Dismantling Detroit

**MikeM** · January-19-12, 08:52 AM

Dismantling Detroit

By HEIDI EWING and RACHEL GRADY

Surprisingly, these guys, who all lacked high school diplomas, seemed to have a better understanding of their place in the global food chain than many educated American 20-somethings. The young men regularly checked the fluctuating price of metals before they determined their next scrap hunt, and they had a clear view of where these resources were going and why. They were the cleanup crew in a shaky empire. Somebody’s got to do it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/op...g-detroit.html

**illwill** · January-19-12, 10:41 AM

Sad.

I don't like that out of staters feel comfortable enough to come here and scrap our city.

Depressing.

**Richard** · January-19-12, 06:05 PM

Originally Posted by illwill

Sad.

I don't like that out of staters feel comfortable enough to come here and scrap our city.

Depressing.

Where else can they go without getting arrested and jailed.The writers should also be jailed for failure to report.

**downtown_racine** · January-19-12, 09:25 PM

Seems kind of contrived.

**MikeM** · January-19-12, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by Richard

Where else can they go without getting arrested and jailed.The writers should also be jailed for failure to report.

Umm, the scrappers in the video said the police stopped by to make sure they "wasn't stealing nothing and that they was careful".

**Thames** · January-19-12, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Richard

Where else can they go without getting arrested and jailed.The writers should also be jailed for failure to report.

NO where else.

**Thames** · January-19-12, 10:02 PM

It's not just abandoned dwellings anymore. Occupied homes are being dismantled too.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...me-20111117-ms

**Modusvivendi** · January-19-12, 11:57 PM

Who owns these kinds of completely abandoned properties anyway? Are they often foreclosed on by banks? Or do the owners simply file quitclaim deeds and relinquish their property interests? Or are the owners just not interested?

**ever_helpful** · January-20-12, 12:33 AM

Satire becomes reality. Again. http://www.theonion.com/articles/det...or-scrap,1931/

**Artistic** · January-20-12, 07:42 AM

There is a deeper story here. In the circle of life we all do what we have to do to move forward. No one said it will be happy, bright and colorful all the time, we are taught to believe so however. These men are no different than anyone else who are trying to "make a living". We just think they are doing it either illegally or very odd. Then of course on the brighter side we have the colorful view of mansions and gardens of the Bernie Madoff's of the world who are also doing things either illegally or very odd.

**ordinary** · January-20-12, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by Modusvivendi

Who owns these kinds of completely abandoned properties anyway? Are they often foreclosed on by banks? Or do the owners simply file quitclaim deeds and relinquish their property interests? Or are the owners just not interested?

I have the feeling that the city doesn't know who owns a majority of these abandoned properties. I remember reading about a hardware store on Michigan by Livernois. They wanted to expand and wanted to buy a small parcel of property but nobody could figure out who owned the darn thing and eventually they just gave up.

**Richard** · January-20-12, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by MikeM

Umm, the scrappers in the video said the police stopped by to make sure they "wasn't stealing nothing and that they was careful".

Thank you for the clarification, the sad part is that there are over 150 x military WW2 area ships up for salvage worth over 30 million in scrap value that will be headed for India most likely,and the cycle continues.

**1953** · January-20-12, 09:39 AM

Scrappers should be shot on site.

**Modusvivendi** · January-20-12, 11:39 AM

When I saw there was going to be a video on scrappers at an abandoned property, I thought it would be one or two guys working quietly and covertly to take a few wires here or there. I had no idea it would be done in such a brazen and obvious manner -- with the full knowledge of the police. This is completely unacceptable.

First, it highlights the lack of rule of law in Detroit.

Second, it reflects utter mismanagment and neglect by the city council. People may say that scrappers are impossible to stop, but here's what you do. I don't know what the penalty is for scrapping beyond charges for larceny, trespassing, etc., but it should also be a civil infraction for which there is an automatic $1000 fine. Police could go in, videotape who's doing what, and fine them, just like with a traffic ticket. In the scenario shown in the video, there were half a dozen people, so such an operation would have netted $6k to the city. Another option would be for the city to determine which properties it owns and, if such properties are beyond repair and likely to be scrapped anyway, auction scrapping rights to the highest bidder. That way, the city at least gets somethign out of the scrapping going on. As it stands, it makes no sense that the only people who are profiting from scrapping are those who are doing it illegally.

Thoughts?

**illwill** · January-20-12, 11:55 AM

In plain view of the RenCen and in my opinion, one of the most valuable tracks of land in the city. Another reason that the cops should have stopped something of this magnitude is someone could have gotten injured or killed. Not to mention, hit a live gas line or water main that could have cost the city thousands of dollars to repair. And whos to say they wouldn't have tried to file a law suite against the city.

Detroit government has lowered it's standard of services to just about zero.

**dbc** · January-20-12, 12:43 PM

FYI:

The scrapping in the NY Times video was not near the RenCen. It was over in Delray on the SW side at Dragoon Street south of Fort. If you Google map it, you can see the white water tower and four smoke-stacked factory in the video. It also looks like the last part of the video was taken from Delray, too, maybe Jefferson.

Nevertheless, I'm surprised the cops showed up, because Delray has suffered a lot of abandonment and can be pretty desolate. [[I believe there is a whole thread about Delray.) Anyway, given the guys live in the neighborhood, maybe the cops figured to just let them get what money they could from yet another abondoned building/factory in the neighborhood as long as none of the residents complained. In that neighborhood, who knows where the nearest occupied house is.

It doesn't make it right, but where are the city or building owners in cases like this, where they just leave building upon building to rot and bring yet more blight to the city? I realize ownership of abandoned property and finding title is an issue, but this is the type of shit the city has neglected for decades.