Discuss Detroit » Archives - January 2008 » The New American Ghetto « Previous Next »
Top of pageBottom of page

Urbanoutdoors
Member
Username: Urbanoutdoors

Post Number: 766
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 4:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was looking through Camillo Jose Vergara's book the New American Ghetto last night and I realized one, that he has Michigan Central station labeled as Gary, Indiana in one picture. Also how far Brush Park has come in the past 10 years. Anyone else notice inconsistencies in books about Detroit. I am amazed to see where Brush Park will be 10 years from now.
Top of pageBottom of page

Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet

Post Number: 1078
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 4:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Urbanoutdoors, while I am not familiar with Vergara's book, nor am I any kind of historian, the Michigan Central Train Station is (was) indeed located in Gary, Indiana! It was moved here in the early 1900's by a team of mules and former slaves to be used as a circus attraction. When that failed, it was decided to by used as a train station, the reason it was built in the first place.
Top of pageBottom of page

Bragaboutme
Member
Username: Bragaboutme

Post Number: 95
Registered: 02-2008
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 5:16 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bullet, where did you get that info from?
Top of pageBottom of page

Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet

Post Number: 1082
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 5:28 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bragaboutme, the information you ask about comes from a book on Detroit’s forgotten history tid-bits called: "Planes, Trains, and Brains, Detroit’s' Unknown Facts" by the late Otto Von Outdooran.
Top of pageBottom of page

Jimaz
Member
Username: Jimaz

Post Number: 4853
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 5:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Top of pageBottom of page

Detroitplanner
Member
Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 1578
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 9:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I once heard Veraga speak at WSU. Very interesting.

He confirmed what BulletMag said. Not only that, he said aliens transported Mi Central from Alpha Centari to Gary (by way of Los Angeles).
Top of pageBottom of page

Gsgeorge
Member
Username: Gsgeorge

Post Number: 598
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 9:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In twenty years time, the NEW American Ghetto will be out in Canton, Sterling Heights, and Waterford, and Brush Park will be back to it's early 20th-century glory.
Top of pageBottom of page

Bussey
Member
Username: Bussey

Post Number: 647
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 9:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

and gas will be 10 dollars a gallon
Top of pageBottom of page

Detroitplanner
Member
Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 1581
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 9:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Strange days are upon the residents of many a suburban cul-de-sac. Once-tidy yards have become overgrown, as the houses they front have gone vacant. Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading."

-The Atlantic, Christopher B. Leinberger
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc /200803/subprime
Top of pageBottom of page

Ragtoplover59
Member
Username: Ragtoplover59

Post Number: 220
Registered: 09-2006
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 9:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Capt. James T Kirk directed the move, But due to a Legal problem, it was moved through Boston, Not Los Angeles.
Top of pageBottom of page

Detroitplanner
Member
Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 1582
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 9:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I thought Verega was trying to pull a fast one on me, thanks for the info RTL59
Top of pageBottom of page

Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok

Post Number: 6540
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 - 9:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Vergara is Michigan Building owner Tony Pieroni's former brother-in-law (in good standing). Tony mentioned on another thread that Vergara used to be married to Tony's sister, and when Vergara comes to town he stops by to visit.
Top of pageBottom of page

Craig
Member
Username: Craig

Post Number: 684
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008 - 12:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

From The Atlantic article... "Most Americans now live in single-family suburban houses that are segregated from work, shopping, and entertainment; but it is urban life, almost exclusively, that is culturally associated with excitement, freedom, and diverse daily life."

No question that parts of suburbia have taken a beating with the economic downturn, but I believe that it's premature start playing taps for sprawl. I pulled the above quote to underscore this point: for every one who agrees with the premise of the quote, there are likely many more for whom suburban lifestyle (as lived today) is preferable to neo-urbanism.
Top of pageBottom of page

Boshna
Member
Username: Boshna

Post Number: 204
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008 - 9:31 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I love that Atlantic article. It is a poignant and wise assessment of the shift in community patterns that is already well underway.
Top of pageBottom of page

Daytwa
Member
Username: Daytwa

Post Number: 12
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008 - 10:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

let us hope
Top of pageBottom of page

Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg

Post Number: 1526
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008 - 11:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

let us hope



I fail to see how a hoped-for loss of billions of dollars in home equity and $10 gas will somehow selectively cause prosperity for the city of Detroit.

