Packard Plant soon to be torn down.

I hope not!...

 

NBC Dateline tonight (Sunday) at 7 P.M. Eastern is having a one hour special hosted by Chris Hansen about Detroit. Should be a good watch.

Like a earlier poster said, Detroit has not one but a lot of reasons it has gotten the was it is.

Previous to 1967, the "famous" riot that was sparked by a raid on a "Blind Pig" on 12th Street the big one before was in 1943, with numerous smaller incidents. White flight was going on in the 1950's and 1960's.

Taxes were driving out businesses and employees. A city income tax was imposed on both residents and non residents working in the city. A utility surcharge tax on electric, gas, water, and telephone service of 5% too.

Property taxes were high in relation to many suburbs. Schools were excellent back in the day. City services were great, public housing, parks, recreation, libraries, police and fire protection. But the facade had cracks.

Not taking sides in this debate, but black residents felt that they were being treated here and in other cities as second class citizens with discrimination in housing, jobs, education and other ways. With the rise of black militancy here and across the country, a new wave of violence against the old order started.

Cities like Detroit, Newark, Watts went up in flames. (How can fighting for your rights equate to burning your own homes and businesses down?)

This accelerated white flight to the 'burbs. I can remember the mobile home parks springing up in the metro area in haste in 1967 for housing with the influx of refugees from Detroit. Still it wasn't a bad place to be in, until 1973. Coleman Young became mayor, a black Democrat that made it clear that it was his way or no way, and that it was time for black self determination and it was "their" city.

While there were problems with the Detroit Police in their handling of blacks in the past, the meter swung way over to the other direction. Now, to boost minority hiring, the standards were lowered, even to the point of allowing some candidates with a criminal background to be hired. That raised a stink, along with a residency requirement for all city employees.
A LOT of cops and firefighters divorced, sending their families out of the city, just to "visit" them on the weekends WAAAY far from the city. With the standards lowered, the DPD went to almost being a joke. Seeing a officer with a "fro" sitting upright in a patrol car with his "do" touching the driver's side window was comedic, this I witnessed.

Got to leave now fow a while, I'll post more later today.

 

Many of the old automobile assembly plants are disappearing. Ford's Atlanta assembly plant at Hapeville GA, where my father worked from 1952 until his retirement in 1982, was one of Ford's largest plants and consistently had the highest quality control ratings. Never thought I'd live to see the day it would be gone from the landscape. I'm glad my father didn't live to see it torn down.

 

I would hope that the least they would do would be to salvage some of the architectural details for use or display elsewhere.

 

thats a damn shame!!!

 

Probably one of the more well known examples, the Great Mall in San Jose, was a Ford assembly plant from the 50's that was closed down and eventually turned into a shopping mall, with some involvement from FoMoCo, in the mid 90's... It doesn't look a lot like a factory any more, but there are a few things that commemorate the history of the building...

 

Was that one of the plants that assembled the early Mustangs??

 

From the wikipedia article:

That's all I've found so far... There is a '57 Fairlane 500 on permanent display at the mall... Perhaps someone else may have more info...

Also, some sources refer to the site as the 'Ford Motor Mustang / Shelby Mustang Assembly Plant'

 

"My father said long ago, it was a neat place, now dog's run the place. The dogs fight one another and you have no need to ever go there." I worked at the ego pod (GM HQ) for a while and truely learned what he meant.

History, and saving it, are for those that respect it. You will have a hard time finding anyone in Detroit's political leadership who any clue of it, let alone has respect for it.

 

About a year ago the entire entrance/facade of the Packard building was removed and auctioned. I think I remember Ryan doing a write-up on it.
I have no idea where it went. I think it was R&M Auctions that sold it. I'll see if I can dig up the details.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20080826/FREE/808269993

OK, I just found the sale price on the R&M site...$161,000

 

The Packard plant was shown on a History Channel's "Life after people" episode, really bad shape.

 

Back to the story.....

There were a lot of rumors regarding corruption during the Coleman Young era, bribery, kickbacks. A few got caught, but IF Mayor Young was involved, he kept himself well away from the fray so to speak. His police chief Hart was convicted of criminal charges and did time in the state open for that. And yes, more "incidents", mini riots, a well publicized robbery of concert goers at Cobo Hall (the site of Autorama today) by one of the cities notorious gangs in 1977 did not du much for the already tarnished image of the city.

