The city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in federal court Thursday, laying the groundwork for a historic effort to bail out a city that is sinking under billions of dollars in debt and decades of mismanagement, population flight and loss of tax revenue.
The bankruptcy filing makes Detroit the largest city in U.S. history to do so.
No one could have seen this coming, except Dewey:
Hmmm … this can’t be coincidence:
Michael Moore files for divorce from wife http://t.co/EsCd2p67aQ
— Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) July 18, 2013
Most clueless Detroit bankruptcy tweet of the day:
https://twitter.com/JoelleMackey7/status/357970741838352384
Elsewhere:
Turn Detroit into a national park, to show our kids the wonders of "Government Help."
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 18, 2013
#Detroit filed for bankruptcy. Well, it's about time something bad happened during Obama's second term.
— Joe Cilio (@JoeCilio) July 18, 2013
Detroit officials tell residents not to panic over the bankruptcy. They don't expect any disruption to the city's cocaine availability.
— B. Miller (@BlaiseInKC) July 18, 2013
Detroit is a prime example of Thatcher's 'At some point you run out of other people's money.' #tcot #UniteBlue #p2
— The Ross in the Hat (@indyrallen) July 18, 2013
I'm just disgusted at the political and divisive attempt to make the failure of a city about the people who have run it for half a century.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) July 18, 2013
Has Detroit considered raising taxes?
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) July 18, 2013
Update:
Where have I heard this line before?
Email from conservative reader: "They told me that if I voted for Romney that Detroit would go bankrupt. And they were right!"
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 18, 2013
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[…] of what liberal policies do to a once thriving city, look no further than Detroit. With Detroit filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, they become the largest city in American history to go belly up. Keep […]
“In a case being studied by other cash-strapped American cities including Detroit, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Klein’s decision was a setback for bondholders and insurers who had resisted the California city’s bankruptcy filing. Stockton is the largest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy.”
Detroit citizens rejoice. We’re NUMBER ONE! We’re NUMBER ONE!
51 straight years with a Democrat mayor. It’s only a wonder that it held up this long.
And despite this, I wouldn’t be surprised if they find a way to blame Bush…
Of course it is Bush’s fault. He didn’t do enough when he bailed out Chrysler and GM; and even worse, he didn’t nationalize Ford.
In my purview of general wisdom/popular opinions voiced at the pubs and diners of the South, the UAW was rumored to be ultimately responsible for the loss of jobs and solvency in Detroit.
Unions were/are considered to be ‘the mob’, thugs, bullies that sucked the life out of the auto industry and put their own jobs out of business.
The mysterious disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa didn’t do a lot to stifle those beliefs. Jimmy Jr. threatening violence if Obama wasn’t elected and supplying thugs and poorly-groomed ne’er do wells to populate the OWS spectacles didn’t do much to quell that opinion.
We have recently learned the unions are a just one more front for the ever-persistent communists…which are even more ruthless bullies and thugs than the unions.
Unions, plus foreign automobiles that began to surpass American autos in reliability, quality, gas mileage and value compounded the mess the unions had created and settled the fate of once-proud Motown.
What is generally what the decades-long accepted opinion over beer and a cup of coffee in the South. When someone says Detroit, someone else grunts, ‘unions’ and someone down the bar goes, ‘that and foreign cars’ and then with everyone shaking their heads the conversation is over.
Rarely is a President or a Party ever mentioned as the cause of the demise of Detroit.
I know a person who lives there and keeps insisting that Detroit’s problems are because of Republican policies. She’s a very smart woman – but not in her political beliefs. How does that happen???
Book smart. No common sense.
Modern liberalism is more of a cult of fanatic devotees, their tenets are articles of faith which can never be questioned.
Nope, it’s unions and foreign cars. The Democrats just took over and mismanaged the profits from the auto industry that the unions didn’t suck the cream off. When the profits fell, the government tried to fix it with bail-outs, but by then, the corruption was so set in cement that it didn’t help.
Giving money to a Democrat Union state is like giving money to Idi Amin and Sadaam Hussein – it creates more poverty, suffering and danger than it relieves.
