Every scam in the book happened to these properties from crooked contractors that were supposed to rehab them to crooked demo contractors that folded the building into the basement and then bulldozed over the mess with dirt to make it look like everything was removed. (We did honest work cutting weeds and picking up trash) Houses were set on fire, neighbor houses burned, and property values went to worthless because of the houses. This covered 1972 to 1974.

Now, it seems incredible to me that the same mess still exists as though 35 years never passed. No one can figure out how to clean up the mess other than the arsonists. ‘Instant urban renewal’ they called it then, hardly one of the Great Society programs. Is there no one who can figure this out? Does anyone care?

My personal solution to the lack of appreciation of Detroit’s fine old buildings, which they would rather let go to ruin rather than preserve, was to move to some place where people care. My Motor City solution is to turn Detroit land into many rancheros, land grants where cattle and horses have room to run and orchards and crops can grow, if the soil is not too polluted. El Del Rey, Los East Dearborn, El Grande Rivera.

Anyway – thanks for sharing the link.

*and I agree with Jolene – that when President Obama stops and starts and stops again; you can just see the writer at work. President Lincoln would launch into a funny story or anecdote, if he needed a little more time to think – or if he didn’t want to give a more specific answer or reply….and, for what it’s worth, Lincoln’s critics HATED his jokey habits as much (or more!) than President Obama’s critics hate his extemporaneous style

these photos are really amazing.

I doubt that Murdock or any other news agency will ever get bloggers to pay tp link to their sites. When the New York Times went behind a firewall bloggers simply refused to link to their news stories. Most bloggers don;t have the money in the first place and don’t think links to news stories amount to theft.