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I watched some videos on youtube showing Detroit's decay.
I was perplexed.
I would like to know why Detroit has become a Ghost City?
Why is Detroit in ruins??
I can not understand how politicians, society and the people, have allowed the city to die that way.
It's a lot of money thrown away with so many abandoned houses, buildinng and skyscrapers.
I watched some videos on youtube showing Detroit's decay.
I was perplexed.
I would like to know why Detroit has become a Ghost City?
Why is Detroit in ruins??
I can not understand how politicians, society and the people, have allowed the city to die that way.
It's a lot of money thrown away with so many abandoned houses, buildinng and skyscrapers.
Detroit was basically a one-industry town which picked up unwanted or unforseen competition from abroad over recent decades. Auto industry marketing was "stuck in its ways" with a captive market they thought they would never lose. City planners were lacking in vision, and comfortable with the auto industry status quo until things got out of hand.
City leaders were "administrators" but not "problem solvers" so the tax base deteriorated and nobody knew what to do about it. They were insular and tended to reject new ideas from outside as "too radical" so the trend continued.
Other industrial towns suffered the same fate, but were more diversified or just smaller and off the media's radar. Detroit was the "big kahuna" of manufacturing and suffered the greatest. That's part of it at least.
While it is true that the loss of jobs in the auto industry (to automation as well as imports) over the last three decades have hurt Detroit's fortunes, the auto industry is still, today a major economic engine (no pun intended) to the Detroit area and remains a major source of employment and tax revenue to the area. Assembly plants in the Detroit area produce the Ford F-150, Focus and Mustang, the Chevrolet Malibu and Volt, The Dodge Avenger and Durango, the Chrysler 200, the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Ram 1500 truck. The auto industry employs thousands in managerial and office jobs in the area, and the suppliers who make parts for vehicles all over the world contribute to the economy.
The key word when it comes to Detroit is the word area. Most of those jobs, and the employees themselves, are in the dozens of suburbs surrounding Detroit. The Detroit area has more than 4,000,000 people - with only about 650,000 currently living in Detroit itself. In the USA, many of the government services are provided by the individual cities, rather than by the state or federal governments. When the quality of life in one city falls below that of its neighbors, further problems are set into motion. Those with enough income will often move to other cities for better schools and less crime. With those of lower incomes and less expensive homes left in a city like Detroit, the city needs to increase its tax rate to make up for the shortfall, but that only leads to more people moving out, to a suburb with lower taxes, and the problems only get worse and worse, until the only people in left in a city are those who can't leave.
Race is also a bigger issue in USA than it is in Brazil. In the USA, especially in northern areas like Detroit, most areas have either very few black people or very few white people - Detroit is in the latter category, and many businesses will be reluctant to invest (and employ people) in areas that are mostly African-American. In Brazil, one finds people of all hues in all of its cities (true, the balance is different, with Salvador having more of an African population and Curitiba a more European population). Currently, the USA is only about 3% pardo.
So, while you may compare the Detroit area to São Paulo (and find that Detroit is much smaller and has far worse weather), you can't compare Detroit itself to any Brazilian city, much of Detroit is the favela of the Detroit metropolitan area (albeit with old site-built houses in poor repair, rather than homes built from boxes, and with near-universal access to water and electricity).
Last edited by 313 TUxedo; 05-18-2013 at 05:40 PM..
Reason: fix italic mode
I watched some videos on youtube showing Detroit's decay.
I was perplexed.
I would like to know why Detroit has become a Ghost City?
Why is Detroit in ruins??
I can not understand how politicians, society and the people, have allowed the city to die that way.
It's a lot of money thrown away with so many abandoned houses, buildinng and skyscrapers.
There are several u-tube contributors who are on a mission to bash the city by "touring" its slums and "educating" the viewers - that's what you saw. They are "snipers" with minds as bleak and vacant as the slums themselves - sometimes having a weird axe to grind, or just plain bullies with a camera and time on their hands. They take potshots without accountability from a place of safety (I think there is a word for this).
While sniping from afar, they can offer no solutions, and willingly leave that to someone else.
Unlike Rio which is surrounded by mountains which limit growth, Detroit is surrounded by flat, inexpensive farm land which allows for outward expansion. Also, unlike the widespread poverty in Rio, metropolitan Detroit has a big middle class which is able to afford to move further and further out. I believe at one time, Detroit had the highest per capita income of any city.
The car culture of Detroit (the "Motor City") strongly encouraged the suburbanization and extensive highway system, which allow people to live further from downtown. Many people work(ed) in the auto industry, so there was strong incentive for them to buy cars.
During WWII, there was a great demand for employees to work in the military factories. Many blacks came up from the south and were not welcome by the whites (to put it mildly). The whites moved out of the city into the suburbs. Detroit had race riots in 1943 and 1967.
When the highways were built in Detroit, they went through some of the worst areas, displacing the poor black people that were living there. These poor blacks were often relocated in middle-class white areas, which accelerated the desire of whites to leave the city ("white flight").
When the city of Detroit became majority black, Detroiters elected black politicians who were often hostile to white suburbanites (and vice-versa). This created a great divide between the city and the suburbs, exemplified by 8 Mile Road which served as a "dividing line" for some time. The lack of cooperation between the poor city and rich suburbs reduced the flow of money into the city.
