Detroit

[Мастер]

files for bankruptcy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23369573

So Enzo, this might be your chance to buy it on the cheap!

[Lance]

Gotta watch for it on eBay!

[MM_Dandy]

I hear Cleveland's adopting a new motto: "Cleveland! At least we're solvent."

[Heid the Ba]

I saw a tv programme a couple of years ago where at least one area of Detroit was being reclaimed by nature, trees were growing in streets etc as the population had simply moved out.

If we are buying it put me down for a couple of grand and I'll take a few streets of houses.

[Lance]

I should go hoax an eBay page...

[Enzo]

Cleveland at least has the reputation as "The Mistake on the Lake." Detroit doesn't have a good excuse. Cleveland's Cuyahoga River is famous for having caught fire - yes, a burning river. Detroit is just polluted.


Yes, there are large swaths of abandoned land in the city of Detroit. Used to be you dove down the highways and on either side you could see the boarded up townhouses, the burnt out ones, the ones with no glass in the windows. A lot have been torn down, but many remain. There is a Detroit tradition on Devil's Night, the night before Halloween. Arson and destruction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Night

Google Detroit devils night and up pops a bunch of images of burning houses. SO in a way, I guess the local vandals are assisting the city in clearing the land.

The city population has indeed dwindled in recent decades. And Detroiters are seriously proposing community gardens as a way to use the now-available land.

I don't think they could make it cheap enough I would want it. I'd pay them to put it farther away.

[Lianachan]

Cleveland at least has the reputation as "The Mistake on the Lake." Detroit doesn't have a good excuse. Cleveland's Cuyahoga River is famous for having caught fire - yes, a burning river. Detroit is just polluted.


Yes, there are large swaths of abandoned land in the city of Detroit. Used to be you dove down the highways and on either side you could see the boarded up townhouses, the burnt out ones, the ones with no glass in the windows. A lot have been torn down, but many remain. There is a Detroit tradition on Devil's Night, the night before Halloween. Arson and destruction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Night

Google Detroit devils night and up pops a bunch of images of burning houses. SO in a way, I guess the local vandals are assisting the city in clearing the land.

The city population has indeed dwindled in recent decades. And Detroiters are seriously proposing community gardens as a way to use the now-available land.

I don't think they could make it cheap enough I would want it. I'd pay them to put it farther away.

Fucking hell. Some of these photos remind me of the area around Chernobyl. Very sad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Detroit

[Enzo]

Yes, opportunities for jokes at their expense aside, Detroit is in very serious trouble. And now bankruptcy means defaulting on loans and leaving pensioners out of luck.


I remember the "long not summer" of 1967. Riots in the street. In the Detroit area, people wrote "SOUL" on their car windows with soap or wax or something, to indicate they were black or at least in sympathy. Otherwise, they might come out to find the car gone or destroyed. The Motor City was burning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFqxMhmI3iw

Sorry, Motown, but I never cared much for you. Detroit was a big plant town. Car factories, and not a lot else going for it. I think little Lansing is a lot more cosmopolitan. We have the state capital and all the government surrounding it, we have a number of General Motors auto plants, and we have the huge Michigan State University. Detroit has former auto plants and, well, blight.

[tubeswell]

So will there be like cheap guitars and tube amps for sale?

[Enzo]

When the city goes kaput? In troubled times past, many stores had five-finger discounts going on...

[tubeswell]

So what happens with law and order being paid for by the local authority?

[Enzo]

Chaos first, then a few well televised beatings, then it all fades into mighty speeches made by great leaders.

[MM_Dandy]

Well, Robocop, obviously.

[tubeswell]

I thought they pulled the plug on Robocop?

[Arneb]

No, they just gave him wings.

[Lianachan]

New Robocop out later next year.

[tubeswell]

Looks like a patsy

[Enzo]

AAAAGGHHHH, I had forgotten about Robocop.


All the needs of the city, and people are collecting money - successfully - to build a giant Robocop statue.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/detroits ... god,97725/

[tubeswell]

My two favourite lines

"Madame, you have suffered an emotional shock. I will notify a rape crisis center."

"Come quietly or there will be... trouble."

[Lianachan]

I like:

Reporter: Robo, excuse me, Robo, any special message for all the kids watching at home?
RoboCop: Stay out of trouble.

and the classic

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."

[Heid the Ba]

Can anyone clarify please. I see Detroit has a population of about 700,000, is that all that is left in the city? And is it the city or the metropolitan area which has gone bust? Using teh Googelz gives contradictory answers. My guess is that it is the old, central part of the area which has gone tits up and the suburbs are under a different authority and are ok, but I don't know.

[tubeswell]

Robocop will still continue to be relevant as long as the rape crisis centres are still functioning.

[Arneb]

Can anyone clarify please. I see Detroit has a population of about 700,000, is that all that is left in the city? And is it the city or the metropolitan area which has gone bust? Using teh Googelz gives contradictory answers. My guess is that it is the old, central part of the area which has gone tits up and the suburbs are under a different authority and are ok, but I don't know.

Up to the level of "I heard it on German quality media", my information is that the Metroploitan area once had 1.8 milllion inhabitants and is now down to .7 million. I wouldn't think that the suburbs are "OK", but the .7 million people seem to be all the over which the mayor has authority.

[Enzo]

Detroit the city and Detroit the standard metropolitan area are different things. I am fond of neither. Like there are soccer leagues and then there are soccer teams within.

yes, within the last decade or so, the city has lost a substantial percentage of its population. The area has been hit hard economically because of the auto industry slump. Making cars is a major business, and there are MANY businesses that live to support the major carmakers. Even out here in Lansing we have companies that make seatcovers, or windshield wiper assemblies. But the city itself is what is in trouble. YOu can cross 8 Mile road into one of the suburbs and find they are mostly doing fine. The folks running SOuthfield, OakPark, Birmingham, or whatever, are collecting taxes and providing services for their citizens. Detroit itself is not. Detroit is in fiscal shambles. The Michigan governor appointed an "emergency manager" to take over the city finances. he is overseeing the bankruptcy. I think there has been too much politicianing and not enough governing and fiscal responsibility. The big controversy right now is assets. The Detroit Institute of Arts - DIA - has art assets worth $billions. The city is $billions in debt. There is talk of selling some of the DIA assets to generate some money. But as with any suggestion of someone losing anything, there is instant opposition to it. But I think when serious consideration is given to selling off your museums (musea?), you must be in deep doo doo.

The suburbs are overall doing pretty well. Not all. But most. I think the distinction gets lost in media reports outside the Detroit area. Here we know which part is which, but a thousand miles away or across the sea, it all just becomes "Detroit". SO yes, Detroit is a sort of burnt out charred hole in the middle of an otherwise livable area of 4-5 million souls.

[Heid the Ba]

Thanks Enzo, that is more or less what I thought. And you are right with "musea".