What is Digg?Sponsored by Gilt Man
It's a Gilt Man's world view!
giltman.com - Get gear and gadgets at up to 70% off. Shop like a guy, dress like a man. You're invited.
482 Comments
- blackbelt88, on 03/11/2009, -11/+34750,000 people used to live here. Now it's a ghost town.
- Fixhotep, on 03/11/2009, -2/+304Detroit earned it's reputation in the 70's and 80's, but it's not the same city as then. That's both good and bad.
Detroit's population has plummeted, but they're actually all still there. Everyone lives in the suburbs now. We're talking monstrous suburbs here. Non-Detroiters don't realize this; they just see the population fall and doom photos on the net. What they don't see are cities that were doing quite well before the economy collapsed. Cities like Troy, Shelby, Rochester, Sterling Heights. These are fairly large cities, and you will see about 5 of them on CNN Money's top 100 places to live in the U.S., with Troy at #22.
Though these residents may live in Troy or wherever, they generally just say they are from Detroit. I guess what I'm saying is that the metro area is still pretty frickin large, and it's not all doom and gloom like the city of Detroit is.
Anyways, Detroit's Mayor from 1974 to 1993 was Coleman Young, and he bred racial hatred. The infamous 8 Mile Road separated Detroit from the inner suburbs and was labeled by locals as Coleman Young Way; because he wanted all the whites out of his city. And he got what he wanted: whites moved out of the city in droves.
When Coleman Young was finally replaced as mayor, Detroit had some hope. Dennis Archer came in and started to make a difference. Now, you can't turn a city around in a few years, and he wasn't perfect, but he made a considerable effort to make the changes.
I saw the good Archer did first hand. He began cleaning up the city, both literally and figuratively. Many downtown areas were cleaned up and redone. Museum districts got facelifts. Everyone was excited because they thought the city was going in a new, and prosperous direction.
Instead of spending time spreading hate, he made the effort to mend the relationship of the city and the suburbs.
When his term was up in 2001, Kwame Kilpatrick was voted in as Mayor. Touted as the first hip-hop mayor, he tore the city apart. I'm sure most of you have heard of him due to the troubles he had last year. But his troubles started the year he was in office when he threw a party at the mayors office that includes strippers (long story short, a stripper that his wife attacked out of jealousy was later found murdered).
Detroit's first hip-hop mayor destroyed everything that Archer started. He had a chance to finish the job and make Detroit a great city, but spent it on entourages, strippers and partying at the taxpayers expense.
And the worst offense that I still can not comprehend: he was voted in for a second term.
It's really a sad story.
I wish people knew more about this city than just "Robocop took place in Detroit" and "Stupid auto companies and unions."
It really was a great interesting city at one point. And hopefully it will be again.
Sorry for a not-so-complete recent history from just a local, but you would feel sad to if this happened to the city you once loved. - Maxjan, on 03/11/2009, -1/+257If Fallout were ever filmed, it should be done in Detroit.
- BugMeNot2, on 03/11/2009, -3/+178I've always wondered how objects are tossed about in a building after they've been abandoned. Like, how'd that piano get on its side? How'd all those cabinets become littered around the room?
- nigelmansell, on 03/11/2009, -6/+154if u leave out the captions, they look like pictures from chernobyl
- Fr4nk2012, on 03/11/2009, -26/+154Is that the first line from Call of Duty 4?
- edilclyde, on 03/11/2009, -0/+116looters looking for useful stuff
- Stap1eGun, on 03/11/2009, -0/+96Detroit reminds me of Sim City, how if you didn't run manage your city right all the buildings would turn gray and then you'd have to pay more money just to clear them out.
- vulkan, on 03/11/2009, -1/+97man i can't even imagine how beautiful this city must have been during its prime. sad to see such beautiful buildings like the theatre get abandoned like that.
- Hraes, on 03/11/2009, -3/+94These are incredible pictures. Enthusiastically dugg.
