 
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 863
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 6:00 pm: |    |
Between Alexandrine and Selden some of the most disgusting obnoxious vagrants Ive encountered were loitering and panhandling in a sea of litter and stench. My friend parked on Alexandrine Friday night, I parked there Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Friday we were hit up for change by several panhandlers within a half a block.One lady appeared mentally ill and was given a quarter by my friend. Sunday I witnessed a female vagrant spit a mouthful of alcohol at one of her cohorts. Two men appearing to be in their fifties were arguing and carrying on like a couple of adolescent boys. The usual loud cuss words were audible halfway up the block.Several hobos were lurking near the entrance of the liquor store as shiftless and shady loafed on some closed storefront steps. |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 2614
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 6:04 pm: | |
...such is life... |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 825
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 6:09 pm: | |
Maybe they were filming another new movie. |
Sludgedaddy
Member
Username: Sludgedaddy
Post Number: 76
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 6:27 pm: | |
The definition of a hobo is that of a wandering worker. Many men and women led this type of existence in the late 19th to mid 20th century America. They would follow field work, etc. and travel a formally prosperous America via the railroads.
Those that you encountered were bums, dope heads and derelicts. Calling them hobos is an insult to that once proud way of life. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 2724
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 6:32 pm: | |
They always hang around that cluster of service centers roughly centered on MLK and 3rd |
Richard_bak
Member
Username: Richard_bak
Post Number: 88
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 6:41 pm: | |
John Engler's handiwork.... |
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 865
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 6:45 pm: | |
Someone mentioned to me that the Engler administration closed a clinic (Lafayette)the result being an increase in vagrancy? The clinic assisted the mentally ill in obtaining medicine and various social services? Any truth to this? |
Richard_bak
Member
Username: Richard_bak
Post Number: 89
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:08 pm: | |
Big-hearted John is responsbile for a lot of the mentally ill being left to fend for themselves on the streets after the state, looking for ways to save money, closed mental health facilities several years back. |
Zimm
Member
Username: Zimm
Post Number: 70
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:14 pm: | |
so if it was John's fault for closing facilities that were such a great priority that everyone knows it shouldn't have been closed, isn't it Jenny's fault that they haven't been re-opened? |
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 866
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:15 pm: | |
Remember Boxcar Willie the Hobo character Country star? |
Tetsua
Member
Username: Tetsua
Post Number: 1727
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:18 pm: | |
The REAL Hobo Strip is on Garfield and half block east of Woodward. They get together and set this one building ablaze a few times a month. I'm amazed this thing is still even standing. Here's a picture from the most recent fire not even a week ago.
|
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 2591
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:19 pm: | |
When they closed those down, I sent a letter of complaint to our friends in Lansing, and in return, received a lovely form letter detailing the facts that putting the mentally handicapped out on the street wouldn't affect the number of homeless at all, and that it made perfect sense to put people who couldn't fend for themselves while in a facility out on the streets to fend for themselves while largely unmedicated. May Fat John rot. |
Sludgedaddy
Member
Username: Sludgedaddy
Post Number: 77
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:22 pm: | |
Terryh, Boxcar Willie was somewhat of a hobo wannabe, peddling his wares on K-tel records, I believe. Real hobo tunes are part of Americana. Do some research on "Haywire" Mac McClintock, the composer and performer of such greats as "Hallelejah, I'm a Bum" and the uncut version of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" |
Nuclearxwinter
Member
Username: Nuclearxwinter
Post Number: 41
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:25 pm: | |
Yea, that particular area is significantly worse than the surrounding blocks for some reason. I live right by there and I have actually made friends with some of the homeless people that hang around but most of them are outright crazy. I feel kind of bad for them... I've been harassed and called nasty names a number of times but none of them have ever really physically harmed me, luckily. Not yet anyways... The tomboy market is always surrounded by lots of em. I really have to keep an eye out when Im around there. |
Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 1711
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:27 pm: | |
Let's put the partisanship aside and look at the facts:
- in 1974, the Michigan Legislature passed a bill to provide more compassionate and supportive services based in local communities where patients' families live.
- it took until 1993 for the Legislature's 1974 goal of a statewide system of community health boards responsive to local needs to finally become a reality.
- From 1980 to 1990, 14 state hospitals and centers were closed, and the adult psychiatric patient population in state facilities shrunk by 32 percent.
- by 1994, the population in state facilities had declined another 33 percent.
James Blanchard was governor from January 1, 1983 until January 1, 1991. John Engler was governor from January 1, 1991 until January 1, 2003. |
Richard_bak
Member
Username: Richard_bak
Post Number: 90
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:28 pm: | |
I don't remember all the ins and outs of Engler's decision to close those facilities. If they haven't re-opened it's because the state is broke and most folks just don't give a shit. Bums don't have lobbyists. I just filed a long feature on the very capable and wonderfully incorruptible Frank Murphy (Detroit mayor 1930-33, MI governor 1936-38), who in the depths of the Great Depression somehow found the means to take better care of the worst-off members of "the common herd." Where there's a will, there's a way. For the longest time there's been no will, no leadership, no strategy for dealing with the homeless and mentally ill. I don't have the big answer. I'm just saying. |
Jackpot
Member
Username: Jackpot
Post Number: 17
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 7:29 pm: | |
any exact locations, years, etc.? i've always heard this but never had anyone tell me specifics. just curious and would like to know more! |
Whithorn11446
Member
Username: Whithorn11446
Post Number: 247
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 12:07 am: | |
any exact locations, years, etc.? i've always heard this but never had anyone tell me specifics. just curious and would like to know more!"