Not to quibble, but you keep using “Unions” and “Democrats” as if they weren’t interchangeable. 🙂
With the most destructive on parole as we speak, but now convicted of 24 federal corruption charges, along with his family and friends. A key point to be made here is simple: If Kwame Kilpatrick were to run for Mayor of Detroit again, even from Federal Prison, he would be re-elected in landslide. Yeah, it is that bad. What does anyone think will happen in bankruptcy? Police and Fire pensions down the drain…go ahead, call 911, see what you get. Unless those who have invested recently, like Karmanos, Gilbert, and Illitch can take over the city, it will remain toast.
A city is its people. The concept that Detroit can recover with better management and the same population is akin to taking aspirin for a gangrenous leg. You’re still dying just as fast.
It needs the Tobacco Road treatment:
Bring dynamite
And a crane,
Blow it up, tear it down,
And start all over again.
I’ll have what that man is having!
RE: “David Burge @iowahawkblog –
“Turn Detroit into a national park, to show our kids the wonders of “Government Help.”
“Dizzy World”…???
“Six Failures From Texas…???
With fun rides like “Crack” the Whip?
and “Dodge’Em” with real bullets?
“House of Accounting Horrors”
“Ride the Public Gravy Train”
“Union Work Zone” – for rest and relaxation with free food
And Detroit’s favorite midway carnival shooting game, “Drive By”
I like that list but it is way to short
5) Partisan Punching Bags
6) Haunted Public Housing
7) Demolished House Maze
8) Sewer Water Surprise
9) Cocaine Pushers as Attendants
10) Meth Addict Janitors
11) Slippery Slope Sleds
12) Tax Man Horror House
13) Nightmare on Obamacare Street
we should also do movies…
1) Honey I shrunk our population
2) Ice Road Taxers
3) Partisan Hospital
4) Robbing the Savings of Private Ryan
5) The Sinking of the Titanic (Government)
. . . decades of government bailouts, social engineering that Jasmine Rand (of Park & Crumps) aspires to be the highest calling, and mismanagement by Democrats. There, I fixed it.
As for Moore: Jealous of Sharpton much?
Also, good thing he’s not a capitalist so he won’t lose anything in the divorce.
Ooh! Like Moore, Sharpton looks nasty. That pic of him with his new girlfriend shows two self-centered people. They’re touching cos she’s leaning towards him, but self-contained even then. Both are more engaged with the camera than with each other. He’s closed off; she’s smirking. They deserve each other. He looks like he’s a whole bodyfull of droopy, saggy skin.
Same thing happened with Obama’s Community Organizing in Chicago.
It can happen anywhere, anytime.
Communism and totalitarianism brings misery wherever it festers. Look at the hell-holes of Islam and the dictatorships of Africa, Asia and South America.
My husband, son and I got lost last week on the Southside of Chicago, thankful to be writing this.
Believe me, you are very happy you didn’t get lost on the west side. I used to work on the south side…people there are afraid to go to the west side.
Chicago is well on its way to becoming Detroit. High crime that spills out of certain neighborhoods into areas where there isn’t “supposed” to be crime (i.e., Michigan Avenue/MagMile), people fleeing for the suburbs if they can, government corruption (read John Kass in the Tribune) and a mayor who thinks that a casino downtown will solve everything.
I’m heartbroken about Detroit–a once-great city is now headed for the dustbin of history as the butt of endless jokes. I don’t think even Willie Horton could save it again.
As a young go-getter, I partnered in a burglar alarm business with an established sales star. His idea was not to target high-crime areas.
“Our market is the areas not so far from the high-crime areas that are now relatively quiet. Those are the targets for the criminals, they are close and have more to steal. Those are the people who are scared to death and want our system.”
Me: “What if they aren’t scared?”
“Show them the police log, they will be.”
Me: “What happens next?”
“Usually, the criminals win and the area goes downhill anyway. We’ll have to market the next closest outlying neighborhoods.”
I am glad to have been reminded of Willy Horton tonight. Go Tigers!
Ooops. *Willie
When I was 12 years old I went to a Bears exhibition game in August with some friends my same age. How, or why, our parents let us do that is unknown to me. We took the EL train to the State St. exit, took the shuttle bus to the game and had a good time. On the shuttle bus after the game we got confused because it didn’t stop at the same street at which we had boarded. We stayed on the bus as it headed west as the lights of downtown faded. We realized that we had missed the stop for the EL. We asked the driver when he would be turning around so that we could go back to the EL. He told us this was his last stop, he was not turning around. We were on the West Side. Luckily, we saw a police paddy wagon parked on the street. We got off the bus and asked the officer how we could get back to the EL. He said it was not a good idea for white kids like us to be in that neighborhood. He put us in the back of the paddy wagon and drove us to the EL. The looks of the people who saw six 12 year olds getting out of the paddy wagon and proceeding down to the EL station was a memory for a lifetime – it was 43 years ago.
