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Financial missteps, racial tensions and leadership lapses
- In a matter of decades, Detroit went from one of America’s most prosperous cities to one of its most distressed. Here is a look at how the collapse of this metropolis – battered by financial missteps, racial tensions and leadership lapses – culminated in insurmountable debt that led the city to file for bankruptcy.
archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/08/17/us/detroit-decline.htmlAnatomy of Detroit’s Decline - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com
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Why did Detroit stop using streetcars?
- Poor neighborhood identification. Ask a Chicagoan where they’re from, and they will likely give you a neighborhood name — Wrigleyville, Jefferson Park, Chatham.
- Poor housing stock. Detroit may be well-known for its so-called ruins, but much of the city is relentlessly covered with small, Cape Cod-style, 3-bedroom and one-bath single family homes on slabs that are not in keeping with contemporary standards for size and quality.
- A poor public realm. Detroit’s streetscape is unbearable in many places. Major corridors have long stretches of anonymous single-story commercial buildings, with few trees or other landscaping.
- A downtown that was allowed to become weak. Detroit did not always have a relatively weak downtown. The city’s core was a strong retail and commercial center through much of the 20th century, with the advertising, legal and financial offices that supported the auto industry.
- The Rise
- What Public Transit Means
- 10 Minute Waits An ‘Injustice’
- Ford to Detroit: We’Re Sorry
- Making The City ‘Accessible’
- Failed Mergers and The Future
- Forever Lagging Behind
The average Joe in the 1910s and 1920s had choices to get around metro Detroit: Cabs, trains, an interurban, streetcars, horse-drawn vehicles, walking. Those looking to gain some freedom from the rail monopoly of the time turned to the automobile as a saving grace. It was also a major turning point for public transit within the region, beginning wi...
Even Detroit MayorMike Duggan focused on the need for a reliable bus system in Detroit during his State of the City speech last month. “A job [in Detroit] means a reliable bus system,” the mayor said, before highlighting the tribulations of one resident who travels to Redford for work. The 53-year-old man rides the DDOT 38 Plymouth route in the wro...
That’s not to say metro Detroit’s transit systems used to be in worse shape than the infrastructure of today. Craig, the DetroitTransitHistory.infoproprietor, has fond memories of the early 1960s, the time when he discovered his love for buses. The various private operators had problems, Craig says, but the one- to two-hour waits some Detroiters fa...
Johnny Cash once mused to an interviewer that failure should not be dwelled on. Failure, he supposedly said, should be analyzed, so as to not make the same mistake twice. It’s an adage worth mentioning, as the transit plan being pursued in the 1970s could’ve been a game-changer. And yet metro Detroit continued to fall into the same trap. Scott Wagn...
Elisabeth Gerber, professorat the University of Michigan Ann Arbor’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, says metro Detroit’s problem is that leaders have never “gone to the whole region and made the case for expanded regional transit.” In other metropolitan areas with successful developments of mass transit, “you can find a prominent leader wh...
In the 1990s,DDOT and SMART managed to reach one agreement that remains relevant: a regional bus pass. Besides that, the region continued its tradition of failed mergers — lots of talk and studies and promises that fizzle before dying on the planning table. Discussions were moving forward to consolidate DDOT with SMART as recently as 1994. Then, ac...
Back outside theDIA, Storm prepares to head to the museum to start work for the day. Even he runs into the unpleasant side of metro Detroit transit with his golden egg Woodward route. A couple of years back, SMART cut service into Detroit to only run during peak hours. If Storm misses the bus during those times, he has to transfer to the Detroit De...
Aug 1, 2018 · The narrative about why Detroit declined often just covers the landmark events of over a half-century ago – factory closings, race riots, urban renewal, segregation, etc.
Apr 20, 2020 · Detroit transit has faced a myriad of setbacks over the years: disease, labor issues, political agendas, franchise disputes, competition from automobiles and buses, maintenance issues, lack of...
- David Gifford
Dec 3, 2023 · Here are 6 times the city tried — and failed. For rail-based public transit, Detroiters today have two options — the People Mover and the QLINE — each with well-known shortcomings. The city ...
- JC Reindl
- Business Reporter
Sep 15, 2013 · An in-depth Free Press analysis of the city’s financial history back to the 1950s shows that its elected officials and others charged with managing its finances repeatedly failed — or refused —...
Jun 7, 2016 · Today, the streetcars and commuter rail are gone. Until a new streetcar line opens next year, Detroit will be the largest American metropolis without surface rail transit. The annual ridership on...
