Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

[Rover]

I stumbled across this today on weather.com, of all places.

http://www.weather.com/travel/modern-ruins-abandoned-detroit-photos-20130715

I think the pictures are facsinating at the same time they're sad.

Those are as you describe.

I was thinking, instead of retail, sports, etc, why not put stuff in Detroit that most places don't want?

Think about it. What's one of the biggest growth industries in the country right now? Energy. What does that mean? We need more refineries, gas power plants, and nuclear power plants. What if a place was centrally located, had good transit connections, lots of land, but nobody living next to it? Also it was already polluted so you wouldn't be ruining pristine land if any of these things were located there. Gee, does that sound like anywhere we know?

Now before somebody accuses me of kicking a place while its down, why not give the remaining residents both an increased tax base plus the jobs that would come with locating these things in a cleared out section or sections of the city. Instead of building the Keystone Pipeline to Texas for example, how about just routing it to Detroit which is a lot closer???

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Those are as you describe.

I was thinking, instead of retail, sports, etc, why not put stuff in Detroit that most places don't want?

Think about it. What's one of the biggest growth industries in the country right now? Energy. What does that mean? We need more refineries, gas power plants, and nuclear power plants. What if a place was centrally located, had good transit connections, lots of land, but nobody living next to it? Also it was already polluted so you wouldn't be ruining pristine land if any of these things were located there. Gee, does that sound like anywhere we know?

Now before somebody accuses me of kicking a place while its down, why not give the remaining residents both an increased tax base plus the jobs that would come with locating these things in a cleared out section or sections of the city. Instead of building the Keystone Pipeline to Texas for example, how about just routing it to Detroit which is a lot closer???

I don't think this is a bad idea at all. I just don't know how the Keystone pipeline is going to be approved going through the Great Lakes when the fools in the government can't even figure out how to get it through desolate Nebraska.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

The Fort Shelby Hotel has been redone. It's now a DoubleTree Suites. The David Whitney Building is being rehabbed into a mixed-use property, with a Starwood hotel and condos, set to begin next spring. Broderick Tower just reopened last year as a high-end apartment building.

Some more of this stuff could be saved. In a city that supports six theaters, five of them quite old and fully-restored (Fox, Fisher, Masonic Temple, Gem, Opera House, and State/Fillmore), a rehabbed United Artists Theater and it's associated office tower could still be viable. Especially since it's right in the middle of the reviving Grand Circus Park area.

The abandoned public buildings (schools, etc.) need to meet a wrecking ball though.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

The Fort Shelby Hotel has been redone. It's now a DoubleTree Suites. The David Whitney Building is being rehabbed into a mixed-use property, with a Starwood hotel and condos, set to begin next spring. Broderick Tower just reopened last year as a high-end apartment building.

Some more of this stuff could be saved. In a city that supports six theaters, five of them quite old and fully-restored (Fox, Fisher, Masonic Temple, Gem, Opera House, and State/Fillmore), a rehabbed United Artists Theater and it's associated office tower could still be viable. Especially since it's right in the middle of the reviving Grand Circus Park area.

The abandoned public buildings (schools, etc.) need to meet a wrecking ball though.

Pretty sure they took care of the old Cass Tech school building. My ex was an alumni of that school and was in it when it was operational. Somebody had some pie in the sky idea about turning it into apartments or something, but it never happened and it just kind of rotted till they tore it down to make more space for around the new Cass Tech building.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Pretty sure they took care of the old Cass Tech school building. My ex was an alumni of that school and was in it when it was operational. Somebody had some pie in the sky idea about turning it into apartments or something, but it never happened and it just kind of rotted till they tore it down to make more space for around the new Cass Tech building.

Cass Tech was close enough to the seat of city government to get attention, not to mention it's the only high school in the city worth a d*mn. And there was no way that the old buliding was getting rehabbed, it was structurally unsafe and the farking elevators weren't even functioning.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Cass Tech was close enough to the seat of city government to get attention, not to mention it's the only high school in the city worth a d*mn. And there was no way that the old buliding was getting rehabbed, it was structurally unsafe and the farking elevators weren't even functioning.

Yeah, there was some push there to save it I guess from older alums. Probably nobody from that camp had the money to really do any of the rehabbing of the building. But they pushed hard to save it, like how it took em forever to tear down Tiger's Stadium.

 

[unofan]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

I don't think this is a bad idea at all. I just don't know how the Keystone pipeline is going to be approved going through the Great Lakes when the fools in the government can't even figure out how to get it through desolate Nebraska.

...which has one the biggest underground lakes in the world underneath it which provides about 1/3rd of all irrigation for the country. But why should we worry about that getting polluted?

I would think as a farmer you'd get that, but apparently not, since you're too worried about your million dollar estate tax bill.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

...which has one the biggest underground lakes in the world underneath it which provides about 1/3rd of all irrigation for the country. But why should we worry about that getting polluted?

I would think as a farmer you'd get that, but apparently not, since you're too worried about your million dollar estate tax bill.

We don't irrigate where I'm from.

 

[Priceless]

We don't irrigate where I'm from.

Well then, I guess everything's peachy.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

We don't irrigate where I'm from.

