The Canals-what happened?

[ndavies]

The canals are still there. It's the houses along the canals that are dissappearing.

[ndavies]

Also if you are looking for a place to move to I hear the Vinton Building might be available... oh wait. Sorry I couldn't resist.

LOL, They can move right in, if they have about $6 Million needed to pay off the bank and finish the project.

[Detroitnerd]

Still no studies proving me wrong?

I didn't say you were wrong, I just noted that you were preaching about education and that you have problems spelling. It seems to me that if we are going to regularly lambaste Detroit educators and administrators for their poor spelling, grammar, punctuation and syntax, it's fair to point out errors in your spelling. It was just a little gag -- no biggie -- but since I made that gag you have been one long online tantrum, derailing this thread with chest-pounding defenses of yourself. Which is why I think you're behaving like a fool. Next ...

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

If you guys would like to read something good about the old neighborhood look up the thread "Paradise Lost" just a collection of great memories for those of us who lived it in the land of the canals. As for its current state of degradation and loss of residents...that question has been answered in the above posts with great accuracy. Give it a few generations and that prime real estate may rebound but for the time being it is a slow painful death.

[kryptonite]

If you check Google maps of that area it looks like Harbor Island homes are in good shape, maybe also the homes on Scripps. Klenk Island is possibly okay as well, but maybe the canal front homes on Ashland are deteriorating? also, the area where the old trailer park was could look crappy from the canal. But the trailer park was not attractive when it was inhabited.

[ndavies]

I never lambasted Detroit educators about their grammar or poor spelling.

I"m lambasting them because of their inability to educate students. I'm lambasting them because their students came in dead last on national exams. I'm upset at the attrrociously bad school graduation rate. I don't care if the schoolboard can't read or write. What I care about is can they select the correct people to educate the students. Can they handle a budget and get the things the students need to learn. Obviously not.

And I don't have problems with my spelling or grammar. I have problems slamming out a post in between my real job. I proof read stuff that actually matters. What I post here has absolutely no effect on my way of life. Therefore my spelling and grammar here are totally irrelavent.

[Detroitnerd]

I never lambasted Detroit educators about their grammar or poor spelling.

Not saying you did, just noting that it is regular sport to make fun of campaign literature for DPS candidates. As for the rest of your post, who the fuck cares? Can we please have all this crap deleted and talk about the motherfucking canals already?

[ndavies]

Not saying you did, just noting that it is regular sport to make fun of campaign literature for DPS candidates. As for the rest of your post, who the fuck cares? Can we please have all this crap deleted and talk about the motherfucking canals already?

You're the one who turned it into a sideshow over one misplaced appostrophe.

[Detroitnerd]

You're the one who turned it into a sideshow over one misplaced appostrophe.

No, fool, if you had a sense of fucking humor you'd have laughed and moved on. Instead it has turned into one long hissyfit from you, with me patiently trying to explain to you what I meant. GTFO, seriously.

[kryptonite]

Not saying you did, just noting that it is regular sport to make fun of campaign literature for DPS candidates. As for the rest of your post, who the fuck cares? Can we please have all this crap deleted and talk about the motherfucking canals already?

Given my druthers, I guess I prefer to read a post with a misspelling or grammatical error than one posted with a barrage of vulgarities. At least a misspelling can still convey a message.

So, are there still nice areas around the canals or not?

[ndavies]

No, fool, if you had a sense of fucking humor you'd have laughed and moved on. Instead it has turned into one long hissyfit from you, with me patiently trying to explain to you what I meant. GTFO, seriously.

Sorry, but this is the typical DYES, style. You'll criticize and take the thread off it's point and then say I need a sense of humor.

There was no humor in your post. It was just a way of trying to make someone wrong, when you don't like the message.

I kept trying to bring it back to the discussion of the reasons the canal area is being abandoned and you kept bitching about GRAMMAR.

[TKshreve]

Hey, if you can't criticize the content of what someone says, go after the grammer.

