The City of Detroit's government is corrupt, graft and such is rampant, and they tax the fuck out of businesses, except if they are "minority owned." Employees have to pay Detroit income tax, and so if you want to work in Detroit, you have to paid more than if you work in the safer, nicer suburbs and exurbs.mistermack wrote:That doesn't explain why a place with cheap property, lots of labour looking for work, and free access to the US market, can't attract business.Gawdzilla Sama wrote: Detroit was a monoculture, so when the reason died, so did the city. Chicago is diverse, and also the largest city in the central US.
Not everybody trades within a few blocks of their HQ. these days. Just because Detroit is suffering, that doesn't stop businesses snapping up all this cheap infrastructure.
The Germans are paying millions, for buildings like that. And still selling stuff all round the USA.
Detroit has huge advantages over Dortmund. Cheap labour, cheap property, and cheap shipping to the USA.
Something's wrong with capitalism here, if it can't adjust to conditions.
Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
-
- Posts: 32040
- Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:03 pm
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
- Twoflower
- Queen of Slugs
- Posts: 16611
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:23 pm
- About me: Twoflower is the optimistic-but-naive tourist. He often runs into danger, being certain that nothing bad will happen to him since he is not involved. He also believes in the fundamental goodness of human nature and that all problems can be resolved, if all parties show good will and cooperate.
- Location: Boston
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
Northern Michigan is a lovely place and is doing pretty good.Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Well, there's no reason to be in Michigan at all, so being in a dead town just ain't attractive.
- rainbow
- Posts: 13795
- Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:10 am
- About me: Egal wie dicht du bist, Goethe war Dichter
Where ever you are, Goethe was a Poet. - Location: Africa
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
I call bullshit - Alfred E Einstein
BArF−4
BArF−4
- Bella Fortuna
- Sister Golden Hair
- Posts: 79685
- Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:45 am
- About me: Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require. - Location: Scotlifornia
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
Detroit has been horrible for many decades, alas... nothing new there.
Sent from my Bollocksberry using Crapatalk.
Food, cooking, and disreputable nonsense: http://miscreantsdiner.blogspot.com/
- Gawdzilla Sama
- Stabsobermaschinist
- Posts: 151265
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:24 am
- About me: My posts are related to the thread in the same way Gliese 651b is related to your mother's underwear drawer.
- Location: Sitting next to Ayaan in Domus Draconis, and communicating via PMs.
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
Twoflower wrote:Northern Michigan is a lovely place and is doing pretty good.Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Well, there's no reason to be in Michigan at all, so being in a dead town just ain't attractive.

-
- Posts: 32040
- Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:03 pm
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
But, hardly anybody lives there. Well, that's probably why it is both lovely and doing pretty good.Twoflower wrote:Northern Michigan is a lovely place and is doing pretty good.Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Well, there's no reason to be in Michigan at all, so being in a dead town just ain't attractive.

