[copious.abundance]

Detroit has been going downhill for 50 years or more. The bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler had nothing to do with it.

[kjmclark]

Um, this is mostly bunk. I live in SE Michigan. Maybe I should say that the "friend" that the article is talking about has gotten a bit creative. Searchlights from wealthy, barbed-wire protected enclaves??? Never heard of that before. I'll have to ask about that.

As for the rest of it, they are "talking" about razing blocks of downtown, but that's because of a proposal from Flint that the Obama administration is considering. They're also considering it for other rust-belt cities, to concentrate people and services into areas that are affordable to maintain.

1/20 streetlights on? Yep, there are a few places in downtown like that. There are lots of places with half the streetlights out. Barbed wire? Yep, there is lots of barbed wire, around just about every private parking lot. There are probably a few newer apartment/condo buildings with barbed wire around them. I've seen that in Chicago too. There's a lot of regular fencing too. Abandoned houses? No question about that. There are also lots of abandoned storefronts, abandoned schools, probably even abandoned churches. But all of that is in downtown Detroit, about 10% of the city, not the rest of the city, and certainly not the rest of the Detroit Metro area. There are lots of problems on the south side of Chicago too, and in small areas of most cities I've visited.

I've never heard of these "Private Management Companies" that are subsidiaries of "Private Military Companies" either. I'm pretty sure that would never fly in Detroit, unless it were minority owned and unionized. There are a lot of security companies.

However, they are closing down jails because they can't afford to keep them running, laying off police because they can't afford to pay them, and the school district looks headed for bankruptcy.

[ubercrap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kjmclark', 'U')m, this is mostly bunk.

[patience]

Have friend who ran his own machine shop-his Dad started it in the 60's-in Troy. A couple years ago he said the heck with it and retired. He lives 20+ miles north of Flint, but is in town regularly and says business is falling apart, but nothing like the article above.

Another friend in Farmington Hills said much the same, and has retired from his machine sales business. And, yes, he says the city is flat broke.

[eXpat]

I don´t know about Detroit, but PSCs,seem to be expanding operations all across USA
Police: Going Private
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')olicing some of the most dangerous US cities has quickly become the newest line of business for many of these companies which have already replaced police officers in cities from Portland to Baltimore.

The phenomenon runs deeper than the normal shopping center or bank security guard. While in many cases private security personnel act more as city cleanup, organization or local ambassadors, some cities are pushing for armed private security personnel to patrol the streets, perform arrests and transport civilians. This is somewhat of a cause for concern, especially because of the more controversial issues surrounding the role of private military and security companies abroad in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cities are turning to the private sector for a variety of reasons. Some local and state governments are under pressure from budget deficits and are often convinced that privatized industries are more cost-effective than state agencies and bureaucracies. Other cities have an already overstretched force that cannot respond to increases in crime, so private contractors are seen as a quick fix and an easy force multiplier.

From Oakland to New Orleans

Oakland, California is the latest city looking to hire private companies to patrol some of its rougher neighborhoods in the wake of record municipal budget deficits. Last April, according to the Wall Street Journal, the city successfully voted to outsource part of its police patrol to International Services Inc, but later retracted after “two of its vice presidents were accused […] by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office of defrauding the state of California out of more than $9 million in workers compensation.”

According to the daily Portland Mercury newspaper, Portland, Oregon’s downtown area is patrolled by armed personnel with arrest powers that are supplied by Portland Patrol, Inc, a company which, according to local media, has repeatedly evaded requests to appear before the city’s oversight committee.

Over 2,000 miles away, Chicago has turned to a company that currently operates in police-like automobiles marked “special patrol,” according to CBS News, and are expected to have their powers expanded as the city combats increased crime rates with an overstretched police force.

Down south in New Orleans, Louisiana, armed private guards patrol wealthy neighborhoods and private schools. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, “Some areas of New Orleans have used armed private patrols since 1997, when residents in an east New Orleans community petitioned Louisiana's legislature to create a tax on property owners to pay for a private force. About 20 residential tax districts have been established, employing an estimated 100 private guards. This month, seven more neighborhoods voted to create such districts.”

During the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was patrolled by approximately 150 heavily armed Blackwater personnel alongside several other big contractor companies like Dyncorp, Wackenhut and most interestingly, ISI, an Israeli company that flew in former Israeli Special Forces commandos.