“If I had a city it would be Detroit”
It’s Romney’s fault.
Louis Farrakhan wants the US to deed Detroit over to him and his people so the Black Muslim Supremacists can have their own country and laws. He says the white man law, US Constitution, etc. doesn’t apply to him and his people. (No wonder Obama’s regime is so lawless and ignores the Constitution) Farrakhan says we owe this to the black man because of slavery.
Was that an offer, a threat, or a promise?
But who will FREE Farrakhan’s SLAVES?????
snark snark
So he’s pro-Apartheid then?
Muslims as a whole have no regard for man-made laws. The only law they heed is sharia. It’s not about 40 acres and a mule; it’s about acquiring the territory to make all of Michigan Islamic. Then they will ask for another piece of America. Look at India. Frat they asked for Pakistan. Then Bangladesh. Then Kashmir. They’ll Balkanize you to death,
If Calypso Louis wants Detroit, he’ll have to contend with the muslims in Dearborn. That won’t be pretty.
Give them Detroit?
Wasn’t slavery bad enough?
Not a bad idea so long as he doesn’t expect US tax dollars to bail his ass out when he finds that he’s no more capable than our current President’
When’s that art auction. I need me one of them Renoir’s for my Man Cave…
[…] ever would anyone expect this? Detroit files for bankruptcy (bet you thought it already was bankrupt) Morally and socially for about 200 […]
Jabba the Hutt was married?! Who knew..
I think he graduated to Jabba the Bungalow some time back…
Jabba the Stadium.
I didn’t imagine he liked women, and vice versa.
I really thought they had filed.
When this problem happened in Robocop 2 they held a telethon and the corrupt mayor went to collect a big donation from drug dealers before they were attacked by a killer cyborg.
The most depressing job ever: Being that guy to drive the google streetview car through the entire city of detroit.
I hear it was a specially outfitted M-1 Abrams… with chrome rims as camouflage. And they had two follow-tanks, just in case.
I as born and grew up in Detroit and this all deeply saddens me.
I’m sorry. I remember when it was known for MoTown – always wanted to visit. Too late now, I guess.
You are not alone. I still live on the western border. For all extents and purposes, Detroit has been officially bankrupt, technically or not, for months…they stopped paying bills at the time the emergency manager was appointed. It wasn’t enough.
Hmmmm … do I gets to keeps me Obamaphone? Where’s dem free food at? Justice for Trayvon!
Bread and Circuses – Democrat Style
…and don’t forget the cheese. The Gummint Cheese.
This is the Democrat Reservation timeshare?!?!!!
Not anything like the pictures they sent me.
I heard the Michigan governor speak today.
Am I the only one who thought he sounded just like the huckster motivational speaker in “The Natural”…???
City of Detroit retirees sue, claiming that Detroit cannot file for reorganization under Chapter 9 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act because the Michigan Constitution forbids cutting pension payments . . . or something. Let me see, federal law, state constitution – even liberal judges can figure this one out.
Doh … this reorganization in in free fall, occurring very quickly, so the final details will have to be worked out through and with the blessing of the bankruptcy judge.
With Police and fire pensions in the toilet, come on down for a visit…just don’t expect any response to 911 if you need it. Trust me, the collapse of Detroit was NOT due to Police and Fire contracts….the funds obligated therein have not been paid. You have a crap pot full of bureaucrats in the city-County Building who are far less important, but lets see who gets “saved.”
The Detroit leadership have been using Zimbabwe as a model for their economic policies in an effort to “keep it real” and acknowledge their racial, ethnic and cultural heritage.
In 2009 Zimbabwe issued a bank note for 100 trillion dollars. Their life expectancy is 37 for men and 34 for women. If all of the Detroit pensioners died at that age the Zimbabwe solution would work for equally well for Detroit too.*
*source:
http://answersafrica.com/top-10-poorest-countries-in-africa.html
Michael Moore had a wife ? ….good sweet Christ money can buy anything
Michael Moore is so depressed right now that he’s out in the garage with a 55 gallon drum of Crisco and a long straw. The guy is so greasy he doesn’t need KY.
No, take a look, she’s from back before he had money, back when even Democrats understood he was a dishonest radical (if anything, his campaign against Roger Smith caused more factories to close in the long run).
So he’ll probably find some hot young arm candy desperate for celebrity and without a brain in her head. It worked for Kucinich (who at least is sincere in his insanity).
Nobody wants to state what the real problem in Detroit is.
Here come da Feds ! Here come da Feds !
Lordy, Lordy,
Here come da Feds !
With the bailout $$$, that is.
Starting with the un-funded union pensions the city owes, that will be nationalized first.
Then the whole city will be declared a ‘disaster zone’, and a hundred billion dolars of Federal ‘long term no interest loans’ aka ‘gifts’ will get found and handede out by FEMA or such.
Prediciton – at least $ 10,000,000 ends up in John Conyers pocket.
If New Orleans twice, why not Detroit?
Answer: It would still fail.
Anything less than the Orkin man in City Hall won’t be enough.
Only solution is take over by private investors like Illitch, Gilbert, and Karmanos.
No coincidence. And, no fix in sight, either.
The unions, who pensions will be on the line, are also suing.
Pennies on da’ dollar.
Dat’s what bankruptcy court is all about. Creditors get pennies. And, you can then “start over.”
Hate ta tell ya but Detroit ain’t any better than Timbuktu at attracting factories and jobs.
You haven’t heard about how Obama-Bankruptcy works, eh?
Check out Fiat, the UAW, and such…research how their creditors got what, pennies? Hah.
Obama had TARP II and ARRA, over $1.25 TRILLION appropriated funds to play with then. The House isn’t going to bail out any Democratic cities or states (the Republican-run ones don’t need bailing out).
Well it has now come to this.
The “Arsenal of Democracy” has now become a prime example of the failure of “Social Engineering”.
Too many “takers” and not enough “givers”.
When you make the cost of staying a resident, as opposed to moving away, higher than someone is willing to pay, you lose tax paying citizens and businesses. These costs include not only taxes (property and income) but property appreciation and, maybe the highest cost of all, high crime statistics.
This has been going on for more than fifty years and I might say, under Democratic leadership (the last Republican was elected in 1957) and finally the balloon has burst and a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing was made today.
From corrupt politicians (think Kwame) to pension fund trustees (think Conyers) to excessive legacy costs (think 2+ retirees for each employee) to higher wages and benefits than comparable private industry jobs to a tax-paying public paying only about half of the property taxesto a population that has an unemployed (some say 50%+), uneducated (only high 20% graduate) majority receiving welfare, food stamps, section 8 housing and any and all forms of “gimme’s” with no ongoing investment in the city with the exception of living there. A population that yelled “they are taking our jewels” when the State tried to help with the rebuilding of Cobo Hall and with making Belle Isle a state park. A population whose elected representatives fought tooth and nail against a consent agreement with the state to help it out of its financial mess. A population that screamed “they are taking away our rights to elect our leaders” when the State sent in an Emergency Manager. A population that thought Obama would step in and bail them out like he did with GM & Chrysler.
Now as they say, “The chickens have come home to roost”.
Although the city has to be qualified to enter into bankruptcy (a judge will determine), it is almost assured unless the threatened lawsuits (by the unions and creditors) hold things up. The Emergency Manager said today he hopes to exit Chapter 9 by late summer, early fall in 2014.
So now the fun begins. Who knows how it will turn out. And whether or not the unburdened city can evolve into the bustling metropolis that it once was or will it revert back to its old ways and elect the wrong leaders who will take it back into a financial mess again.
Keep tuned……..
Emjayar, excellent post. Detroit government, it’s cronies, and many of it’s citizens have lived in a state of denial for so long that it’s like someone awakening from a coma and seeing it is now fifty years later. They have no reference to deal with current reality. This denial extends to even the wealthier movers and shakers of the city. As the EM bluntly stated, he was appalled that the Detroit Institute of Arts had not taken steps to remove the art collection from city assets so that they would not end up part of a bankruptcy filing. The legislature attempted to pass a law requiring the DIA to only sell the works to a comparable museum with the same mission, but it never became law. So now almost 2.5 Billion worth of art may be ordered sold to pay debts.
On the serious side. . .
1. Detroit is not out of other people’s money, they’re just coming for ours, now.
2. How many other cities do you think are watching to see how this is resolved? Baltimore, Harrisburg, Atlanta, and several in California whose names escape me at the moment, or, what the hell, just the entire state of California. Throw in Illinois.
3. What happens here will become the model for subsequent declarations. There will be much to learn from this and they’ll be watching.
4. Does anyone believe for one moment that the changes necessary won’t be met with screams of racism?
5. Great for the muni bond market. Ratings everywhere will be interesting.
6. One of the most troubling things about the automotive industry “bailouts” is that bankruptcy law, one of the more successful legal processes in the country, was stood on its head. They were a disaster and there is absolutely no reason to expect any less corruption, cronyism, meddling, and interference by the Obama administration here.
How about a peppy little lifter-upper speech from Jennifer Granholm, or perhaps Carl Levin can peer over the top of his granny glasses while he offers up some pithy advice. Then there are the Johns, Dingell and Conyers. All these wonderful people telling us for years how to live, conduct ourselves, and how to do things while the city they pretend to love has been being rotting all around them. They’ve been doing the same things on a national level for years.
No, they’re not out of money yet, they just have to reach further to get it; make no mistake, they will.
No mistake about it, they will reach, just as you say.
60 years ago Detroit was the richest city in the US, today it looks like a city from a third world country. Check out these pictures. Beautiful old buildings run down beyond repair and slums that I can’t believe is in our country. Isn’t liberalism just freaking grand!
http://predicthistunpredictpast.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-ruins-of-detroit.html
Shocking photos. Many of those buildings would have been the envy of architects of the great ancient cities of Rome and Greece.
This is in America. Now.
Unfortunately the “leaders” of Detroit don’t have a massive tornado to blame for the utter destruction that looks to have taken place, just disgraceful neglect while they lined their pockets w/ huge saleries and pensions. I have an old friend who was a former state cop turned DEA agent who’s 1st posting was in Detroit who said his 1st couple of months there he was scared shitless. He said it was like a war zone and seeing those pictures puts his comments in a better light. Must look like London did during the Blitz.
Sobering photo galleries (including abandoned high rises) http://zfein.com/photography/detroit/index.html
Detroit may become a beneficiary of Obama’s regionalism initiative. Merge it with its surrounding counties and soak those who escaped to subsidize Detroit.
Atlanta is already trying to do it to its surrounding counties, or at least prevent them from voting against taxes that would be taken from those counties to benefit Atlanta.
Yes, and annexing the suburbs will just keep pouring money down the money pit. The main problem with these cities is that if they get more money, they immediately hire more people to do very little but drive a government car and collect a government paycheck. To heck with police, fire, infrastructure, etc., they give out jobs and apparently have no concerns about the future. I guess because money is always there, or they’ll just raise taxes.
[…] Read more at Legal Insurrection. […]
The following link is to the bankruptcy recommendation of Kevyn Orr, the EM appt. to Detroit by the Gov. I find it interesting that Mr. Orr, a Democrat and a regional fund raiser for Obama out of Washington DC(and an experienced bankruptcy attorney)stated the following in the document.
” In any event, Detroit cannot survive and grow if it remains a high tax, low service city.”
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130718/SPECIAL01/130718003/Read-Kevyn-Orr-s-bankruptcy-recommendation-Gov-Snyder
Obama is right on target. (No hyperbole.)
I think this will have a long term affect upon ‘unsecured bonds’ in liberal cities.
Detroit Mayor, Dave Bing, spotted going into American Jewelry and Coin (Hardcore Pawn)
http://www.trutv.com/shows/hardcore-pawn/index.html
Can’t wait for this episode to air:)
I might be the only one…
After watching the press conferences, and local reactions, and news coverage, etc….
I have come to the opinion that this Detroit bankruptcy is “good” for Detroiters, and “bad” for everyone else.
I say don’t let them, refuse the bankruptcy.
Make them pay their damn bills. No clean slate.
Detroit needs Marion Barry.