On the positive side, Michigan summers can be nice, especially if you have lake access, boats and such. Here in Florida, you generally can't swim in lakes, due to the alligator and other nasty squiggly thing problem. In Michigan, the lakes can be very nice to swim in. I think Jobbie Nooner is coming up in May or something. Head out on Lake St. Clair on a boat and go bananas.
The Walleye fishing is good. The deer hunting is phenomenal. And, Michigan has some seriously great golf courses.
Traverse City is worth a visit in the summer, and beach days along Lake Michigan are phenomenal.
-
- Posts: 32040
- Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:03 pm
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
The main thing that did Detroit in was racism and white flight. Blacks moved in to Detroit neighborhoods, and whites made no bones about getting the hell out of Dodge. They moved to the suburbs.Bella Fortuna wrote:Detroit has been horrible for many decades, alas... nothing new there.
It's a very racist city, much worse than anything I've seen down south. There is a road called "Eight Mile Road" that runs along the north end of Detroit. Yes, Eminem's movie was named after it. It's a horrible little stretch of road, with check cashing companies, pawn shops, strip clubs and such. Northwest of Eight Mile Road is Ferndale, Huntington Woods and other "white" towns. South of Eight Mile Road, it's black. A Detroit nickname for black people are "Spodas" -- contraction of "supposed to be south of Eight Mile" -- Spoda be south o' Eight Mile [road].
Along the east to northeast side of the city, along the Detroit River, the city borders on Grosse Pointe. Grosse Pointe is one of the richest cities in the country, and if you drive up Jefferson Avenue from downtown Detroit you go through a slummy areas -- garbage strewn, disgusting, and then in the blink of an eye, you cross an invisible thin line and all of a sudden it's nice and well kept and safe.
It's easy to get pulled over by the cops for DWB in Grosse Pointe -- Driving While Black.
So, when the whites fled, Detroit was left in poverty. The racism breeded hatred cutting both ways, and a guy by the name of Coleman Young became mayor of Detroit and part of his appeal was his hatred of whitey and his disdain for the white suburbs. He ruled Detroit for like 20 years or so.
General Motors didn't help things with the destruction of Poletown. And, city/state planners made piss poor choices like when they cut route 75 right through the middle of the residential areas in the city, destroying entire neighborhoods. It was like they did it on purpose.
EDIT -- and everything is kind of "half-assed" in Detroit. Take the "people mover" they built in Detroit as a prime example. They built this monorail train that goes around Downtown Detroit. It's a disgusting eyesore, a blight on the city, and hardly anyone rides it -- it loses money because if you charged what it costs to maintain the damn thing, really nobody would ride it. It's stupid -- you have to drive to Downtown Detroit anyway, so since you have your car, there is no reason to ride the thing, and barely anyone lives within walking distance of it, so it's not like it services a substantial number of residents. Just a dopey idea, with dopey execution, and makes the city look silly.
EDIT -- and the roads suck. Full of potholes. I-94 is the worst stretch of highway in the country, or one of them.
ADDITIONAL BRIGHT SIDE: It is right across the river from Windsor, Ontario, so that's a plus. Always fun to go there.
Last edited by Coito ergo sum on Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Twoflower
- Queen of Slugs
- Posts: 16611
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:23 pm
- About me: Twoflower is the optimistic-but-naive tourist. He often runs into danger, being certain that nothing bad will happen to him since he is not involved. He also believes in the fundamental goodness of human nature and that all problems can be resolved, if all parties show good will and cooperate.
- Location: Boston
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
I was born and raised in Traverse City. I grew up fishing and helping my dad and grandpa track deer. I was swimming in Lake Michigan before I could walk and once crashed a golf cart into a pond. There's a small secluded beach on Lake Michigan that only the locals know about and the sunsets there are amazing.Coito ergo sum wrote:But, hardly anybody lives there. Well, that's probably why it is both lovely and doing pretty good.Twoflower wrote:Northern Michigan is a lovely place and is doing pretty good.Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Well, there's no reason to be in Michigan at all, so being in a dead town just ain't attractive.![]()
On the positive side, Michigan summers can be nice, especially if you have lake access, boats and such. Here in Florida, you generally can't swim in lakes, due to the alligator and other nasty squiggly thing problem. In Michigan, the lakes can be very nice to swim in. I think Jobbie Nooner is coming up in May or something. Head out on Lake St. Clair on a boat and go bananas.
The Walleye fishing is good. The deer hunting is phenomenal. And, Michigan has some seriously great golf courses.
Traverse City is worth a visit in the summer, and beach days along Lake Michigan are phenomenal.
I'm wild just like a rock, a stone, a tree
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

-
- Posts: 32040
- Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:03 pm
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
And, it's 250 miles/402 klicks from Detroit....Twoflower wrote:I was born and raised in Traverse City. I grew up fishing and helping my dad and grandpa track deer. I was swimming in Lake Michigan before I could walk and once crashed a golf cart into a pond. There's a small secluded beach on Lake Michigan that only the locals know about and the sunsets there are amazing.Coito ergo sum wrote:But, hardly anybody lives there. Well, that's probably why it is both lovely and doing pretty good.Twoflower wrote:Northern Michigan is a lovely place and is doing pretty good.Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Well, there's no reason to be in Michigan at all, so being in a dead town just ain't attractive.![]()
On the positive side, Michigan summers can be nice, especially if you have lake access, boats and such. Here in Florida, you generally can't swim in lakes, due to the alligator and other nasty squiggly thing problem. In Michigan, the lakes can be very nice to swim in. I think Jobbie Nooner is coming up in May or something. Head out on Lake St. Clair on a boat and go bananas.
The Walleye fishing is good. The deer hunting is phenomenal. And, Michigan has some seriously great golf courses.
Traverse City is worth a visit in the summer, and beach days along Lake Michigan are phenomenal.

