Time Mag's "Beautiful, Horrible Decline." Detroit In Pictures

The Coffee Shop
1

Not that I read Time all that much anymore, but I always find the pictures in the mag to be fascinating in and of themselves (besides, I can’t put up with that insufferable ass, Joe Klein). Today, I present the link to the disaster that has become my native city these days. That train station in the first photo is where I left home at 17 to head off to boot camp nearly 32 years ago. It was a magnificent edifice, back then. Today? Driving past it brings a tear to my eye.

http://www.time.com/...2089_1850973,00.html

T.

2

Incredible.

3

I am from detroit. I speak so badly of it, my wife did not believe me it could be so horrible. We went back there to visit family, she was appalled that it was the US. My brother teaches inner city elementary school. To see the boarded up houses that his students still live in is incredible. Detroit is a zit on the face of America.

t

4

More like a boil on the left gluteal. And it needs to be lanced to remove the poisons which have led to the abcess from which it currently suffers. Pus like the city council and most of its political class needs to be purged before it can even hope to begin recovering.

T.

5

Very sad. Those used to be some beautiful buildings. Seeing the closed schools was terrible.

6

Amazing.
Call it a zit, a boil. Call it an aberration. I call it a harbinger.

7

And *that’s *the reason why you live in a tarpaper shack in the wilds of Montana? To escape the doom to come? :wink:

T.

8

Damn shame. Parts of Detroit remind me of a war zone.

9

Terrible images of my birthplace and city of my youth.

To see that once magnificent grand piano on its side, ruined and decayed…as a pianist that one really hurt.

10

I ran the Detroit marathon last October and was actually fairly impressed. I didn’t think Detroit would be as nice as it was. I think any city has buildings, even important ones, that have fallen into disrepair.
This is photojournalist melodrama at its finest.

11

You’ve got to cancel that subscription to time and start reading online:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2240229;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread
.

12

just curious, how many consecutive years has Detroit been run by a Democratic mayor? - decades right?

13

the Detroit marathon goes through the not so bad areas, and dont forget Windsor! but just a block or so in the wrong direction, scary.

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I don’t really see how that could be an issue since almost all large cities are led by democratic mayors. Some cities do well, others do poorly. Detroit was killed by the decline in US manufacturing.

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*“And *that’s the reason why you live in a tarpaper shack in the wilds of Montana? To escape the doom to come? ;-)”

Yes. That and the views are amazing.

16

Wow. Like Prypiat, only beautiful.

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I thought I had had a stroke or something. I knew I had seen all this before.

~Matt

18

Pretty powerful stuff.

19

I just drove through some parts of the city that were in the photo essay. There is some major construction of the highways that all come together near the Peace Bridge Border Crossing and their are some significant detours that take you into some not very nice looking areas of the downtown area of the city. It’s not a pretty site.

20

What part of Detroit are you from?

Detroit has major issues but we it doesn’t need is “former” residents kicking it while it’s down…The west is full of transplant Midwesterners that couldn’t cut it, I’ll add you to the list.