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Old 12-30-2009, 07:10 PM
 
4,861 posts, read 9,266,505 times
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I don't know if any of you saw it, but a reporter from Fox 2 news in Detroit, Brad Edwards, did a half hour special this past summer about people who died in Detroit and whose bodies were taken to a city morgue and left frozen because no one identified or claimed their bodies. One of the bodies, after an investigation by Mr. Edwards, was found to be that of a Marable Chanin, aged 88 at the time of her death, who lived on Robinwood St. right off of Woodward in Detroit. As part of the story, the news crew showed the block of Robinwood where Marable lived. At the time of her death, she was basically the only person left on the entire block, every other house was boarded up, or beyond being boarded up and literally tumbling down. Weeds were waist high along the entire block. It was very creepy.

The story piqued my interest and, not being familiar with that area of the city, I looked it up to see exactly where the street is located. Here is the irony: Robinwood St. is located right across Woodward from Palmer Park Golf Course and the Detroit Golf Club. Again, this piqued my interest, so I checked out the DGC website. Holy cow! It is a totally exclusive, very expensive, prestigious golf club, apparently made up of rich white people. The dress code, according to the website, doesn't even allow members to wear jeans on the premises, and men are required to wear shirts with collars at all times. The pix on the social activities page shows attractive, apparently wealthy white people dressed to the nines. Here is a link:

Detroit Golf Club - About the Club

Okay, so maybe I'm naive, but am I the only one here is blown away by this? On one side of the street, total blight of the worst sort, and on the other side, a ritzy, by nomination of an existing member only, very expensive golf club? Should this give us hope for Detroit? I am just amazed. Clue me in. I have never been in a city with this stark of a contrast so close in proximity. Usually neighborhoods gradually go from bad to good, and vice versa.
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Old 12-30-2009, 07:14 PM
 
Location: On the brink of WWIII
21,088 posts, read 29,097,138 times
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And the point is?

This is why we love Detroit....
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Old 12-30-2009, 07:21 PM
 
Location: Southern Minnesota
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This shocks me. No, it doesn't give me hope for Detroit, quite the opposite. I can guarantee you that none of the members of this exclusive club lives in the city of Detroit.
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Old 12-30-2009, 08:15 PM
 
Location: Huntington Woods, MI
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Apparently you haven't driven down Alter yet.
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Old 12-31-2009, 02:14 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scolls View Post
Apparently you haven't driven down Alter yet.
What is Alter?
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Old 12-31-2009, 02:21 AM
 
4,861 posts, read 9,266,505 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28 View Post
And the point is?

This is why we love Detroit....
I think the point is that I was shocked at how these two different worlds collide. This is not a Detroit bashing thread. I love Detroit and pray everyday that things will turn around in this once great city. I just had no idea that Bloomfield Hills, or Grosse Point, or wherever they are coming from, people still bother with doing anything in Detroit, outside of downtown and the Wayne State corridor, and especially this close to a neighborhood in such distress. I had assumed that they had left organizations like DGC for country clubs far out in the suburbs, and, at first glance, I find this sort of encouraging. Not that I admire rich, white people, or would want to be them, but if they are spending time and money somewhere in Detroit that isn't a high rise condo downtown, then is it conceivable that there could someday be development in that area, if someone could come up with the money or desire to raze all of those poor, dilapidated, empty homes?
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Old 12-31-2009, 07:10 AM
 
Location: On the brink of WWIII
21,088 posts, read 29,097,138 times
Reputation: 7812
Quote:
Originally Posted by canudigit View Post
I think the point is that I was shocked at how these two different worlds collide. This is not a Detroit bashing thread. I love Detroit and pray everyday that things will turn around in this once great city. I just had no idea that Bloomfield Hills, or Grosse Point, or wherever they are coming from, people still bother with doing anything in Detroit, outside of downtown and the Wayne State corridor, and especially this close to a neighborhood in such distress. I had assumed that they had left organizations like DGC for country clubs far out in the suburbs, and, at first glance, I find this sort of encouraging. Not that I admire rich, white people, or would want to be them, but if they are spending time and money somewhere in Detroit that isn't a high rise condo downtown, then is it conceivable that there could someday be development in that area, if someone could come up with the money or desire to raze all of those poor, dilapidated, empty homes?

THIS IS DETROIT. It is not Woodward, The River Front and Joe Louis.

Detroit is nasty. That is the simple truth. (MONEY like the golf course is even NASTIER!)


If it was ever shown that razing the "poor dilapidated empty homes" would make someone MILLIONS, they would be bulldozed tomorrow.

PLEASE, drive the east side or google ALTER ROAD. That is the street that divides Detroit from The POINTES.

alter road detroit mi - Google Maps

Wanna see TWO worlds that exist next to each other like a DMZ?

