how much of a shithole is Detroit?

[BSmack]

Yeah I've heard of white flight, but this is taking it to a whole new level, even the dead are moving away. Sad that this is happening anywhere, but especially at a major American city. Plus the Mayor is about to be convicted, the city makes New Orleans look well-run by comparison. How do you turn around a failed city and make it better?

How do you turn it around? It's easy, presuming you have honest leaders who give a fuck about the people they serve. You start by tearing down every single abandoned building in the city, both residential and commercial. And you do it as soon as financially possible. Those buildings are nothing but eyesores and a drain on your city's productive tax base. Then you create sustainable zoning and finance plans with an eye towards eliminating wasteful spending and lowering the overall property tax burden on your remaining citizens. After that, you announce a zero tolerance policy on street crime. You instruct your city attorneys/DAs to push for max sentences/no bail for violent offenders and you beef up your street patrols so that every high crime area knows that there will be a sustained and increased police presence.

And lastly, you offer whatever tax abatement it will take to get new business into your city. You have to accept the idea that the land you're offering is presently a drain on your system, so if you get even 25% of the expected tax revenue you're money ahead.

OK, so maybe it's not "easy". But it's certainly doable if you have the right people running city hall.

[Dinsdale]

^^^^ They turned our former second-worst heroin-zone into some very expensive housing, and artsy-fartsy businesses, and promoted it with First Thursday... first thursday of every month, all the galleries and whatsuch open the doors for the evening, and pour you a free glass of wine when you walk in the door.


It can be done -- although it doesn't seem to be cleaning up Old Town that much... but Old Town/Chinatown is the original fucking street-slime capital of the West... and home to some quite rad clubs.

[Sirfindafold]

It can be done....

Nothing a few Daisy Cutters couldn't remedy.

[PSUFAN]

Rack whoever is fleecing these dupes for moving the corpses.

I will be cremated, so that none of that sort of foolishness will be possible. Shit almighty - if my family spends a dime on my corpse, I'll be pissed.

[RumpleForeskin]

I will be cremated, so that none of that sort of foolishness will be possible. Shit almighty - if my family spends a dime on my corpse, I'll be pissed.

Word.

Mrs. Rumps and I are being cremated as well. Although, during her cremation process IndyFrisco and other Aggie fans will mistake it for the rebirth of the Aggie Bonfire.

[War Wagon]

Damnit, don't cremate your body. At least not before donating your organs.

What makes you think your organs are, or will be, worth anything to anybody other than maggots?

By that logic, PUDFAN should start donating his brown streaked drawers to Goodwill. And good idea on the cremation angle. Lord forbid you be buried in those and carry your shit into all eternity.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Mrs. Rumps and I are being cremated as well.

We're gonna need a bigger furnace.

[PSUFAN]

Damnit, don't cremate your body. At least not before donating your organs.

I take it you're in need of them? I've seen the x-rays, there's no need to deny it.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

scumsuckers

Close. The correct term for Ann Arborites are scUMmers.

[Left Seater]

No wonder everyone is leaving Detroit.

the new owner will owe $3,900 in property taxes in 2009 on her dollar purchase unless she challenges the tax assessment.

This is based on the previous purchase price of $65,000. So the property tax rate is 6%, DAMN! That is my tax rate and I don't have a state income tax, nor a city income tax. Hopefully the dems will learn something from trying to tax people to death.

[PSUFAN]

I'd like to get with some organs. Send PMs.

--Kid Nashville

[Cuda]

No wonder everyone is leaving Detroit.

the new owner will owe $3,900 in property taxes in 2009 on her dollar purchase unless she challenges the tax assessment.

This is based on the previous purchase price of $65,000. So the property tax rate is 6%, DAMN! That is my tax rate and I don't have a state income tax, nor a city income tax. Hopefully the dems will learn something from trying to tax people to death.

why not include the parts just above your quote?

The home, at 8111 Traverse Street, a few blocks from Detroit City Airport, was the nicest house on the block when it sold for $65,000 in November 2006, said neighbor Carl Upshaw. But the home was foreclosed last summer, and it wasn't long until "the vultures closed in," Upshaw said. "The siding was the first to go. Then they took the fence. Then they broke in and took everything else."

The company hired to manage the home and sell it, the Bearing Group, boarded up the home only to find the boards stolen and used to board up another abandoned home nearby.

Scrappers tore out the copper plumbing, the furnace and the light fixtures, taking everything of value, including the kitchen sink.

"It about doesn't make sense to put the family out," Upshaw said. "Once people are gone, you're gonna lose the house in this neighborhood."

Tuesday, the home was wide open. Doors leading into the kitchen and the basement were missing, and the front windows had been smashed. Weeds grew chest-high, and charred remains marked a spot where the garage recently burned.

<snip>

The buyer, a local woman, considers the home to be an investment property and will not live there, Colpaert said, though exactly how soon the buyer can expect to recoup her four-quarter investment is questionable. Replacing the guts of the house will costs tens of thousands of dollars, and the owner will have trouble keeping scrappers from stealing the improvements as quickly as they're installed. Home demolition costs about $5,000, Colpaert said.

i guess "scrappers" & "vultures" is the new code for "african-american"