Sad Day for Detroit -

[garyg]

Today the city filed for bankruptcy. I've been a resident of the area since my Uncle Henry moved us here circa 1987, just a sad day for the Arsenal of Democracy, home of Rosie the Riveter, the GTO, the Motown sound .. Joe L, just sad

 

[professorchaos]

Hopefully the city will emerge from bankruptcy better than it was.

 

[Mick]

It has been coming for quite a while.

Several surrounding cities filed for bankruptcy over the past few years.

The scandals surrounding the former Mayor and council members brought a lot of attention which Detroit did NOT need.

It can only get better.

 

[dpmtherrien]

Its too bad, but its almost a sign of the economy as a whole. I'm quite sure there will be more cities going the same route if we continue along this same path we're now on.

 

[dushea]

Call me optimistic, but I'm pretty excited that it finally happened. This is probably a good 3 years overdue and now allows the city to regroup and become solvent, something it hasn't been in years. This is the beginning of a very long comeback, but a beginning nonetheless. Once we can police the streets again, implement new schools and begin to attract FAMILIES to the city, a turnaround can happen.

On top of this, having Illitch and Gilbert leading the way gives us a HUGE head start. We'll look back 20 years from now and realize they were the saviors of this city (assuming corrupt city officials are behind us, which is a HUGE assumption).

 

[mretzloff]

It is hard to imagine that areas like the ones shown in the below video exist in the US. Hopefully Detroit can recover. Its history is so integral to the history of the USA.

 

[dpm802]

It was only a few years ago that the Federal Government loaned out $700 Billion dollars to save the likes of General Motors and Chrysler corporations, along with several large banks and insurance companies and other institutions that thought they were "too big to fail."

I wonder if these automotive companies might like to Pay It Forward and contribute to Detroit in order to save their own hometown.

 

[oc_in_fw]

It was only a few years ago that the Federal Government loaned out $700 Billion dollars to save the likes of General Motors and Chrysler corporations, along with several large banks and insurance companies and other institutions that thought they were "too big to fail."

I wonder if these automotive companies might like to Pay It Forward and contribute to Detroit in order to save their own hometown.

A major corporation Pay It Forward? Excuse me, I just laughed my spleen out.

 

[redrako]

This is a sad day indeed.

Detroit is such an important city in American history.

 

[JazzyJ]

One of my good friends moved there a couple years ago right out of college. He absolutely loves it. There are a bunch of programs going working to restore the city and get people to move there. He's convinced they're on the brink of a major turn-around.

If I had any extra money, and was skilled with handiwork, I would buy as much property there as I could. If you watch that video above, there are something like 95,000 abandoned homes and 85,000 abandoned businesses. Someone bought a house for $1. I've briefly checked out Craigslist and found "lots" of houses. Like, "Buy 7 houses for $70,000!"

Just buy them, wait a few years until there's less of a chance you'll be murdered, fix them up and sell/rent to all the hipsters moving there.

 

[Eeyore]

What I don't understand is how a city can go bankrupt. It is a public institution, isn't it?

Or does going "bankrupt" mean that the city finances come under direct state or federal(?) government control?

In any case, I hope it's not too bad news for the inhabitants of Detroit!

 

[Tim_McD]

If I recall correctly, Omni Consumer Products will come in and help run things.

The sad part is that people with faith in the city bought up millions in municipal bonds, now it is likely that their faith has been misplaced. The bankruptcy should, in theory, allow all the municipal contracts to be restructured. Given the track record of the politicians and unions, plus the retreat of private sector businesses - there is a good chance that receivership will extend beyond the state level and into the federal.

Detroit has almost no tax base and over the past 20 yrs of so Michigan has ranked near the bottom of business friendly states - there just isnt enough (i.e., any) private sector money coming in to support the public sector services and infrastructure.

As for speculative investment; I wouldnt purchase anything until the restructuring was complete. The risk of paying a high tax rate, with little-to-no essential services being provided by the municipality (police, fire, trash), makes it too much of a risk. That would have to be a long term investment, where you buy up tracks of land and sit on them for years until the bailouts take effect.

Those abandoned homes and businesses have been stripped clean of anything of value (plumbing, electrical, woodwork, glass,etc) - so you basically have tracks of uninhabitable / condemned properties that you would have to tear down and remove - which would involve hazmat precautions for asbestos, asphalt, etc.

Detroit is going to need a strong hand who will make responsible decisions, a person who will be reviled in the short term and praised in the long term.

 

[buca3152]

Never happen. Just keep giving people stuff for free and buying votes. You get elected. Its the American way.

 

[dpm802]

A major corporation Pay It Forward? Excuse me, I just laughed my spleen out.

Maybe the MoTown industry can put on a show to raise funds to help the city. The same thing happened after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. All the show biz stars with NOLA roots came together and had a telethon for people to call in and donate.

Honestly, though, I don't think that the telethon actually raised enough money to do any real good. It was mostly just an exercise in fuzzy-warm feel good appearance of charity, and provided a lot of free publicity for the performers.

 

[barrycv]

Maybe the MoTown industry can put on a show to raise funds to help the city. The same thing happened after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. All the show biz stars with NOLA roots came together and had a telethon for people to call in and donate.

Honestly, though, I don't think that the telethon actually raised enough money to do any real good. It was mostly just an exercise in fuzzy-warm feel good appearance of charity, and provided a lot of free publicity for the performers.

Yeah, these things are mostly fluff. Sure, there's some money being raised, but the Saints winning the Superbowl supposedly lifted NO up, too, & things were OK then. Not so much.

Detroit has many issues, first & foremost a ridiculous over-reliance on one industry. They needed to change their whole base of employment/identity decades ago, but didn't. Look at Pittsburgh - what was once a steel town (& run down/depressed because of it) now is a major banking location.

 

[james23p]

Reading this made me very sad, I'm a car guy I love American made cars to think the home of the American car is in such a bad state of affairs just drags the whole country down. All I can hope is the steps Detroit is taking now will bring this once great city back again.

Jim

 

[Commander Quan]

This is a website I've been following for awhile. It shows how some of the most beautiful building have deteriorated over the last few years. Some of them you have to see to believe. http://detroiturbex.com/

 

[sleepyEDB]

As a lifelong resident of Metro Detroit, I can say that no one here is surprised. Or if they are, they shouldn't be.


sleepy

 

[noahpictures]

Time for a comeback!

 

[dpm802]

Hey ... what if Detroit secedes from the Union and becomes an independent sovereign country? They would be eligible for Foreign Aid. Not from the 17 Trillion dollars in debt United States, of course. Maybe China can bail them out.