North of ALTER = MILLIONS $$ (houses in the 6 figures)

South of ALTER = ZERO $$ (house with no roofs, walls, windows.)

Detroit is 138 square miles of dilapidated housing.

It wasn't always this way. We all wonder what caused this.

Was it the collapse of the big 3?

Was it the collapse of the schools that were once the BEST in the world?

Was it the collapse of small business?

Where did Hudson's go and why?

Where did Firestone go and why?

Where did Stroh's go and why?

Where did they all go and why?

Not just to Mexico, many just left the city and or state, why?

What is the common factor?

Once we admit this, then we MIGHT be able to say we wanna save this once glorious city.

PLEASE do not confuse "bashing" with discussion of the truth.

Do not confuse sympathy with support.

Those who have not driven outside the "safe zones" have not seen Detroit and do not realize the WORK that needs to be done to ressurect the city.

Detroit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 12-31-2009, 07:38 AM
 
4,861 posts, read 9,266,505 times
Reputation: 7761
Quote:
Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28 View Post
THIS IS DETROIT. It is not Woodward, The River Front and Joe Louis.

Detroit is nasty. That is the simple truth. (MONEY like the golf course is even NASTIER!)


If it was ever shown that razing the "poor dilapidated empty homes" would make someone MILLIONS, they would be bulldozed tomorrow.

PLEASE, drive the east side or google ALTER ROAD. That is the street that divides Detroit from The POINTES.

alter road detroit mi - Google Maps

Wanna see TWO worlds that exist next to each other like a DMZ?

North of ALTER = MILLIONS $$ (houses in the 6 figures)

South of ALTER = ZERO $$ (house with no roofs, walls, windows.)

Detroit is 138 square miles of dilapidated housing.

It wasn't always this way. We all wonder what caused this.

Was it the collapse of the big 3?

Was it the collapse of the schools that were once the BEST in the world?

Was it the collapse of small business?

Where did Hudson's go and why?

Where did Firestone go and why?

Where did Stroh's go and why?

Where did they all go and why?

Not just to Mexico, many just left the city and or state, why?

What is the common factor?

Once we admit this, then we MIGHT be able to say we wanna save this once glorious city.

PLEASE do not confuse "bashing" with discussion of the truth.

Do not confuse sympathy with support.

Those who have not driven outside the "safe zones" have not seen Detroit and do not realize the WORK that needs to be done to ressurect the city.

Detroit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Well, I appreciate this insightful post. I have personally driven outside of the "safe zones", so I do see what you're saying. Chalmers Ave. is another example. Drive down Chalmers past homes that are collapsed and look like nothing more than a roof lying on a yard, and then turn up Jefferson and suddenly you are in country club land. It's strange, it's sad, and it's depressing.

What are your thoughts on the idea of taking down the dilapidated houses (of course I realize that this will take many years...Rome wasn't built in a day and Detroit won't be disassembled in a day) and replacing them with farm fields, which is the topic of another thread on this forum right now? Personally, I think it's a great idea. Anyone who believes that all those abandoned, dilapidated neighborhoods can be saved is fooling themself, IMHO, and Detroit no longer has the population to support it even if it was possible. Farm fields are much safer, much easier to patrol, and much easier on the eyes. I doubt many crackheads would be squatting in a field of soybeans.

ETA: That Wiki article really whitewashes the city, IMHO. To look at that, Detroit looks like a rich, viable city. They also play down crime stats somewhat. Wiki is known for that kind of thing, though.
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Old 12-31-2009, 01:05 PM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,705 posts, read 79,455,656 times
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Alter is in grosse Pointe. Grosse Point has been an isalnd of a nice community surrounded by blight for decades.

Palmer park has also been one of Detroits exclusive neighborhoods for almost 100 years. It is a beautiful area with its own security force (since the Detroit Police simply cannot keep up with the calls). Yes, many of the members of DGC live in Palmer Park which is in Detroit. Others live in Grosse Point, in Indian villiage and in the suburbs. By the way, very few homes in Grosse Pointe are still worth over a million. Prices have declined drastically.

Extreme stratification exists all over the place. It is very marked in Los Angeles where you have homes worth tens million or more within a few thousand feet of hovels, homeless shelters, and people living on the street. the worst place for dramatic economic stratification that I have ever seen is Mexico City. There the extremes of wealth and povety are everywhere and unbelieveably stratified. THere are the people with millions and the people with nothing and not much in between.
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Old 12-31-2009, 03:52 PM
 
Location: Huntington Woods, MI
1,742 posts, read 3,987,812 times
Reputation: 683
The Grosse Pointe Pointe border is about a block north of Alter. I drove down there recently. My dad used to live on Chalmers between Jefferson and Kerchival. His house no longer exists. There isn't even evidence that his house ever existed. There appeared to be a 1980's Dodge Caravan where his house used to be.
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