Quote Originally Posted by rhythmc View Post
However rather than concentrate the poor in Oakland County, why can't the metro area work to spread the burden?
It's a good question, and it's not just a Detroit question. I think there is a universally human condition that transcends time, place, race, etc...and it's that we are a dichotomy:

[[1) No one wants to be responsible for problems caused by someone else. We all resent when we work with 2 co-workers, and one of them gets paid the same even though they do half the work that we do. That's normal.

...but at the same time...

[[2) The more we witness people suffering, the more we hurt for them. This is why movies and stories captivate people in way that transcends almost all boundaries. Whether or not you care for Harry Potter, you must admit that something very universally powerful must exist in the stories that allow people to connect to them from all parts of the world, young and old.

I'm not an urban planning historian by any stretch of the imagination. But I'd have to believe that when the wealth that is now Oakland County resided in the city, there existed a greater level of awareness -- if not compassion -- for the poor. When cars and highways made it possible to buy 3x as much land for the same price, while also adding 20 miles of distance between you and the poor and suffering, you can't blame people for taking the deal.

Urban sprawl has allowed us to isolate ourselves from the many social problems all around us. Even the concept of the attached garage + air conditioned homes has turned neighbors into strangers.

So, there's the explanation of how it happened. I think that what will change in the future is the internet. The internet, while it certainly has a way of isolating us, also allows information to be exchanged freely without geographic limitations. Before the internet, we mostly learned from whoever was around us....narrow perspective, at best....the ignorant blind leading the more ignorant blind at worst.

In any case, poverty will always exist., but I hope that over the next 50 years I think you'll see the region becoming less polarized, not more. Demographics, social, and economic trends seem to moving that way.

[/endspeculationandphilosophizing]