You know you're running out of material when.............

[Detroitnerd]

Sorry, but this is the typical DYES, style. You'll criticize and take the thread off it's point and then say I need a sense of humor.

You are sorely in need of a sense of humor.

There was no humor in your post. It was just a way of trying to make someone wrong, when you don't like the message.

What do I have to do, ndavies? I had a little smiley face and everything. You seem waaaaaay too defensive.

I kept trying to bring it back to the discussion of the reasons the canal area is being abandoned and you kept bitching about GRAMMAR.

Haha. What? In the post that is now conveniently missing? [[At least I stand by my posts, until Lowell [hopefully] takes them down.) You are a piece of work, pal. I never saw anybody in such a screaming, hysterical fit about petty shit in my life. Oh, yeah. Big man. Want to charge into a discussion of a SPECIFIC NEIGHBORHOOD IN DETROIT with the most general, venting, pedestrian comments about Detroit, and then when somebody gags you on it, spend the next few hours screaming, whining, complaining and selectively editing?

Bugger off, willya?

[TKshreve]

Why come there are no more Canals?

TFF - - LOL

[ndavies]

And so how do my comments not specifically relate to this neighborhood? How do they not specifically relate to any Detroit neighborhood.?

Do you have any other reasons for this happening. Will this neighborhood revive without the things I talk about being solved?

You still haven't offered anything to this discussion other than I can't spell, my grammar sucks and I have no sense of humor.

All you have done in this thread is bitch about me. So how about this stop being about me. and we talk about the canal neighborhood?

[Detroitnerd]

And so how do my comments not specifically relate to this neighborhood? How do they not specifically relate to any Detroit neighborhood.?

Simple. If we talk about the history of how a specific Detroit neighborhood was laid low, we are not learning anything when you go off on all the things that are wrong with Detroit. Don't get me wrong; Detroit's problems are real. But to just rehash the schools, crime, services, taxes and so on is just so easy. What do you really know about that neighborhood? Or are you just barging in with your one-condemnation-fits-all rant that is supposed to end discussion and contribute zero to information about the canals? See? Perhaps you think we should all proudly pat you on the back for being "brave" enough to "call it like it is." But you ain't adding shit to the discussion. We already know all that stuff, ndavies.

Do you have any other reasons for this happening. Will this neighborhood revive without the things I talk about being solved?

Dude, nobody here seems to be talking about reviving the neighborhood. It's a discussion of an interesting part of the city that's, like many other neighborhoods, on hard times. But what an interesting neighborhood it is! Who lives there? Who has lived there? What's its history? These are all fascinating questions. But perhaps we should just be content because you have come onto the thread and offered your very general complaints, so, I guess we're done, huh?

You still haven't offered anything to this discussion other than I can't spell, my grammar sucks and I have no sense of humor.

You're fucking kidding me, right? All you've done is follow me around whining like a crybaby and I've been responding in kind. For a guy with blustery opinions, you sure seem ... easily emotionally wounded.

All you have done in this thread is bitch about me. So how about this stop being about me. and we talk about the canal neighborhood?

I direct your attention to my first post; it's the one in which I made an initial remark before this became all about how right you are, bucko.

[kryptonite]

The original post asked why the area around the canals has become so run down. The answer to that would be the litany of issues that have caused most other Detroit neighborhoods to deteriorate.

The area around the canals has not declined due to industrial pollution, urban renewal, a meteor strike, the bubonic plague, shelling from Canada. The neighborhood is suffering from textbook Detroit blight - urban problems that lead to abandonement. At least the people I know that left that area left because of crime, blight, lack of retail, quality of schools, city services, etc.

[ndavies]

So can you come up with any other reasons for this neighborhood to decay other than the usual Detroit reasons? The only neighborhoods that have survived have had superior built homes like English village, Boston Edison. Or incedible community cohesiveness like Corktown.

I don't see incredble homes there. I don't see the community cohesiveness. Without those ingredients the neighborhoods in Detroit don't stand a chance.

