Posted November 25, 200915 yr This definately isn't all of Rivertown and certaintly not the best. But you guys know how I am, abandonment fascinates me. Dequindre Cut being expanded
November 25, 200915 yr That's my Detroit! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
November 25, 200915 yr FYI, Rivertown was actually a viable area with restaurants, bars, clubs, microbrewery etc, but the city killed it when the proposed casino was supposed to go there....which it didn't.
November 25, 200915 yr This definately isn't all of Rivertown and certaintly not the best. But you guys know how I am, abandonment fascinates me. I think everyone on this website has that problem! ;) No no. You should speak for yourself. ;) ;)
November 25, 200915 yr It always amazes me how big Detroit is and how desolate. The first time I visited I naively thought, "It's about as big as Philadelphia, there should be plenty to do." There must be 5 million in the metro area. I can't believe there hasn't been more concerted redevelopment efforts.
November 25, 200915 yr It always amazes me how big Detroit is and how desolate. The first time I visited I naively thought, "It's about as big as Philadelphia, there should be plenty to do." There must be 5 million in the metro area. I can't believe there hasn't been more concerted redevelopment efforts. My answers to that are Urban Sprawl and Segregation.
November 25, 200915 yr FYI, Rivertown was actually a viable area with restaurants, bars, clubs, microbrewery etc, but the city killed it when the proposed casino was supposed to go there....which it didn't. I was just thinking how great of a warehouse district this area would make. But how did the proposed casino kill it. Was there emminent domain involved to clear room for the casiono?
November 25, 200915 yr ^ I'm going to have to do research on that. Most likely building owners sold for good offers, thus kicking the tenants out. This all happened way back in the Archer days, late 90's. Past articles only list land as being "acquired." The casino proposal for this area was extravagant, a beautiful and incredibly expensive building actually.....impressive enough for the city to acquire all the land. Obviously, we all know the casinos built elsewhere and did more good for the city in their current locations. What still exists would definitely make a great warehouse district with the help of some infill. But alot of it is on hold because of the recession.
November 27, 200915 yr In round numbers, The City of Detroit had a population of 2 million in 1950. Today, metro Detroit has 5 million, but the population of the City of Detroit has declined to 1 million. That's right! Detroit has lost a million people. This is the same trend that has happened in most American cities, but Detroit is the most extreme. A few cities such as LA didn't lose the density in the core. Detroit tears down about 5000 buildings per year. Even at that, they have not torn down buildings fast enough to make up for the lost population. This is what it looks like to have a lot of empty buildings.
November 27, 200915 yr ^Yup, Detroit peaked at 1.85 million in the 50s. In the 2000 census, they had 951,000. It is estimated that they have lost 129,000 people since then.
December 7, 200915 yr well no doubt these are hard times i'd hardly say "toledo is getting rocked harder than any city in us history" and its certainly not in detroit's boat. for one thing toledo hasnt lost population like the industrial ne ohio cities did. unfortunately maybe it will have by the time of the census maybe not, but lets not get ahead of ourselves with that kind of unsubstantiated hyperbole just yet.
December 7, 200915 yr This is the same trend that has happened in most American cities, but Detroit is the most extreme. A few cities such as LA didn't lose the density in the core. In terms of total loss, yes Detroit stands out. But in terms of percentage loss in pre-WW2 urban areas, Buffalo, St. Louis, Youngstown, and Dayton are even worse. Pittsburgh and Cleveland are right on par. And honestly, it's not like Cincinnati, Toledo, and Columbus are that much better (they have lost 30-40% of their population in the pre-WW2 area). This is a region-wide problem. The only cities that people overlook for this are ones that annexed a ton of land, and then there are still places like Dayton that barely have half their 1950 population, but doubled their land area! The Midwest and Rust Belt were rocked, period. Some cities are still getting rocked, and I might go as far as saying Detroit and Toledo are getting rocked harder than any other cities in United States history save for themselves in 1932-1933! Economic depression drives people away. Of course we can still blame the evils of GM and their destruction of Detroit's mass transit system, but this same thing happened almost everywhere (though yes, for a city that was as large and dense as Detroit, it was even more criminal). It's best to look at places like Detroit, Toledo, Buffalo, and Cleveland as similar to Russian industrial ports. I think they have more in common with those types of places than they do with say, Atlanta or Charlotte. Which Russian cities would you point to?
January 7, 201015 yr Wow, and I thought the Sugar Hill Arts District photo thread was depressing. rofl
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