Archive for the 'real estate' Category
Detroit’s abandoned house of the week
Published February 15th, 2010 in real estate, abandoned, housing, recession, abandone houses, decay, urban, urban living, Michigan, economy, photography, photos and Detroit. 1 Comment
Who understands how Detroit needs to change?
Published January 2nd, 2010 in recession, real estate, abandoned, decay, transit, public transportation, ignorance, Denver, dysfunctional, light rail, cold, urban, poverty, urban living, rants, Michigan, jobs, economy, winter, photos, photography and Detroit. 5 Comments
After living and working for the past two years in D.C., and Denver, Colorado, coming back to the Detroit area is a real eye opener. What was once a maddening and frustrating place to live is now just plain depressing. With the real unemployment rate estimated to be near 20% for the state, and a ridiculously high 50% for the city of Detroit, still falling real estate values (down 40% in my area, and including our house), a crumbling infrastructure, financially strapped municipalities and school districts, and a apparent 50% commercial vacancy rate (just judging by what I can see..), the metro area seems to continually worsen. Each time I come back it seems that things couldn’t get worse (even though I don’t believe the area’s hit bottom yet), yet it always does.
Living in the area, one becomes accustomed to things residents in most other areas would never imagine. Roads that get complaints in other areas, metro Detroiters can only dream about. The public transit that others complain about being crowded or expensive, doesn’t even exist here. Same with the practically non-existent bike lanes. In Denver I ride my bike everywhere, only getting in the car to make longer distance trips. It’s something that I found to be unacceptably difficult here in southeastern Michigan. When I did make a trip by bicycle here, I was that strange person riding their bike on the road carrying grocery bags; presumably some poor sap who’d had his license taken away, or who didn’t have enough money for a car. In Denver, I’m just one of many using a bicycle for, believe it or not, transportation. Imagine that… Our neighbor here in metro Detroit would drive one block to buy cigarettes.
Driving around metro Detroit, it’s rare to see more than one or two people out getting exercise of any kind. In Denver it would be rare to see less than a dozen people exercising on my two mile ride to work. The weekly Wednesday night cruiser ride in Denver attracted up to 850 riders on a single night this past summer. Of course one has considering how many other options there are for socializing, entertainment, and outdoor activities. On any given week there will be rides, runs, creative Meetups, art openings, and just about anything else an active person under the age of 95 might enjoy. I know some of these things exist in metro Detroit, but the often long distance between them isn’t just inconvenient, but a huge waste of time, and dangerous when you consider all of the different highways one would have to travel to get from, say, Royal Oak to Ann Arbor on a weekday evening.
I have a point, beyond yet one more rant about the area. And the point is this: does anyone, who hasn’t left, or doesn’t want to leave, understand what needs to change about the metro area? Everyone knows that Michigan needs jobs. But I get the feeling that many who remain believe that those who left were weak, or quitters, or don’t like hard work. Those “quitters” who left the state, left because they had other opportunities…better opportunities, and most likely a chance at a better lifestyle. They didn’t leave because they weren’t up for a challenge. If an area offers jobs, and “opportunities” rooted in the past, and another area is embracing the future, why would I choose that challenge? If you can be on a better team, who wouldn’t choose it? Sure, some would rather be a big fish in a small pond, but this particular pond keeps getting smaller, and dirtier.
The point is often made that the area needs to bring back manufacturing jobs. I wouldn’t argue that manufacturing jobs…heck any jobs, would be good for the area. But maybe what the area really needs is to face reality. Metro Detroiters need to adapt to changing times. An education may be a good place for many to start. The claim is often made that metro Detroiters are scrappy, gritty, and hard working survivors. What mid-west city doesn’t believe that? The question is, what do survivors do when there old way of doing things doesn’t work anymore? They change their way of doing things. What did metro Detroit do when it was obvious the ways of the past were going to end soon? Nothing. Detroit made pretty much all of the same mistakes Pittsburgh has made, but unfortunately, unlike Pittsburgh, Detroit’s had very little of the fortuitous investments in other industries.
The question that should be asked, that often isn’t, is why have our young and highly educated citizens been leaving for decades? If the question was asked of every one of them, that has left the state, one would get a variety of answers from jobs to lifestyle. If you were to ask what it would take to get them to come back to metro Detroit, the answers would be equally varied, but I doubt many want to come back for traditional manufacturing jobs. Nor did many of them leave because of a lack of traditional manufacturing jobs. As a friend said the other night, “the state is a storefront. Why would anyone want to come in?”