Most notably of all of these companies is Capital Special Police, which not only supplies guards and corporate escorts, but offers “real police officers [that] arrest for felonies and misdemeanors; issue citations for infractions; and enforce local ordinances.”

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', 'D')etroit has been going downhill for 50 years or more. The bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler had nothing to do with it.

[Novus]

The bankruptcies I am referring to further eroded the tax base of the city government causing Detroit to fall in a state of partial collapse. Water and electricity could no longer be afforded and were shut off. The police pulled out and many areas were turned over to private contractors to govern as they please as mini dictatorships surrounded with barbed wire where the laws of the city, state, and federal government cease to apply. As I said this is something out of the Gaza strip where buildings are bulldozed with people still inside. The ruins of bulldozed blocks are left to be picked apart by the homeless where the scrap is traded for food and water vouchers. It was not like this in the 70 and 80s. This is the step down beyond urban decay and the ghettos. This is borderline post apocalyptic collapse.

[Phoeberose]

I live in Grosse Pointe, which borders Detroit. As of yet, I am not seeing anything like described. I am seeing lots more closed businesses (in Detroit and Grosse Pointe) and more homeless wandering the streets-also in Grosse Pointe.

[Umber]

"So maybe we should all go long scrap lumber. Imagine the amount of scrap wood necessary to print al these promissory notes, chits and coupons… Just kidding. "

Note the last two words of the last paragraph in the story.

I know that times are more than rough in Detroit, but I think the author of the article was embelishing his story to drive home a point.

Umber

[dinopello]

While the flight from the cities would have happened anyway due to the push of the closing industries, the enabling of the roads, the pull of the shiny new shopping and (at least for a time) the less congestedness of the suburbs, the cities gave themselves their own coup de grace by allowing highways to be plowed through the city and by tearing down everything that made the city a better place than the suburbs for the sake of mostly - parking. They thought they could lure cars back to the city by giving them what they want most - parking and gas stations and in so doing destroyed the city for people. This prolonged the agony.

Check it out

The Louisville National Theatre being demolished for a parking lot...

[copious.abundance]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'Y')ou have no historical perspective and that explains your constant attention to short term trends. I will repeat facts one more time.

The United States passed Clean Water, Clear Air and other environmental laws in the late 1960's and early 1970's that made it harder and harder for industry (in general) to compete in America. As the same time other countries (in this case Japan with Datsun, Toyota etc.) began their relentless competitive rout. They made smaller better cars that used less petroleum. We didn't.

The industrial cores of our once great cities (Detroit, New York City, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Youngstown, etc. etc. etc.) started their rust-belt declines.

It is not coincidental that "white flight" also took off at the same time. The newly wealthy with a gift from the American post-war empire fled the pollution and dirt of these rusting cities. And didn't let the colored folks follow.

[dorlomin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '
')The United States passed Clean Water, Clear Air and other environmental laws in the late 1960's and early 1970's that made it harder and harder for industry (in general) to compete in America. As the same time other countries (in this case Japan with Datsun, Toyota etc.) began their relentless competitive rout. They made smaller better cars that used less petroleum. We didn't.

The industrial cores of our once great cities (Detroit, New York City, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Youngstown, etc. etc. etc.) started their rust-belt declines.

It is not coincidental that "white flight" also took off at the same time. The newly wealthy with a gift from the American post-war empire fled the pollution and dirt of these rusting cities. And didn't let the colored folks follow.

[Googolplex]

Nice! Did I call it or what?

http://peakoil.com/energy-technology/wo ... 11056.html

And over four years ago too! Comparisons to automotive engines and all.


... Sorry... I don't usually do this sort of thing... but the SES dishes are one of the most interesting large scale solar power solutions I've seen yet.

Now we just need to solve the liquid fuel thing and we're done! (ok, that was WAY overboard, wasn't it. Sorry again. )

[deMolay]

This is sad and a sign of the times. http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/01/news/ec ... /index.htm

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he number of unclaimed corpses at the Wayne County morgue is at a record high, having tripled since 2000. The reason for the pile-up is twofold: One, unemployment in the area is approaching 28%, and many people, like the Vickers, can't afford last rites; two, the county's $21,000 annual budget to bury unclaimed bodies ran out in June.

[Pretorian]

Cant you make cat/dogfood out of these? At least as 1 of ingredients

[deMolay]

Soylent Green for cats's Bill? Or is it Hannibal?

[Pretorian]

I'm pretty sure cats won't care where their protein/calcium comes from.