, we started reading about muggings there, decided we'd had enough Greek food.
It all comes back to CRIME. You simply can't attract people to an area, regardless of how intriguing it is, if they don't feel safe coming and going. Oh, almost forgot.....the tried reviving the BobLo Boat sometime late 70's, I remember friends going on it. Then, one day there was a riot on board, fighting, fires broke out..........after that, the BobLo boat decreased in popularity until now its in dry dock. I remember many a fine summer afternoon spent on BobLo as a kid, shame we can't do the same with our kids, but that's what its all about----crime drives people away. Why Detroit is such a haven for crime I don't know. all I know is, I got sick of constantly looking over my shoulder and almost being afraid to fall asleep at night. I had an opportunity to leave and took it, never regretted it. I had a life to live, I wanted to live it in some relative peace.
that's the whole point---people have choices. Few will decide to stay in a crime-infested city when they have options. Look at the deomographics---people have been fleeing Detroit for years. Sorry, no one's sticking around for the marvelous People Mover, greektown, etc.
All cities have crime. In fact Detroits crime rate is lower than it used to be, largely because many areas have been depopulated. Its actually very likely that 2/3 of Chicago (the west and south sides) might have more crime because although blighted are more populated than many of these areas in Detroit. Crime is still a major problem, but abandoned buildings and big vacant fields are not necessarily more dangerous. (Just think of the mob (by that I don't mean mafia) attacks that have been happening around the Magnificent Mile.
Thats what you get when you have stark socioeconomic differences in 1/3 of the city versus the other three.
Location: Detroit's eastside, downtown Detroit in near future!
2,053 posts, read 4,374,999 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MaryleeII
Naaaaaahh.....really you think it could work? Tear down all the blighted areas, pump govt money into fixing it up nice, and.....people will want to live there again? Really........
there's only one way Detroit will ever come back, and that's by getting rid of the crime. I fled Detroit years ago, am even afraid to visit my parents' graves. Now that's saying something! Many cities in this country have problems, crime, blight, etc, but Detroit is the only city that simply died! RIP!
thnaks for feeling the need to repeatedly tell us how scared you are of visiting your parents graves smh dig them up and move them already instead of coming to the "Detroit" forum to find another way to bash the city. We have enough bashers we don't need you, thank you. FYI Detroit hasn't died, and if it was dead why are you commenting on us? you left physically but obviously we're still on your mind
Here’s an idea. Instead of tearing down irreplaceable architecture, MOVE salvageable bldgs to a “district”, a district of lost historic architecture. A district on now-vacant land reserved and used for various dwelling/business purposes. Fill up some urban prairie near downtown. Give occupants tax breaks, incentives, whatever. Demolish only the uninspired un-historic.
They moved the Gem. What would it cost to move smaller bldgs? Could this “district” become an attraction in the future, maybe generating tourist income and inspiring more growth? Remember these structures are irreplaceable, and no one will ever consider reproducing them, and why would they anyway.
I just love how people have been conditioned to crap on people who don't make a lot of money. Relocating someone from an old dilapidated house to a newer one half the age in a more intact neighborhood is not what I would call "taking a crap on" them...more like a hand up. I'm generally not a fan of eminent domain, but a few people who don't take care of their 100 year old home shouldn't be able to hold a whole neighborhood (or what's left of it) hostage. No sane developer is going to build brand new homes around a piece-of-crap house. The way things are going, a lot these same people will be in the same spot as their homes are taken and their jobs/benefits are taken away. That may be true, but will they move Detroit? Detroit needs to attract people. Should it attract poor or non-poor? Maybe when that happens, they'll see how ridiculous they were being.
Detroit needs and infusion of five hundred thousand to a million people. And how do we attract those people? Most people that can afford to move want to move to someplace better than where they are currently living. Would Detroit fit that description? Hard to bring these people in when they are losing jobs wherever they are. Are those the people you want to attract? Doesn't Detroit have enough poor people? Isn't that the reason Detroit can't afford to maintain itself? And trust me, Detroit is not the place to come for jobs. Yes, I realize we are only now starting to recover from the recent recession, but I'm talking about long term planning. Eventually the economy will recover and homes will be built in metro Detroit. So do we want those homes built at 30 Mile Road or in the City of D? So lay off the folks who have chosen to stay or can't afford to leave. And they would be more than welcome to stay in the city, just be relocated to another neighborhood that isn't in such bad shape. They don't deserve to be kicked out of their homes...I realize that it is a traumatic experience for many of these old people who are very attached to their home and surroundings, but by not relocating them they are holding entire areas hostage, which is very traumatic for the rest of the city... to make way for developments that have no guarantee of success.
Actually, some of the higher end developments have been successful. Housing for poor has repeatedly proven to be unsuccessful though. Compare Douglas-Brewster to Lafayette Park for long-term examples. When you cater to the poor, that's what you get...more poor. When you cater to the non-poor, you bring in people who can actually contribute to the tax base instead of always drawing down on it.
The only solution to poverty is for the poor to work themselves out of it. Giving them handouts (housing in this case) only exacerbates the problem. Obviously, there are exceptions (people with great physical or mental handicaps or the very elderly); I realize that we all have an obligation to help those. But there is more than enough vacant housing in Detroit to house any poor people that need to be relocated. It's not like they'll be kicked on the street, or even worse, relocated to a nice non-poor area where they bring the housing values down (like what was done in past to make way for projects like Lafayette Park and the building of the expressways).
thnaks for feeling the need to repeatedly tell us how scared you are of visiting your parents graves smh dig them up and move them already instead of coming to the "Detroit" forum to find another way to bash the city. We have enough bashers we don't need you, thank you. FYI Detroit hasn't died, and if it was dead why are you commenting on us? you left physically but obviously we're still on your mind
You're quite right----Detroit is still "on my mind". also, on a lot of people's minds, that grew up there. I left physically, because that was the only realistic choice I had then (hey, its my life). But, it was my childhood home, I grew up there. Many people leave their first home, go out into the world, etc, but still have an attachment for the area they grew up in. At least they can go back, if only for a visit.
However, that's not an option for me, or any of the folks I grew up with. That area simply doesn't exist anymore, or, if it does, its too crime-ridden to venture into. I wish I could take my children back, just to show them where I used to live, my street, my old school, church, parks, playgrounds, stores, etc---hey, they even imploded Hudsons, which was a gathering place for many, including my mother and her contemporaries. Its simply all gone now!
I feel like a refugee from a war zone, which in some respects I am. I was chatting with a lady from iran,she feels the same way, there's simply nothing left to go back to. Yet, like you say, Slappy, its still on our minds. I wonder how old you are? Perhaps you're not quite at the age where "going back" is important, perhaps you're still going forward. But there does reach a day when we all want to make a "trip home" just to complete the circle. Then, when its logistically impossible (because it doesn't exist), well, it leaves a little hole in your heart.
For Slappy, and others, sounds like your life is happy now. Take tons of pictures, pictures of the everyday, the mundane, someday it might be all you have left. I'm making a little scrapbook of my pictures of the old neighborhood, for my own sake, and to give to my kids. At least we can go home in our minds!
And about the cemetery, look, I'm not the only one afraid of those cemeteries. Like I've said before, its not because its a cemetery, personally, I don't believe in ghosts. Like my dad used to say, dead people won't hurt you, its the live ones you have to watch out for! Be that as it may, there has been so much crime in those cemeteries along Van Dyke many people are actually disinterring their loved ones and re burying them in places they feel comfortable visitng. I'm not the only one!
Location: Detroit's eastside, downtown Detroit in near future!
2,053 posts, read 4,374,999 times
Reputation: 699
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaryleeII
You're quite right----Detroit is still "on my mind". also, on a lot of people's minds, that grew up there. I left physically, because that was the only realistic choice I had then (hey, its my life). But, it was my childhood home, I grew up there. Many people leave their first home, go out into the world, etc, but still have an attachment for the area they grew up in. At least they can go back, if only for a visit.
However, that's not an option for me, or any of the folks I grew up with. That area simply doesn't exist anymore, or, if it does, its too crime-ridden to venture into. I wish I could take my children back, just to show them where I used to live, my street, my old school, church, parks, playgrounds, stores, etc---hey, they even imploded Hudsons, which was a gathering place for many, including my mother and her contemporaries. Its simply all gone now!
I feel like a refugee from a war zone, which in some respects I am. I was chatting with a lady from iran,she feels the same way, there's simply nothing left to go back to. Yet, like you say, Slappy, its still on our minds. I wonder how old you are? Perhaps you're not quite at the age where "going back" is important, perhaps you're still going forward. But there does reach a day when we all want to make a "trip home" just to complete the circle. Then, when its logistically impossible (because it doesn't exist), well, it leaves a little hole in your heart.
For Slappy, and others, sounds like your life is happy now. Take tons of pictures, pictures of the everyday, the mundane, someday it might be all you have left. I'm making a little scrapbook of my pictures of the old neighborhood, for my own sake, and to give to my kids. At least we can go home in our minds!
And about the cemetery, look, I'm not the only one afraid of those cemeteries. Like I've said before, its not because its a cemetery, personally, I don't believe in ghosts. Like my dad used to say, dead people won't hurt you, its the live ones you have to watch out for! Be that as it may, there has been so much crime in those cemeteries along Van Dyke many people are actually disinterring their loved ones and re burying them in places they feel comfortable visitng. I'm not the only one!
girl bye, nobody is looking to harm you for anything, especially for going to visit your parents. There is crime everywhere so you can save your pathetic excuse for continuing to come on here with your negative attitude. Like I said, if you're that scared smh move them and you wont have to worry about us. The average Detroiter is going on with their live and not worried about harming somebody for no reason. I group up over there, my family is from that area and still lives there. Funny part about it so many of those people probably have more money in their pockets than you would.
You're quite right----Detroit is still "on my mind". also, on a lot of people's minds, that grew up there. I left physically, because that was the only realistic choice I had then (hey, its my life). But, it was my childhood home, I grew up there. Many people leave their first home, go out into the world, etc, but still have an attachment for the area they grew up in. At least they can go back, if only for a visit.
However, that's not an option for me, or any of the folks I grew up with. That area simply doesn't exist anymore, or, if it does, its too crime-ridden to venture into. I wish I could take my children back, just to show them where I used to live, my street, my old school, church, parks, playgrounds, stores, etc---hey, they even imploded Hudsons, which was a gathering place for many, including my mother and her contemporaries. Its simply all gone now!
I feel like a refugee from a war zone, which in some respects I am. I was chatting with a lady from iran,she feels the same way, there's simply nothing left to go back to. Yet, like you say, Slappy, its still on our minds. I wonder how old you are? Perhaps you're not quite at the age where "going back" is important, perhaps you're still going forward. But there does reach a day when we all want to make a "trip home" just to complete the circle. Then, when its logistically impossible (because it doesn't exist), well, it leaves a little hole in your heart.
For Slappy, and others, sounds like your life is happy now. Take tons of pictures, pictures of the everyday, the mundane, someday it might be all you have left. I'm making a little scrapbook of my pictures of the old neighborhood, for my own sake, and to give to my kids. At least we can go home in our minds!
And about the cemetery, look, I'm not the only one afraid of those cemeteries. Like I've said before, its not because its a cemetery, personally, I don't believe in ghosts. Like my dad used to say, dead people won't hurt you, its the live ones you have to watch out for! Be that as it may, there has been so much crime in those cemeteries along Van Dyke many people are actually disinterring their loved ones and re burying them in places they feel comfortable visitng. I'm not the only one!
You quote Detroitlove and then name me? WTF...ma'am.
And yes, you are ridiculous. Leave your parents alone. To disinter them because you are scared to go to their grave in broad daylight? Are you sure you simply don't care enough about visiting their graves?
I'm old enough to miss things that are gone. That said, I'm mature enough to know things are not and will not remain the same simply because I want them to. I'm not that childish. Take pictures and cherish your memories. That's what you should do. Going on and on about how Detroit has changed when the reality is, it's the color of the folks more than anything, that you don't like is lame. I hope you can admit to what's really going on in your heart even if you won't in text.
I was standing on the roof of Trapper's Alley when the Hudson's came down. I had to run to escape the dust cloud. I can't remember going into Hudsons but I might have as a very small child. I more remember it for being a closed and decaying hulk that was of no use except to block some of the suns rays on the homeless people in the park who never bothered me.
To cry about that building coming down is stupid. And yet people complain about old and abandoned buildings making Detroit look crappy. Well progress comes...even to Detroit.
I'm rambling. I do that. Point is, you can't stand in the way of change just because YOU want things to stay a certain way. Throwing a hissy fit about it and bashing a city because it's not the way you want it to be reflects badly on you and those who raised you. Leave them in the ground. If they chose to be buried there then respect their wishes.
Location: Detroit's eastside, downtown Detroit in near future!
2,053 posts, read 4,374,999 times
Reputation: 699
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slappy san
You quote Detroitlove and then name me? WTF...ma'am.
And yes, you are ridiculous. Leave your parents alone. To disinter them because you are scared to go to their grave in broad daylight? Are you sure you simply don't care enough about visiting their graves?
I'm old enough to miss things that are gone. That said, I'm mature enough to know things are not and will not remain the same simply because I want them to. I'm not that childish. Take pictures and cherish your memories. That's what you should do. Going on and on about how Detroit has changed when the reality is, it's the color of the folks more than anything, that you don't like is lame. I hope you can admit to what's really going on in your heart even if you won't in text.
I was standing on the roof of Trapper's Alley when the Hudson's came down. I had to run to escape the dust cloud. I can't remember going into Hudsons but I might have as a very small child. I more remember it for being a closed and decaying hulk that was of no use except to block some of the suns rays on the homeless people in the park who never bothered me.
To cry about that building coming down is stupid. And yet people complain about old and abandoned buildings making Detroit look crappy. Well progress comes...even to Detroit.
I'm rambling. I do that. Point is, you can't stand in the way of change just because YOU want things to stay a certain way. Throwing a hissy fit about it and bashing a city because it's not the way you want it to be reflects badly on you and those who raised you. Leave them in the ground. If they chose to be buried there then respect their wishes.
well said Slappy San. Esp the bolded, I was thinking the same thing. I don't understand why everyone thinks that if you're not black black people are out to get you lmao but no seriously in broad daylight? I doubt anyone is going to go into the cemetary to rob/harm anyone. Funny because I see people of all races visiting family graves in the cemetary on Outer Drive and 6Mile. I guess they didn't get the memo lmao
I say again, have the people on welfare/unemployment work on renovation/demolition projects throughout the city to earn their paycheck from the government.
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you think it could work? Tear down all the blighted areas, pump govt money into fixing it up nice, and.....people will want to live there again?
