[valis]

wow.....just did some reading about that kilpatrick character.......dude's so crooked you are going to have to screw his shoes on daily.........how'd he even get elected, much less make a second term?????

[wacor]

Originally Posted by valis

wow.....just did some reading about that kilpatrick character.......dude's so crooked you are going to have to screw his shoes on daily.........how'd he even get elected, much less make a second term?????

Wanna hear something scary. There is a fair chance he could get re elected when the 5 years are up.

Did you see the bit where he has decided on his own to cut the restitution payments in half. He is living in a multi million dollar home in a gated neighborhood. He rents it. Claims he can not afford to pay as much as is required. This guy just never is out of the news here. In a week or two back to court to prove what money he is making.

[Fidelista]

Originally Posted by Wino

Said it before, say it again - Closing down Saturn is stupid - GM should shutdown or divest themselves of GMC which duplicates Chevy trucks and are but gas guzzlers and keep Saturn going. I suspect in 5 years or less there will be no GM.

Its seems to me that Saturn would be a logical brand to save ??? .
I am not expert in marketing , but it seemed to me that it would be a survivor .

If you are right , and hope you are not , the end of GM will mean the end of Detroit --and I mean the end .
This is frightening , as it is a indicator of some degree, of the well-being of entire nation .
There was a theory at one time -- "so goes General Motors -- so goes the country "
I wonder what will really happen in Detroit's future ? -- I feel for all those people caught up in this crash. >f

[wacor]

Detroit is in such dire straits that unless there is a natural disaster I am not sure how they come out of this.

It encompasses a very large area. So all the services are spread out where as if it was starting from scratch there would be large greenbelts. The city could let some of the areas go wild but they have this crazy belief people want to come in and invest. For years there have been stories of individuals wanting to buy up a building or two and the city would not sell so the buildings sit empty. The buyers kept coming back saying that the city had some grand plan and did not want to risk things being broken up. Then you have the anti white fervor where the residents resent people from the suburbs who want to come in an develop. Anybody interested can get a good read on this in the earlier link where I mentioned the Time Magazine project.

[Fidelista]

Originally Posted by wacor

Detroit is in such dire straits that unless there is a natural disaster I am not sure how they come out of this.

It encompasses a very large area. So all the services are spread out where as if it was starting from scratch there would be large greenbelts. The city could let some of the areas go wild but they have this crazy belief people want to come in and invest. For years there have been stories of individuals wanting to buy up a building or two and the city would not sell so the buildings sit empty. The buyers kept coming back saying that the city had some grand plan and did not want to risk things being broken up. Then you have the anti white fervor where the residents resent people from the suburbs who want to come in an develop. Anybody interested can get a good read on this in the earlier link where I mentioned the Time Magazine project.

If I am not wrong , the auto industry was the engine , the life of Detroit , if it is gone , what will drive it to its pre-crash greatness ?.
What would a grand plan consist of ? You can't make something from nothing.
I wonder how much investors would be willing to invest considering the situation . A service economy will never replace what was .
I was hoping that we { Detroit } would make some kind of recovery based on manufacturing , autos --at some point . I know we can compete, we build good cars now . Unions have made consessions , and the industry understands quality , what better place to make a turnaround ?.
If not , I suppose green belt will become a option.
As far as the "anti-white " fervor , I understand that . The black community simply needs a place to live --call home --just like the rest of us . Difference is , when you are poor things look a lot different , I doubt they want to be pushed out /aside . That problem will have to be addressed, and I don't claim to have answer. .
My biggest question is just what will drive a recovery--investment -- for Detroit --if not manufacturing ?
>f

[Nekochanpurr]

My sister sent me this email the other day.. But i lost it.. So i had to find it on the web. Sad times. =/

http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_d...p?q=1254861706

BTW: I don't really know this site... I just googled for it.

[wacor]

I got that email also.

[wacor]

And the beat goes on

I had not heard about this auction

Couple things stand out in the article which is a mind boggling read


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091025/...ousing_detroit

DETROIT (Reuters) – In a crowded ballroom next to a bankrupt casino, what remains of the Detroit property market was being picked over by speculators and mostly discarded.

After five hours of calling out a drumbeat of "no bid" for properties listed in an auction book as thick as a city phone directory, the energy of the county auctioneer began to flag.

"OK," he said. "We only have 300 more pages to go."

There was tired laughter from investors ready to roll the dice on a city that has become a symbol of the collapse of the U.S. auto industry, pressures on the industrial middle-class and intractable problems for the urban poor.
On the auction block in Detroit: almost 9,000 homes and lots in various states of abandonment and decay from the tidy owner-occupied to the burned-out shell claimed by squatters.......


Taken together, the properties seized by tax collectors for arrears and put up for sale last week represented an area the size of New York's Central Park. Total vacant land in Detroit now occupies an area almost the size of Boston, according to a Detroit Free Press estimate.......