When time Magazine offered advertising space for a campaign designed to draw this very demographic to southeastern Michigan, they asked five large agencies to answer the question, “If I’m young, talented and creative, and open to all kinds of opportunities, why Detroit?” Take a look at the ads… My personal opinion is that these ads do a better job of answering, “if I’m young, talented and creative, and open to all kinds of opportunities, why leave Detroit?” The ads do a great job of pointing out the disconnect that exists between those who have lived here a long time, and made lots of money here, and those of a younger more mobile generation. Outside of the suburbs of Detroit, who cares about Kid Rock? It really makes me wonder, if these people even understand what types of music the target demographic listens to? I can tell you, it’s not Kid Rock. Not a single one touched on any compelling reason for someone from outside of the area, to relocated here. Why are we even asking the old guard how to attract a new generation of creative, enthusiastic, and highly motivated entrepreneurs and creatives? L. Brooks Patterson still wants to stake metro Detroit’s future on the widening of I-75 from 8 Mile to M-59. MDOT and SEMCOG still seem to believe all transportation should be done in an automobile. No bikes, no trains, no walking…again that’s for the Third World poor, such as those in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Portland, Denver, London, Brussels, and Toronto.
The morning after I arrived back in metro Detroit, we watched part of a round-table discussion on a local news show. The topic was, of course, about the area’s future. It appeared that not one of the participants was under the age of 60. Not that those over 60 have nothing to contribute. But asking only those who lived through a very different time period how we should proceed into the future misses the point entirely. We are in this situation because we (they) thought that what worked in the past would surely work in the future. If it was good enough then, it’s good enough now. Needless to say, watching did not make me feel very encouraged about the future of metro Detroit. Does anybody here, in any leadership position, with any power, or with money, get it yet? Do they understand the real issues? Do they know what it’s going to take to bring people back, or to make them stay?
Updated Map of Abandonment
Published November 14th, 2009 in housing, real estate, dysfunctional, homeless, arson, abandone houses, abandoned, decay, poverty, Michigan, photography, photos, urban and Detroit. 1 Comment
View Detroit Photos in a larger map
The abandoned house of the week
Published October 15th, 2009 in abandoned, real estate, abandone houses, photos, photography, Michigan, economy and Detroit. 0 Comments
The abandoned neighborhood of the week
Published August 17th, 2009 in real estate, abandoned, housing, homeless, wildflowers, flowers, decay, urban, summer, Michigan, photography, photos, morning and Detroit. 3 Comments
Where Detroit ends…
Published July 11th, 2009 in housing, real estate, suburbs, dysfunctional, grosse pointe, abandone houses, abandoned, decay, urban living, Michigan, poverty, white flight, urban, economy and Detroit. 2 CommentsCan you tell which side of the map is Detroit and which side is Grosse Pointe?
The abandoned house of the week, and G.M. finally files for bankruptcy
Published June 3rd, 2009 in real estate, abandoned, housing, dysfunctional, abandone houses, decay, urban, urban living, Michigan, poverty, photography, photos and Detroit. 1 Comment
The big news out of Detroit this week is G.M.’s bankruptcy filing. The fourth largest bankruptcy in U.S. history was a long time coming. There’s already plenty of analysis on the reasons for G.M.’s failure available for reading. Most of the reasons have been far too easy to figure out. For most of us, cars are like many other parts of our lives. They are necessary, expensive, and we just want them to work. For the vast majority of us, cars have become simply another commodity. P.J. O’Rourke feels that the romanticism related to automobiles is gone; that Americans have fallen out of love with cars because of “bureaucrats, bad taste and busybodies”. Apparently cars aren’t “sexy” enough anymore. Has he seen or driven a Corvette, Viper, or GT? Unfortunately it’s an over simplified analysis by someone who grew up in the Big Three’s glory days of fins, muscle cars, drag racing, cruising, drive-ins, and 427 big block’s.
A more thoughtful analysis would be something along the lines of this article in USA Today. G.M. isn’t headed for bankruptcy because Americans don’t love cars. G.M. is headed for bankruptcy because they failed to position themselves for the future. Toyota and Honda haven’t been so successful because they make muscle cars, or sports cars of any kind, for that matter. They have been successful because they’ve made reliable, efficient, and price competitive cars that we wanted to buy. Consumer’s desires and needs change. Failure to supply your customer with what they want or need, at a price that is competitive with the rest of the market, is an indication of bad management.
Meanwhile, Detroit, and along with it Michigan, continues on a downward trajectory. Besides G.M.’s, there have been over 137,000 personal and business bankruptcies in Michigan over the past three years. The layoffs and plant closings resulting from the big G.M. bankruptcy will have a devastating effect on communities such as Pontiac and Orion, Michigan, both on the list of of planned closures.
Additionally, The One D Scorecard came out, and one can guess how Detroit did. Even though the Free Press says, “Detroit area receives a mixed report in survey,” the results were hardly mixed. Years of ignoring glaring problems, and dysfunction, by the industry, our political leaders, and much of the general population, have lead to the problems Detroit, Michigan, and the U.S. auto industry face today.