And, with a highly touted desegregation of the Detroit Public Schools in the late 70's it then took away neighborhood schools, bussing to achieve racial balance. But instead, the white flight went a up a notch or two due to no longer having your child's school determined where you lived, but how to acheive equality for all races. So to acheive this, the DPS began for the first time having to transprot students city wide, with the taxpayers footing the bill. This event IMO sealed the fate of the city.

With the rise in street gangs and the drug trade, crime jumped. In 1975, the murder rate rose to 853 if memory serves me corrrectly.

Git to break now, more later.

 

Thanks for the link. I did a "fly-by" using Bing's birds eye view and Google's street view and it still show them in place. Glad they will find a suitable home.

 

Try a picture search for Packard's proving grounds. Got some great pictures there...

 

Thats one of the best shows on TV right now...

 

This is a kick in the face of American history. This city had alot of influence on our lives creating the industrial revolution. It just proves if you import everything in will bit you in the ass. Greed and lack of morals will destroy every thing.

 

Then the 80's arrived,now the Crack epidemic hits the streets. The gangs find out it's easy money. Turf wars. Now middle class blacks are moving out of the city. With them, money goes too. So follow businesses and more residents, a snowball effect. Houses abandoned,businesses too. You could buy a house, fully furnished for a few thousand dollars in the mid 80's. But in all fairness, the housing decline started with HUD in the mid 70's.

Add to this mix, in the 80's a new tradition started. Devil's Night, Holloween eve. The city is ablaze, not a act of insurrection or rebellion, but a night of pure terror for it's citizens. Sport fires, now popping up all over the city. The Detroit Fire Department, understaffed, under equipped, has to call in outside help, the suburban departments for the first time since the 1967 riots.

To continue. And I hope that I am not being too negative, just trying to put this topic into perspective.

 

Speaking as an outsider i find it hard to believe that Detroit is in such a bad way . once things like that are gone there gone for good that's history right there the government should help even if they just sealed them up in the hopes of better times to come. But the same thing happens in England modern industry doesn't seem to have the right things going for it.
100 years from now they will be saying why did that happen

 

I think it is amazing how we allow our history to be razed and buried.

Look at Europe. There are thousands of relics still standing that have been around for hundreds of years.

We are to busy looking for the next big thing and not willing to relax and learn.

Really sad.

 

That says it all! People MUST have an understanding of history. Those that don't, or willfully ignore it, or choose to attempt to rewrite it, are doomed.

Other major US cities are in the same predicament, for much of the very same reasons.

 

We left in '77, I was 13.

 

The City of Detroit is on life-support now. Anyone with half a brain has moved out of the City proper. The suburbs are still safe and doing relatively well.

Those who say they would like to rehab buildings in Detroit, think again. Who is going to live in them ?

A fellow recently moved from Wyoming and bought six abandoned homes for chump change. He started renovation and gave up after six months work, then HE abandoned them. Theives ran him ragged and he couldn't find anyone to rent to !

How many vacant and abandoned homes are there in Detroit ?
1,000 ? No.
2,000 ? No.
There are now 28,000 abandoned homes in Detroit !

To show you how inept the City Government is; they made a big show of starting the demolition of TWO homes recently. After a few hours of work, the job was shut down by State of Michigan inspectors because proper permits were not obtained and inspection and removal of possible asbestos contamination was not considered.

Guys, the situation in Detroit is hopeless.

 

Amen brother!!! That's what I've been trying to get at!!! I think it's time we stop importing things into this country and put our folks back to work! It be one hell of a jump start!!

 

Some of them were. This doorway went to a Packard museum.

 

Has it been restored??? Does anyone have newer pics???

 

How can any corporation operate in this country with all of the regulations and taxes? Why would they pay our minimum wage (and expected benefits) when slave labor in China works for a bowl of rice? What little that is left here works illegals and is condoned by this government.

This is just the tip of what is coming. It began with NAFTA and is accelerating. This so-called president we have has absolutely ruined the economic climate here. Industry will not return. GOD help us if we have to ever go to all out war. Detroit is only an example of a much larger underlying disease in this country.

 

Well... Something needs to be done.. FAST!!! .. And I'm not talking about going to war.

 

A highend Company that decided to go low end after the War. Should have started a seperate Division from the beginning but they didn't & "Cimmaroned" the Brand.

 

Thats a great way to compare it. I have to remember that one...

 

We could boycott wal-mart and all the import dealerships in the states. I as an American citizen, I swore to myself that I'd never buy an import new or used or even take a ride in one. Maybe I'm going a little overboard this?? NOT!!