[…] https://legalinsurrection.com/2013/07/detroit-files-for-bankruptcy-bet-you-thought-it-already-was-ban… […]
Just summarizing a few of the cogent comments here it appears many folks “get it” about Detroit…the place where I’ve lived most of my life, now on the western border.
emjayar said …
And whether or not the unburdened city can evolve into the bustling metropolis that it once was or will it revert back to its old ways and elect the wrong leaders who will take it back into a financial mess again.
Unlike manufacturing operations, there is no “product” to sell, and little tax base to support an even burden-less re-start. Yes, I am fairly cure Kwame Kilpatrick, and Coleman Young, and Jerome Cavanagh could and would all be re-elected if they ran…Kilpatrick even from Federal Prison where’s headed after conviction on 24 charges….awaits sentencing now.
My unpopular non-PC opinion is simple enough: Privatize Detroit entirely, 100%, under the current major investors Karmanos, Gilbert, and Illitch. These men know how to sell intangibles and services…plus it would be a pioneering step [I think] to literally privatize the entire operation and run it like Dan Gilbert runs his businesses.
Owego said …
Detroit is not out of other people’s money, they’re just coming for ours, now…
See what Randian says next…
randian said …
Detroit may become a beneficiary of Obama’s regionalism initiative. Merge it with its surrounding counties and soak those who escaped to subsidize Detroit.
No “may” about it, they will try in my opinion. It would a war of the worlds, however, to do it…the suburbs are not interested, and barely agree to support a regional bus transportation system. Some of those suburbs, like mine, one of the stronger and cleaner, are now Democratically controlled and are busy spending money hand over fist that they do not have nor have any potential to acquire. First hand I can tell you it is very hard, nigh on impossible to stop the money grubbing once in motion.
Believe it or not, my burg is building [with a federal grant] a new train station [we already have one that works fine and is paid for]modeled after the vacant & shattered disaster that is the old Detroit station famous in photographs everywhere. When the two year federal grant is gone, operations and maintenance falls on the city. Hello? Do y’all think there is a huge new market for train trips to Chicago [under 300 miles] that take 13 hours or so? We have federal and local morons who do.
We are also setting out to spend around $12 million [if truth be told] to renovate and move in to a new city hall to “save” $8 million of O&M costs for the old city hall. New math: 6 – 12 = +4 ? Oh, wait…?
moonstone716 said …
… annexing the suburbs will just keep pouring money down the money pit … they immediately hire more people to do very little but drive a government car …
Do you believe that the City of Detroit’s Common Council still all drive city provided luxury cars? They do. Some chauffeured.
Sally Paradise said …
Detroit needs Marion Barry.
Our previous mega-playa-maya Kwame Kilpatrick makes Marion Barry seem like an amateur politician from May bury RFD.
Stay tuned as someone else said…this can only get more weird. And tragic as the mentality of Detroit moves to the suburbs and ruins them, too.
Detroit’s bankruptcy is national news, many stories including a nostalgic look back at the ‘glory days’ of Detroit. Most of the presented histories were grossly saccharine, a Disney rewrite of Detroit’s history.
Glory days? Lol, OK. I lived there from 1955 to 1979, over fifty years ago, you know, when Detroit was gloriously known as Murder City, USA.
It was 47 years ago my family had to evacuate because of the riots, part of a five-year national epidemic of riots – that immediately followed passage of the Civil Rights Act.
I remember how my walk to elementary school each morning took me past the entrance to a Fisher Body plant, and all those odd ladies dressed up and leaning against the wall at 7 in the morning for some reason, smiling at me and making jokes I didn’t get. Shift change hookers, I later learned. Glorious!
Popular Detroit joke of the ’60s:
“Hey, what’s that dive team looking for in the Detroit River?”
“Water.”
Then again, I remember a coveted trip to Bob-Lo Island, which held a nice little kid’s amusement park and you got to ride the ferry over and back, big time for an 8 yr old. Between announcements, live music played over the park loudspeakers, on this day the amazing R&B singing of some kid named Stevland Morris, better known later as Stevie Wonder. The ‘Motor City’ meme has tended to overshadow Detroit’s rich history for lunch bucket rock and roll and Motown R&B.
Sure, every American city has its pros and cons and has had its ups and downs, but Detroit was never the prettiest girl at any dance. It has always been a tough working man’s town, the kind of place where nothing is denied the man with enough cash to pay for it.
Many cry out, “see what happens after 50 years of black rule?”, but it was policy, not skin color, that killed Detroit. Democrats killed Detroit, plain and simple. Milked the cow dry, never fed or watered it, left it for dead.
