Detroit scared the hell out of me
-
8/19/2006
I originally come from one of the poorest, roughest, most crime-infested cities in Europe (Liverpool) and it is a total paradise next to Detroit. I can't understand how things have gotten so bad there. Liverpool looks and feels like a bad place in a wealthy, developed country (and is anyway being massively regenerated). Detroit is just Third World. This is odd, as the US economy is a lot larger than the Brit one and many US cities seem very pleasant places and have not taken this apparent road to total ruin. Detroit gives you very litte sense that outside the city limits is a large and affluent society. I would not wish to apportion blame or make claims as to where the fault lies. But for the casual foreign visitor who is just blowing through, Detroit is a frightening, dirty and dangerous mess. I never got that impression in any other US city, including some that people bitch about. Chicago can get pretty hairy...but in general it's a great city. Exactly how and when Detroit (surely Chicago's natural rival?) got left so far behind is a mystery to me.
Bp | ,