Detroit of yesteryear VS Detroit today..what happened?

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

Maybe, maybe not.

Most major cities in the US have watched the disaster called Detroit unfold and have taken steps to prevent the same thing from happening in their towns.

However the ultimate grim reaper is demographics. People ain't makin' babies like they used to. And that behavior is becoming global, rapidly.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

However the ultimate grim reaper is demographics. People ain't makin' babies like they used to. And that behavior is becoming global, rapidly.

Pfft, I can't tell. I was in Detroit the other day and pretty much everyone under 25 has at least one 5-year old kid.

But yea, definitely, it seems those outside of poverty are making less babies at older ages.

[Fenrir2008]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

That movie was awful. The funniest part was when it showed them playing hockey--as if people from Michigan just have their hockey sticks in the corner, ready for a game like other people play baseball.

Although there was some pick-up hockey in Detroit at one time.

Funny you mention that because I actually do have a hockey stick in the corner of my room.

[313 TUxedo]

Originally Posted by ram2

The first city that came to mind was Chicago, especially the parts about corruption and racism. Yet somehow the city of Chicago is perceived the opposite of Detroit.

Which is an inaccurate perception. Though most of Chicago is much better off than Detroit proper, many of the same ills that afflict Detroit are found in the southern third of Chicago. The best parts of Chicago have their own challenges, with a very high cost of living, and little "peace and quiet", the boom has been built on adults without children, thus Chicago will always have to depend on drawing new residents from outside the city to maintain itself.

A lot of Chicago's suburbs have ALL the same ills as Detroit (Highland Park is the only Detroit suburb that compares).

[313 TUxedo]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Pfft, I can't tell. I was in Detroit the other day and pretty much everyone under 25 has at least one 5-year old kid.
<snip>.

That's because the girls who had babies in their teens are the ones that got stuck in Detroit.

[313 TUxedo]

Originally Posted by MarvinStrong313

What is the point of someone putting up a negative billboard like that??

So that someone driving by would call the billboard company, asking the same question you did, and the billboard company could sell them billboard space, citing the fact that the potential customer saw the billboard and called them as proof outdoor advertising works.

[Monsieur Boston]

Originally Posted by 313 TUxedo

So that someone driving by would call the billboard company, asking the same question you did, and the billboard company could sell them billboard space, citing the fact that the potential customer saw the billboard and called them as proof outdoor advertising works.

Or to draw attention to the fact that cities should not be built around one industry/company. Kind of a "got ya thinking" type of thing. My two cents, anyway.

[Blue Grass Fever]

Originally Posted by confusedasusual

As a child, my grandfather worked for Chrysler. When I was very little, we visited the grandparents in Sterling Heights. When he became an exec, they bought a house in Grosse Pointe. I am in my 30s, so this was some time ago.

I remember going with them to museums and cultural events in the city and really enjoying it. I never gave a whole lot of thought to Detroit, other than these memories and some layovers as an adult in what seems to be a very nice airport.

The other night I was watching TV and came across a goofy "extreme" reality show about a pawn shop in 8 Mile Rd. I flipped the channels and caught an old episode of Animal Cops where they were rescuing puppies used as dogfighting bait. Now, I know that cable TV is not the be-all end all of accurate depictions, but I started really to wonder-- what is going on in Detroit? Can some locals weigh in on the current state of the city? I know this is a big, complicated question, but I am curious to hear from some local perspective.

To oversimplify, think of an old western mining town that went from boom-to-bust.

There you have it, Detroit in a nutshell.