Start of Detroit's downturn

[Drexciya68]

Question: who wants to be robbed & walk unsafe streets?

Answer: CAY

Abolishing STRESS was a big mistake & an enabler to the city's downturn & flight acceleration. Ask yourself, how many citizens want to live in a neighborhood with the fear of being robbed or worse.....when CAY told tax paying citizens with pride living in the city where our grandparents grew up to get out, we left quickly, very.....our old neighborhood looks like a war zone - great job!

So true and so sad.

[Honky Tonk]

So what's your point? Do you think things would have been better if STRESS
continued? I don't think so, racial tensions would have reached a boiling point as was the case in 1967. Who was more corrupt than Louis Miriani? and he was a devout racist to boot. The racial divide started with him. Does he get a pass? All poiliticians are corrupt, that's why they're politicians.

STRESS eliminated the POS that almost killed me. Apparently the cocky bastard attacked a STRESS decoy. He wasn't so lucky that time. Ask me if I'm heartbroken.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Race relations were getting better before CAY and also across the nation.

Are you kidding me? How were they getting better after the 67 riots? They got worse then and it's not like everyone is gathered by the fire singing Kumbaya now.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

All the time. cay made it very clear for almost 20 years what he wanted and his experiment failed from day one.

Sounds like to me you're just a Young-Hater pure and simple. Nobody else caused Detroit damage but Young in your eyes, and nobody's going to convince you otherwise.

[dtowncitylover]

The only thing I've ever heard about CAY "hating" white people is his "Hit 8 Mile" which was targeted towards criminals and then the whites got insecure and misconstrued it, so they left.

I won't say CAY was a perfect mayor, far from it, but I know better now he was just many of the plethora of reasons why Detroit declined. But for many he is the only reason why Detroit failed. And that just isn't true.

[Smirnoff]

After many of us [[ethnic minorities) actually went to listen what CAY had to say about "our" city.....our friends & close neighbors [[African Americans) tried to convince numerous family's to move to the suburbs because of the increased crime & unsafe neighborhood community - they were actually the first to move & say "good bye".....everybody got the message!

[Zacha341]

Precisely. There were many other factors that have lead us to this day.

I won't say CAY was a perfect mayor, far from it, but I know better now he was just many of the plethora of reasons why Detroit declined. But for many he is the only reason why Detroit failed. And that just isn't true.

[Shollin]

Stopped by my aunt's house yesterday. She lives off of Warren between Chalmers and Dickerson. She's 86 now and has lived there for 50 years. She had a ton of pictures of the street throughout all five decades. It was amazing to see the transformation of the block during the late 70's and into the early 90's. She said for every 2 families that left in the 80's, maybe one moved in and usually black. You could almost take all the pictures and make a flip book and watch the homes vanish. Things seemed to stabilize in the late 90's and into early 2000's, but now she is the only person living on the entire block. Including her house there are only 3 standing structures. She says the city of Detroit has been pretty good actually at tearing down vacant homes. On the next block over under Kwame, they built a row of brand new homes. Drug dealers moved in, tore them up, got busted, and now sit vacant. Houses last maybe 5 years. It was a good history lesson. Seen pictures of Warren bustling with activity and also the Alger theater in use.

[Drexciya68]

Sounds like to me you're just a Young-Hater pure and simple. Nobody else caused Detroit damage but Young in your eyes, and nobody's going to convince you otherwise.

I do hate what he did to my city. He's the main politician who I blame for Detroit's downfall in my lifetime. Over the last couple of decades my view of him, his crooks family and friends has only gotten worse. A close friend of mine is in prison because he got involved with cay's crook and corrupt family and admin. He chased PRIDE out of the city of Detroit and replaced it with DISGRACE, Embarrassment, GHETTO-NESS, Neglect and massive corruption. Coleman is still a hero out there to the countless crooks and young people who have NO direction today. It's sickening to see. They were taught that crime does pay and that blame and excuses is acceptable over positive action. Half of the lowdown crap coleman pulled is not public knowledge and I've yet to hear anything truly positive that he did as mayor.. except for fire longtime employees and hire in untrained and unqualified city employees who showed they had NO clue what they were doing. That made it easier for cay to control and hold onto power and a way to create scapegoats that took the blame for his dirty work.

[Drexciya68]

Cay was and still is a National disgrace for the Great City Of Detroit. I'd even pay into a fund to have his name wiped off of any city structures. I wish a man of honor and respect like President Obama was around back then to lead Detroit instead of the loser we got.. for almost 20 years.

[Shollin]

Cay was and still is a National disgrace for the Great City Of Detroit. I'd even pay into a fund to have his name wiped off of any city structures. I wish a man of honor and respect like President Obama was around back then to lead Detroit instead of the loser we got.. for almost 20 years.

Detroit did have a black mayor with honor and respect and there was a recall campaign against him. I don't know why Coleman Young is so revered around here.

[Wheels]

I wish a man of honor and respect like President Obama was around back then to lead Detroit instead of the loser we got.. for almost 20 years.

Now that is funny!

[turkeycall]

"All politics are local." - Tip O'Neal

Are there multiple causes for the downturn in Detoit? Whatever the number of causes, they are interconnected.

Years ago, if you lived around Balduck Park, between E. Warren and Chandler Park Drive, you shopped locally.

Covenience store/short list groceries - you could walk to Sunnybrook Market.

Need gas? Warren-Farmbrook Sunoco or the Mobil station a few bocks toward Cadieux or the Texaco station just a few more blocks. That's where you got your oil changes and tune-ups, and exhaust systems, too.

Bowling? Maple Lanes or East Warren Lanes.

It seemed that every neighborhood cluster had its own infrastructure for goods and services - Gas stations, bakery shops, butcher shops, movie theaters, independently franchised hardware stores, and major brand grocery stores not too far away.

The buses always ran on the major streets and were pretty much "on time."

Churches? Every Catholic lived within the parish boundaries. Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Non-denominationals . . . most all were within a short car ride's distance to their house of worship on a Sunday morning.

Could the advent of Wal-Mart, Meijer, Home Depot, Lowe's, et.al, contributed in a major way for Detroit's deterioration?

Can Detroit exist by being a bedroom community?

[Hermod]

Could the advent of Wal-Mart, Meijer, Home Depot, Lowe's, et.al, contributed in a major way for Detroit's deterioration?

Can Detroit exist by being a bedroom community?

Walmart was pretty much a rural phenomenon until the mid-1990s. They concentrated on the small towns in America. Their moves into the suburbs was fairly recent. While Home Depot and Lowe's pressured local hardware stores, most building supplies for major repair and renovation work required a trip outside your neighborhood.

I think it was a changing clientele and increase in crime that killed small retail in Detroit.