OT - What's Up With Detroit? (Alotus Pixitus)

Fred19Flintstone

 

Hi!  Let's go on a guided tour of Detroit!  Come on!

 

Welcome to Detroit!

 

There's plenty of housing available.

 

Some with some wonderful architectural detail!

 

Plenty of work places too!

 

There are plenty of festivals.  This one's called Devil's Night.

 

With souvenirs!

 

Bankruptcy?  BIG DEAL!!

Eggcelsior

That's pretty sad to hear. One of the cities that built the US.

SmyrnaGA

I was upset with that news too. (Stepping onto my soapbox) I blame it on the education system. I grew up thinking 65% was passing, it's ok. Well, 65% is NOT ok when it comes to doctors, mechanics, or chefs! I don't want to see a doctor who'll only remove 65% of my tumor! I don't want to have just 65% of my brakes repaired!! And I hell don't want 65% of my food cooked!!! (Unless its sushi)

Fred19Flintstone

The real culprits are corruption, mismanagement and unsustainable legacy costs.  Nobody in the public or private sector for that matter can afford to pay a glut of people who aren't working.  For example, it used to be that workers in the City of Flint could retire after 20 some odd years of service with a fully vested pension and lifetime medical benefits.  Plenty of those guys retired and got jobs in the same field someplace else.  So they get their pension, their medical benefits and the salary of their new job.  Doing the math, if you went to work for the city right after high school, you are eligible to retire before you're 40 years old.  If you went to college, you are eligible to retire at the ripe old age of 45. 

Being a member of a public sector union has its advantages!

edit: Don't be surprised if you see Flint filing for bankruptcy!

bigirish

There are several big problems that led to this sad day. People have been leaving the city for the suburbs since the 60s and they still run the place like there's 2-3 million people. Compound that with corrupt city officials (ie Kwame Kilpatrick) and retired employee pension plans that couldn't be supported (similar to the auto companies when they needed bankruptcy).

Downtown Detroit has getting better recently though thanks to a few private investors. Hopefully bankruptcy helps get the neighborhoods and their city services back on the right track.

JRWhitee

I was born in Detroit, my dad worked for Chrysler for 33 years. Sad to see, have lots of relatives still there.

rholt

Yikes. Looks like Detroit is having their own rendition of the movie "the purge".

bigirish

My wife works for Chrysler. The auto companies have recovered well after their bankruptcy. Hope Detroit can do the same!

Fred19Flintstone

rholt said:

Yikes. Looks like Detroit is having their own rendition of the movie "the purge".

@bigirish correctly points out that downtown Detroit is getting better, however that's just a little piece of the puzzle. Quite a bit of the rest of the city is depressed.

SmokyBear

As Margaret Thatcher famously said..

"Sooner or later, you run out of other people's money."

The problem is simple - socialist policies by corrupt politicians for the past 60+ years.  Oh, not to mention runaway corruption, outright thievery and idiots that should have never, ever been elected to the positions they held - but that barely made a dent compared to the socialism.

The pols provided LOTS of giveaways, including lifetime salaries for retirees, lifetime healthcare, and lots and LOTS of "free goodies" paid with..you guessed it..

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY.

Eventually, other people's money ran out, and we've amassed 18 BILLION in debt that we can't pay, with only $1B per year "revenues" (read: taxes).

Unfortunately, the same thing is happening on a National scale, and the US itself won't be far behind unless we start electing people not based on emotion, popularity, good looks, good physique, good telegenics or other equally stupid reasons, but based on who can actually run a city/country/etc within our means.  Unfortunately, I don't think there are many of those people left in EITHER party.

BTW, I live in the Detroit 'burbs (about half an hour away) and NEVER go downtown.  Ever.  It's a post apocalyptic wasteland - like something out of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.  Wife and I took a wrong turn coming back from the theater the one time we DID venture there about 10 years ago, and barely escaped with our lives.  Never again.

PS: the local Detroit news had a segment on this morning about how city retirees are going to potentially lose some pension benefits now that we've declared BK - and profiled a retired couple who owned about 50 acres in a nice 'burb community where they raise...thoroughbread racing horses.  Beautiful land.  Lakes.  Lots of trees.  Dripping money.  The couple in the segment were retired Detroit city workers (both cops).  Not sure if it was intentional or not because this station is typically pretty liberal, but the irony was apparently lost on them..

Fred19Flintstone

Hi @SmokeyBear ! I grew up in Plymouth and now live in the Flint area.

bigirish

@Fred19Flintstone I grew up in Canton! Living in Bloomfield area now.

@SmokeyBear one of the policy changes Mike Dugan wants to make is to have a minimum retirement age of 55 for city employees. A lot of them do retire in their 40's and get full health benefits until medicare kicks in.

Fred19Flintstone

I graduated from Canton HS in '83. Go Chiefs!

bigirish

Ha! Go Chiefs! Class of '01!

gdenby

I have to agree that there are places in Detroit you don't want to visit. I'm unhappy that my elder daughter who lives outside the city doesn't want to visit Hamtramck to buy some great Dudek pierogies. And that there are places  she and my SIL won't drive within a mile at night. But they have recommended that if we visit, we go to a place called Slow's that has some great BBQ.

But its not so bad. Even tho' the museum collection might be sold to cover pensions, the 5.3 billion in tax free municipal bonds that are secured by utility payments and state guarantees won't default.

Fred19Flintstone

bigirish said:

Ha! Go Chiefs! Class of '01!

I feel old.