The Death And Decay Of Detroit, As Seen From The Streets

With the stock market hitting record highs day after day, it is easy to move on and forget that one of American's once premier cities, Detroit, has been bankrupt for nearly a year. But out of mind doesn't mean out of sight, especially now that Google has launched its street view Time Machine, which provides for 7 years worth of street images, showing the time shift of the tumultuous period period starting in 2007. 

One blogger who decided to take this time lapse data and apply it to the city of Detroit is GooBing Detroitwho, as the following time-lapse photos demonstrate, has captured Detoit's unprecedented slow-motion collapse into death and decay in what is the closest we have to "real time."

Perhaps what is most stunning about the following series of photos is not the ultimate fate of the bankrupt city, but how quickly a once vibrant metropolis has succumbed to blight and sheer desperation.

Hopefully not coming to a street near you.

All photos from the Goobingdetroit tumblr depict various areas and streets in Detroit, then and now.

2009

2011

2013

Montlieu between Gilbo and French, City Airport Neighborhood. Top to bottom Google streetview circa 2009, 2011 and 2013.

2007

2009

2011

July 2013

September 2013

Chene between Palmer and Ferry. 15 of the 20 properties on this block have been, or are subject to, tax foreclosure. Looked like a nice bakery.

2009

2013

Healy Street north of Hamtramck

2009

2011

2013- July

2013 - August

Exeter between 7 Mile and Penrose, Northern Detroit.

Brightmoor neighborhood. 

Around 7 Mile, West Side

Northwest, near Grand River

West Golden Gate, Detroit

Southwest Detroit

East side, near Alter Road

Patton Street, NW Detroit 

Feel like you can kind of see how this scene unfolded:

In the top photo, the tree is blocking the view of that yellow house in the middle — that house isn’t in great shape, but it’s ok. The house to the left has neatly trimmed hedges and a chair on the porch. The house on the right has been gutted by fire.

I imagine that middle house - since it’s been demo’d by 2012 - caught on fire and caused the further damage to the house at the right. Whoever had been living in the nicely maintained house on the left, moved out, and that house was gutted.

In the last photo — with the nicely maintained house farthest to the right — you see another nice house on the left, with a boarded up, but fairly stable, house in the middle. By 2012, both nice houses are gutted, as is the boarded up one in the middle.

Springwells Village

Near City Airport. Wonder why they didn’t take down the one next door while they were at it…

From top to bottom: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013. Hickory Street between Manning and Pinewood, northeast Detroit.

Of the 12,093 properties in this Detroit neighborhood, 1,037 are owned by the City of Detroit, mostly due to tax foreclosure. Another ~4,500 are either subject to tax foreclosure right now, or will be in the next year or two.

Eastwood between Queen and MacCray, Northwest Detroit. Just east of Osborn, in “Burbank”… if anyone actually calls it that.  Of the 34 properties on this block, 24 have been tax foreclosed, 13 are at risk of foreclosure, and precisely 1 property is in good tax standing.

Corner of Thaddeus and S. Leigh Street, Southwest Detroit. That’s a lotta washing machines…

Hazelridge between Celestine and MacCray, Northeast Detroit

This block is incredible. Still pretty dense with housing, but only one of them is occupied. If you go a block to the west, the housing stock changes to brick and the neighborhood looks pretty stable.

The New York Times visited this block during the Motor City Mapping survey:

"Blight, as Karl Baker, one Detroit resident, has seen, tends to spread. Along his block of Hazelridge Street on the East Side, he is the only remaining tenant. “Everyone went bye-bye,” Mr. Baker said the other day as he walked up the center of the silent street to get to his house since no sidewalks had been shoveled.

Most of the houses nearby are standing but abandoned, and visitors have clearly passed through — empty liquor bottles lie along debris-covered floors near broken windows and doors, every memory of a metal appliance or gutter seems to be gone from some of the homes, and two old couches that were dumped along a lawn are now blanketed by a thick layer of snow.

The last neighbor left six months ago, he said, and the single streetlight overhead has not worked for months. “I love the quiet, but if something went wrong, the city isn’t going to come,” Mr. Baker said. “They don’t do anything.”

