WOW, this is what it's like to deliver pizza in Detroit?

[OlafSicky]

There are parts of Chicago I don't like to venture through, but even those parts aren't nearly as bad as this. It's mostly gang shootings on the south side, and they just like their drugs on the west side. Detroit is just full of random violence that has no pattern or reason behind it.

The punisher needs to visit that city.

He has https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWpK0wsnitc

 

[mmntech]

The worst part is that sooner or later we're going to have to do something about Detroit. And it's only going to get harder and more expensive.

They won't for one simple reason. The US political system is not equipped to deal with issues this complex. Modern politics reflects our modern attention span. Short and glib. Everything has to be watered down and put into a neat, one page, catch all solution. Problems like Detroit cannot be compressed and simplified to that point. So instead the system turns to band-aid solutions.

It's like using gum to plug a cracking dam. Sooner or later it will burst, but this will hold it just a little longer. When the dam does burst, the system reacts in it's usual fashion: juvenile finger pointing by politicians and special interest groups. The debate progresses no further and no viable solutions are offered. Detroit has the added problem of being more than 80% black. So any debate on how to fix the city inevitably descends into a race thing.

Much of Detroit's problems stem from it's economic makeup and local politics. It's a single industry city. The economy relies too much on the automakers to keep it afloat. It's not as if the problems cropped up overnight. US automakers have been struggling since the 1980s. The trend towards foreign manufacturing has been known since at least the 1970s. Anyone smart would have diversified the local economy then. They didn't.

The city's top employer is the civil service. However with the automakers struggling, there's not enough tax base to pay for them. The city has several casinos, but tourists aren't going to go there. Especially since Caesar's went up in Windsor. Canadians aren't taxed on gaming winnings in their own country.

With the city now in shambles, no reputable business is going to set up shop there. Combine the decay with a population that is unskilled and poorly educated.

In terms of politics, based on my small amount of research, the city owes much of it's problems to corruption thanks to career politicians. The problems seem to have their roots during Coleman Young's mayoralty. Most since them have been under strong suspicion of corruption.

So what to do? Well, higher levels of government will need to get involved. It should be a priority for the Obama administration to deal with urban decay. It doesn't reflect well on him, especially since he rode to office on the belief that he would fix these long standing issues in African-American communities.

 

[JTsyo]

the irony here is this is happening in many of our large cities and yet we're overseas policing places like Iraq and Afghanistan, promoting peace there. Maybe we need to bring those soldiers back here and keep our citizens safe instead. It is so hard for me to believe that we as a nation cannot solve this and keep allowing our law-abiding citizens to be terrorized by domestic thugs.

Yes, instead of laying traps with UXOs and sniping anyone that tries to retrieve the material, they can send in delivery men and snipe any that try to rob him. Once they stop robbing pizza delivery men, the bait will need to change.

 

[KaOTiK]

Lets just build a giant wall around it with no way in or out.

 

[Ruptga]

but loud people in the city council (ie the ones that have f'd up for the last 40+ years) will cry racism at any suggestion of an outside entity taking control

So fuck them? They obviously don't know what they are doing or things wouldn't have gotten this far.

 

[Sephire]

I don't think there is a Republican elected official in Detroit.

Detroit in ruins

 

[bguile]

The city's top employer is the civil service. However with the automakers struggling, there's not enough tax base to pay for them. The city has several casinos, but tourists aren't going to go there. Especially since Caesar's went up in Windsor. Canadians aren't taxed on gaming winnings in their own country.

Ceasers in Windsor went up first I believe, then the Detroit Casinos were opened to counter them.

 

[K1052]

Detroit is essentially the largest example of a boom town in US history. Globalization of the auto industry and foreign competition put it on a downward trajectory for the last 50 years and this is the result.

Since there is no governmental mechanism to deal with a municipal collapse of this magnitude the city will probably be a pit of hell for the foreseeable future. Large chunks of the city need to be literally abandoned/demolished and people moved to denser neighborhoods that can be more efficiently serviced.

 

[Doppel]

Detroit continues to be live up to its high standards of being the worst major city in the US and this won't change in my lifetime.

