What is Detroit becoming vacant?

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Watch Local 4's Dateline Detroit special 'Moving Forward'

Dateline Detroit - Moving Forward

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Speaking of buying up homes in Detroit, taxes are too high and the taxes assessed for 2013 being appealed/refunded are in limbo for those who applied for reassessment of the home prices.

City tax refunds in limbo
“It’s ridiculous,” said Harold Hoyt, who is appealing more than 1,000 cases for Detroit property owners. “What country is this? How does overpaying taxes become a debt?” If the tax appeals process is delayed significantly, it could force more owners to leave, said Jon Werner, who owns Added Value Realty, a company that appeals assessments for property owners. From The Detroit News: www.detroitnews.com...

Why the hell is the Detriot, Michigan city council having any kind of hearing about George Zimmerman? What percentage of Detroit is black? That is, what percent of Detroit voters are black? Corruption and vote mongering?

ETA: Detroit is 82.7% black. Michigan as a state is 14.2% black.(guess where most of that population lives)
Detroit is also about 33% abandoned. 84.3% of Detroit voters are black. I'm starting to see a pattern.

reply to post by abe froman


It is far easier to worry about the problems of others than to fix your own problems.

I can't imagine what life is like in that city. It must be complete anarchy. But, hey, at least the Red Wings will get a new stadium!

They seem intent on legalizing 11 million illegal aliens - why not give each illegal family a house in Detroit. Tell them to fix up the building to code & you get citizenship and the house.

because they would immediately lower the building code standards

I can't imagine what life is like in that city. It must be complete anarchy. But, hey, at least the Red Wings will get a new stadium!

I live not too far from the city. I've had to attend meetings Downtown in the early mornings and there are some pretty sketchy characters walking around. From the freeway, you can see tons of burned out buildings, graffiti everywhere, etc.

The mega- rich are buying up land and buildings, especially the Downtown area. The city is knocking down tons of vacant buildings, and this land is being turned over to citizens for....believe it or not...farming! Acres and acres are being converted into large swathes of farmland where citizens can grow their own food.

Detroit is still very, very dangerous, especially at night. Lots of gangs, drugs, violence, etc. But this is all changing. The new police chief is taking positive steps to make some serious and long overdue changes. A lot of the blight in the neighborhoods is being removed, and that means less places for criminals to hide.

The real challenge is a whole culture and underclass of uneducated, homeless, unemployed people with no hope and no future. It's kind of a spooky place to drive around during the day, with lots of homeless people everywhere. Driving Downtown feels fairly safe during the day, but you still have to keep aware of your surroundings. The further out you go, the more dangerous it becomes.

The despair of the people living in the city is real and alarming. No hope. The gaming casinos downtown that were supposed to help revive the city was one of the worst ideas the city ever devised to generate tax revenue.

reply to post by CookieMonster09


Hmmm, the Motor City turning into an agrarian society and ripe for feudalism. Pax Feltricka shall bring hope to those who have none.

Casinos do nothing for the citizens except bring more problems. Should be interesting to keep an eye on this city to see if it can come back. Unfortunately, the media seem to have already lost interest and have moved on. Hopefully someone on this board will keep us updated.

Hmmm, the Motor City turning into an agrarian society and ripe for feudalism. Pax Feltricka shall bring hope to those who have none.

Strange as it sounds, the removal of the vacant, deteriorating, and dilapidated houses is a positive. Most cities are trying to encourage new real estate development, and in this city, we are instead encouraging the demolition of real estate.

A lot of the houses that are vacant are used by criminals, the homeless, and those in the illegal drug business. Thieves will strip the copper wires and anything else of value and resell for a profit. So you have shells of houses with all of the wiring stripped out pretty much everywhere you turn. This copper stripping has been going on since at least the 80's or earlier. The citizens have basically destroyed their own neighborhood housing infrastructure.

Living in metro-Detroit is a bit surreal. What you don't hear on the news is that the surrounding suburbs, while deeply affected by the recession and the declines in the automotive sector, are generally prosperous. Oakland County, north of the city, was at one point the 3rd or 4th wealthiest county in the city. Towns like Troy, Birmingham, Grosse Pointe, are all good towns with relatively low crime rates, average job prospects, and good housing. It's the actual city of Detroit itself that is such a mess, but the surrounding suburbs are pretty typical fare for modern every day American towns.

reply to post by CookieMonster09


I would also think that, by removing the condemned and dilapidated buildings, developers would be more likely to move in since the property is already cleared. But, it will only happen when the city itself gets the crime rate under control and is able to sustain itself. Not sure how many businesses would be willing to move there, even with tax breaks, considering the unsafe working conditions.

I would also think that, when there's nothing left to pilfer in the city, the criminals will begin to expand their operations to the nicer suburbs. This would create a situation in which the populations of the suburbs would abandon those areas...kind of like a blast zone.

I do know a few people who live or have lived in the St Clair Shores area, none have ever told me that they would ever want to live there again.

The Detroit situation is sounding like its completely screwed. but what i wanna know is if this is gonna effect the robocop statue?

reply to post by abe froman


Detroit is having a Zimmerman hearing?!?!
What do they hope to accomplish?
Total waste of time. I hope the taxpayers aren't paying for it.
Either way, no wonder the city is bankrupt

Just got the mental image of a bunch of South Park people standing around shouting "rabble, rabble, rabble"

I would also think that, when there's nothing left to pilfer in the city, the criminals will begin to expand their operations to the nicer suburbs. This would create a situation in which the populations of the suburbs would abandon those areas...kind of like a blast zone.

The demographics change over time. People keep moving further north and west to get away from the crime.

I would also think that, by removing the condemned and dilapidated buildings, developers would be more likely to move in since the property is already cleared. But, it will only happen when the city itself gets the crime rate under control and is able to sustain itself. Not sure how many businesses would be willing to move there, even with tax breaks, considering the unsafe working conditions.

Most of the development thus far has been downtown. Downtown is fairly safe during the day, and lots of young professionals have taken to the city. You still have to be careful, but downtown is safest during the day. That's where the GM headquarters is located. Compuware and Quicken Loans both have their headquarters downtown as well. Comerica Bank left the city of Detroit a few years back, relocating its headquarters to Texas.

The last remaining synagogue in Detroit is having a revival of sorts, and membership is booming. They are trying to raise funds to renovate their building. A lot of the old Catholic churches still have good attendance, mostly from suburbanites.

Things are changing for the better. It's going to be a long haul, though.

I would also think that, when there's nothing left to pilfer in the city, the criminals will begin to expand their operations to the nicer suburbs. This would create a situation in which the populations of the suburbs would abandon those areas...kind of like a blast zone.

In a lot of the suburbs, there is a huge racial divide. Some of the towns are historically racist, and are wont to discriminate against outsiders. The town I grew up in was like that - The police and citizenry allegedly had a reputation for discouraging minorities from living in the town.