Nothing personal, sdtangler, but I must use this opportunity to say how much i hate the "/obscure?" slashie.

I am reminded of a quote from Joel Hodgson, creator of Mystery Science Theater 3000. In talking about the the obscure nature of many of the references in the show. He said something like, "We don't worry about whether anyone will get it. We know the right people will get it."

An "/obscure?" slashie is useless. Those who get it KNOW it's obscure. Those who don't get it ASSUME it's obscure, because they DON'T get it.

OK, sorry, sdtangler, again it's not you. It's just been bugging me. And I could either post this rant, or talk it through with my therapist for $150 an hour. I am cheap.

And, just so you know, I do get the reference. But I think it was actually "Pets or meat?"

Back on topic: Born and raised in inner-city Detroit. Watched the '67 riot from my front porch. It was a pit then, and is a pit now. I really wish some miracle could fall on Detroit and instantly bring it up to its potential. But, casino gambling didn't do it. And the Super Bowl won't do it either. Too bad.

You knew I'd step in eh Darth? :-) Yes, Flint is by far way worse than Detroit, and way more dangerous.

Ah Detroit, what can I say? It grows on you.

I've plenty of friends that live downtown, or close to it, and enjoy every moment of it. Lots of kick ass bars, aweseome music scene, good food to be found. Just don't ride the people mover lol...you might get a 3 hour tour.

It isn't Indy, or Atlanta, or any other thriving downtowns, but it is what it is. I am still waiting to see the farmland reclamation projects move forward where they raze the old buildings and put up cotton farms. That should work out swell, and employ vast amounts of the unemployed who live in Detroit now.

my boss shared this story with me so I thought i'd pass it along:

Here is a true story about Detroit that happened to somebody who isn't me: A man employed at one of the city's two major newspapers exited his downtown Detroit office to go home and drink a glass of wine; he worked the late shift, so it was already around midnight. The journalist adjusted his glasses and chatted on his cellular telephone, briskly striding down the sidewalk toward the company parking lot.

Suddenly, an unknown car pulled up beside the journalist, screeching to a halt; a large gentleman emerged from behind its steering wheel. This unknown gentleman walked over to the newspaperman and wordlessly punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. "Get up," said the puncher. "Get up!" The newspaperman did not get up, as he suspected following these directions would result in more face punching. "Get up," the unknown assailant repeated. "Get up! You know what this is about! You know what this is about!"
The puncher kept making demands, but the victim's terror slowly morphed into mild confusion; to the best of his recollection, he had done nothing to warrant an unannounced pummeling.


"I think you have the wrong guy," he said, still crouching on the Michigan pavement. "I've never seen you before. I was just walking to my car. You are hitting the wrong guy." The journalist peered up at his attacker; the attacker looked down at his victim's face. It immediately became clear the puncher was, in fact, punching the wrong dude. Obviously, this was an awkward situation. The puncher uttered an expletive, returned to this vehicle, and fled the scene. The newspaperman found his cell phone, readjusted his glasses, and found himself oddly unsurprised by the event that had transpired. This, after all, was his hometown.

It's great to be in Detroit.

Greatest Detroit article evar:

http://travel.guardian.co.uk/cities/story/0,7450,1263114,00.html

The Island was a crappy movie but they shot a lot of the indoor car chases, yeah, not a typo, indoor car chases, in majestic abandoned buildings in downtown Detroit. There are pics up on the intarweb somewhere but you don't really get the feeling for the size and scale until you see a half dozen cars squealing through the buildings. As for what Superbowl XL is going to do for Detroit the answer is found by looking back at Superbowl XVI that was in Detroit, the first "cold Superbowl venue" and realizing that nothing will change unless it gets worse.

for the less racially focused individuals:
urbanadventure.org

MadMike5200, your boss is Chuck Klosterman?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=klosterman/blog

Shirley Ujest, Jebus Farking Christ, Coleman Young has been gone for 16 years. It's time to let go.

Detroit has moved on, it's time you did, too.