 

[Doppel]

Some parts are nice and taken care of by the local community residents. Then two blocks away can be broken/burned out shells. City does not do anything about those for years. (Per personal observation last year). They should issue a condemn order, give the registered owner one month to clean it up to a habitable condition. Inspector takes a look. If repairs on the way, schedule a 6 month visit. No repairs, let owner per tax records and/lien holder know that the property is being demolished. Let a contract to year down the property and grade it to an empty lot. Bill owner for work and upkeep for a year. No pay in one year, eminent domain for local park.

Detroit has THOUSANDS of homes that are worth nothing, either not owned by anybody, or owned by a person on virtually no money. These owners have neither them money nor desire to recover the property to anything and they will absolutely not do anything about it. Detroit doesn't even have enough bulldozers to take these ruins down.

Redsquirrel to answer your question about cops the cops do hold crime in check, but a city so feral as Detroit and so poor as Detroit doesn't have the huge amounts of money needed to get a massive enough police force to fix its problems.

 

[MrColin]

I'm glad to hear the kid survived. Kudos to the pizza biz for stopping delivery to that shithole (and allowing staff to carry).

 

[dmcowen674]

I've never been to Detroit. But whenever someone mentions it I always picture it like this...

Drove through there not long ago and that is exactly as it looks in the sections they have not bulldozed yet.

 

[manimal]

detroit when it hits rock bottom like say cincinatti things will get better. Anyone remember what Cincy was like in the eighties?


Drew Carey was the best thing that ever happened to cincy up until that point...


and thats not saying much...

I remember a story about a guy who got cornered by a pack of wild dogs in a bad part of town...

 

[rcpratt]

As a person who has lived in SE MI for most of his life, you're not far off! Detroit is a shit hole and I will not venture into the city.

Could you possibly be more dramatic.

 

[Exterous]

So fuck them? They obviously don't know what they are doing or things wouldn't have gotten this far.

Well - that depends on the will of the voters and they don't exactly have the best track record

The state has been appointed some oversight powers but they are constantly being battled and taken to court

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

If anyone is smart, just nuke the city and start over.

with or without the current residents evacuated?

 

[MontyAC]

with or without the current residents evacuated?

Do they have any law abiding citizens left?

 

[JTsyo]

Lets just build a giant wall around it with no way in or out.

Well there was already Escape from NY and LA movies. No reason the next one can't be a documentary.

 

[umbrella39]

Democrats have been in charge there for 90 years. Like all of the worst cities in America it's run by Democrats.

 

[JamesV]

When I was in college, I worked for Pizza Hut and Papa Johns as a manager, and even here in Clevelend there are areas that are no delivery at night. I'd imagine it would be similar everywhere; there are always shitholes with so-called gangsters no matter where you go.

I've had people call from this area, promising to tip $20 if we would deliver (and would you mind having the driver stop and pick up a fifth of whisky and 2 packs of cigs too?). Some even blatantly try to setup robberies via ordering - "I only have hundred dollar bills, can you make sure your driver has change?" (for a $10 order).

Then there are the pizza-fraud idiots... order 4 pizzas to an abandoned house next to them, and when the delivery guy comes, say "Oh that sucks, someone played you... tell you what, I'll give you $5 for those pizzas".

Moral - don't go into the Pizza industry.

 

[brianmanahan]

i am really surprised that amazon wants to start a big software development center and recruit a crapton of programmers in detroit

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Do they have any law abiding citizens left?

lets assume 50% of residents are criminals, the other 50% are not criminals but at the same time are not productive members of society (e.g. on govt handouts).
there's no way to selectively evacuate those. it's all or nothing.

what do you do???

 

[AmdEmAll]

I took care of some lawns down in detroit (fertilizer, weed killer, etc). I was there during daylight and its like entering a war zone. I really would feel for my safety everytime and considered getting a gun.

 

[KaOTiK]

lets assume 50% of residents are criminals, the other 50% are not criminals but at the same time are not productive members of society (e.g. on govt handouts).
there's no way to selectively evacuate those. it's all or nothing.

what do you do???

Off with their heads!

 

[MontyAC]

Off with their heads!