Do People Hate Detroit?

[goggomobil]

I've lived in and around Detroit for several decades [[let's say well the better part of a century and that's as specific as I get). My family came to 'Old' Delray just after WWI. Before I was born, it was wagons ho to the west side. Ours was the last white family on South Martindale between Grand River and Northfield. Our family had to leave.

I once had the opportunity to drive many celebrities around the Detroit area as a chauffeur for a young neighbor's new limo business. I would often ask [[when the rare opportunity came up for me to speak) what these sports and entertainment celebrities thought about Detroit [[not their audiences, the city). The nicest thing that I can remember was Rev. Al Green's response, a truthful one: 'Detroit is what it is'. Usually, I got a sidestep or no answer at all. When I dropped people off on the tarmac at Pontiac/Oakland or Metro, I would invariably end up telling them to please come back and visit us here in Detroit and also invariably get a stone faced mannequin look as if I had just invited them to stick their whatever in a light socket.

So, I go with Rev. Green's mindset. Detroit is what it is. Detroit is in deep trouble. People who want to sit in the peanut gallery and toss shells at us are no good anyways. When your house is on fire, forget about what the neighbors are saying, stop the fire.

[AUSSIE]

Right, mate.....

Not sure what you mean or where u are going with that, but i want to stress i am not turning this into a race/colour thing, just commenting on how i see it with what i read.

For instance, the school near my future joint @ 8200 Mack is the Hutchinson Elementary, and of the 573 students, ONE is a white:

http://detroitk12.org/schools/school/174/demographics/

Sorry, very confused with all this.

[rex]

eh... You know what happened to the last australian I heard of that bought a building on the eastside?

[AUSSIE]

eh... You know what happened to the last australian I heard of that bought a building on the eastside?

Yeah, i still remember the reason:

"Young said he did not realise he was holding a pistol, and the weapon suddenly went off."

WTF?

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law...-1226427830078

He got 35 years, min. 20 years

[ArmDetroit]

I don't hate Detroit. I love Detroit.

[Honky Tonk]

Not sure what you mean or where u are going with that, but i want to stress i am not turning this into a race/colour thing, just commenting on how i see it with what i read.

For instance, the school near my future joint @ 8200 Mack is the Hutchinson Elementary, and of the 573 students, ONE is a white:

http://detroitk12.org/schools/school/174/demographics/

Sorry, very confused with all this.

First I agree with your statement. Second, I was giving you my best Australian accent impersonation. I guess something got lost in the translation..... Are you really moving here, buying the building, or just wishful thinking?

[AUSSIE]

First I agree with your statement. Second, I was giving you my best Australian accent impersonation. I guess something got lost in the translation..... Are you really moving here, buying the building, or just wishful thinking?

No worries!!

For now i am planning to come to USA latter in the year, when it warms up a bit, have many friends and girlfriends in USA, none in MI though.

Of course I will be checking out 8200 Mack and try my best not to get robbed/shot etc

To live in USA is difficult, not sure its any better than Australia anyway, always enjoyed my many trips to USA

With 8200 Mack would consider buying a portion [1/4. 1/3. 1/2.] of it in partnership with a local US person, not interested to buy it for the sake of buying it, would need to run a business and pay for itself, its tough though, if it was all too easy somebody would have pinched it by now.

We sell parking spots in CBD Sydney for not much less than that ask.

Maybe turn it into a speakeasy/blind-pig joint....

GREAT building, nothing to hate about it, other than it may be falling down inside and the area/suburb its located in could be a issue?

More due diligence required

Cheers

[Honky Tonk]

No worries!!

For now i am planning to come to USA latter in the year, when it warms up a bit, have many friends and girlfriends in USA, none in MI though.

Of course I will be checking out 8200 Mack and try my best not to get robbed/shot etc

To live in USA is difficult, not sure its any better than Australia anyway, always enjoyed my many trips to USA

With 8200 Mack would consider buying a portion [1/4. 1/3. 1/2.] of it in partnership with a local US person, not interested to buy it for the sake of buying it, would need to run a business and pay for itself, its tough though, if it was all too easy somebody would have pinched it by now.

