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Detroit: a vast enormous empty canvass?

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
11/01/09 3:04 PM EST

Has my old home town of Detroit gone down so far, as I have suggested in a recent blogpost, that it has nowhere to go but up. That’s the view of blogger Aaron Renne (the Urbanophile), who does see a positive future for Detroit—although a future that looks very different from the city’s storied past. He quotes one writer who describes Detroit as “a vast enormous empty canvass,” and he calls for “urban shrinkage.” Interestingly, he argues that the ineffectiveness of Detroit’s current city government is an advantge—people who buy a home for $1,900 can do pretty much anything with it they want, and at least some of those things are positive. In Chicago, with its army of precinct committeemen and licensing requirements for just about everything (all the better to keep you dependent on City Hall) you can’t spruce up your neighborhood the way you want. In Detroit, with a toothless city government, you can. Read the whole thing, and also take a look at two of Renne’s earlier posts on Detroit

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Reader Comments

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RWinks

Nov 1, 2009

Interesting article on the link. Gist is that where there is freedom and private property (the two are indispensable companions) things improve and economic activity thrives. The real question is, why is this considered remarkable? 80 years ago this was a truism. On the order of those who work hard and save will be prosperous, while those who borrow and spend will be poor.

Nov 2, 2009

It seems to me that Detroit is infested with corruption in its office holders from the top down. Conyers, both of them, are examples. The names change. The corruption doesn't, as viewed from the (aptly named) left coast.

There is still value they can squeeze out of Detroit and power they can get a visceral thrill exerting. Detroit has more drop before it recovers, I suspect. It can't be far from the bottom, though.

Dearbornistan is likely to be a spike in the tree of any Detroit recovery, too.

{o.o}

Bonza

Nov 2, 2009

I hope the canvass goes well - but did you mean "canvas" as in the material used by painters?

Aaron M. Renn

Nov 2, 2009

Hi, It's Renn, not "Renne", but I'll take it :) Thanks for the link.

One S or Two

Nov 2, 2009

LOL I also wondered about the "canvass" spelling. The hard reality is you wouldn't want to do any kind of canvassing in Detroit because it's just too dangerous. That's why the place is losing people, and that's why businesses get out. Until pervasive violent crime is no longer part of the canvas, that's the way it will stay.

K T Cat

Nov 2, 2009

By this logic, any blighted urban area would be a "vast, empty canvas." Why hasn't this led to all kinds of expansion so far?

Don in AZ

Nov 2, 2009

I'm from Detroit originally ... would never consider moving back.

Detroit can't go up until it is *completely* dismantled and all the debris swept aside. That is true in large measure for the physical assets; it's entirely true for the government assets.

varmint

Nov 2, 2009

it's near the point where i want to buy a couple hundred acres of down town and start grazing cattle.

SamA

Nov 2, 2009

Detroit seems like a very attractive place to start a business -- except that any businessman would have to deal with the pervasive union-inspired mentality of entitlement and enmity toward business.

No thanks.

JorgXMcKie

Nov 2, 2009

Like an addict in a 12-step problem, Detroit can't go up until it hits bottom and admits. So far, there is no admission, at least not from the average citizen.
If Tuesdays election sweeps in new bunch, maybe, maybe something good will happen. If a majority of the current council persons on the ballot win, it's "wait until next year" or until most of Detroit's citizenry is finally willing to admit they've hit bottom.

WebSpinner

Nov 2, 2009

I live in suburban Detroit. The Dearborn issue is a problem. Crime is a major problem and one of the reasons that Detroit is failing. It isn't safe and a lot of the surrounding cities that border Detroit are have major crime issues. Until the crime problem is dealt with, Detroit will continue to waste.

snowguy

Nov 2, 2009

/sarcasm

Oh, yeah, now that you put it that way, Detroit's situation looks positively enviable.

Imagine how much more enviable the situation of people under even worst government systems must be!

Increase Mather

Nov 2, 2009

Ten years ago following my father's death my mother was alone in the family home on Detroit's far east side.

Predictibly, she was mugged in a grocery store parking lot...the Detroit police told me to move her out...I lived two hundred miles away.

The cops told me to move her out. When I asked if this was their common advice the plain clothes officer said...all the good people are gone...all that's left is a criminal element.

I moved her. She's safe. Thank heavens I got value for her house...it would be impossible today.

George B

Nov 2, 2009

I've often wondered if Detroit could sell off jurisdiction over chunks of land to adjacent suburbs. Detroit would get cash and the land would increase in value once it's no longer part of Detroit.

