Detroit Free Press: City in decay is a lesson for others

While getting my Pistons fix this morning, I came across this article on Highland Park, MI, which is not to be confused with the ultra-wealthy, northshore Jewish suburb of Chicago, IL that goes by the same name. The Detroit variant is one of the most economically depressed areas in the U.S. What makes it particularly sad (to me, at least) is that when you drive around HP you see the remnants of what it used to be, i.e., ornate, majestic buidlings boarded up, beautiful homes in decay, etc. The following excerpt vivedly capture this phenomenon:

After years of departures of businesses big and small, Highland Park appears to be collapsing on itself in many neighborhoods. Fred Durhal, the city's former director of economic development, said there are more than 700 abandoned or damaged buildings in Highland Park, which is only 2.9 square miles in size, with a population of about 16,000.

'There is an unbelievable amount of degradation,' Durhal said.

At the abandoned police headquarters in the middle of town, bricks and cement are falling to the ground on a regular basis. Across the street, the fire department headquarters is condemned. The library is boarded up.

Standing on Blackwell's porch, you can see several abandoned homes. The lot next door is empty; the abandoned house that used to be there caught fire three years ago, and flames slightly damaged the west side of Blackwell's home.

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