I want the economic engines that power this region to continue, and the more engines we have powering it, the better off we will all be in the long run. In the short run, $10 gas will only cause more damage to our main economic engine and further reduce the standard of living for all of SE Michigan's residents.
Top of pageBottom of page

Detx
Member
Username: Detx

Post Number: 119
Registered: 07-2007
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008 - 12:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"In twenty years time, the NEW American Ghetto will be out in Canton, Sterling Heights, and Waterford, and Brush Park will be back to it's early 20th-century glory."

Gsgeorge, you say that so matter-of-factly, as if you WANT that to happen... For some reason, a large number of people in SE MI don't think that strong suburbs and Detroit can coexist, or at least they don't want them to. We need to sustain the high quality of life we see in places like Canton and Sterling Heights, etc., and continue to improve the core of our region, Detroit.

If your prediction holds true, than isn't the redevelopment of Detroit a moot point in the big picture? There can be no peicemeal progress anymore!
Top of pageBottom of page

Livernoisyard
Member
Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 5564
Registered: 10-2004
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008 - 12:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

New urbanists seem compelled to write for liberal rags and to criticize the vast majority of Americans who don't care for nor want that life style in the cores or most neighborhoods of dirty, dangerous cities. If indeed those urban locales were so Utopian, there would be long waiting lines for entry there, and those continually depressed residential and retail commercial districts would not be the ghettos that they rightfully are.
Top of pageBottom of page

Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet

Post Number: 1083
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 7:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gsgeorge, stranger things have happened. I purchased the above mentioned book used from the Library Bookstore in downtown Ferndale a few years back. Tucked in it I found a postcard that been inscribed, but for whatever reason, never sent. Perhaps it was needed more as a book mark. On the front was a hand colored photo of a Wooly Mammoth, chained to a large tree, with a crowd of astonished people looking-on from a safe distance. On the obverse is the description: "North America’s last Wooly Mammoth, chained and shackled before paying customers at Detroit’s Brush Park." The inscription reads as follows: "Clive, This beast pert near trod on me!-Aloysius" The stamp (see below for scan) remains un-canceled, so there is no date as to when this took place.
So I guess Brush Park has a history as a theme park as well.

Detroit post card stamp



(Message edited by Bulletmagnet on March 23, 2008)
Top of pageBottom of page

Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 2405
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 12:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It is really that interesting in Charlotte (perhaps even unique). Unlike metro Detroit in many ways, in Charlotte, the closer that one lives to downtown, the more expensive the real estate. These suburban subdivisions are built for lower income folks (about the $150,00 range) who have been generally booted from their inner-city neighborhoods through gentrification. This is the way that it is in Charlotte, therefore, not inherently akin to Detroit.
Top of pageBottom of page

Johnnny5
Member
Username: Johnnny5

Post Number: 712
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 12:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bulletmagnet was it really necessary to bring Jenny in to this thread?

(Message edited by Johnnny5 on March 23, 2008)
Top of pageBottom of page

Urbanoutdoors
Member
Username: Urbanoutdoors

Post Number: 767
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 3:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In the Detroit's Corktown book it says "Here is one of the Corktown streets lost to progress during the 1950s" but it is clearly my old block on Leverette. p.38
Top of pageBottom of page

Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok

Post Number: 6548
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 4:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bulletmagnet... you're a week too early for April Fools!

That "inverted" Jenny picture (which you got from Wikipedia, by the way!)... shows one rarest stamps of all time... the $800K plus 1918 24 cent stamp, which accidentally had the airplane printed upside down. Only 100 known...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I nverted_Jenny

You thought you were going to pull a "Philatelic Fast One"... :-)

(Message edited by Gistok on March 23, 2008)
Top of pageBottom of page

Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet

Post Number: 1089
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 4:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Since the stamp was not cancelled, I steamed her off of the post card and re-used it (along with the extra needed postage) on a utility bill. Saved me 24 cents dude!
Top of pageBottom of page

Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed

Post Number: 2868
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 5:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

It is really that interesting in Charlotte (perhaps even unique). Unlike metro Detroit in many ways, in Charlotte, the closer that one lives to downtown, the more expensive the real estate. These suburban subdivisions are built for lower income folks (about the $150,00 range) who have been generally booted from their inner-city neighborhoods through gentrification. This is the way that it is in Charlotte, therefore, not inherently akin to Detroit.



Charlotte isn't unique. In a lot of cities the real estate prices increase the closer you get to the business district. As the saying goes, you can't go wrong with property in central London.

Detroit is unique in that it doesn't follow this trend.

Add Your Message Here
Posting is currently disabled in this topic. Contact your discussion moderator for more information.