Grand Tour Series 3

[dewaltdisney]

I watched the first episode of what will be the last series of the audience based shows. It was set in Detroit and what a picture of desolation with miles of empty houses, shops and factories. It used to be one of the richest cities and now it is awful as all but two motor manufacturers have shut up shop. There is a bit staged in the old deserted Cadillac body parts stamping building, it is so sad to see. I think this is it https://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/ ... y-detroit/

I really enjoyed the show, I am sure loads of people will hate it but I still love the humour and childish behaviour.

DWD

[arco_iris]

I saw you posted this, next time I opened my email folder I had a message as a Prime Member that loads in html.

All I could see was the headline in big orange font,

"Amazon sh*t car show"

Suspect self-depracation? As they're all looking up at it.

[kellys_eye]

Not watched it (yet) but they did get a lot of flak for their Detroit bit - but it illustrates how fickle industry can be and there's no real difference between doing the article 'now' and when Detroit was in its hayday - different ends of the same stick innit?

[dewaltdisney]

Actually I had a Google Earth look around Detroit and the image they gave focuses on a run down area, albeit quite extensive, but there is plenty of evidence of lots of commercial activity in operation, it is just not in that area. I suspect the housing and businesses immediately adjacent were reliant on the factory for jobs etc and I reckon that this is a area populated by poorer black folk. I suppose it is all down to economic viability and to a lesser extent it is a pit like pit towns in the UK.

DWD

[dewaltdisney]

Hmmm.....I am not so sure now I just had a look at the Grosse Point district (from the film) and the area I looked at was pretty run down. It has stark differences but so has London I guess.

I think that I am the only one who is interested in this

DWD

[Job and Knock]

I think that I am the only one who is interested in this

No. There are more of us..... My own (albeit limited) experience of American cities is that some former industrial cities have massive areas of urban decay - far worse than anything you;d see in the UK.

[dewaltdisney]

Well I am glad I am not alone in having an interest In the US property taxes that are unpaid are charged to the property and any future buyer inherits the debt. For this reason, with a plentiful supply of business units, no one is going to take on a huge debt to develop a brown field site. The cities have the right to seize the building and sell it at auction but in Detroit there would probably be no bids. Because the land area is so vast and cheaper alternatives readily available, there is no incentive to bring these wastelands back into use. If this were the UK the land would have been redeveloped long ago. The only use seems to be for filming.

Another sad part in the Grand Tour was a beautifully ornate theatre that has been converted into a car park. Sacrilege really when you look at how it used to be https://weburbanist.com/2011/01/01/detr ... rking-lot/



DWD

[kellys_eye]

£2k for a house.......

Much of what we saw was typical of many areas across our own country some 30-40 years ago. I remember my parents driving through them, themselves reminiscing about how the areas had fallen into 'wasteland' as they grew up and lived/worked there when young.

We perhaps don't appreciate just how big the USA is - they said the area had (was it?) 42 car maunufacturers??? Blimey!

I also fail to understand how businesses are allowed to abandon properties without either demolishing or tidying them up - permanently until they are otherwise sold. Even if they go bust a proportion of their seized assets should be set aside to fix them up.