- immatellyouwhat, on 03/11/2009, -2/+92looters can't play piano silly
- leahcim, on 03/11/2009, -1/+72Thank you for your version of these events. Was interesting to read.
- rchargel, on 03/11/2009, -1/+64I resent that. As a professional looter I can and will play a piano before knocking it on its side.
- jamesdew, on 03/11/2009, -4/+63Yes it is, I'm not sure why you get -diggs for asking a perfectly reasonable question.
- bonk2k, on 03/11/2009, -0/+49Pripyat, MI?
- bonzomcgrue, on 03/11/2009, -14/+63Well, maybe if your so-called leaders hadn't prostituted you to the west, destroyed your culture, your economy, your honor....
- Bloodweaver, on 03/11/2009, -0/+49People loot the buildings and strip them for meta,l or anything of value that they can sell.
- Rileyluck, on 03/11/2009, -1/+47modern warfare reference ftw
- cbg78, on 03/11/2009, -0/+45I think Detroit is one of the modern cities that hit a million and then went down. I know I call the place home , even though I just moved to Denver in dec. So sad Detroit. So sad.
- AceyS, on 03/11/2009, -1/+45I don't understand how in three years of being closed, a school library can look like this http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1882 ... .
- juttman, on 03/11/2009, -1/+44There is so much corruption in Detroit (see Mayor Kilpatrick's recent text message scandal) and until someone with strong ethics & business sense is in power nothing will change. Sad thing is Kwame Kilpatrick would probably be reelected here if given the chance to run again. For some reason the voting population of Detroit idolize the gangster image he portrayed. He currently owes the city around 8 million dollars from a wrongful termination suit brought on by 2 police officers that were planning to expose some of his "faults".
I think the lawsuit cost Detroit around 90 million; does it look like the city could've used that money for other things? - Jaster13, on 03/11/2009, -0/+41Wow. I am from Detroit. Ok...The suburbs. I could not have worded this any better. Thanks.
- jxfallout, on 03/11/2009, -1/+42@staffell: That's the dumbest thing I've heard all day.
- jitterbits, on 03/11/2009, -1/+39That was incredibly bleak, but very interesting. It's weird to see so much remaining in empty buildings. You'd think that everything sellable would have been stripped out when the building closed. There was a piano on its side ffs!
- briLo, on 03/11/2009, -0/+38Detroit has a rather large homeless population. Combine that homeless population with the extremely cold northern Michigan winters and these buildings become homes to thousands.
- inactive, on 03/11/2009, -0/+36The white people (and their money) moved to the suburbs.
- YuriSakazaki, on 03/11/2009, -0/+35It's sad to see such beautiful and grandiose architecture going to ruin. I, like many people, call Detroit home, and I love my city, but it seems no one wants to save it.
- gridbread, on 03/11/2009, -0/+35I drive past the central station all the time, they really should have renovated it, it had really pretty architecture and tiling (possibly looted/destroyed, now).
Could have been something neat. - kkm3, on 03/11/2009, -0/+32billups?
- chadlewis76, on 03/11/2009, -0/+29I've lived in the suburbs of Detroit all my life and I approve this message.
- RearNakedChoke, on 03/11/2009, -3/+32Its unfortunate that American buildings are abandoned so quickly and easily. Buildings in Europe have been around for hundreds of years. You might attribute that to their longer history. But we're so accustomed to disposable things, buildings are no different. Sure, Detroit's abandoned buildings are due to the economy...but again not too many countries, economy aside, toss away entire cities the way we do. And we do, because we can. But just because we can, doesn't mean its the best course of action...
- arbysrocks, on 03/11/2009, -0/+29homeless people? drunkards? who knows.
- feignNU, on 03/11/2009, -0/+27err...let's elaborate on the second law for a moment. It applies to a "closed system". In other words, unless you're pumping energy into a system, entropy in that system will increase. So in the case of the buildings in these photos, once you stop maintaining them (pumping in energy), they start falling apart (entropy increases).