- Twoflower
- Queen of Slugs
- Posts: 16611
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:23 pm
- About me: Twoflower is the optimistic-but-naive tourist. He often runs into danger, being certain that nothing bad will happen to him since he is not involved. He also believes in the fundamental goodness of human nature and that all problems can be resolved, if all parties show good will and cooperate.
- Location: Boston
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
Fucking Detroit.
I'm wild just like a rock, a stone, a tree
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

- Twoflower
- Queen of Slugs
- Posts: 16611
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:23 pm
- About me: Twoflower is the optimistic-but-naive tourist. He often runs into danger, being certain that nothing bad will happen to him since he is not involved. He also believes in the fundamental goodness of human nature and that all problems can be resolved, if all parties show good will and cooperate.
- Location: Boston
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
One of the issues with Detroit is that the gangs have taken over parts of the city and the police are no longer able to access those areas and even if they could they are so corrupt that it wouldn't make any difference. The river has become a dumping ground for bodies and no one cares about any of it. The apathy of the city is staggering.
I'm wild just like a rock, a stone, a tree
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

- Audley Strange
- "I blame the victim"
- Posts: 7485
- Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:00 pm
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
Funny that it slots in so well with online based capitalism isn't it?Coito ergo sum wrote:The socialist's dream. Evenly distribute the population to eliminate the distinction between cities and the countryside. It's one of the pillars of Marxist socialism.Audley Strange wrote:Yes. Eventually there will be no need for cities at all and we will all live in endless suburbia. close to the omni-distribution centres where we all work part-time, maintaining robots or delivering crap to each other.
"What started as a legitimate effort by the townspeople of Salem to identify, capture and kill those who did Satan's bidding quickly deteriorated into a witch hunt" Army Man
- Audley Strange
- "I blame the victim"
- Posts: 7485
- Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:00 pm
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
Which is the plot of Robocop.Twoflower wrote:One of the issues with Detroit is that the gangs have taken over parts of the city and the police are no longer able to access those areas and even if they could they are so corrupt that it wouldn't make any difference. The river has become a dumping ground for bodies and no one cares about any of it. The apathy of the city is staggering.
"What started as a legitimate effort by the townspeople of Salem to identify, capture and kill those who did Satan's bidding quickly deteriorated into a witch hunt" Army Man
-
- Posts: 32040
- Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:03 pm
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
I'm not sure I follah...Audley Strange wrote:Funny that it slots in so well with online based capitalism isn't it?Coito ergo sum wrote:The socialist's dream. Evenly distribute the population to eliminate the distinction between cities and the countryside. It's one of the pillars of Marxist socialism.Audley Strange wrote:Yes. Eventually there will be no need for cities at all and we will all live in endless suburbia. close to the omni-distribution centres where we all work part-time, maintaining robots or delivering crap to each other.
- Twoflower
- Queen of Slugs
- Posts: 16611
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:23 pm
- About me: Twoflower is the optimistic-but-naive tourist. He often runs into danger, being certain that nothing bad will happen to him since he is not involved. He also believes in the fundamental goodness of human nature and that all problems can be resolved, if all parties show good will and cooperate.
- Location: Boston
- Contact:
Re: Detroit: The Shape of Things To Come?
That's the plan.Audley Strange wrote:Which is the plot of Robocop.Twoflower wrote:One of the issues with Detroit is that the gangs have taken over parts of the city and the police are no longer able to access those areas and even if they could they are so corrupt that it wouldn't make any difference. The river has become a dumping ground for bodies and no one cares about any of it. The apathy of the city is staggering.
I'm wild just like a rock, a stone, a tree
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 29 guests