Tuesday, June 26, 2012

More of Detroit

I must say I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity I have to be in Detroit right now.  It is an experience I will not soon forget; the city is like no other I have ever been to.  Despite the daily fires and multitude of vacant properties most people here are rich in pride of their city.  Every street we turn down has a person with a detroit shirt, and every vacant structure we explore has a hat or a flag or a poster of a once prosperous Detroit.  It is hard to comprehend, on an average night several vacant buildings are set fire to.  The empty Packard plant has a new fire in at least one part of the 3.5 million square foot facility at least once a day.  At times they burn for a week because the fire department has deemed the property structurally unsound, therefor the policy is to let the fire burn itself out.  The firefighters I have talked to give a multitude of reason the properties catch fire, local kids; evicted tenants seeking revenge; illegal tie-ins to electric lines; scrappers burning away materials for easier access to metals to be sold in junk yards.  It is most definitely an experience I will not forget.