Sounds like Detroit really needs a RoboCop.

I thought the Motor City was on the Rebound?

http://www.surenews.com/political/police-warn-visitors-to-enter-at-there-own-risk-when-coming-to-warlike-detroit.htm

Iorio says the once 2,000 strong force is shrinking rapidly; since the start of summer, hundreds of officers have left the department. “These are the men and women who we look to protect us… and police officers can’t protect you if they’re not there. Officers are leaving simply because they can’t afford to stay in Detroit and work 12 hour shifts for what they are getting paid… These police officers are beyond demoralized, these officers are leaving hand over fist because they can no longer afford to stay on the department and protect the public,” he said. And that’s why Iorio cautions those who enter the city to be wary.

Hundreds of officers have left the department since the beginning of Summer? Good god that's bad.

I thought RoboCop was a documentary.

I love that the link says "enter at THERE own risk".

Even grammar has fled.

Detroit will literally become a wasteland. Kinda freaky.

This is one reason I am nervous about trying to find an automotive engineering job, that it would send me to Detroit, and I have no interest in that at all.

pres589 wrote: This is one reason I am nervous about trying to find an automotive engineering job, that it would send me to Detroit, and I have no interest in that at all.

You dont have to worry. All the jobs are in the suburbs.

Keep in mind that this is mostly posturing by the police union to protest budget cuts.

logdog wrote:

pres589 wrote: This is one reason I am nervous about trying to find an automotive engineering job, that it would send me to Detroit, and I have no interest in that at all.

You dont have to worry. All the jobs are in the suburbs.

^ This is true.

One of my nephews engineers for Ford and lives in Ann Arbor. He had a job offer from KIA that would have required moving to Cali.

Guess what, he chose to stay put.

I guess its a good thing I have to wait for an opening at the department I'm being processed for.

pres589 wrote: This is one reason I am nervous about trying to find an automotive engineering job, that it would send me to Detroit, and I have no interest in that at all.

Chevrolet is all in Warren, Chrysler is way north of everything, Ford is scattered in Dearborn and Livonia. All in nice places, and Detroit proper isn't all that dangerous BTW. SE Michigan is a gearhead's paradise, get on the Metro Detroit CL if you don't believe me.

i'm starting to think that the best way to "fix" Detroit would be with a few strategically placed underground nuclear bomb tests..

I know the OEM's are mostly situated outside Detroit proper, it still seems like a weird place to live. And I never did care for suburbs and all the driving that goes along with them.

novaderrik wrote: i'm starting to think that the best way to "fix" Detroit would be with a few strategically placed underground nuclear bomb tests..

..... aaaand there it is. Took 10 posts this time.

Tom_Spangler wrote: Keep in mind that this is mostly posturing by the police union to protest budget cuts.

The packing up you family and leaving kind of posturing.

oldsaw wrote:

logdog wrote:

pres589 wrote: This is one reason I am nervous about trying to find an automotive engineering job, that it would send me to Detroit, and I have no interest in that at all.

You dont have to worry. All the jobs are in the suburbs.

^ This is true. One of my nephews engineers for Ford and lives in Ann Arbor. He had a job offer from KIA that would have required moving to Cali. Guess what, he chose to stay put.

I do exactly what your nephew does.

Funny about the Kia thing- there's a Hyundai-Kia Technical center inbetween Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti- in a nice spot.

I'm with Tom about the source of the info- lots of gloom and doom about safety. Detroit may not be the greatest place in the world, but it's not nearly that bad. The biggest problem is that it's so incredibly spread out for the smallish population that it has.

The next biggest problem is that most of the living areas are separated by industrial areas that were abandoned. So it's really hard to stitch together the remaining population.

Having recently driven around some of the "scary" areas (which were not that bad, BTW)- it reminded me a lot of middle, rual, America- small towns that pop up. If they could make the neighborhoods a lot more "small town" like- that would go a long way to tieing it all back up again. As well as provide some nice, easy to use space for other things.

pres589 wrote: I know the OEM's are mostly situated outside Detroit proper, it still seems like a weird place to live. And I never did care for suburbs and all the driving that goes along with them.

A car person who does not like driving?

My employer has a warehouse and main office in Detroit - Drive 2 miles and you end up in an upscale neighborhood; Grosse Pointe Shores........But all the workers get to hang out all day in the 'hood.

alfadriver wrote: Having recently driven around some of the "scary" areas (which were not that bad, BTW)

Oh yes, detroit is that bad. I'll never go anywhere near Detroit proper again after 5pm from the last time I visited.

The only place I can think of in Canada that would be remotely as "scary" would be in Vancouver, and I've never been to it. The US' version of slums completely obliterates a Canadian's view of theirs. Edmonton and Calgary don't even have slums/ghettos compared to that!

