Maracaibo and Detroit

[Mick1]

Interesting article on Maracaibo, Venezuela. Once a booming oil export city of 2.2 million people, they’ve lost half a million residents (along with 7.5 million other Venezuelans who fled the Socialist utopia, at least a few bound for Aurora, CO where they’ve become gangs terrorizing apartment complexes).

What Happens When Half a Million People Abandon Their City – DNyuz

According to the article, it’s a bizarre feeling when 22% of a population departs a city.

I lived in midtown Detroit for four years, at Third and Brainard, not too far from the DSO (Detroit Symphony Orchestra) and Wayne State. The area was a bit like the area around San Jose State. At its peak, Detroit had 1,849,000 — that in the 1950 census. Over the years, 63% of Detroit’s population — 1,171,000 — have departed Detroit, leaving 678,000 today.

It’s a bizarre feeling. There are entire city blocks that have been wholly recaptured by nature…they’ve turned into fields. I once drove for 2.2 miles through Detroit without seeing a human being. There are over 100,000 unoccupied residences in Detroit. I knew a barrista who purchased a home for $35,000…maybe not one that you and I would want to live in, but it was 3 bedroom, 1 bath, small lot, had all of its fixtures, electrical and plumbing. He put $1,500 down and his loan payment at was $314.59. I paid $350 a month to rent a basement studio there, he bought a house.

Detroit is a shadow of its former self. It’s the rest of American society writ small, when a series of Democratic administrations and Democratic politicians take what was America’s economic leader for blue collar workers for 75 years on a per capita basis…and turns it into a shit hole. Roads, schools, infrastructure are all miserable. Jobs have been exported. It’s pretty horrible. Former bookie-turned-mortgagor Dan Gilbert owns over 100 buildings in downtown and midtown Detroit. Not sure what he intends.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Mick1.

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