Why hasn't Detroit ever owned up to its urban planning blunders?

[crawford]

I-75 isn't congested? I-696 isn't congested? Big Beaver isn't congested? I-275 isn't congested? In my experience, the City of Detroit has LESS traffic congestion than the suburbs, primarily due to massive disinvestment in the city..

No, none of these roads are remotely congested. They are all basically free-flowing compared to other major cities around the world.

One can get from downtown Detroit to Troy in 20 minutes. During rush hour, no less.

You control your tax rates in the suburbs? How do you build all those massive new schools that are required when subdivisions get constructed willy-nilly? Are those free?

Yes, it's called home rule. Voters get to decide on their school systems. The State doesn't run the schools, and the Feds don't control the police like in corrupt Detroit.

And no subdivisions are constructed "willy-nilly". Every suburban jurisdiction has a zoning code.

Kids in the suburbs live in the towns in which they grew up? Which 20-somethings do you know that are buying houses in Troy and West Bloomfield?

Yes, they do. I have many friends in their 20's who own homes in suburbs like Troy, Rochester Hills, and Birmingham.

If the region's population were concentrated in Detroit, I can assure you that Lake St. Clair and the northwestern lakes in Oakland County wouldn't be polluted from automobile and agricultural runoff that occurs because every damned acre has been paved with asphalt.

I have no idea how you can "assure" the health of lakes based on some arbitrary development boundary.

Gee, if your Detroit-only 140 square mile scenario were further condensed into a superconcentrated 10 miles approximating the slums of Mumbai, I "assure" you that the Detroit River would be drinkable and moose would roam 6 Mile Road.

[iheartthed]

No, none of these roads are remotely congested. They are all basically free-flowing compared to other major cities around the world.

One can get from downtown Detroit to Troy in 20 minutes. During rush hour, no less.

You can get to Troy from downtown in 20 minutes because there aren't many people going from downtown to Troy. If 696 is "free-flowing" during rush hour, especially between Orchard Lake Rd. and 275, then a lot has changed since I've been away.