Are you referring to previous locations of skid row areas in Detroit ?
From roughly around World War I until 1962-63 Michigan Avenue from Cass over to the Lodge Freeway was skid row. The southern boundary was roughly Howard and the northern boundary, Jones St..
Brush between Congress and Larned was another skid row area(nothing compared to Michigan Ave.). I think the Claydale and Akron hotels were torn down sometime in the 1980's. The current Sweetwater tavern was a skid row joint called the 400 Bar for years.
The Cass Corridor basically became skid row when urban renewal eliminated the Michigan Ave. area in the early 1960's. Downtown Detroit for years had a good number of flop house hotels scattered around especially the Northeast and Northwest portions.
I don't know if this is the type of information you are seeking. |
Django
Member
Username: Django
Post Number: 1430
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 2:31 am: | |
Im interested in any old photos ppl might have of the corridor from way back. Or where I could find some.
Anyone,, anyone?? |
Whithorn11446
Member
Username: Whithorn11446
Post Number: 248
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 3:20 am: | |
I know WSU Virtual Motor City has a few
You may want to try typing Cass, skid row, etc. I remember a pic on on the site from the early 1960's taken around Cass & Temple. |
Ravine
Member
Username: Ravine
Post Number: 2472
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 3:24 am: | |
Jesus Christ, Terryh. Thanks for the news flash. That area has been just like that for, at the very least, the last thirty-five years.
Once you pull away from the hip, trendy "hot spots," with their espresso machines and gay/bi/trans/interracial-frien dly bistros & ristorantes, Detroit is kind of disgustin', ain't it? |
Softailrider
Member
Username: Softailrider
Post Number: 167
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 6:41 am: | |
As far as homeless drug addicts go , they can be found in any large city . Even Toronto has some choice areas . |
Bcscott
Member
Username: Bcscott
Post Number: 23
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 7:52 am: | |
Saturday I was taking some pics of the Charlevoix Building when this woman started screaming at me "Get the f*** out of my face!" Mind you I was standing in Grand Circus Park and she was on the corner of Elizabeth and Adams. I walked half way down Bagley and she was still screaming at me. All part of the ambiance I guess, just roll with it. |
Craig
Member
Username: Craig
Post Number: 907
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 8:00 am: | |
quote:Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 863
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 - 6:00 pm:
------------------------------ ------------------------------ --------------------
Between Alexandrine and Selden some of the most disgusting obnoxious vagrants Ive encountered were loitering and panhandling in a sea of litter and stench. My friend parked on Alexandrine Friday night, I parked there Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Friday we were hit up for change by several panhandlers within a half a block.One lady appeared mentally ill and was given a quarter by my friend. Sunday I witnessed a female vagrant spit a mouthful of alcohol at one of her cohorts. Two men appearing to be in their fifties were arguing and carrying on like a couple of adolescent boys. The usual loud cuss words were audible halfway up the block.Several hobos were lurking near the entrance of the liquor store as shiftless and shady loafed on some closed storefront steps.
In another world this would be known as reporting back. |
The_recycling_people
Member
Username: The_recycling_people
Post Number: 93
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 8:15 am: | |
I live in the area. The main reason that there are roving 'homeless' in that area is the presence of the NSO at MLK and 3rd. This is one of the few areas in the city where there is open, hand to hand crack dealing. They may claim to be crazy, and I am sure that the Engler mental health crunch hasn't helped, but the crack is what keeps them in this area. Coffee and snacks at the NSO, then a casual stroll over to WSU, Spiral Collective area, or Woodward/ Majestic area to beg for crack fare... Pick up some crack from Tomboy Market Parking area, get buzzed up and harass some people, then stagger back to the NSO....
Move the NSO and the entire area will see a reduction in homelessness, petty and property crime, and begging.
Where there are crumbs, there are rodents.
Just my $.02 |
Detroitplanner
Member
Username: Detroitplanner
Post Number: 1749
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 8:27 am: | |
Moving the NSO does not solve the problem. All it does is make is someone else's. The fact is that entire part of the City is full of services for the indigient. YOu can't move all of the services, even if you could, you would just create problems elsewhere. How about moving it to Beal City Michigan?  |
Gravitymachine
Member
Username: Gravitymachine
Post Number: 2203
Registered: 05-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 8:29 am: | |
that whole area is what we refer to as bum beach |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 7502
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 8:38 am: | |
Instead of complaining about the homeless problems. Be a Christian, Muslim or a Jew and start giving to charity. Build hospitals for the sick and mentally ill, build shelters for the homeless, give them jobs, you never know what skills they have and in return God will open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing. |
Mauser765
Member
Username: Mauser765
Post Number: 2993
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 8:48 am: | |
"I don't remember all the ins and outs of Engler's decision to close those facilities."
Ronald Reagan and his anti-american Privatization Cult members are the ones ultimately responsible for destroying the mental health infrastructure of the USA. It predates Engler, and much of the funding for such facilities was Federal, or connected to Federal monies.
Ayn Rand-atcha ! |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 11907
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 - 8:56 am: | |
While I am sure the people that run the NSO believe they are doing good work they manage their facility and 'clients' with complete disregard for the residents of the area.
The amount of trash directly aroudn the NSO is appalling. The fact that they care so little about the residents in the immediate area makes me wonder how committed they are to the area they are located in.
Requiring the people staying there clean up the garbage wouldn't be an unreasonable expectation buthe leadership at the NSO seem to take a 'if it isn't in my 4 walkks I don't care approach" |