Steven

Nov 2, 2009

The government of Detroit is not so moribund that a politician who starts a rally against "outsiders" can't shut down any green shoot that get too big.

Detroit can gather lichen on its barren economic ground, but any seedling trees will immediately be harvested for wood.

kcom

Nov 2, 2009

"By this logic, any blighted urban area would be a 'vast, empty canvas.' Why hasn't this led to all kinds of expansion so far?"

If you'd been to Detroit you'd realize the answer to your own question. Concentrate especially on the word "vast". It's not an area or a pocket, it's a vast expanse of a major city. In that situation the dynamic changes and it's no longer just a difference in degree but actually a difference in kind. And the word empty is true. So many houses have been knocked down that large parts of neighborhoods are literally empty.

DougYNDOT

Nov 2, 2009

The only one who would want to build in Detroit would have to be in the Charlton Heston - Omega Man mold and be able to fortify his residence in such a way to be able to travel through the forbidden zone and rummage for supplies without the thing being looted by the local zombies.

You could spend $1000 on the house and $99,000 in improvements, or live somewhere save, like Kentucky for the same $100,000. And you might have a chance at a job, too.

Jeff

Nov 2, 2009

I remember reading a story long ago. If I remember correctly, the city council of Detroit hired Frank Lloyd Wright to do a study of what could be done to improve Detroit's appearance. After studying the problem for a while, Wright came back to the council and said, "Tear it down and start over."

Detroit has now largely followed the first part of Frank Lloyd Wright's advice.

miriam sawyer

Nov 2, 2009

Have you seen Baltimore? Newark, NJ? Philadelphia? They all have terrible, crime-ridden neighborhoods, lousy schools, etc. Philly has a beautiful center, which attracts gentrification.

Catholic schools used to make it possible for families to live in these cities. Not any more. Only childless yuppies want to live in such a place. I guess there aren't any gentrified neighborhoods in Detroit--it's that far gone.

Detroit is only the most egregious example of urban rot.

Prologue

Nov 2, 2009

The streets of Detroit are laid out like a hub, and at the center is Woodward Ave, which intersects the city, from 8 Mile Rd. to the Detroit River. Try driving down that street. You will see beautiful old 19th century buildings interspersed among city blocks that are now empty fields of grass. It isn't even urban blight, it has gone beyond that. Yes, it is disappearing, just as its residents are disappearing, leaving for want of any reason to stay. I've heard you can buy some empty lots for as little as $5. My guess is, in a few years Detroit will be farming country, surrounded by suburbs. Why not? Clever people will buy up those lots, tear down what's left of the dilapidated houses, and put the land to good use.

Nov 2, 2009

Another former Detroiter who feels like she escaped.

Detroit is a vast empty canvas upon which the rest of the nation can view its future under Obama -- one party rule, corruptocrats, hostility to business and responsibility, an off the chart sense of entitlement, a buffet of urban pathologies that are beyond help, and pulling the strings over it all -- the public employee union bosses.

Sean

Nov 2, 2009

Detroit is an important lesson to those who think it inconceivable that labor unions and anti-business politicians would cannibalize a city out of their own individuals self interest. For those who say it couldn't happen in your town; why not?

JennM

Nov 3, 2009

Brings to mind Will Smith in "I AM LEGEND," except the Detroit vampires tend to come out around noon.

ben@dover.com

Nov 3, 2009

This article would be a lot more intriguing if all the same people who would make the same mistakes with their voting power weren't still camped out in Detroit's ruins.

dean

Nov 3, 2009

"my old home town of Detroit gone down so far, as I have suggested in a recent blogpost, that it has nowhere to go but up"
I'm from Michigan we thought that 20 years ago...What it really needs is "black flight"

phlogiston

Nov 3, 2009

Detroi is one big ghetto, and a mess governed by corrupt incompetents with attitudes. What productive person would want to struggle to survive there. Muggers only have other muggers to mug when they go out at night.

Carolyn

Nov 3, 2009

Detroit exemplifies the consequences of Hate,Racism,Crime, and Corruption.It is deeply into all systems, and those at the only cared about what they could get for themselves any way possible.There are a few very decent and competent people, but they are rare and most have retired.The children for three generations have suffered, but it the Blacks who did this to themselves.They wanted nothing to do with Whites, unless it made them very wealthy.It is very much based on Black Liberationists.Rev.Wright is a frequent visitor/ guest and speaker to the churches and affairs. As deep as the corruption is, the Hate is far deeper.

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Detroit: a vast enormous empty canvass?

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
11/01/09 3:04 PM EST