Detroit
 

For a while now I have been fascinated with Detroit and its stories of urban decay and destitute within the city. Basically a lot of people describe it as real life fallout the game.

For example:

http://dgatmag.com/wp-content/upload...11/Detroit.jpg

http://www.holydieexplorer.com/wp-co...08/Detroit.jpg

http://urbantitan.com/wp-content/upl...roitghett2.jpg

http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/...815-171843.jpg


Has anyone recently made a trip out there and experience this first hand?

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

These parts of Detroit look like an eerie ghost town.

Woah never saw this before. I am def gonna check these out

Because it mostly is. The jobs has dried up in Detroit and more than half of the pop has left since its heyday. It is all pretty facinating really.

I would be very afraid to venture into a area where even cops won't dare go into.

Yes, they are defiantly worth watching. I was fascinated with Detroit a few months ago too and did a lot of research.

Most of all the abandoned homes are actually for sale but has no value, you can buy a land/house for $1 there. Check this out, Detroit Real Estate - Detroit, MI Homes for Sale - Realtor.com®

Some people actually do urban exploring in detroit:

Forgotten Detroit

Yeah it is pretty crazy property values there. A lot of forum boards always talk about buy property and just dicking around with it.

I was there in 2004-2005. Detroit was already crumbling then. It's not really anything new.

Downtown Detroit is quite odd, as there are burned out or half demolished buildings here and there. Fantastic old houses surrounded by crappy strip malls. Just general disarray...

My most interesting memory from there is going to an IHOP near downtown. Across the street were these 1800 era houses facing the Detroit river with beautifully manicured lawns and gardens. Whereas the IHOP had bars on the windows, a locked compound parking lot, revolving door that was remotely lockable and bulletproof glass everywhere...

Wait till red wings lose this year! Gonna be worst :D

I'd chim in heavily on my experience with Detroit. I was living near there from 2004 - 2007.

I would say it's definitely a very interesting city where it was America's best city in the 30's and 40's due to all the automobile industries and factories. This was encompassed with all the amazing lloyd wright and victorian architecture you'll find in the great cities of US (just like New York and Chicago).

However, it's sad to say that today the economy is pretty depressing. The big 3 auto industries are still there but many of their main assembly plants have moved away and alot of them has cut jobs in the area. As a result many people are without work, losing their homes and are on the streets.

For the most of Detroit, what you see in this pictures the abandoned houses it's exactly like that a modern day time fall out ghost town. For the Downtown portion, there has been alot of revitalization in the past few years. You still have some smaller american HQ's moving in the office space, some historical buildings are slowly getting restored. But the most interesting part is that DT Detroit is literally a ghost town after 5pm. You have the business crowd go there for work during business hours but they all leave and head north into the suburbs (25 minutes out of Detroit) to live in the better neighborhoods.

From my personal experience when I was living and driving around the city - it's pretty wacked. I remember this one time I was driving down Michigan or Woodwards Ave (it's a 6 lane main street - semi highway type that goes north and south from the Suburbs into Downtown Detroit). I was going speed limit (80km/hr I think) and this black guy (probably high on drugs) comes out of no where and runs across the street in front of my car (me barely hitting him).

Oh yeah and have you guys ever seen fast food places (Mcdonalds, Burger King, KFC, Popeyes, etc) with the bullet proof glass case shielding the cashier register from the customer? I haven't in Vancouver but you see this all the time in Detroit!!!

The highways are literally filled with potholes cause the municipal governments don't have money to fix it. And when I was last there the Detroit may was convicted of charges of corruption and money laundering.

Aside from these little things, I can see the local people are trying to do things to make Detroit a better city. They definitely are a great city filled with history, have decent sports teams and you can tell that people are trying to clean up the city by restoring old buildings, building new ones or tearing down the ghost zones.

If I had the guts, patience and money I would think about going out there and trying to be part of the revitalization - I think there would be money to be mad but at the expense of your own life.

same thing in New Orleans, Baltimore, Chicago, Washington DC (amazingly no?), etc, etc, etc, etc

No amount of money is worth making at the expense of your own life.What good is money when you're dead,can't take it with you and spend it.

I'm pretty sure most American cities not on the west coast and not named New York are like Detroit.

Camden New Jersey comes to my mind.