We sell parking spots in CBD Sydney for not much less than that ask.

Maybe turn it into a speakeasy/blind-pig joint....

GREAT building, nothing to hate about it, other than it may be falling down inside and the area/suburb its located in could be a issue?

More due diligence required

Cheers

Maybe turn it into a speakeasy/blind-pig joint....
That's a thriving business here in Detroit!
I'll drive around it a couple of times in the daylight and report back if I see anything out of the ordinary.

[AUSSIE]

Maybe turn it into a speakeasy/blind-pig joint....
That's a thriving business here in Detroit!
I'll drive around it a couple of times in the daylight and report back if I see anything out of the ordinary.

Appreciate that!

Don't be shy, take a camera with you!

Actually it would be great to get one of the US Networks to make a show about its rebirth, they could well finance it, if they make shows about Kardashians and Hiltons this is a no-brainer

Most of America wants to put its boot into Detroit, us Aussies always root for the underdog, maybe that, and that its the MotorCity HQ is why i like the joint.

Cheers

[nickbii]

For one thing in Detroit a suburb is an independent city with it's own Mayor. In other bits of the US [[particularly California) a suburb could be a neighborhood within a larger City, but in Detroit a Suburb is officially it's own City. The area around your building is called a neighborhood.

For another the racial breakdown of the local school says almost nothing about the racial breakdown of the neighborhood. I was in a pretty mixed neighborhood [[Woodbridge), and no white kids went to the neighborhood school. Most were in private schools, or managed to finagle a spot in one of the local suburban systems. The rest [[aka: me, my sister, and one chick) went to "Magnet Schools" which recruited from the entire city.

For a third Detroit's racial problems are incredibly complex.

Basically what happened is that in the late 70s and early 80s the white population fled en masse. Due to the fact that blacks are poor this meant that the City did not have enough taxpayers. With no money you can't afford police, basic city services, schools, etc. so now pretty much every black person who can leave is doing so.

That said, I am giving you a worse impression of the City then is probably warranted Detroit is actually a lot better off then Highland Park or Hamtramck because it still has some tax base, partly on the Southwest side, and partly Downtown. It has historically been able to balance it's budget most of the time, with taxes that are not much worse then imposed by other big US Cities. And since the Auto industry's recovering we'll probably end up with a few years and optimism of surpluses 2013-2015.

But long-term pretty much the only plans to help the City that people within the City actually consider are drastic measures like bulldozing 37 sq miles, declaring it a park, and moving the 50-100k people who live there into a newly-built sub-city.

[coracle]

People don't "hate" Detroit. They regret what has happened to it and long for it to become a livable city of 2 Million+ so that those of us that would enjoy living in a large city would want to move in. Unfortunately Detroit is light years away from that; if ever again. We don't even visit without at least a passing consideration of our personal safety. Imagine how beautiful it would now be if over a million residents hadn't left over the last 50 years.

[ccal]

People don't "hate" Detroit. They regret what has happened to it and long for it to become a livable city of 2 Million+ so that those of us that would enjoy living in a large city would want to move in. Unfortunately Detroit is light years away from that; if ever again. We don't even visit without at least a passing consideration of our personal safety. Imagine how beautiful it would now be if over a million residents hadn't left over the last 50 years.

People don't even know what happened to Detroit, they are dismissive and make sweeping over generalizations about the city without fully understanding what has taken place over a number of decades.

[MidTownMs]

People don't even know what happened to Detroit, they are dismissive and make sweeping over generalizations about the city without fully understanding what has taken place over a number of decades.

Do you know what happened to Detroit?

[illwill]

^^^ I was gonna say the same thing [[ccal). Your statement sounds as if you know what happened to the city. I'd like to hear your take?