Be glad you don't have to worry about that. Only a few more years until the Ogallala Aquifer is going to be pumped dry and the South Plains is pretty likely going to see another Dust Bowl.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer

 

[Patman]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

...which has one the biggest underground lakes in the world underneath it which provides about 1/3rd of all irrigation for the country. But why should we worry about that getting polluted?

I would think as a farmer you'd get that, but apparently not, since you're too worried about your million dollar estate tax bill.

If this is built above ground or just below aren't people going to notice when there's an issue and have an automatic shutoff (or several) in case things go wrong? Further, if the underground lake is that large won't it just dilute? What kind of scale is this? Why don't we have the same worries about the Alaskan pipeline then?

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

We don't irrigate where I'm from.

If this is built above ground or just below aren't people going to notice when there's an issue and have an automatic shutoff (or several) in case things go wrong? Further, if the underground lake is that large won't it just dilute? What kind of scale is this? Why don't we have the same worries about the Alaskan pipeline then?

More NIMBY's in Nebraska that Alaska.

 

[unofan]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

If this is built above ground or just below aren't people going to notice when there's an issue and have an automatic shutoff (or several) in case things go wrong? Further, if the underground lake is that large won't it just dilute? What kind of scale is this? Why don't we have the same worries about the Alaskan pipeline then?

Because oil companies never skimp on safety measures...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill">oh wait.</a>

I'm not saying I'm against it per se. But I don't want to hear any complaints from the usual suspects about overly burdensome regulations on it, either. Because all it would take is one spill to fark up a large portion of America's food chain. We're not talking about just an impact on Bambi and a frozen wasteland. We're talking about thousands of square miles of farm and ranch land.

 

[RaceBoarder]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Because oil companies never skimp on safety measures...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill">oh wait.</a>

I'm not saying I'm against it per se. But I don't want to hear any complaints from the usual suspects about overly burdensome regulations on it, either. Because all it would take is one spill to fark up a large portion of America's food chain. We're not talking about just an impact on Bambi and a frozen wasteland. We're talking about thousands of square miles of farm and ranch land.

That's the thing... Many people seem to take the "Oh it's just Nebraska" attitude with this... This is a cornerstone of the American economy and food supply line... Not something we want to eff up....

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Because oil companies never skimp on safety measures...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill">oh wait.</a>

I'm not saying I'm against it per se. But I don't want to hear any complaints from the usual suspects about overly burdensome regulations on it, either. Because all it would take is one spill to fark up a large portion of America's food chain. We're not talking about just an impact on Bambi and a frozen wasteland. We're talking about thousands of square miles of farm and ranch land.

Frankly, I could live with reduced supplies of high fructose corn syrup. A major spill in Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma, or Texas might suddenly make beef prohibitively expensive though.

It's a calculated risk, which can be mitigated with the right designs and technology improvements, but never entirely eliminated. The Great Lakes usage as a fresh water source is similar.

 

[goldy_331]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Frankly, I could live with reduced supplies of high fructose corn syrup.

But what about the vital ethanol supply?

 

[Rover]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Why couldn't you route the pipeline through Windsor? If Canada wants the thing so bad, maybe they can build the bulk of it and then route it to Detroit that way, where my new neighborhood of oil refineries, nuclear power plants and supermax prisons will be located.

That would by and large avoid the Great Lakes and associated aquifers.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Why couldn't you route the pipeline through Windsor? If Canada wants the thing so bad, maybe they can build the bulk of it and then route it to Detroit that way, where my new neighborhood of oil refineries, nuclear power plants and supermax prisons will be located.

That would by and large avoid the Great Lakes and associated aquifers.

It seems like that would be a long way around the lakes, but it may work. Now go get it done.

 

[Rover]

It seems like that would be a long way around the lakes, but it may work. Now go get it done.

I've got an idea that's already built!

Back in the early days of WWII, there was a concern that oil could not get up to our ally Canada due to the presence of U-boats looking to sink any tankers going up the coast. In response and pretty hastily the gubmint built a pipeline from Portland ME up through the forests into Quebec to reach the refineries there.

Fast forward 70 years. The pipeline is still there. Its already connected to a port. The only small problem is that the flow needs to be reversed. Voila! Oil gets out of Canada, through the United States. Only difference is instead of being shipped out of Houston or New Orleans it gets sent out of Maine which happens to be a lot closer to the European market.

Problem solved, baby!

Somebody should elect me President.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

I've got an idea that's already built!

Back in the early days of WWII, there was a concern that oil could not get up to our ally Canada due to the presence of U-boats looking to sink any tankers going up the coast. In response and pretty hastily the gubmint built a pipeline from Portland ME up through the forests into Quebec to reach the refineries there.

Fast forward 70 years. The pipeline is still there. Its already connected to a port. The only small problem is that the flow needs to be reversed. Voila! Oil gets out of Canada, through the United States. Only difference is instead of being shipped out of Houston or New Orleans it gets sent out of Maine which happens to be a lot closer to the European market.

Problem solved, baby!

Somebody should elect me President.

Except it is a long way from Quebec to Alberta.