I live in Dearborn which is right next door to Detroit. In fact I am about three blocks away from tireman which is a road that is the border between the citys. Detroit is a pretty nasty place. While it certainly does have some nice areas and places to visit it really isn't somewhere you want to live in. Working in it or visiting is all good and fine as long as you are careful though. Over all it a bad city, of nearby citys I would only list flint and Gary Indiana as worse. Most of the surrounding citys though are great places, the majority of Detroit crime and nastiness stays in Detroit. Of course Detroit and anything nearby is going to suck to hell this week with all the Super Bowl Assholes in town.

Trdizzake,

Not only put him in charge but re-elect him! I grew up in the Thumb and thought Detroit has gotten a bad rap for too long, but now I agree... the residents of Detroit deserve all the critical abuse they get.

Detroit's pivot point was the 1968 riots. It turned white flight into white panic. It made Macomb County (the source of Eminem & Kid Rock) the source of post-white-flight zeitgeist of the 70's to 90's for the nation....it exemplified the preneoconservative Reagan revolution, etc.

Coleman Youngs extended tenure did not help. I'm either a racist or a realist....but as a mayor you some times have to sell out to the man to get businesses in town, to create jobs. Young held up to a stupid set of principles and the city paid for it.

Still, don't think there was no money being created. In a reversal of Oaklands money being barred into San Fran, Detroit's real money all ran to Oakland county.

It's a shame cause just behind the bombed out shell of downtown, the city has some real beauty. It's amazing some of what still hides down there.

Things are changing though. It started when Archer became mayor and has been steady and slow since.

Big companies have made a move there recently. Alot of monied real estate developers are moving big ticket housing downtown. It's a shame the place had to completely die to kill the bad parts off first, but at least it is happening.

The Superbowl probably came 5 years too early to show a difference.

Maxwell_Smart

Grosse Ponte farker, about a five minute walk from Detroit, which is pretty convinient for taking care of a lot of business...But I'm here for one reason, my parents are here. I'm counting down the days until I go to New Hampshire for college (7 months)

MadMike5200
Reminds me of an incident in 1997 on Fort Street. A newspaper editor on the late shift took a break and walked over to the local bar with two female reporters to get some food. Some guy pulled up, jumped out and starting beating on him. My friends at the bar saw it happening and ran out with barstools hoping to pummel the guy, but he got away. Turns out the assailant was just drunk and pissed that HE couldn't hook up that night, and that dude is with TWO girls, and that's not fair, let's get him.
STUPID PEOPLE!

aiiee, that's the spirit. Good girl.

"Stop making fun of my town, or there will be... trouble."

They should rename Detroit to Shadar Logoth.

Detroit is a chocolate city, Ray Nagin should be proud.

TalkinColeslaw...
Stupid, as in throwing garbage out the car window...

You need to expand your field of reading my friend. I'd suggest Mike Royko.
He was the BEST at the truth in print.
His column about driving the Dan Ryan Expressway, with his wipers on in order to get wipe the chicken bones and Budweiser cans off his windshield is a classic!

The city is going to give the homeless free dinner and a place to watch the game Superbowl Sunday!! Of course this is to show the homeless that the city cares, and not a way to get the bums off the street before the visitors come. Ha!

37-5

saint paul: Shirley Ujest, Jebus Farking Christ, Coleman Young has been gone for 16 years. It's time to let go.

Detroit has moved on, it's time you did, too.

I wish. The damage that Young did to Detroit will probably never be erased.

Kwame Kilpatrick is playing the same tricks as Coleman Young. He was all "stick it to whitey!" during the campaign, and once he got re-elected he's all "shucks, I was kidding, come downtown and spend your money, you nice white people, you."
And don't get me started on the City Council.

-=dementia=-

Hope it's not in Manchester, this place is a shiatheap. Nothing on the scale of Detroit, but it's about the worst place to live in NH.

MPLArms

Mike Royko... RIP :(

I was a big fan. Used to live in Chicago. He told it.

I'm not sure which is more repulsive, the blatant racism and affrontery to my own intelligence of that photo essay or the fact that so many on this board believe race to be the primary cause of Detroit's downfall.

It wasn't white flight so much as it was "cash flight" that is the problem. The whites took their money and left town undermining the city's tax base and sending it into a death spiral. So the question leads to why did the whites have all the money in the first place. They had better jobs, in part, through racist hiring practices and through racial prejudices in education in the 50's and 60's.

