Death throes of a once-great city

[jneal3]

For all the stories about the decline of Detroit, this takes it to a new level:

http://www.freep.com/article/2009111...1100398/?imw=Y

Come January, a majority of the Detroit City Council will be packing.

When seven of nine newly elected or re-elected council members held their first joint conversation with the news media, they talked budget cuts and efficiency. But three also revealed that they have concealed-weapons permits and carry guns. A fourth confirmed later that he does, too.
And the Rev. Andre Spivey, pastor of St. Paul AME, said he plans to get his CCW permit before Thanksgiving.

"My members have been telling me for years to get one, before I even ran for council," he said. "It's not an indictment upon the citizens of Detroit but just for my own personal assurances. I was concerned that the city of Detroit not turn into the wild, wild West, but I've talked with several incumbents, and the office presents some challenges. "

If you want a taste of the surreal in America, Detroit's your place...

[Raz]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

For all the stories about the decline of Detroit, this takes it to a new level:



If you want a taste of the surreal in America, Detroit's your place...

In many quarters of the *new politically correct America* you would be branded a racist for even referencing this story.

[jneal3]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

In many quarters of the *new politically correct America* you would be branded a racist for even referencing this story.

yeah, it's a pickle..

It just stunned me, and seems like the camel-in-the-tent (the racist hits just keep on comin') for the beginning of the breakdown of civil society. People talk about it, but here in Detroit it is literally lawless, and the police can't even protect the political leaderships' neighborhoods.

Plus, the possibility of guns drawn in council chambers just adds to the excitement.:eek:

[metalman]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

amerika in 20 yrs...

[Starving Steve]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

I was in Detroit for a day or two back in the late 1970s. The downtown was so fossilized and decayed and abandoned that the Detroit experience was actually scary--- so scary as to be actually fun.

At night, I drove practically the only car in the downtown. The buildings in the downtown were empty, closed-up, yet lit-up and strangely magnificient. I observed a magnificent old hotel and a magnificent old retail building, old bank buildings, old theatres, old office buildings, but oddly, no people. It was like driving thru a time-warp back into an earlier time, perhaps the pre-WWII years, the most prosperous years of Detroit.

The tunnel to/from Windsor, Ontario was really interesting: it went under the Detroit River ( the Great Lakes Seaway ). The tunnel was old and rather dark, with water actually draining into the tunnel from the Detroit River above.

Another interesting thing about Detroit was all of the railroad tracks, and railroad bridges which traversed the downtown. The abandoned warehouses in the downtown were also interesting..... One of the abandoned warehouses to-day has been re-born into a Halloween house of horrors for the amusement of children.

I have heard that you can buy a home in Detroit for $25 (twenty-five dollars). When you visit Detroit, you might understand why that is.

Every city has its own unique flavour, and decay is the flavour of Detroit.

[Mega]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

Are yes Hellman where the popys & British Army are!

I think they should close detroit, move the people to other citys.

Mike

[BigBagel]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/opinion/05barlow.html

Detroit, the new bicycle utopia?

[jneal3]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

I think they should close detroit, move the people to other citys.

Mike

This is sort of where they're headed, but it seems laughable to think it can be pulled off. Nobody invests in 'shrinkage', it just happens. Americans have no clue how to even think this way.

http://www.modeldmedia.com/inthenews...ive092209.aspx

Today, though, more and more people in leadership positions, including Mayor Dave Bing, are starting to acknowledge the need to stop fantasizing about growth and plan for more shrinkage. Growth is as American an ideal as the capitalistic enterprises that fuel it. So by itself, this admission is a step forward.
It's way overdue. Detroit has been shrinking for 50 years. The city has lost more than half of the 2 million people it had in the early 1950s, but it remains 138 square miles. Experts estimate that about 40 square miles are empty, and Bing has said that only about half the city's land is being used productively.
The next steps are complicated and largely uncharted. Moving residents into more densely populated districts has legal and moral implications; it must be done with care and the input of those who would be moved. And what do you do with the empty space? The city is already dotted with big vegetable gardens, and one entrepreneur has proposed starting a large commercial farm. Some people advocate bike paths, greenways, and other recreation areas. Surrounded by fresh water, and buffeted by nature reasserting itself on land where factories used to be, Detroit could someday be the greenest, most livable urban area in the country.

Kind of like Machu Picchu.:cool:

[don]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

I can see it now...or at least 10 years from now.

