What to do about Detroit? Your thoughts
 

Good evening everyone,

I am doing a project for my Management class on the decay of the city of Detroit, and possible ideas for it's revitalization. I chose the topic because of my interest in the old architecture of Detroit, the eeriness of the abandoned buildings that exist there, and how sad it is that such beautiful buildings have fallen into such a state of decay. A few examples:

http://www.metrotimes.com/sb/88739/052902.jpg
This charming house, built in 1926, looks like it could be renovated, but has been abandoned for 6 years! 12,000(!!!) houses like this, many as charming as this one, sit decaying throughout the city of Detroit.

http://www.detroityes.com/webisodes/...REDO-40210.jpg
http://www.detroityes.com/webisodes/...NOR--40207.jpg
Beautiful Moorish influenced apartments like these lay in ruin, waiting for someone to refurbish them to their former glory.
http://www.forgottendetroit.com/mcs/images/03.jpg
http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/pi...7145612515.jpg
The huge monolith, formerly Michigan Central Station, boasts Beaux-Art style architecture, with the waiting room designed to resemble a Roman bath. A magnificent structure, to say the least!

It is deeply saddening to see beautiful places like these fall into ruin, especially when their beauty is recognized by people of all generations. What do you guys think about this problem? So many beautiful buildings are being demolished every day, its extremely sad.

Have a look at all these beautiful ruins http://detroityes.com/interact/prologue.htm

Love those Moorish apartments.

Offer amnesty to illegal aliens who renovate the buildings and live in them for 10 years.

quite a tour of buildings. the factory buildings are historic and many are pretty cool looking but they are just so massive what can you do with them?

i lived one year in the detroit area in 1974. there were places even then that were sliding downhill fast.

the fort shelby hotel....i stayed there in about 1962 on a trip won by selling subscriptions to the indianapolis news. i have memories of sitting around in my underwear playing poker and drinking pop with a bunch of other paperboys. we went over into canada and bought firecrackers!

and toured the rouge plant.

good stuff for a 13 year old.

tom w

With your T-shirt tucked in??


The posters on Mr Landlord who own property in Detroit paint a grim picture.

probably.

tom w

Hmm
 

The factories seem like excellent candidates for luxury mall/loft style apartment/office space projects. The problem seems to be getting people to actually occupy them.

Its disheartening that so many people around the US yearn for the opportunity to own a home/condo/apartment, and these magnificent structures simply sit in ruin.

Perhaps we could convince Canada to accept it as another province.

What an amazing and sad tour. I knew NOTHING about Detroit except impressions from rapper Eminem's movie "Eight Mile" and all those great Elmore Leonard books.

It seems ripe for urban renovation but I'd wonder about the weather and to what extent it's a dangerous black ghetto. It is hard to believe it's fallen on such hard times, but my impression the decline of the American auto industry in the 1970's had a pivotal role in it. It seems there is a lot of grand old mansions and buildings around there.

most of Iraq is at least as under control as Detroit is - Rep. Tim Walberg's ,,, poor Iraq

Hmmm, I have read that Detroit and Dearborn have more Iraqis and Syrians living there than in any other area in the USA!!! Imagine that.

World's largest parking lot.

JMO. Good public transportation, walkable neighborhoods, sufficient population density, and plenty of outdoor recreation opportunities are the main reasons behind thriving communities. People need to feel safe while riding their bikes to the neighborhood restaurant. Newspaper delivery is so easy when you can hit 5-6 places a minute. These days with people's starter palaces kids need to ride 4-5 miles before they can complete their route. In the old days when yards were 1/4 the size kids could do it in half the time on foot.

Stuff like that.

I thought the worlds largest parking lot was the Long Island Expressway?

If my experiences in trying to deal with the city government in Detroit on constructtion projects is any indication, these fine structures are utterly doomed. I no longer try to do projects in Detroit. It's worse than trying to deal with the government in the District of Columbia, and that is saying A LOT!

Detroit and Michigan's problems are well chronicled.
Here's a couple of WSJ editiorials on Detroit and Michigan.
Admittedly, they have a bias. But clearly, there is a downward spiral in the city and state, which will be very very difficult to correct and reverse.

With such huge populaton losses in Detroit, what will attract people to return to that city? What jobs will bring them back? Maybe they ought to encourage non union auto mfgrs. to Detroit. Yes, sure, it's anathema in a union town, but union jobs aint gonna fill those empty houses. Never.

...."Foreman said these jobs are goin' boys, and they ain't coming back".... Springsteen was right in the 70's and still is today.;)


http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009763

http://www.opinionjournal.com/cc/?id=110007649