The ruins of Detroit

http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/

Absolutely heartbreaking and haunting

 

Unfortunately it's not just Detroit.

I could jump in my van right now and take pictures of dozens of abandonded and burned out buildings and be back home in an hour.
Those would be taken in the city of Gary, IN where steel mills were a backbone.

My parents grew up on the south side of Chicago in the 1930s. Now the south side is a dangerous and decrepid place. Mom told me about how it was a big deal to take the train down to Gary for the day. Gary was the place to be.

What is it now? Our 15 year old intern at work has seen a show on one of the channels about "Life after People" or something like that. Apparently a lot of filming was done in Gary. Shows how nature overtakes abandonded houses etc.

Now there is a new Freddy Kreuger movie coming out. Filming was done in Gary for that as well.
Some was shot in an old church that now has trees growing in it.

Here's a slideshow I found on YouTube.



This was once a beautiful city but not in my lifetime.

 

whoa Gary is a mess

 

Guitarist Wes Montgomery was from Gary

 

Freddy Kruger LOL we had Full metal jacket filmed here in the UK The Hue scenes were filmed in Beckton gas works just over the river to me and the Da Nang scenes were done on the Isle of dogs which believe it or not is a short walk from the City of London financial center LOL When the docks closed down it became a wasteland but you go there now and see what can be done with a bit of thought and a lot of will. There realy is hope guy's

 

Without a doubt DanR and I'm sure Arizona Jack could give you tours of Detroit like I can of Gary.

I'd love see a rebirth believe me but I don't see it any time soon. I'm sure this would go for many other U.S. cities as well but I know Gary better. It was founded in 1906 - a scant 103 years ago and look at it now.
I was born in 1962 and Gary was already headed WAY downhill. This did not happen overnight believe me.

There are entire residential blocks that just need to be bulldozed and rebuilt. Only problem is who's going to move there? Gary has a long standing reputation of being one of if not THE murder capital per capita in the U.S.

The problems run deep and all this in just 100 years. Here sits a city on a major waterway yet it is dead. Go figure.

 

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2405-Maryland-St_Gary_IN_46407_1110757255

buy a house for less than a cheap used car!

 

Guy's the areas of London I am talking about were exactly the same, seriously have a look at the final scenes in full metal jacket now they are transformed, I took Bill (Ardiration from CT) on a boat trip up the thames ask him what it looks like today We have done the same in Cardiff, Liverpool, parts of Manchester you woudnt recognise any more from what they were like 30 years ago. It takes time but above all commitment from those in office and those who live in the areas. I am not saying we have done it all but we have made a major start in regenerating these areas.

 

Now that the steel and auto industries are gone it will be hard to bring this back.

 

Again we have had the same thing, our steel industry decimated, car manufacture LOL that is now a joke, the coal industry, shipbuilding all gone as has our textile industry! Yet we have managed to regenerate quite a few areas, we have started smaller industrial units amd I hate to say it a lot of service industries.

 

Yep, "big business" is the bad guy. The libs want to tax, tax, tax...regulate, regulate, regulate and then they are surprised when this happens?

 

the big 3 were mismanaged, how can you blame that on government. That is a real reach.

 

You really ARE reaching here David. Just another attack mode on your part with no real basis dude. Is that all you're about?

The downfall of the industry up here in this part of the state started in the sixties man. You and I were just children. It wasn't libs, it wasn't conservatives, it wasn't Republicans and it wasn't Democrats.
It was a combination and dare I say it UNIONS. These groups all fell under the heading of greed.
I grew up here. I heard the stories from people that worked in the mills. I have childhood friends that worked in the mills. Can you say that?
I heard stories about sleeping on the job, making a job last much longer and yes, even smoking dope in the cranes.
Meanwhile the unions kept pushing for higher wages because fine people like this need to get $30 an hour to push a broom, run a crane while stoned. For cripes sake David I could tell you SO many things that were wrong with the mills and you'd just put on the blinders and say "it's all because of Libs".

This crap went on for 40 years under different administrations. Diffferent "policies" different "solutions" and whats the bottome line? Outsourcing is cheaper. Our various "administrations" basically sat back and watched this happen. Now it's the Libs fault?

I'm not anti Union but there is a point. The point was reached up here years ago. Give an uneducated person 60K or more a year and see how they spend it. Most dig a huge well of debt then whine about it when it bites them in the hinder.
For that matter give an educated person 100K a year and see how they spend it.

None of this happened overnight and anyone that says it did is just plain an idiot.

 

You are being VERY generous to management here. The workers had NO say in decade after decade of bad business decisions.

 

Have to agree with you Clembo when you have a union leader calling on his members to strike for no real reason and he arrives in a bloody Rolls Royce that speaks vollumes. We lost our motor industry to over active unions and to be honest managers who had no idea how to manage BIG compnies

 

Maybe I stretched a bit here but it was just to make a larger point: "Big Business" has become an attack word and large industries are vilified but look what happens to everyone when they shut down.

 

Well we lost our coal industry to Margret Thatcher she had to show Arthur Scargill who had the bigest set, and that idiot called a miners strike in the middle of summer with vast stock piles!! now we are paying the price for those pit closures.

 

Actually I didn't really address management and yes they made horrible decisions as well.

My real point here is that there were MANY factors that led to the ultimate downfall. Pointing fingers at one particular group is just plain silly.

Unions got TOO strong and management was constantly at odds with them. Unions started making some big concessions but it was too late. This all happened under several different administrations.

When you live in an area where jobs are already tight and then add a bunch of people that have worked basically one job their entire lives but have to go back to work because they lost their pensions it's not pretty.

 

I could get to this house in about 15 minutes if you want more pics.
Not the worst neighborhood but not the best either. Just north of a budding "cracktown".

If you want to move there let me know. I do drywall and painting.

 

I think I may pass.