Detroit- the New Taos, as poor but creative artists flock to those magnificent buildings, as realtors drool on the sidelines, waiting for the inevitable gentrification to follow (and the booting out of 90% of the artists who can no longer afford Detroit).

:eek:

[Chomsky]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

I can see it now...or at least 10 years from now.

Detroit- the New Taos, as poor but creative artists flock to those magnificent buildings, as realtors drool on the sidelines, waiting for the inevitable gentrification to follow (and the booting out of 90% of the artists who can no longer afford Detroit).

:eek:

Not quite!

Detroit died long ago. Well before the present crisis, Detroit already had distingished itself by being the first American city of over 1,000,000 people to fall below that number. I believe at peak it was about 1.2M, now it's around 700,000.

The sort of migration that is occurring in the area is not from boho artistes looking to score on the next RE trend. The example of nearby Dearborn, which is now "the center of muslim life in America,: is much more likely (PDF):

http://americancity.org/pdf/NAC_3.pdf

[jneal3]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

Not quite!

Detroit died long ago.

People say this, but Detroit had not actually 'died', it had kept going in a slow and steady decline for decades. Seeing the political elite arm themselves seems to be a new dimension, an actual admission that they no longer control the situation. This seems to be approaching a definable point, where saying a city has 'died' has literal meaning.

[Crazyfingers]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

While we send our finest and our tax dollars to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.

Is anything outrageous anymore? Every day another story trumps the last absurd story. Absolutely nuthing that happens tomorrow would surprise me. Its mind numbing. If I woke up and read the news headline that Obama was a Space Alien here to save the planet, I seriously would not be surprised.

[touchring]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

Not quite!

Detroit died long ago. Well before the present crisis, Detroit already had distingished itself by being the first American city of over 1,000,000 people to fall below that number. I believe at peak it was about 1.2M, now it's around 700,000.

The sort of migration that is occurring in the area is not from boho artistes looking to score on the next RE trend. The example of nearby Dearborn, which is now "the center of muslim life in America,: is much more likely (PDF):

http://americancity.org/pdf/NAC_3.pdf

I noticed that Canada across the river is all farmland, that would mean the soil in that region is good for farming. Maybe convert Detroit into farmland?

[quigleydoor]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

This is sort of where they're headed, but it seems laughable to think it can be pulled off. Nobody invests in 'shrinkage', it just happens. Americans have no clue how to even think this way.

Check out this article in New Geography. People are thinking about shrinkage as renewal.

Much of the South Side of Chicago has Detroit like characteristics, but the techniques of renewal in Detroit won’t work because they are likely against code and would be shut down the minute someone complained. Just as one quick example, my corner ice cream stand dared to put out a few chairs for patrons to sit on while enjoying a frozen treat on a hot day. The city cited them for not having a license. So they took them away and put up a “bring your own chair” sign. The city then cited them for that too. You can’t do anything in Chicago without a Byzantine array of licenses, permits, and inspections.

In central Indianapolis, which is in desperate need of investment, where the city can’t fill the potholes in the street, etc., the minute a few yuppies buy houses in an area and fix them up, they immediately petition for a historic district, a request that has never been refused, ensuring that anyone who ever wants to do anything will be forced to run a costly and grueling gauntlet of variances, permits, hearings, etc. Only the most determined are willing to put up with that.

In most cities, municipal government can’t stop drug dealing and violence, but it can keep people with creative ideas out. Not in Detroit. In Detroit, if you want to do something, you just go do it. Maybe someone will eventually get around to shutting you down, or maybe not. It’s a sort of anarchy in a good way as well as a bad one. Perhaps that overstates the case. You can’t do anything, but it is certainly easier to make things happen there than in most places because the hand of government weighs less heavily.

"Were I an aspiring farmer in search of fertile land to buy and plow, I would seriously consider moving to Detroit. There is open land, fertile soil, ample water, willing labor, and a desperate demand for decent food. And there is plenty of community will behind the idea of turning the capital of American industry into an agrarian paradise. In fact, of all the cities in the world, Detroit may be best positioned to become the world’s first one hundred percent food self-sufficient city."

Land in Detroit looks to me like a good investment for diversification in a long-term portfolio.

[don]

Re: Death throes of a once-great city

I did say 10 years....Oops :rolleyes:

November 16, 2009
Advertising

In Detroit, Agencies Compete to Sell City as a Creative Haven

By STUART ELLIOTT

IT may not be the advertising version of “Mission: Impossible,” but it is certainly a challenging, if not daunting, task: produce a campaign to encourage young and creative people to consider Detroit as a place to live and work.