When manufacturing was labor intensive, Detroit could keep many people employed. Over time, automation replaced human labor. This caused high employment and poverty.
Detroit had many large factories, some of which were over-built and thus are very expensive to tear down. Many of these factories are still standing and serve as big ugly eyesores and depressing reminders of Detroit's demise.
Many Detroiters have been involved in drugs and alcohol abuse which has destroyed families and communities, increased the crime rate, reduced the employability of Detroiters, increased the demands on the police department, etc.
A lot of the homes in Detroit are rented out to poor families and owned by absentee landlords, neither of whom seem interested in their upkeep. This causes those homes to deteriorate to the point they collapse or become drug houses or arson targets.
I'm not sure how it is in Brazil, but in America there is a strong subsidy of housing, which makes homes affordable and encorages home construction and the abandonment of old areas. Ironically, housing subsidies which make housing affordable for poorer people only contributes to the abandonment of the inner city.
Unlike Rio which is surrounded by mountains which limit growth, Detroit is surrounded by flat, inexpensive farm land which allows for outward expansion. Also, unlike the widespread poverty in Rio, metropolitan Detroit has a big middle class which is able to afford to move further and further out. I believe at one time, Detroit had the highest per capita income of any city.
The car culture of Detroit (the "Motor City") strongly encouraged the suburbanization and extensive highway system, which allow people to live further from downtown. Many people work(ed) in the auto industry, so there was strong incentive for them to buy cars.
During WWII, there was a great demand for employees to work in the military factories. Many blacks came up from the south and were not welcome by the whites (to put it mildly). The whites moved out of the city into the suburbs. Detroit had race riots in 1943 and 1967.
When the highways were built in Detroit, they went through some of the worst areas, displacing the poor black people that were living there. These poor blacks were often relocated in middle-class white areas, which accelerated the desire of whites to leave the city ("white flight").
When the city of Detroit became majority black, Detroiters elected black politicians who were often hostile to white suburbanites (and vice-versa). This created a great divide between the city and the suburbs, exemplified by 8 Mile Road which served as a "dividing line" for some time. The lack of cooperation between the poor city and rich suburbs reduced the flow of money into the city.
When manufacturing was labor intensive, Detroit could keep many people employed. Over time, automation replaced human labor. This caused high employment and poverty.
Detroit had many large factories, some of which were over-built and thus are very expensive to tear down. Many of these factories are still standing and serve as big ugly eyesores and depressing reminders of Detroit's demise.
Many Detroiters have been involved in drugs and alcohol abuse which has destroyed families and communities, increased the crime rate, reduced the employability of Detroiters, increased the demands on the police department, etc.
A lot of the homes in Detroit are rented out to poor families and owned by absentee landlords, neither of whom seem interested in their upkeep. This causes those homes to deteriorate to the point they collapse or become drug houses or arson targets.
I'm not sure how it is in Brazil, but in America there is a strong subsidy of housing, which makes homes affordable and encorages home construction and the abandonment of old areas. Ironically, housing subsidies which make housing affordable for poorer people only contributes to the abandonment of the inner city.
Thank you for your explanation Retroit.
Now I understand "the mechanism" of Detroit's deterioration.
Even so I think it is very sad to see a place that was once so prosperous and be in ruins today, occupied by drug dealers and drug addicts.
Here in Rio de Janeiro we have many areas so also and I think so depressing.
Are there by politicians, any plans to relive the damaged areas of the city?
Despite the conflict between Whites and Blacks, I still think the biggest are the politicians. Everything bad that happens in any city, state or country, is always fault of their politicians.
Thank you for your explanation Retroit.
Now I understand "the mechanism" of Detroit's deterioration.
Even so I think it is very sad to see a place that was once so prosperous and be in ruins today, occupied by drug dealers and drug addicts.
Here in Rio de Janeiro we have many areas so also and I think so depressing.
Are there by politicians, any plans to relive the damaged areas of the city?
Despite the conflict between Whites and Blacks, I still think the biggest are the politicians. Everything bad that happens in any city, state or country, is always fault of their politicians.
The politicians are easy scape goats. But what about the people that elect the politicians? The politicians come from the people. If there are no good people willing to run, you can't get good politicians. Who's fault is it if good people don't run for office?
Then you have to realize that the elected politicians are not the only ones in government. The government is filled with people who have no incentive to do a good job. The unionized workers are the worst. How much control do the elected officials have over the workforce? ...often very little because of all the union rules. If the government was a private company, most of the workers would be fired.
Then there is the money problem. A great politician has his/her hands tied if there is declining tax revenue. And a mediocre politician can look good if he/she has surplus revenue to throw around.
I really think that much of the blame needs to go to the citizens. If the residents maintained good families and neighborhoods, it wouldn't matter if the politicians and government were deficient. The government should really only have to step in as a last resort to correct the occasional citizen stepping out of line. It shouldn't have to teach people how to live. Once it gets to that point, there really isn't much the government can do.
As for your question about plans to revive damaged areas: Yes, many plans have come and gone. Usually they are just cosmetic projects that don't have much lasting effect.
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