Detroit Council votes to demolish Michigan Central Depot, charge owner

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by emu5088

I also want to know how well patrolled is this place by police and what is the penalty for being caught trespassing?

Never been to Detrit before ? It shows/ The police response time in many areas is over an hour for a serious crime. The criminal justice system cannot seem to punish robbers, drug dealers and gang bangers. Trespassers are about as likely to get punished as J-walkers.

the train station is a wreck of a building. It is fenced off and surrounded by cracked pavement overgrown with weeds. There are holes cut int he fence to allow access for vagrants and the adventurous. You can take your own tour, but do not go at night and it may be a good idea to go in a group or bring a (legal) weapon. If you go in, you will be trespassing. Maybe you get stuck ont he unlucky day when a passing officer ahs nothign better to do.

You can "tour" the station on line. Thre is a website somewhere that has pictures of every floor. The building is a wreck inside. There is a little bit left that maybe worth restoring, everything else will have to be replaced (hopefully by replicating the original). The building is really neat looking outside, even in its present state of decay. You first not how pretty the building is as you approach, then when you get closer, you are amazed by seeing a building of that size with no windows.

[Vicman]

Look,

we need private police forces. Some rich guy could establish a private security force, and the forces can arrest people if they commit a crime. DPD can't tell the private police to not arrest people, as DPD isn't doing its job!

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Never been to Detrit before ? It shows/ The police response time in many areas is over an hour for a serious crime. The criminal justice system cannot seem to punish robbers, drug dealers and gang bangers. Trespassers are about as likely to get punished as J-walkers.

the train station is a wreck of a building. It is fenced off and surrounded by cracked pavement overgrown with weeds. There are holes cut int he fence to allow access for vagrants and the adventurous. You can take your own tour, but do not go at night and it may be a good idea to go in a group or bring a (legal) weapon. If you go in, you will be trespassing. Maybe you get stuck ont he unlucky day when a passing officer ahs nothign better to do.

You can "tour" the station on line. Thre is a website somewhere that has pictures of every floor. The building is a wreck inside. There is a little bit left that maybe worth restoring, everything else will have to be replaced (hopefully by replicating the original). The building is really neat looking outside, even in its present state of decay. You first not how pretty the building is as you approach, then when you get closer, you are amazed by seeing a building of that size with no windows.

[Coldjensens]

The owner of the building has a private security force. HE uses them to keep people out of a Detroit City park that he wants to claim as his own under the guise of keeping the ambassador bridge secure (notwithstnading the fact that you wan walk right under uit on a public sidewalk). There is no reason that his security goons cannot keep people out of the depot.


One trick of landbarons in cities is to allow or cause blight in the buildings or areas that they own. THen they get a green light to do whatever dvelopment they want to and get touted as heros for cleaning up the blight (that they caused). Perhaps there is some advantage to leaving the depot blighted. Now if he wants to tear it down, he will be a hero rather than a paraiah for doing so. If he had torn it down years ago, he woudl be villified for destroying a historic icon. If he tears it down now, the council will be happy. I have no idea whether that is what is happeneing here, but it is a common tactic of developers in cities who expect to run into trouble getting what they want approved. I do nto know whether a lot of the destruction occurred under his ownership and failure to secure the building, or whether it occurred earlier. The condition certainly has not improved in recent years.

[uggabugga]

Businessman Manuel (Matty) Moroun is proposing to sell the dilapidated Michigan Central Depot to the United States government for redevelopment.

Moroun's Detroit International Bridge Company issued a statement today saying it would submit its proposal to the U.S. General Services Administration next week for GSA to acquire and develop the site.

not sure why the GSA would want to buy it.

[emu5088]

ok thanks for the help

[Bluefly]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090407/METRO/904070421/Detroit+Council+votes+to+demolish+Michigan+Central +Depot++charge+owner (broken link)

Council: Tear down depot on owner's dime



http://www.freep.com/article/20090407/NEWS01/90407070/Council++Tear+down+depot+on+owner+s+dime (broken link)

Idiots. Absolute idiots run that city.

I've lived in DC. For many years, Union Station was a derelict, abandoned eyesore for the city right next to the Capitol building.

Loe and behold, they refurbished it, invested in mass and rail transit, and what do you know. It's one of the landmarks of the city.

I realized Detroit doesn't have the vibrancy, international flair, and stable economy that DC has, but come on. Ignorant idiots run that city. Same geniuses that destroyed Rivertown, a potentially vibrant and funky nightlife destination similar to Cleveland's flats.

Nope.