So let's think about the biological system on earth for a moment. It's growing, getting more complicated, evolving. *****, sure does look like the entropy is decreasing like you said, what ever are we to do?! The Second Law must be wrong!
If only there were some energy source...some enormous ball of plasma and gas undergoing an aeons-long fusion reaction, providing the earth and everything on it with unfathomable quantities of energy...oh oh oh, and what if it were so big and heavy that it actually warped the curvature of space and time, keeping the planet constantly spinning around it so we never had to be without its warmth?
if only such a thing existed, then we wouldn't have this troubling problem that you've pointed out. - inactive, on 03/11/2009, -5/+31do people always like go ape ***** when buildings get abandoned?
- teethandeyes, on 03/11/2009, -1/+27Actually, it is usually drunk teenagers.
I grew up in the suburbs, and as soon as we had cars, we would go explore Detroit and drink.
Lots of fun (but not real safe).
Besides, you really think homeless people have the energy to vandalize and tear ***** up? - cmotdibbler, on 03/11/2009, -0/+26I grew up in one of the suburbs in the 70s and what Fixhotep said is true. It cannot be emphasized enough that Coleman Young was pure poison to the city.
- ipwnall123, on 03/11/2009, -0/+25@staffell, There's an incredible concept known as "double checking". Normal people use it to make sure of something.
- pagit, on 03/11/2009, -0/+25Hauntingly beautiful images that make me think about cities that once were big and important that now mean nothing
- dheaddy, on 03/11/2009, -0/+25I hear that the company OCP plans to privatize the police force and make Detroit 'the safest place on Earth'
- inactive, on 03/11/2009, -6/+31Eminem is to blame.
- xpinchx, on 03/11/2009, -0/+23looters and scavengers. it probably looked like that a week after it closed.
- feignNU, on 03/11/2009, -1/+24Second law of thermodynamics - entropy increases.
- Squonk08, on 03/11/2009, -2/+24I attend Wayne State University, which is located in Detroit. In my freshman year for a project I traipsed around the local area with my group members while we took pictures of various architecture. Detroit is a landscape of contrasts--reasonably well preserved buildings on one block, absolute ruins just a block over, and new construction still a block further. It's quite fascinating, really.
I must compliment the readership--dozens of comments and not one racial flame starter. How long that will last is anybody's guess.
It's difficult to put a finger on exactly why Detroit ended up the way it did, as there's a whole hell of a lot of hatred from all sides on the issue. It could well be that, in an age of instant communication and rapid delivery of goods, cities in general have lost their necessity. It could be that Detroit had all its eggs in one basket with the auto industry, which ended up leaving the city center years ago. Of course, these reasonable suggestions are usually drowned out with the typical accusations and blame, which solves absolutely nothing. - teamgwho, on 03/11/2009, -0/+21I'm surprised it doesn't look worse actually. once a building is abandoned, and especially once windows get broken, animals move in and nest and the constant changes in weather can deteriorate the interior quickly. Looters can really do damage, then you have your homeless, and your less ethical urban explorers.
things decay real quickly once they are forgotten by the public. - ProfessorLX, on 03/11/2009, -5/+25***** you! two of my best looters died playing piano
- NinjaDolemite, on 03/11/2009, -2/+21Don't people get the references? wtf?! Digg this up
- malechite, on 03/11/2009, -0/+18This would be a great setting to film a Post-Apocalyptic movie.
- RockMuncher, on 03/11/2009, -0/+18There's a website that has a virtual tour, called the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit. Very informative, and kind of sad, right here:
http://www.detroityes.com/home.htm
It's from a native, so you get the personal history behind a lot of the older buildings... so it's fascinating. - beshore1, on 03/11/2009, -0/+18Well, that's becuase you do not understand Detroit.
not being mean, just saying. - j3rm1981, on 03/11/2009, -1/+18I've seen similar pictures on here before of UA Theatre and Michigan Central Station...it always amazes me that a place like Detroit actually used to have classy, sophisticated looking buildings. It could have been another Chicago...now it's a dump.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 500 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is