Detroit-Sad post-apocalyptic images

[ERhoosier]

Having grown up in metro Detroit, I could not help but shed a tear when I ran across this collection of images-

Modern Ruins of Abandoned Detroit (PHOTOS) - weather.com

A sad and tragic reminder of what this historic and proud city once was

[travelover]

Ruins porn.

[FIREd]

There is something oddly beautiful about those photos. Detroit must have been a great city once upon a time.

[tuixiu]

Yup, its a hard road to crawl when your population has dropped by so much. I hope they can get things together and pull off a Pittsburgh.

[bondi688]

Look like stills from the movie Mad Max.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiuxiu Yup, its a hard road to crawl when your population has dropped by so much. I hope they can get things together and pull off a Pittsburgh.

I lived in Pittsburgh in the 80s and it was a pretty vital city. Even in the 80s people in Pittsburgh used to talk about the decline of Detroit. I don't think PGH ever got to the stage that Detroit is in now, financially or socially. However, the population of the city of Pittsburgh continues to decline and I see that it is now only 75% of what it was when I lived there. It's really sad what has happened to the Pittsburgh International Airport. I loved the old round PIA terminal building, and I remember it as bursting at the seams when it was a major hub for US Air. I recall flying direct to London on British Airways! Last time I flew to PIT was in 1997, when the 1992 airport terminal was at its busiest, and it still looked like they had overestimated capacity. Now, without US Air, it is an albatross.

I find these stories of decline inexorably sad. I have not set foot in my home country (Ireland) for several years, because I want to remember it as it was.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiuxiu Yup, its a hard road to crawl when your population has dropped by so much. I hope they can get things together and pull off a Pittsburgh.

That theater made me want to cry. I can only imagine how grand it once was.

And yes, I think Detroit should look to Pittsburgh as an example of how a city can go "bust" with the steep decline of one critical industry and reinvent itself as one of the more economically vibrant and diversified economies in the country.

The difference may be that Pittsburgh busted early in the decline of manufacturing, and Detroit busted too late. Earlier in the decline, the hole you have to dig out of isn't as deep.

[bondi688]

Ziggy29

Detroit's problems are more than just economical.

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERhoosier Having grown up in metro Detroit, I could not help but shed a tear when I ran across this collection of images- Modern Ruins of Abandoned Detroit (PHOTOS) - weather.com A sad and tragic reminder of what this historic and proud city once was

It is very sad to see that city go to ruin. The first photo brought back memories as I spent a lot of time in Plant 21 when I was with the Fisher Body Division. Before the new era of doing vehicle pilot programs in the assembly plants, a lot of it was done at Plant 21, checking the fit and assembly of the various vehicle components. I'm talking the 60's and early 70's.

[ERhoosier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bondi688 Detroit's problems are more than just economical.

Agree 100%. Listen to Detroit talk radio for a day or two. Far too many, inc some local politicians, still just don't get it. I admire Pittsburgh's turnaround efforts, but unfortunately I gotta agree with Ziggy that Detroit has fallen further in many ways than Pitt ever did. A true Detroit renaissance will require a sustained Herculean effort of both Detroiters and outsiders.

[imoldernu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 That theater made me want to cry. I can only imagine how grand it once was.

Yeah... art and education... two of the things that mark the moral values that we cherish and that separate us from androids. Sad.

[bo_knows]

These pictures remind me of something I've been meaning to bring up in a public forum. Is there any modern precedence for a large city becoming COMPLETELY abandoned? Is it possible that Detroit completely clears out in the next decade or two, because it can't recover?

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bondi688 Ziggy29 Detroit's problems are more than just economical.

Nevertheless, the root cause was the dependence on one industry and creating a false sense that they were not highly vulnerable to a downturn in that industry. Surely there was plenty of mismanagement along the way, but that was largely based in some mistaken belief that the gravy train would never stop rolling on.

[veremchuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bo_knows These pictures remind me of something I've been meaning to bring up in a public forum. Is there any modern precedence for a large city becoming COMPLETELY abandoned? Is it possible that Detroit completely clears out in the next decade or two, because it can't recover?

Chernobyl. I have seen several programs on tv about how it is crumbling and being taken back by nature. The images from Chernobyl are interesting, many movies come to mind of life after humans.

I doubt Detroit will be abandoned.

In Detroit there are so many images of once grand and beautiful structures in total ruin and decay. They are so unusual because we seldom ever see such degradation. I find them fascinatingly spooky.

There is a lesson to be learned from Detroit. While not TEOTWAWKI it is Atlas Shrugged in real time.

[aja8888]

Someone needs to find vast quantities of crude oil below Detroit!

If you think those pictures are hard to look at, try driving around the immediate areas outside of downtown and see the scores of abandoned housed and dilapidated neighborhoods.

I lived and worked near downtown Detroit in the mid-1970s. As I drove across the Ambassador Bridge cutting through Canada to get to Buffalo, I remember distinctly thinking I'm not glancing back as I wanted this place to be a distant memory.

[Indigo Mule]

I'm surprised that enterprising eBay-ers and etsy-ites haven't descended on Detroit with huge moving trucks to strip out the file drawers and clocks and chairs and safe deposit boxes, and other ephemera and paraphernalia that has been abandoned, to sell online to hipsters and collectors.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indigo Mule I'm surprised that enterprising eBay-ers and etsy-ites haven't descended on Detroit with huge moving trucks to strip out the file drawers and clocks and chairs and safe deposit boxes, and other ephemera and paraphernalia that has been abandoned, to sell online to hipsters and collectors.

My naïve friend, even the copper from the street light wiring has been taken.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indigo Mule I'm surprised that enterprising eBay-ers and etsy-ites haven't descended on Detroit with huge moving trucks to strip out the file drawers and clocks and chairs and safe deposit boxes, and other ephemera and paraphernalia that has been abandoned, to sell online to hipsters and collectors.

Look at the pictures again. There are two pictures of the auditorium of an elementary school, one from 2008, one from 2009. By 2009 the auditorium has been stripped bare.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Someone needs to find vast quantities of crude oil below Detroit!

Or shale, for that matter. In this area, in the Eagle Ford shale and gas play in southern central Texas, fast food joints are *starting* at $10 per hour. Our one restaurant in town, the one that's not open full-time and is always packed at lunchtime (both during the week with oilfield workers and on Sundays with the church crowd), they had to announce that they are cutting back on their hours of operations starting next month. Not because business isn't good enough to support it -- but because they can't get enough people to work those hours.

[travelover]

From the Detroit Free Press: Myths and truths: Sorting the national coverage of Detroit's bankruptcy | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Quote:

Suddenly everyone’s a Detroit expert, whether he or she has ever been here or not. Greedy unions. Decades of neglect. Too much government. Not enough government services. Over-dependence on the auto industry. There’s probably someone who has blamed the bankruptcy on bad pizza.