great photo doc....

[fearpeddler]

the ruins of detroit...... quite nice


http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html

[genlock]

Sad photo essay.
To me, the Michigan Central Station is the symbol of Detroit.
In the center of everything, 50 years out of date, no money to even tear it down.
Detroit thrived for decades and allowed itself to get fat and corrupt.
Now the money is gone, no hope of revival, talent fleeing elsewhere.
I understand houses could be had from the city for a dollar, no takers.
Like Huntington, Detroit waits on a rebirth of it's once core industries.
No major anything is done in Detroit without massive govt funding.
Still nothing works.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, other cities thrive and nobody seems to know why.

[Bob Campbell]

I worked in Detroit in the mid 80's and there were many ruins even then. It's such a great city in terms of its people, the prototypical "blue collar" town. Friendly, unpretentious people. You'd find autoworkers and sports stars hanging out in the same bars ( and sometimes a couple DJs from a certain local station hanging out behind the bar passing out drinks).
While so much has been lost, there have been some noticeable "good saves". The Fisher Theatre has been renovated and is beautiful ( I say U-2 there in 1985, last time they played any venue that small). Next door, the State Theatre, which was shuttered when I lived there, has also been renovated and is thriving. Of course, the Greektown area with its casinos has done well. When I lived there Greektown was smaller, but a great place to go.
Ford Field and Tiger stadium are neat.
When I moved there Detroit was in the process of a rebirth of the auto industry. It's a shame it didn't last.

[cgarison]

The part that is sad is the decay in those pictures has been taking place since the 1960s in Detroit.

It does make me wonder why a city could get in such shape and an area become so depressed when it is located on a viable international border, has very protected harbors, and air and rail travel are a core part of the area.

Huntington, OTOH, does not have an airport big enough to support the types of modern travel that is needed to make a business look at the town for a headquarters or even an office to process work. It is sad when people in India are getting paid more money to perform tasks than those that are working in the tri state area performing the same tasks because the local governments are so politically corrupt that they have not built an airport.

Even Larry Addington did his part and built the commercial park in KY (at the point where Carter, Boyd and Greenup Counties meet) and had it wired for fiber optics in 2000, but only at&t and Cintas have leveraged the benefits of the location.

Sad indeed.

[AmpedNow]

The rot of socialism and government corruption before your very eyes.

Punish innovation, small business, and the big corporations who create jobs through massive taxes and regulations, and forced unionization, this is what you eventually wind up with. Businesses either go broke and shut down, or leave for states with friendlier business climates.

You see similar rot in almost every small town in WV, only is on a smaller scale so it's less noticeable. It's become mentally written off by many who live here as "just the way it is around here". Nevertheless it's still a form of urban decay, and less jobs for the community.

This is what America will look like in 20 years if we continue on this current trajectory.

Great pictorial. Should be a wakeup call for the rest of us.

[CoolBreeze]

Ill never forget while waiting for a train at Michigan Central Station one night in the 50s. My mom had walked away for a minute and I looked just 10 feet to my left and saw a coffin, the old fashioned wooden kind made out of boards. I asked the "train guy" what it was and of course he told me. As a child, I never forgot that.

We lived in Highland Park, which is a small city completely surrounded by Detroit. It became the epicenter of the downfall of the entire area. I watched the Hudson Dept store parades. I watched Soupy Sales live out of Detroit when he was ACTUALLY FUNNY. I watched the new Micky Mouse Club. My moms husband shoved me though a 4th floor window several feet off the fire escape in order to unlock the door. I was looking straight down 4 stories with absolutely nothing under me except his hands. Our building was directly across the street from Fords first Model T plant. I saw Detroit in it's heyday. Later, I went back every so often to watch it crumble. Just looking at it on Google Earth or Maps is enough to make you want to puke.

[genlock]

The big Hudson's building was brought down by Controlled Demolition Inc a few years ago.
Covered a whole block or more. There was a Discovery (?) program on it.