Cue the Lalo Schifrin theme music.

The effort, called Selling Detroit, is upfront about its intent. “America’s most struggling city needs to attract business and talent,” a description of the contest begins.

The initiative to help change what may be the most dire urban image in America is being sponsored by the Time Inc. unit of Time Warner as part of a yearlong project, Assignment Detroit, that involves reporters and editors from Essence, Fortune, Money, Sports Illustrated, Time and related Web sites.

Several advertising agencies with offices in the Detroit area were asked to develop campaigns; five agreed to take part. Their work is to appear in the Dec. 7 issue of Fortune, due Nov. 23, as well as on three Web sites:

cnnmoney.com, fortune.com and time.com. (The value of the ad pages that Time Inc. is devoting to the contest in Fortune is estimated at $400,000.)

Visitors to the Web sites will be able to vote, beginning on Monday, for their favorite among the five campaigns. The winner is to be announced on Dec. 2, during an annual awards ceremony in Detroit known as the D Show.

“The whole idea of the contest is that we believe in the renewal of the city,” said Mark Ford, president for the news group at Time Inc. in New York. This is to be accomplished partly by people moving to Detroit with their businesses and creativity, and being there “for the long haul.”

To that end, the campaign will be “targeted more to the 18-to-34-year-old demographic,” he added.

Those involved in the contest acknowledge it is a small step toward determining “what is the road out” from Detroit’s difficulties, as Mr. Ford put it.

“I don’t pretend to have the answer to solve the problem,” Mr. Ford said. “You have to expect it’ll take many, many years to recover.”
“But a lot of smart people are committed to bringing the city back,” he added, and “we’ll do our part.”

•
The campaigns from the agencies certainly try to appeal to the intended audience. They include elements like special Web sites, blogs, video clips and applications for cellphones.

“There is never a silver bullet to solve a problem, but every little thing you can do along the way can help,” said Matt Canzano, executive vice president and executive creative director at the Birmingham, Mich., office of McCann Erickson Worldwide, one of the five agencies.

“It’s a hard assignment,” Mr. Canzano said of the concept of making Detroit more appealing, “but not unlike the assignment” from the State of Michigan to promote tourism.

Despite remarks like “Who wants to take a vacation in Michigan?” he added, “people are sitting up and noticing” the campaign produced by his agency — part of the McCann Worldgroup unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies — that carries the theme “Pure Michigan” and uses the voice of the actor Tim Allen.

The centerpiece of the McCann Erickson contest entry is a proposed Web site that would be called CreativityLivesInDetroit.com. “This city is built on creativity,” a print ad asserts, listing examples like Pewabic pottery, founded in Detroit in 1903; the Detroit Derby Girls, an all-female, amateur, flat-track roller derby league; and the Von Bondies, a rock band.

Similarly, a print ad from another Interpublic agency, Campbell-Ewald in Warren, features Ro Spit, a D.J. and an owner of a sneaker store, Burn Rubber. He declares: “Detroit is a blank canvas. You’ll find inspiration around every corner. ... What you do with it depends on you.” He also speaks in a video on a Web site (MakeYourMarkDetroit.com).

The campaign “is a recruitment ad,” said Bill Ludwig, vice chairman and chief creative and strategic officer at Campbell-Ewald.

Although “I don’t think any other city has been hit harder by the economy,” he added, “kids who are coming here find it the land of opportunity” in fields like music and film.

•
The other agencies taking part in the contest are the Troy office of Leo Burnett, part of the Publicis Groupe, with a campaign starring a local celebrity, Kid Rock; Doner in Southfield, with a campaign likening those seeking opportunities in Detroit to the crew that joined the explorer Ernest Shackleton in his expedition to the Antarctic; and GlobalHue in Southfield, whose campaign includes fanciful postcards.

Among other agencies asked to participate was the Troy office of BBDO Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group. But the office did not take part because of uncertainties over its fate, centered on the coming expiration of a contract with its client, the Chrysler Group. (The office is closing at the end of January, BBDO announced last week.)

Critics contend that a reason Detroit is in so much trouble is because its mainstay industry of automaking has stubbornly ignored ideas from outside sources. What, then, to make of the fact that the contest involves agencies only from the Detroit market?

“We haven’t really found the agencies to be insular,” Daniel Kile, a spokesman for Time, wrote in an e-mail message. “They’re the ones who get what the opportunity is there, and who have a stake in the area’s return to prominence.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/bu...dcol.html?_r=1