 
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 1210
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 1:14 am: |    |
Was wondering if any of you live on an urban prairie, or know someone who is. I'm asking more about the one or two house blocks. I'm trying to figure out why anyone would do this, and how/why these few houses were spared.
I guess it would be kind of neat to just buy an entire block. LOL! |
Leannam1989
Member
Username: Leannam1989
Post Number: 20
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 2:27 am: | |
If you just want pictures there are some urban prairie blocks you can view on Streetview.
Some people who live on those streets may have lived there for a number of years, when there were more homes. |
Viziondetroit
Member
Username: Viziondetroit
Post Number: 1864
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 2:29 am: | |
The missing houses more than likely were burned down or sat vacant and the city knocked them down. The houses left are usually those owned for many years by family or they have been owned and rented out for years. |
Royce
Member
Username: Royce
Post Number: 2700
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 4:07 am: | |
Sean_of_detroit, are these questions that you really could not have answered on your own? Ask a six year old the questions you're asking in this thread and he or she would tell you that the remaining people living on those blocks probably live there because they want to live there or that they can't afford to live any where else. Also, there was a thread on this topic two or three months ago. As the caveman in the Geico commercial would say, "Do a little research."
Sean_of_detroit, thought-provoking questions and threads are always appreciated by all of us on this thread. However, some of your threads just come across as those of someone who either has too much time on his hands or is constantly drinking energy drinks. For example, some of your posts to the Cadillac Centre thread sound like what you sometimes refer to as "ramblings." I couldn't continue to read them because words were missing, making what you were trying to say incoherent.
Again, Sean_of_detroit, not trying to rain on your parade, but "rambling" posts, rehashed topics, or very easily answered questions posed as thread topics waste everybody's time. You might consider how much time that you are spending on this forum. Just starting out, it can be addictive. Just some things to think about. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 1213
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 4:42 am: | |
Glad you are enjoying them Royce!
I was hoping to hear from people who actually live in these homes. I want to understand those that moved there recently, or have stayed there through their neighborhood's demise. I'm asking what is keeping them here (besides love of The D).
(Message edited by Sean_of_Detroit on July 21, 2008) |
Royce
Member
Username: Royce
Post Number: 2702
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 5:27 am: | |
Sean_of_detroit, my parents have lived in their home since 1960. Back then there were about 50 houses on the block. Today there are 13 occupied homes and one vacant house. The house is paid for and they get their trashed picked up on time, the street lights work, and when a loved one suffered a heart attack, EMS was there in 15 minutes.
They've had to deal with petty crimes, but because the neighborhood is so abandoned you don't have as many people to create havoc. In fact an advantage to having all of the abandonment is you can see the crooks coming from every direction. However, my parents never leave the house for long periods of time. They have not taken a vacation together in decades because someone has to stay and watch the house.
Home is home. Why leave it if staying isn't stressing you out? |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 7497
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:57 am: | |
St. Cyril's Block between Mt. Elliot and Van Dyke near Lodge Park is prime example of the urban prairie. Blocks upon blocks of vacant lots now marked for a possible brownfield development. |
Grumpyoldlady
Member
Username: Grumpyoldlady
Post Number: 178
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 1:16 pm: | |
Chill Royce! If you don't want to read something, don't! I personally enjoy "rehashed" topics, since I may have missed them the first time(s) around. |
Spiritofdetroit
Member
Username: Spiritofdetroit
Post Number: 1048
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 1:22 pm: | |
They dont choose to live there.
No one has moved to an urban prairie because they think its nice to be surrounded by emptiness and blight.
Good god, why do you think they stay? They dont have a choice. Their homes are worth about $15 and not a soul would buy them. They are usually older people who have lived there forever and unfortunately cannot afford a better lifestyle. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 2916
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 1:33 pm: | |
lol Royce, good posts.  |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 5152
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 1:47 pm: | |
See Charlevoix from Cadillac to Crane. There are a handful of well-kept homes that have recently been upgraded a good deal. Elaborate gardens, multi-lot yards with landscaping, structural work on the house, new fences, etc. One person has (IIRC) a Hummer which they built a locking gate around at the side of their house for safekeeping at night. There is another similar front-yard "car-pen" over on Crane in front of a well-kept house. It appears that one or two houses have purchased adjacent, empty lots and kept them up. There even appears to be some integration there. All in all, this is an urban prairie area that has seen indisputable investment. SoD's post generalizes a bit too much. For the most part prairie areas are hopeless-- I haven't noticed any similar investments on the Warren or Forest corridors, for example-- but I wanted to mention these as unique case. Perhaps the homes were transferred within a family and a younger, upstart member of the family moved in and decided to make the most of things. Not everyone sees hopelessness on the prairie, especially if its an old family home and if a member of the family has made some money and can afford to buy, keep up, and/or develop adjacent lots, or pay for home security. Additionally, the handful of neighbors could be very loyal and/or close. There is the possibility of creating a very controlled environment where certain people would be comfortable living. More power to them. Sean, maybe you could take a look at that area and talk to some people.