HiTempguy wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Having recently driven around some of the "scary" areas (which were not that bad, BTW)

Oh yes, detroit is that bad. I'll never go anywhere near Detroit proper again after 5pm from the last time I visited. The only place I can think of in Canada that would be remotely as "scary" would be in Vancouver, and I've never been to it. The US' version of slums completely obliterates a Canadian's view of theirs. Edmonton and Calgary don't even have slums/ghettos compared to that!

And you have driven through it in the last 2 weeks? We did it Sept 24.

it's not that bad. If all you see is burnt out buildings, it's selective viewing- many of them are gone, and many neighborhoods are just open spaces. Not sure how open spaces are bad- they are nothing but grass.

IMHO, people put a lot of "bad" into nothing- empty lots, empty factories, and nobody around. That's not bad, that's nothing.

Hey, if you want to hate, go ahead. I'm ok with you not coming back. Just don't over state what is the situation.

In reply to alfadriver:

You telling me that the daily commute turns you on? I don't like the 'drive for 20 minutes to buy a jug of milk' nonsense of growing up on a farm, and I have little interest in returning to it. Same with everything else. I want walking distance or darn close for basics, I want to have some social options available in kind, etc. One big reason I miss living in Philly and don't miss Denver for a moment (although in Littleton I did have a nice grocery store about a block away, that was pretty sweet).

It's not the open space, it's the people that want to do bad as opposed to the people that want to do good. Vacant buildings attract bad things, rats, drug dens, gangs etc. That's why the good folks (the blight busters, they started up a few houses down from where I lived for 25 years come to mind) are the good that oppose the bad. They tear down the houses, sometimes even building parks. The real problem? That the city government actually stands in the way of that. Imagine a conversation that goes something like this:
"Oh, you want to tear down those two houses on Curtis, and the one on Karl that backs up to them? You want to turn those three lots into a park for the neighborhood, evicting the rats and crack heads to make that happen? What? You are going to foot the whole bill using labor and money raised right there in the neighborhood? Hmm. Oh, and you're going to maintain the park using your own lawnmower? You have a company that will remove and dispose of the 'houses' properly and legally? No. Thank you for approaching your city council. Have a blessed day."
Detroit isn't as dangerous as many media outlets would have you believe, but it's not safe by any means. Driving through an area gives you a good visual, working there opens your eyes quite a bit, living there shows you what it's really like. I've not lived there in over a decade, but statistics show it's worse than it was when I left, and a visit to the old neighborhood showed me that things are worse as far as burned out houses, damaged roads, burned out cars and other things that are a good barometer to the health of an area.
I do believe it will turn around without a nuclear bomb. But, it will take lots of work from lots of people that are currently not willing to do what needs to be done.

pres589 wrote: In reply to alfadriver: You telling me that the daily commute turns you on? I don't like the 'drive for 20 minutes to buy a jug of milk' nonsense of growing up on a farm, and I have little interest in returning to it. Same with everything else. I want walking distance or darn close for basics, I want to have some social options available in kind, etc. One big reason I miss living in Philly and don't miss Denver for a moment (although in Littleton I did have a nice grocery store about a block away, that was pretty sweet).

I live in an area where I can have livestock in my backyard, but I don't drive 20 minutes to get milk. 1 mile away is a major grocery store chain, 3 miles get's me a second grocery store, Target, TSC, 4 auto parts stores, a junk yard, wal*mart, everything but a movie theater.
I'm not knocking your desire to live in a place like that though. Personally, I want to live where I can have a 2+ car garage, a pole barn, land, woods, and the ability to weld, hammer, and grind on a car without a neighbor complaining to the home owners association.

In reply to DrBoost:

Neat. Not for me.

alfadriver wrote:

pres589 wrote: I know the OEM's are mostly situated outside Detroit proper, it still seems like a weird place to live. And I never did care for suburbs and all the driving that goes along with them.

A car person who does not like driving?

I like driving, but not commuting. There's a big difference.

I'd say Detroit is neither as bad or as good as some would have you believe. Yes, if you're coming here from Canada, a country where people in inner cities don't feel the need to lock their doors, it will seem like a third world country.

Crime is pretty bad. You can't safely visit many if not most areas after dark, and you certainly shouldn't be at a gas station after dark. But there are lots of very cool places and things to do downtown too (Thunderdrome?), and some of the prices for homes, especially given local employers' incentives, have become enticing.

However, the city and county government is absolutely the worst in the country.

Somebody posted something here a while back that the fire and police departments were trying to get the city to make people move out of the sparsely populated area to the densely populated areas so they could respond to the citizens better.

I don't know if that would help things but i think it would be a start. I imagine engine houses and precincts have shut down over the years for whatever reason.