Despite a minimum bid of $500, less than a fifth of the Detroit land was sold after four days.........

The number of Detroit properties in tax foreclosure has more than tripled since 2007 and seems certain to rise further. The lots for sale last week represented arrears from only 2006, well before the worst of the downturn for U.S. automakers........

Detroit, already stuck with a $300 million budget deficit, is responsible in the meantime for cutting the weeds and responding to fire calls for thousands more abandoned lots........

[Fidelista]

Originally Posted by wacor

And the beat goes on

I had not heard about this auction

Couple things stand out in the article which is a mind boggling read


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091025/...ousing_detroit

So ,,,where does turn around come from ? .
We all know the auto industry tanked , was on way downhill before the economic crash .
So what do you think will change and how ? .
Besides how the state and local Govts deal with the mess , what is engine to drive recovery ?? . Govt cannot recreate the past .
Since Detroit was built on manufacturing --auto's, what do you think ?
We all know the problem , but what is fix -- in your opinion ?. >f

[LuckyStrike]

Of all the properties up for auction, I wonder how much taxes are owed? Would a bidder be responsible for the back taxes? What would be the cost to an investor in terms of continuing property taxes if they did buy a parcel?

How about this:

Cancel all back taxes on delinquent parcels sold at auction so that the selling price is the total cost to the buyer or investor.

Reassess the parcels sold at auction at the actual selling price and freeze the property tax assessment for ten years.

Offer 50/50 cost sharing between the new property owner and the city for demolition of derelict buildings.

Offer grants of city owned properties to businesses that relocate to the city.

You know, if you want to get rid of mosquito born illnesses, you drain the swamps, and get rid of anything that will hold standing water for mosquitos to breed. To get rid of rats you get rid of the rat habitat and rat food sources. To get rid of human vermin, like meth labs and drug dealers and such, you get rid of their habitat and food sources.

Suppose every derelict property that cannot be sold were to be demolished and planted in grass and trees. Next thing you know you would have a city with a lot of green space like a suburb in it's early stages, except the physical infrastructure of streets, sewers, water, gas, telephone, and power would already be in place.

[Knotbored]

Probably giving some substancial rebate is somehow fair to buyers, but is that fair to the 80% that are paying both their mortgage debt and their property taxes? As long as those properties are under the cities control all property owners have an "investment" in their value. To just give that value away without a potential to gain the value back through immediate taxes would be same as asking those other legitimate owners to just throw away their ownership. Hold them for future increased value.

[wacor]

I am not sure about the question of back taxes. I assume unless the city took over ownership that the taxes would not be due. Otherwise I think they are owed and believe me Detroit has a really, and I mean really high property tax rate.

One talk is about some of the green space being turned into farm land.

Lucky the problem is the infrastructure such as water and sewer still has to be maintained. And there is no tax base to handle that when you have such large vacant areas.

Fidelista you asked what in my opinion can be done. My answer is gonna sound racist but you have to realize there is a culture in Detroit where they do not want outsiders to gain control. Too many in the city would rather protect their turf rather than to let rich investors come in.

Detroit is a politically entrenched cesspool. Even Dennis Archer saw that and cut and run rather than to stick it out. Which is a damn shame because the vacuum he left allowed for Kilpatrick to gain power.

Dave Bing can do only so much. Until you get rid of the morons on the city council and replace them with decent people there is not gonna be much hope. and to call them morons is really being disrespectful of a moron. The city council makes DC politicians look like Mother Theresa

[wacor]

I tell ya it just never ends. Four businessmen gave Kwamee Kilpatrick a total of over $200k to get him to resign. Of course they say it was to help his family while he went to jail and then returned to society. None of it has been paid back. Then another guy fifted $50k to Kwamees wife to deal with finances. All of these are big names. Peter Karmanos who owns Compuware, Dan Gilbert who owns a major financial or along with the Cleveland Cav basketball team, Roger Penske. Matty Maroun owns the Ambassador Bridge and a ton of land in the city he is sitting on.

Oh and Kwamee has no idea how the house he is renting is getting paid. He thinks his wife has been paying but she takes the finances so he knows of none of the details.

Unbeliveable..... All a clear violation of public trust along with proving this guy needs to go back to jail for violating parole.

[valis]

jesus wept, roger penske? I've MET that guy........he's been (note the past tense now) an idol of mine for decades...........what an idiot.

[wacor]

More great headlines - Only in Detroit ???

Father takes his 15 year old son outside to a field after beating the crap out of him. Has the kid strip naked and then executes the kid..

http://freep.com/article/20091119/NE...--killing-teen



More on the ex mayor. This stuff gets better every day. You have to read all about this clown to get a true picture. He gets hundreds of thousands of dollars as gifts. Then when the donors find out he is being investigated for not reporting income they suddenly draft it up retrotactively as a loan.

http://freep.com/article/20091119/NE...earing-reveals