I actually posted some thoughts on the subject. How about something from you?

[Detroitnerd]

I have had some friends who lived on Ashland. Actually, their place was pretty nice. It's run-down, but not beyond the pale like so many Detroit "ghettohoods." And the unusual scenery, especially the canal, more properly called Fox Creek, adds something unusual. I saw a few places fitted out for boats in the back, if I remember correctly.

There's the Ashland "Bump," an old bridge, probably 100 years old now, with a very severe angle. East-siders have been testing their parents' suspensions on that ramp for generations now, though they keep saying they're going to rebuild it.

Is there enough flow from old Fox Creek to keep it relatively clean? Canals sometimes don't flow enough, which can mean the water gets a little funky in them. I remember the neighborhood around the Gowanus Canals in Brooklyn had that problem. Interestingly, about ten years ago, they started up a water pump to flush them out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gowanus_Canal

And plus, among other sites, 178 Ashland was where Charles Lindbergh's mother lived. Photos? Is it still in existence?

[Detroitnerd]

So can you come up with any other reasons for this neighborhood to decay other than the usual Detroit reasons? The only neighborhoods that have survived have had superior built homes like English village, Boston Edison. Or incedible community cohesiveness like Corktown.

I don't see incredble homes there. I don't see the community cohesiveness. Without those ingredients the neighborhoods in Detroit don't stand a chance.

Yeah, um, that's pretty much what I said. It's not the most desirable part of Detroit. The most desirable parts of Detroit -- midtown, the villages, Hubbard Farms, southwest, Corktown -- are few. That's where people with good resources and no kids happily live despite the problems. It's also nowhere near the most desirable parts of the Pointes, which I also said. What do you want? A medal for saying that Detroit has problems?

I actually posted some thoughts on the subject. How about something from you?

So did I. Before this all became about you being "right" and railing against the same old problems. Like I said, dude: We already know all that. Get more specific to the neighborhood or move on.

[kryptonite]

There was also a pretty brick street, maybe Phillip or Marlborough. In the mid 70's it was quite the sight, the elm trees were still alive and a trip down the street was a treat. I wonder if it's still brick? The last I looked was around 1994 or so, it was still a brick street then.

The park next to the trailer park people called Angel Park, but I doubt that was the real name. It was a nice place at one time and was actually an island sourrounded by canals.

[TKshreve]

There's the Ashland "Bump," an old bridge, probably 100 years old now, with a very severe angle. East-siders have been testing their parents' suspensions on that ramp for generations now, though they keep saying they're going to rebuild it.

I believe they fixed the bump many years ago. I thought they graded it. Almost positive.

And yes, you couldn't be any more dead on with the suspension comment.

[Packman41]

Quote: "East-siders have been testing their parents' suspensions on that ramp for generations now, though they keep saying they're going to rebuild it."

Editor's comment:
[[1) Technically speaking parents do not have suspensions, but their automobiles do. Therefore, it should read [[correction for misused apostrophe) "...testing the suspensions of their parent's automobiles on that ramp..."
[[2) Question: Isn't hyphen in Eastsiders over used?

[Detroitnerd]

I believe they fixed the bump many years ago. I thought they graded it. Almost positive.

Well, that's a good thing. The desk sergeant at that precinct would joke about how there would be a wrecker over there at least a few times a year to pick up the pieces.

And yes, you couldn't be any more dead on with the suspension comment.

I met a few who flew the bump over the years. But they'd only do it once! It ain't like Smokey and the Bandit!

[Detroitnerd]

Quote: "East-siders have been testing their parents' suspensions on that ramp for generations now, though they keep saying they're going to rebuild it."

Editor's comment:
[[1) Technically speaking parents do not have suspensions, but their automobiles do. Therefore, it should read [[correction for misused apostrophe) "...testing the suspensions of their parent's automobiles on that ramp..."
[[2) Question: Isn't hyphen in Eastsiders over used?

Thanks, editor. I'll try harder next time.