The abandoned house of the week
Published April 4th, 2009 in housing, real estate, recession, dysfunctional, abandone houses, snow, abandoned, decay, photography, Michigan, photos, urban, cold and Detroit. 0 Comments
The abandoned house of the week…cheap houses, a smoking ban, and mass transit?
Published March 19th, 2009 in transit, news, housing, real estate, public transportation, light rail, abandone houses, homeless, dysfunctional, satire, abandoned, poverty, urban living, Michigan, Detroit, economy, photography, decay, urban, photos and Uncategorized. 7 Comments
I’ve just begun using Twitter. I’m really just kind of eavesdropping on other peoples conversations, or at least parts of conversations. According to my eavesdropping the hot topic regarding Detroit is cheap houses. With NPR, Anderson Cooper, The New York Times, CNN, and other news organizations reporting that houses are selling for as low as $1, artists are buying up neighborhoods, foreigners are snapping up real estate for investment, and Detroit’s rebirth is right around the corner, it seems everyone wants to buy a house in Detroit.
Some of the Tweets I saw on the topic of cheap houses in Detroit included:
“They just said on NPR that you can buy a slightly run down house in Detroit for 100 bucks.”
“foreign investors flocking to detroit for cheap houses. me want in!”
“We should all move to Detroit. $100 houses. We could live off our savings for years.”
“Are you buying a house in Detroit? Are the $8000 houses habitable, and in safe neighborhoods?”
“I think I am going to start investing in Detroit too, and so should you. Houses for $12K, thats crazy!”
A few of the articles really make it sound like a great opportunity to get in on a creative revolution in the Motor City, but if you read more than a few of the articles, and listen to some of the reports, you quickly learn what most Metro Detroiters already know; that it’s not so simple.
Listening to the NPR report you find out that even as some are moving in to a neighborhood, others are desperate to get out. Even the two artists, who are the story’s focus, admit their house has been broken into three times, and one of them has been threatened. Detroit’s poverty rate is about as high as it gets in the developed world, the unemployment rate is above 20%, and the crime rates are equally high. Furthermore getting a house up to code in Detroit is a test of anyone’s commitment, and insuring that house, and your car (which can’t get by without in Detroit)is ridiculously expensive.
And then of course there’s Detroit’s wonderful city services. Will your garbage get picked up? How long will it take to get power back after desperate thieves steal the transformer off the pole down the street? What happens if you’re robbed, shot, or otherwise injure…how long will it take to get police (when I was trapped by a pack of wild dogs, the police operator told me it would be a couple of hours), or EMS to arrive? Where do you go for groceries? Kids? …forget it.
I’d love to go down, and buy a cheap place, fix it up, and be a part of a renaissance, but unless a couple hundred of my friends decide to do the same thing, at the same time, I’m likely putting myself, and my family in a bad situation. Is it worth it to be an urban pioneer with all of the risks involved, simply to get dirt cheap housing? The thousands that leave Detroit each year would say no. Many have struggled for years, to make the situation workable, and most have failed. Not all of the areas in Detroit are not bad, but you won’t find $500 houses in those areas. The prices in the nicer areas aren’t that high compared to other urban areas in the U.S., but they’re much higher than the prices thrown around in the recent reports.
I hope this trend continues, and some creative oases arise from the urban rubble of Detroit. I feel there are some opportunities for some special people, and maybe someday, some areas will actually attract average people who don’t want to be burglarized on a regular basis, who don’t want to pay several thousand dollars per year for auto insurance, who don’t want to have to drive back out to the suburbs for groceries, and who actually want to feel somewhat safe in their homes.
Warning: From this point down, large amounts of sarcasm will be used.
Other topics being mentioned on Twitter include Metro Detroit mass transit, and another attempt at passing a smoking ban in bars and restaurants. Mass transit is still a ways away from reality in Metro Detroit, but at least our regional politicians are getting on board. Less than eight years ago, L. Brookes Patterson, stated on Michigan Public Radio, that “we can’t afford to invest a dime in an experiment like mass transit.” Apparently after eight long years of testing around the world, he’s concluded that mass transit is no longer experimental. Whew…glad that’s been determined. Fortunately our leaders are only about 40 years late on making a decision that the are needs a comprehensive transit system. Maybe if they get it running in another 15 years, we can really attract that younger, highly educated demographic we’re looking for.
And bar and restaurant owners, against most widely available studies on the subject, are dead set against joining the rest of the country in banning smoking indoors in public eating and drinking establishments. Obviously the ban has been detrimental to the local economies in New York, California, Italy, Chicago, and many other major cities, and countries around the world. In fact the ban is probably the cause of this world wide recession. Smokers have just stopped going to bars and restaurants. Good thing Michigan dodged that bullet.