We can do this!

**jtf1972** · December-23-09, 12:04 PM

Last night I was comparing and contrasting some 80's & early 90's images of The Bronx. It was amazing how they resembled Detroit in so many sad ways. 20 years later these same areas are in many cases unrecognizable. There are some locations that it doesn't even lend to a comparison, as when a street has been completely removed for a grocery store [[a huge improvement over trash strewn streets with shells of cars) but I have borrowed a few photos I found on the internet and taken google map images to compare.
Believe it or not, these three images are all the same corner...

There is hope! If The Bronx can be this improved over 20 years [[and it was hell on earth at one point) Detroit can do it too. There were images I couldn't get an exact location on that were an even starker contrast to these... Look up Charlotte St. in the Bronx.

**Detroitnerd** · December-23-09, 12:06 PM

Man. I love that bar.

**jtf1972** · December-23-09, 12:07 PM

I was limited to 4 images in a post, so here are more...

Look at these buildings.... amazing what a cleanup & renovation can do.

And this park corner...

**Danny** · December-23-09, 01:36 PM

Where is the photos?

**RickBeall** · December-23-09, 01:51 PM

I cannot see any of the images either of you guys posted.

**libkath** · December-23-09, 02:13 PM

I'd like to see these photos too, but they won't load...

**EastsideAl** · December-23-09, 02:42 PM

I see no images, but I have been to the Bronx - before and after. There are, of course, a number of differences between NYC and Detroit, not the least of which is that the Bronx was only one very poor area in a much larger city. The big differences for purposes of this comparison though are that NYC had a growing economy and rising real estate values from pretty much the mid-80s onward [[with the exception of a couple of years in the early '90s), and most especially that it had an enormous influx of immigrants in recent years. Many of the people now living in those rebuilt Bronx neighborhoods weren't even in the country during the bad years there.

There is a lot positive we can do here, I don't mean to diminish any steps towards real progress that this city takes. Until our area has some semblance of an economy again, and some influx of population, I'm afraid that we're only going to be nibbling around the edges for the near future. And seemingly tearing much more down than we can productively replace.

**Gsgeorge** · December-23-09, 02:44 PM

I was able to see the photos by right-clicking and 'opening in new tab'. You may want to edit your posts so the photos display correctly or provide links to your photobucket account.

I see what you mean though. For a minute a lot of these photos looked like the Cass Corridor. In just 20 years time they've been totally transformed. One must keep in mind, however, that that is New York City, and this is just Detroit. NYC has a huge demand for housing and people flood there every year, and more often than not they are willing to live outside of Manhattan or Brooklyn. We might see the Co'do look like this in several years time, but there is more risk and less certainty. Here's to hoping...

**RickBeall** · December-23-09, 03:01 PM

Oh, I thought you were showing old and new pictures of The Bronx bar in Detroit.

**jtf1972** · December-23-09, 03:01 PM

I have tried posting the pics so they show up here, but only the links show.

**Whitehouse** · December-23-09, 03:09 PM

Imageshack is bollocks! I use tinypic. Here are the pics. First batch.

**Whitehouse** · December-23-09, 03:13 PM

Second batch:

**gazhekwe** · December-23-09, 03:24 PM

Seen the movie, Fort Apache, The Bronx? It was a good reflection of your twenty years ago pix.

So, what made people want to move there?

How is Harlem doing with the renaissance.

What happened with the anti-gentrification movement in both places?

**EastsideAl** · December-23-09, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by gazhekwe

How is Harlem doing with the renaissance.

Here is an indication of how Harlem is doing [[check Harlem and search):
http://www.corcoran.com/property/sea...YC&RentSale=SU

**EastsideAl** · December-23-09, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by gazhekwe

So, what made people want to move there?

New and renovated relatively low cost housing [[note, I said "relatively," you could buy a few houses in Detroit for what an apartment costs there) that immigrants and other first-time buyers could afford. Increasingly safe neighborhoods. Easy access to mass transit. JOBS!!

**Whitehouse** · December-23-09, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by gazhekwe

Seen the movie, Fort Apache, The Bronx? It was a good reflection of your twenty years ago pix.

So, what made people want to move there?

How is Harlem doing with the renaissance.

What happened with the anti-gentrification movement in both places?

I have posted this clip inhere before. It's Priutt-Igoe. Music by Philip Glass with Yo-Yo Ma on Cello. Just let it work into you. Listen to it with attention and let the pictures slip onto your brain. Makes you really appreciate modern classical music. It won't disappoint you.

The first part of this clip was recorded in the Bronx.

Pruitt-Igoe.

[[Sadly the soundquality is a bit disappointing, so for what it's worth, here's a better quality sound, minus pictures, but with footage of the Apollo 11 landing.)

A brief history of Pruitt-Igoe appartments.

And be back with some feedback.

**EastsideAl** · December-23-09, 03:54 PM

Pruitt-Igoe was in St. Louis. NYC public housing is all full with a very lengthy waiting list.

**Whitehouse** · December-23-09, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

Pruitt-Igoe was in St. Louis. NYC public housing is all full with a very lengthy waiting list.

I know. I was talking about that Bronx part. But speaking about Pruitt-Igoe. It was designed by, there he is again, Minoru Yamasaki. A man who no doubt left his mark in Detroit...

**DetroitPlanner** · December-23-09, 04:42 PM

You know we are in bad shape when people around here are emulating and wanting to be the Bronx.

**Detroitnerd** · December-23-09, 04:50 PM

Reminds me of an old joke:

Two guys strike up a conversation in a bar. The talk turns into a disagreement, which quickly becomes heated. The one guy says, "I don't have to take any shit from you! I'm from the SOUTH BRONX!"

The other guys says, "Well, I'm from Detroit."

The guy from the South Bronx says, "Mexican standoff. Buy your next beer?"

**tallboy66** · December-23-09, 05:18 PM

Got any pics of Detroit from the 80's, 90's vs today from say... Grand Blvd and the Lodge?
Cass and the Fisher?
How about the West side of Woodward across from Brush Park?

I'll check back in 2019.

**Alexis1** · December-23-09, 05:41 PM

yes we can

**DetroitPlanner** · December-23-09, 09:57 PM

I got home and looked at the pics. Where are all the people?? I don't even see any cars!

**tallboy66** · December-24-09, 12:49 AM

You're right you can!

I'll be somewhere else.

**gazhekwe** · December-24-09, 09:29 AM

Koyaanisqatsi -- That is a great movie. We saw it with Philip Glass doing the score live, I think at the Masonic here. I don't think I knew exactly where that Bronx part was filmed at the time, but it does resemble the images shown in the Fort Apache the Bronx movie. Pruitt-Igoe was quite recent at the time so we all recognized that immediately.

Harlem -- $250,000 to $1.5 million for an apartment there! That's amazing. Where do the poor people go?