Future Photos Of Detroit In The Year 2100

What has happen in the past, will recur again. History repeats and repeats itself. Different names. Difference places. Most of those inhabitants didn't see it coming either. Detroit isn't the first city to take a dump. Nor will it be the last. But there is hope. Many of the cities which have fallen in the past are now making a comeback with the tourists.

Take for example the city of Ephesus in Turkey

Other cities have had stadiums that have become quite popular with tourists

So have the much neglected houses of worship become popular tourist destinations, like this one in Tulum

Behind Detroit's Notorious Ruins
Uploaded on Dec 2, 2009

I know I'm being somewhat of a smart ass here but the point is, history has proven no city can last forever. Some advocates have been calling for regionalizing (swiping) the taxes from Detroit's surrounding suburbs. Some are even calling on the state of Michigan and federal government to bail out Detroit. My own view on this is sometimes you got to know when to fold and cut your loses.

Cities have sprung up from empty land. In the case of Detroit the best plan may be to return it to empty land. It's outlived it usefulness just as many other cities and towns have done that once prospered under the gold rush, oil drilling, logging or coal mining days and are no longer with us. No it's not pretty, but we can't always save the patient no matter how much money, well wishes or heroic efforts are made.

These movements to 'save our cities' and 'regional taxation' schemes aren't working. One city after another continue to slip backwards New York City currently has a $1.3 billion deficit. Philadelphia has had a $5.9 million budget shortfall over the last 10 years. It's a similar story with each of their school districts. These cities and countless others.

I've been accused of being thick headed, but even I know to cut my loses when something isn't working. Most of the former manufacturing and industrial sites in these cities have now become tourists museums for what once existed there.

So what do I propose instead?It's obvious that the masses have spoken. Industrial and commercial sites have relocated beyond the cities. Around them one housing development after another has sprung up. These have now become what cities once were. Like it or not, this is what people are doing. No amount of coaxing is going to get them to move back into the city.

Think of it this way. A farmer plants a crop. The farmer then harvests the land and then turns it over for the next crop. Cities have exhausted their harvests. It's time to turn them over into what they once were (empty fields) when they too are no longer productive. No farmer in his right mind would trying planting new crops without first turning over the ground removing the weeds that have sprung up. Yet here we are trying to plant new crops on top of the old. These old structures are simply not applicable to today's manufacturing needs. Neither are they for attracting housing for the middle income or above average earners who obviously aren't buying what we're selling.

There very well may come a day in the future when people no longer wish to flee to the suburbs and start returning to the cities. That day isn't today. If we ever hope to see a turn around we need to study what makes the suburbs attractive and emulate that. If that means reducing density, so-be-it. If that means larger grassy areas, so-be-it. If that means downsizing by reducing our populations by whatever means possible, so-be-it too. Either that or we can continue failing by trying to subsidize everything under the sun by bleeding our neighboring suburbs, the state and federal government dry and drive them into the ground with us.

Shouldn't it be obvious by now that despite these incentives there's not one large mall in Allentown?
Shouldn't it be obvious by now that despite these incentives not one large manufacturer relocated to Allentown.
Shouldn't it be obvious by now that despite these incentives for cheap housing where are the higher wage earners?
Shouldn't it be obvious by now that despite these incentives public transportation is used sparsely?
Shouldn't it be obvious by now that despite these incentives the government budgets remain in the red?
Shouldn't it be obvious by now that despite these incentives the job outlook in the city remains stagnant?


Somebody please explain to me when I can start to see results. Yeah my plan may seem kinda stupid, but not as stupid as pursuing the same plan in city after to city only to see their outcomes as that of Detroit's. We all are familiar with the definition of insanity. You know, about doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different outcome.

Again, for one last time, I'll repeat my challenge. Show me one city with a success story that's been turned around by these tax incentives, stadiums and/or housing incentives after being offered them 10 years ago. Nobody could previously and I very much doubt anyone can now either.