The erosion of the tax base led to an erosion of public education in the inner city which led to less-skilled workers. More businesses left for the suburbs to attract more skilled workers. Meanwhile, the U.S. automotive industry has collapsed along with sending jobs out-of-state as well as out of the country.

To further the problem, Detroit's elected government has mismanaged inner-city issues, their own budget, and appealing to business to attract and retain jobs. Blacks, whites and a lot of colors in between are all equally to blame for the photos on that site.

Too bad people are ignoring the real issue for urban blight in these cities...poverty. I get tired of this BS that if you're black (or brown) you're already genetically trapped into being stupid etc. I guess my friends, family and I are just mutations of our race! Guess people will just ignore the fact I was lucky enough to grow up outside of poverty, b/c poverty obviously HAS nothing to do with it.

Fact of the matter is once your family is in the poverty cycle it is hard to break. Whether you're a poor black person, white etc. chances are that in addition to your parents being poor (duh) your grandparents, great grandparents were also poor as well as other extended family members. Question is what even occured to start this poverty cycle in the family? If you're white then maybe you're grandfather had a farm here in middle America but then was done over by the dustbowl and walla the ball got rolling. So despite what whites want to say you can't ignore the fact that the reason the poverty cycle got rolling with most blacks in this country was due to the racial BS of the past.

Obviously this cycle can be broken as there have been those of many different backgrounds who have escaped poverty and put their family on a good path but it's still a rough uphill battle if you're born into crappy conditions that poverty create. Not everyone is going to make it in the entertainment world and pull their family out of the ghetto, trailer park, small country coal mining town etc.

aiiee

The nice thing about having the Super Bowl in Detroit is that relief from your crack addiction is only a block away from Ford Stadium

Yeah--Detroit is the only large city in the United States where one can find drugs!

At least ex-Mayor Coleman Young and Wayne Fonts (ex-Lions coach) are gone.

It is sad what happened to the city once known for its Big 3 Auto Companies back in its day (auto talk), But, Detroit will always be my home town, no matter where I live, I will always cheer for the Red Wings, Pistons, Tigers, and even the Lions (yes, I am aware they have NEVER been in the superbowl in all 40 years).

MadMike5200

It immediately became clear the puncher was, in fact, punching the wrong dude. Obviously, this was an awkward situation. The puncher uttered an expletive, returned to this vehicle, and fled the scene.

The wrong guy has never gotten punched anywhere except Detroit!

Yeah, the city is throwing parties for homeless people to get them off the streets.

In yesterday's paper I saw some homeless guy saying there was no way he was going to one of those parties. He hates homeless people and he'll be parking himself in a parking lot near Ford Field to beg at the game.

TalkinColeslaw

Turns out the assailant was just drunk and pissed that HE couldn't hook up that night, and that dude is with TWO girls, and that's not fair, let's get him.
STUPID PEOPLE!

Yeah--drunks have never gotten into a bar fight anywhere except Detroit!

The best part of Michigan is still under water.

/buckeye.

The best part of Michigan is still under water.

/buckeye luckeye.

//fixed

Or Ohio City if you feel like getting robbed late at night.

Hell, thats better than scaring away the erm.... entrepeneaurs? at euclid and E120th at 9AM.

id rather be lucky than a stinking, festering landmass. ;-)

I'm just sad that it took clear down to falser before there were any Robocop pics.



"Dead or alive Punk, you're coming with me."

RosevilleDan

I admire your efforts, but I'm thinking it's for naught. For what it's worth, I'm with ya ... I don't see how it's any different than the good or bad you find in any large urban area. But that's my 2 cents.

/born in Detroit
//been all over the country and I've always come home to the D

beefstick: The city is going to give the homeless free dinner and a place to watch the game Superbowl Sunday!! Of course this is to show the homeless that the city cares, and not a way to get the bums off the street before the visitors come. Ha!

I never understand why homeless people don't just walk south and head for warmer states.

Yay Detroit!

Grammar Nazi here:

"Media discover", not "media discovers."

The word "media" is plural. Pet peeve of mine.