The other area that comes to mind is just east and west of Jos. Campau from Vernor to Gratiot, where random infill has occured and the homes are often occupied. People are buying these homes, and it says something to the contrary of SoD's main point, which is generally true but not a totally accurate statement. |
401don
Member
Username: 401don
Post Number: 661
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 1:49 pm: | |
I used to look forward to Mondays. Between the papers and Crain's, there would usually be some development news to talk about. Now it's bitch about Kwame or bitch about each other making up stuff cause there's nothing to talk about. |
Raggedclaws
Member
Username: Raggedclaws
Post Number: 200
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 6:04 am: | |
Sean, them there people is livin' on Detroit's urban prarie for the enjoyment of the flora and fauna. What else could it be Sean ?
Yup. Uh huh. That's what it is alright.
Next question. |
Hamtragedy
Member
Username: Hamtragedy
Post Number: 215
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 1:11 am: | |
While working on a house on Cadillac Blvd, s. of Kercheval, I'd look thru the upper back windows (facing west) and noticed, in spite of the abandonment, the few remaining houses were for the most part in relatively nice shape. Hell, they even put up a small park btw. the two houses on the lot right behind me, and the neighbors who used it made it a point for it to be kid (and senior) friendly by discouraging the local crackheads &drunks from taking it over.
Drive around and you'll notice a few "fortresses" where there's one nice house left on one side of the block, and the grass is cut two to three deep on either side. Add a fence and a couple of pit-bulls and the urban prairie is yours to enjoy. Drive north and west of there (anywhere for that reason) and find the nice houses on the overall nice-blocks. Then drive a block or two and find the nice houses left on the shitty blocks. Then drive another block or two and find the vacant blocks with that one or two "fortresses" left and you can pretty much figure out what happened. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 1240
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 2:17 am: | |
I was trying not to assume. That generally seems to be a mistake. |
Retroit
Member
Username: Retroit
Post Number: 325
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 10:12 am: | |
"Urban Prairie"? Talk about putting make-up on a pig! Let's call them what they are: Abandoned Lots. And let's do the only sensible thing: level the remaining "frontier lodges" and start building new subdivisions within our city before there is no one left and it becomes an "Urban Vacuity". |
Novine
Member
Username: Novine
Post Number: 619
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 12:43 pm: | |
"start building new subdivisions within our city before there is no one left"
How's that working for the city? Hasn't the city been down that road? Have those been success stories? Turned areas around? |
Wolverine
Member
Username: Wolverine
Post Number: 536
Registered: 04-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 12:57 pm: | |
Sort of related. When I worked in downtown Saginaw, we were in what we called a pavement desert.
Worked in this beautiful 7-story art deco building, all around us was parking and a destroyed street grid system. No one even cared working next to a window because there's wasn't much to look at. A shame because hundreds of stores used to be there. |
Dianeinaustin
Member
Username: Dianeinaustin
Post Number: 77
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 1:22 pm: | |
Hamtragedy, I went on Google Maps and toured the streets you mentioned as well as the neighborhood surrounding them. There are a lot of unique houses there. It is so close to the Detroit River, that's neat. I did see some new construction of what looks to be multifamily housing. |
Dds
Member
Username: Dds
Post Number: 703
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 2:34 pm: | |
quote:Worked in this beautiful 7-story art deco building,
Second National? |
Eastsidedame
Member
Username: Eastsidedame
Post Number: 417
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 2:56 pm: | |
I guess it would be kind of neat to just buy an entire block. LOL!
That's my dream, too, Seanie! What would you do with yours? |
Wolverine
Member
Username: Wolverine
Post Number: 537
Registered: 04-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 - 6:52 pm: | |
Dds, No I worked over near the castle museum in what used to be TCF. (100 South Jefferson) The building now has a couple professional firms and the United Way |