Detroit made progress as a viable city when I lived there for 31 years but now post-recession it seems as if the city is on it's last legs: http://news.msn.com/us/detroit-focuses-on-what-can-be-saved The murder rate is 10 times the national average?? You know....I never felt completely at ease when I was down in the city... which I was quite a bit.....but never did I feel scared...paranoid etc.... well except for the time a gun was pointed at me during a robbery... or maybe the night when I was with my wife downtown at Hart Plaza and shots rang out sending a panicky crowd running.....so maybe there were some "trying" moments. But...when I went back to my old neighborhood in Grosse Pointe last year and parked in the same old dark alley late at night that I always parked in to go into one of my favorite Italian piano bar restaurants....blocks from my old home.....I have to say I felt more uneasy about potential crime....something didn't feel right. That's what I would say about the city of Detroit when I was driving through last summer.... it just didn't feel right.... didn't look the same. It felt worse.... and looked worse. Good luck Motorcity.
Rudy probably had a police force with which to work. Detroit doesn't have money with which to keep a decent police force.
Rudy was a class guy. He was tough and cared about the city. He was one of those uncaring Republicans. Now here's who was in charge of the city for most of the past decade. http://www.macombdaily.com/article/20130215/NEWS03/130219653/jury-gets-corruption-case-of-kwame-kilpatrick
This has a lot to do with the fall of Detroit..... http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130221/METRO01/302210375
It is a Motown trade off, George. You can blow off paying property taxes but if some Detrioter calls 911 today to report that masked armed thugs are breaking into the home, the dipatcher will connect that person to a local funeral home to work out the issues regarding visitation and the choice of a wooden or metal casket. Of course, since the DPW rarely plows side streets in the winter, the funeral home will not be able to pick up the deceased until the next thaw.
My hometown of Dayton, Ohio traveled the same path, Weasel. The suburban shopping malls started opening around 1968. people followed them to the burbs. Downtown businesses started closing. The large companies that made such a great town to grow up in started looking for less expensive places to operate in and one by one they left town. NCR, Inland, Delco Products, Delco Moraine, Frigidaire etc. All the small support businesses that depended on the big boys closed up. Downtown dayton became ghost town. Neighborhoods were filled with folks who had no business owning homes and let their properties go to seed, never paid taxes and brought in a lot of drug traffic and other realted crimes. Dropout rate in public schools now around 50%. I go back 1-2 times per year. Its sad.
Detroit And Other “Most Miserable” U.S. Cities Via Breitbart: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2013/02/21/detroit-tops-2013-list-of-americas-most-miserable-cities/ According to Forbes rankings, Detroit is the most miserable city in the United States. Home to violent crimes, high unemployment, decreasing population and economic crises, Detroit beat out Miami (last years winner) along with Flint-MI, Chicago-IL, and Modesto-CA. The news comes on the heels of a panel of experts who said last week “the automotive city was facing a fiscal emergency and potential bankruptcy, as well as a possible financial takeover by the state.” The criteria: “Forbes looked at 200 of the country’s largest urban areas and ranked them on factors including crime rates, foreclosures, taxes, home prices, commute times, weather and decreasing populations.” Detroit has been run by Democrat mayors since 1964. The top ten miserable cities: 1. Detroit, MI 2. Flint, MI 3. Rockford, IL 4. Chicago, IL 5. Modesto, CA 6. Vallejo, CA 7. Warren, MI 8. Stockton, CA 9. Lake County, IL 10. New York, NY Predominant thing in common? Democratic leadership.
Re: New York It is the cost of living there. You can buy a 1 BR 1 Bath aprtment for only $1.5 million. It costs $15-18.00 to cross a bridge or go through a tunnel. Parking? Fuggedaboutit! But Manhattan is in great shape and crime is not what it used to be. There is literally a foot cop on every corner. AC is a disaster. 30+ years of casinos and when you get one block in from the boards you are in a slum. Teh new Revel casino filed Ch. 11 this week... it is less than one year old.