I don't know about you guys but I can only see so many downtown Detroit threads.  Sure, places like the Guardian Building are just beautiful and worth many pictures but what about the areas of the city you never see?  Like the many historic commercial and industrial buildings that won't be standing in another decade.  My mission this summer is to thorughly photograph some of the mains road in the city (Fort, Jefferson, Michigan, Grand River, Woodward, Gratiot). 

 

Here we start with part 1 of my Fort Street photos, all taken between downtown and the Ambassador Bridge.

 

 

I "explored" this building a couple years ago

 

Explored this building a couple months ago

 

Nice stuff. I especially love the unique shot of the Ambassador Bridge: never seen it from that perspective.

Is the Greyhound in Detroit not located in Downtown?

 

BTW do you see any neighborhoods in Detroit gaining population according to the last census?  Maybe downtown?

Fort does have a White Castle.  That's about it.

Is the Greyhound in Detroit not located in Downtown?

 

BTW do you see any neighborhoods in Detroit gaining population according to the last census?  Maybe downtown?

 

Looks more like a maintenance garage.  The station is closer to downtown alongside the Lodge a couple blocks west of Cobo.

 

Edit: it was apparently a maintenance garage for Great Lakes Greyhound Lines.  Here's a link: http://www.agilitynut.com/bus/mi.html

I think I actually saw that building you were in near the Ambassador. I didn't know how to get into it, though. Great tour.

Fort does have a White Castle.  That's about it.

 

Ohio has Cedar Point.  That's about it.

Says the guy who comes to Ohio every weekend.

I don't anymore.  I stopped about a yr and half ago when I realized how much Ohio sucks.

Sorry, we aren't part of the only state to lose population in 2010 (ya know, Michigan).  And plus, we have actual cities here :D.

Wow. These photos of Detroit always cause me to question the viability of this country. What nation would let one of its major cities continue to conduct a war against itself...

Ah fort street.  Is that Matty's-you-shall-accidentally-drive-to-Canada-wall I see?

 

Wow. These photos of Detroit always cause me to question the viability of this country. What nation would let one of its major cities continue to conduct a war against itself...

 

That's an odd question, considering Detroit has gotten as much help, if not more than it deserved.  While it's still fresh on our minds, its biggest companies got bailouts.  The problems that plague Detroit are highly internal.  People simply don't want to live in this city, except for a handful of people who see an advantage or opportunity.  But it's not enough to offset the exodus. 

 

Any kind of action to change Detroit's direction would not be viable in any way.  Throwing money at the problem won't help when it comes down to the population and businesses choice where to locate.  Your only option to keep status quo or improve the future immediately is to literally force people to stay, and you are only making their lives worse.

 

Detroit will fix its problems on its own.  It will continue to lose more people, more business, close every single library, most schools, shut down more parks until it becomes rightsized. 

 

Right now, many parts are just not pleasant places to live.  Many neighborhoods within close proximity to downtown are literally the inverse of many American cities.  While most cities have a couple vacant homes on each block and maybe a vacant lot here and there, Detroit has a couple occupied homes on each block and maybe an occupied house here and there.  People who go out and get an education receive their degree have their ticket out of the city to go to a place where they can buy or rent a nice home in a nice neighborhood or have a street filled with bars, stores, and restaurants instead of vacant storefronts.

 

For those who stick around, I give you a ton of credit for sticking it out, and hopefully you are rewarded when things pick up, but most of us can't wait that long.

 

I think of Detroit like a big forest fire.  It's still burning, but starting to go out.  You see a few shoots of green here and there, but wait another decade and you'll see alot more progress.  Meanwhile, much of greater of Detroit will continue to spiral into decline, but you'll start to see a well stabilized core.  Hopefully by then, Michigan will have a more favorable business climate, both nationally and most important....internationally.

Detroit may be the biggest, most attention-grabbing example of what has happened to industrial America but its image is reflected on a reduced scale in cities across the midwest, like Youngstown, Ohio, and Muncie, Indiana. Pittsburgh and Cleveland both were hard hit and although they've managed to salvage a lot and start reclaiming themselves with new economic bases, the effects of the decline of manufacturing are still evident in them.

 

Edit: I started to go off on a rant about corporate directors and executives bowing to the demands of greedy investors by off-shoring all America's blue-collar jobs to exploit cheap labor in countries with weak and despotic governments, but that would be taking the thread off-topic and I don't want to do that.

Detroit may be the biggest, most attention-grabbing example of what has happened to industrial America but its image is reflected on a reduced scale in cities across the midwest, like Youngstown, Ohio, and Muncie, Indiana. Pittsburgh and Cleveland both were hard hit and although they've managed to salvage a lot and start reclaiming themselves with new economic bases, the effects of the decline of manufacturing are still evident in them.

 

Edit: I started to go off on a rant about corporate directors and executives bowing to the demands of greedy investors by off-shoring all America's blue-collar jobs to exploit cheap labor in countries with weak and despotic governments, but that would be taking the thread off-topic and I don't want to do that.

 

That greedy companies argument could be somewhat shadowed in my post though.  You have two options:

 

1. Throw money at the problem, and offer incentives for businesses to move downtown.  Guess what?  When the incentives dry up, the companies bail.  Think of the film industry for example, it's simply walking out despite the thousands of people it is employing.

 

2.  Replace incompetent leaders with government selected individuals or boards.  It's already happening with the Detroit school system.  Guess what, the deficit has almost thus far been shaved in half!!  Down over 100 million in just a few years! 

 

Is this good?  Yes, and no.  It's a bad idea to be replacing elected officials by someone chosen by a few elite individuals.  At the same time, I have yet to see where these actions have gone totally wrong.  If the idea was to remove incompetence and lower debt...the problem was solved.  It may not be popular, but the problem was solved.