The answer? Line up a million bulldozers from Wyandotte up to Westland and Livonia, northeast to Southfield, then eastward all the way to St. Clair Shores. Crank those bastards up and scrape the whole city into the Detroit River. Start over.
GO RED WINGS.
This “Shorian” thanks you for stopping the bulldozers just short.
BTW- My one trip to Boblo, a school trip, was a trip I’ll never forget. Surprising I remember more about that, than any of the several trips to Cedar Point.
Yes, “The Shores” should be spared…definitely not typical Detroit. However, you know, as a true Metro-Detroiter that passports are required to cross from west side to east side, and vice versa. Woohwah Avenue is the border of distinction.
Ole ‘enry ‘awkins, in his wisdom, of course has me & my border burg scrapped in to the Detroit River.
If you can’t outrun a bulldozer…. well, it’s a Darwinian thing.
I’ll bet you took a school trip to Henry Ford Museum too, right?
Used to terrorize my sisters whenever we drove through the Windsor Tunnel, pointing out all the water running down the wall. “OMG! It’s cracking! Water’s pouring in!” It’s a brother’s job to give his sisters something to talk to their therapists about later on in life.
Me and my brother, aged 6 and 12, jump a slow freight train at the Fullerton St. freight depot, get absorbed with a dead rat inside the car, and don’t notice the train has sped up, too fast for us get off. Had to walk back five miles, though it felt like fifty back then.
Six of us from the neighborhood, all of us about 12 yrs old, hiding in the bushes, in the midnight dark having snuck out, armed with BB guns, waiting to ambush the Canadian raiders, many of them veterans, who came every night to steal our trash can lids and hub caps, drunk on adventure and maple vodka. Ah, good times, good times.
Also: Vernor’s Ginger Ale. Mmmmmm, especially in floats.
Yes, indeedy.
Could sit and talk “all things Detroit” for hours, eh boy?
Well, I made one of those up, but I am old and the practice is permitted.
“Detroiters”, and white guilt suburban hipsters claim suburbanites want Detroit to fail.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Anything to get Detroiters to stay or move back to Detroit is a good thing.
“Obama saved Detroit” and “Romney lies when he says GM is moving jobs to China” were both big memes during the presidential election.
Like virtually everything that was said by Obama/Biden during the campaign, we see these are both untrue. Sigh, when will there be any accountability for those who spew these untruths and the sycophant media that repeat them?
Detroit failed to diversify when GM/Ford/Chrysler began losing market share to the Japanese and German automakers, and went south tied at the hip to the Big Three.
Detroit failed to acknowledge and address the slow shift from tax-paying to entitlements-taking population.
Detroit employs the ugly money machine that Wisconsin recently addressed, where Democrat city officeholders award $$$ in various ways to unions, who return the favor with campaign donations, all of the $$$ derived from companies and citizens, increasingly with loans. Detroit is the After photo for that destructive Dems/union process.
Detroit is the second best example of what happens when activists/protesters/socialists actually get into office – they have no idea how to build or maintain, only how to destroy. The best example is the Obama administration.
Biggest lie ever told (that’s not Obama’s) is “The collapse of the auto industry was the demise of Detroit.”.
There was no collapse. U.S. auto production has increased every year.
Heard this morning: Despite the bankruptcy, the Big 3 plan to remain in Detroit.
Really?
When was the last time they were actually in Detroit?
Out of the Big 3, there’s a grand total of 1 manufacturing plant, and 1 corporate headquarters (Assuming GM is still in the Renaissance Center)in Detroit.
Yeah, collapse of auto plant jobs within city limits is more accurate, but far from the only reason.
Have you been to Flint lately? Visited there last summer. Holy sh*t. Wasteland.
Thank goodness we’ll always have the Detroit Lions.
I won’t even gas up in Flint. That’s why God made Bridgeport.
You can have the Lions, I’ll take the Wings.
Redistributive (i.e. recycled) change is an economic philosophy with diminishing returns.
That said, wallowing in corruption and providing incentive to corruption and dysfunctional behavior has obvious and predictable consequences.
Detroit’s not broken.
It’s people are.
Once, someone said “They need to rebuild Detroit.”
A very astute man replied, “they already did. They built it in Oakland County.”