"the rust belt" of which i believe detroit is the focal point, is definitely known as a microcosm of the decay of the middle class.

haha i'm just being all fancy, what i meant to say is it's a huge hole in the ground and i would not wanna go there ever

Detroit has been decaying for many years now. In the past year however, a small tech hub has opened up. Several tech startups have relocated right into the heart of Detroit due to near-free housing costs and insanely low tax, with the city and state handing crazy corporate tax incentives to lure companies (and money/employees) into the city. Because of this mini boom, there is also a growing movement to serve these professionals (e.g. urban organic farms built on previously decayed/abandoned properties). This was in the Economist about 4 or 5 months ago. I'm sure a quick google would turn something up.

The poster several posts up is also correct about the downtown core being a ghost town after the work day ends. A friend of mine was a summer intern at GM's HQ (the dark blue round skyscraper), and told me that the elevated freeway passing through Detroit has an offramp that goes directly into GM's parkade, so you never set foot.

I wonder if it'd be worth it to snag a couple cheaper homes near the city and simply hold onto them for a few years. I have no doubt Detroit will bounce back; it's more a matter of how many years it will take 'em.

What are the rich parts of Detroit like?

From the dude's blog:

Blog



Facts and statements about Detroit,taken from the author’s youtube video description:

1. Detroit is the 3rd most dangerous city to live in in the united states and flint a near by city is the 4th most dangerous criminal city in the usa.
2. 7 out of 10 murders go unsolved in the motor city.
3. There are 95,000 abandon homes in Detroit and 85,000 abandon businesses in Detroit.
4. Census has calculated that since 2000 to 2010 that 250,000 people have left Detroit.
5. Since 1950 half of Detroit’s population has left the motor city.
6. Unemployment is up to estimated 50% in the city of Detroit.
7. Graduation rates in the D are 25%! Kids are more likely to end up in prison than finishing high school.
8. More people live in poverty than cars on the street.
9. Abandon homes in Detroit have turned into drug houses and meth labs.
10. On devils night kids go out and burn abandon buildings about 200 last year were burned down.
11. At the MacDonald’s they had bullet proof windows like at a bank and you had to pass your money through a machine.
12. Michigan is the 3rd most unemployed state in the usa.
13. Obama bailed out GM and helped create 75,000 jobs but the jobs were out sourced and the people of Detroit never got to see any of those jobs.
14. Detroit looks like hurricane Katrina hit it
15. Detroit is the only place in America that you can walk around and see 30 story sky scrapers everywhere that are abandoned. This is not common in other cities.
16. Its like something you would see out of I am legend it looks like a abandoned historical city left in ruins
17. Detroit used to be one of the most high class wealthy cities in America.
18. Real state is at record lows because of the high amounts of abandon homes that lower housing cost. The Detroit news said that hundreds of houses are up for sale in Detroit for only a dollar $1
19. Wild animals are moving back into the city… pheasants, coyotes, even beavers
20. Criminals are moving to nearby cities like the capitol city of Michigan which is Lansing Mi and places like flint which has caused city crimes to rise in these near by cities.
21. Mayor Dave Bing has pledged to knock down 10,000 structures in his first term as part of a plan to size down Detroit, so the city can reflect its shrinking population

That is so sad

New Orleans has been using tax incentives to revitalize the city post-Katrina and, while there was a lot of urban decay prior to the levees breaking, the amount of attention and aid has turned the city around into a state that was better prior to 2005 (in parts)

I've been to Detroit and I've lived in New Orleans and I'd easily say that Detroit is far worse. Between the harsh climate (humid summers, horrid winters) contributing to the urban decay and the lack of real industry/employment in that place its pretty toxic.

Granted, places like Grosse Point (rich folks area) are upkept and safe, but over-all its sliding downhill. Its a sad state of affairs for what was once called the "Paris of America"

For further urban decay, check out Gary, Indiana. Its far worse.

Wrong. At least with Chicago.

Source : I live here.

Note: I hate Chicago and the US in general.

Hamilton, Ontario is our Detroit.

That thought crossed my mind as well, as I sip a $1.75 cup of coffee from Tim Hortons that is of equal value to two Detroit homes...

I would be concerned about any legal liabilities that result from owning a run down shack..

i dunno austin/englewood :heckno:



really? that's interesting to know its been a quite few years since i was there

good to know