Hoyt between Liberal and Pinewood, Northeast Detroit

Arndt between Elmwood and Ellery, East Side, Detroit

Lady waving to the street view car in the first image, c. 2009. Nearby the Heidelberg Project, and in the style, though not sure if a Tyree or not.

 Credit to Zero Hedge

SECRET EUROPEAN CASH LIMITS IN PLACE

Some of you might remember the recent scandal where #HSBC tried to impose cash withdraw limits on their accounts:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-25861717

Well it turns out that was just a trial balloon, to see how the public might react to withdraw limits being public knowledge. Limits that are already in place!

Let me tell you what my sources are telling me.

They have tried to withdraw large amounts in cash from a bank. They were told quite categorically “No, you cannot have this amount in cash”. They then asked if they could make an appointment to receive the amount in cash and were told “No”.

Just an awkward bank clerk right?

They then proceeded to transfer the balance to another bank, and tried to make the same withdraw. They received exactly the same response “No, No, No, No, you can’t have your money”.

So what’s going on?

The #European Union is fearful of a systemic bank run taking place. After all, they have already seen bank runs in Cyprus (a successful testing ground) and other peripheral countries. Such a bank run would overwhelm even the European Central Bank.

But their steps to prevent this have been interesting to say the least…… They simply won’t allow a bank run – it’s against the rules!

What rules you say? Well, these vary from bank to bank and I’ve assembled them from a few different sources, but here they are:

- A depositor can only withdraw ~10% of their balance in large-scale cash per year.
- These limits do not apply to small one-time incidents such as ~5000 euros.
- All large cash withdraws must have a “valid” reason given. Hint: “I don’t trust my bank”, is not a valid reason.
- Daily cash machine limits are exempt.

Since the majority of cash withdraws are not large, these rules go unnoticed. But if they see an excessive/unusual amount of small daily withdraws taking place they can easily tighten these limits – all the procedures are in place.

So what are the implications of this?

Quite simple really. There won’t be a bank run in #Europe – because it’s no longer allowed. Just like a toddler, you will NOT be allowed to play with matches!!

So given the system is tearing itself apart at the seams, we’d better start looking for the weaker stitching somewhere else!

As to whether this system is in place in the #US yet I cannot say. If it isn’t yet it soon will be.

Credit to Infowars

WALL STREET: The Next Financial Crash will be the End of America

Two B-2 Spirit stealth bombers have just arrived in UK for a unusual deployment

Using radio callsigns “Death 11″ and “Death 12″ two B-2s from Whiteman Air Force Base have arrived at RAF Fairford for short and rare deployment.

Even if the U.S. Air Force has selected three bases for B-2 operations outside the U.S. (RAF Fairford, in UK, Diego Garcia and Andersen AFB at Guam), overseas deployments of the Spirit stealth strategic bombers are quite unusual.

Indeed, B-2s don’t move from Whiteman AFB, in Missouri, too often as they are trained to conduct very long round-trip missions from their homebase in CONUS (Continental U.S.), as happened during recent training missions,extended nuclear deterrence sorties in the Korean Peninsula, as well as during real conflicts, as the Libya Air War in 2011 or the Allied Force in Serbia in 1999.

That’s why the deployment of two Spirit bombers with the 509th Bomb Wing to the UK is, at least, noteworthy.

Obviously, the official press release doesn’t mention the rarity of this “short-term deployment,” as it only mentions that the “multi-role heavy bombers will conduct training flights in the USEUCOM area of operations, providing opportunities for aircrews to sharpen skills in several key operational sets and become familiar with airbases and operations in the region.”

Little is known about this deployment, unlike the other one which involves three B-52s that have arrived at RAF Fairford last week and whose detachment had been exposed by aircrew patches produced ahead of the participation of the Stratofortresses to the Saber Strike and Baltops exercises.

“The training and integration of strategic forces demonstrates to our nation’s leaders and our allies that we have the right mix of aircraft and expertise to respond to a variety of potential threats and situations,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, commander, U.S. Strategic Command in the release.

For sure, the Russian threat in Europe is taken seriously by the USSTRACOM, that may have decided to deploy some strategic assets closer to Ukraine, more to show the local allies that Washington is capable to support them if needed rather than put some pressure on Moscow.

Credit to the aviationist.com