The Last Word on Detroit

This aerial view of Detroit and (across the river) Windsor, Ontario is great, as is the accompanying commentary.

Of all the things I have read about the death of Detroit, this makes the most sense - they built too many highways. They sliced up the city into dozens of isolated little neighborhoods, which withered and died. And, due to idiotic funding policies, they keep rebuilding the highways instead of tearing them down.

Think about the blessing the '89 earthquake was for San Francisco. The destruction of the Nimitz led to the complete redevelopment of the waterfront.

Here is what one little neighborhood of Detroit looked like in 1953 (scroll down to see it), and here is how it looked in 2001. Here is a photo: