Detroit's population falls 25 percent in 10 years

derwood. Yup. And if you had seen the neighborhood 20 years ago, it was abandoned. Anyone with some money could have walked in, bought the whole neighborhood abandoned building by abandoned building. Few had the guts and the vision. I didn't mean it as an exact parallel, which is why I said it is not quite the same thing as what I suggested for a place like Cleveland. Someone with some vision capitalized on the assets the place had. You are right. And as I said, 20 years ago, the neighborhood was close to abandoned. Some artists without the money to live anywhere else lived there. DUMBO was NOT Brooklyn Heights. It still isn't.

 

The first people who moved in there and revitalized the neighborhood were NOT Wall Street companies or investment bankers. They were video production companies and hip studios, and low end art galleries. And the people who moved there were people looking for relatively cheap rents relative to Manhattan, which had gotten expensive beyond believe. It is NOT a dying Midwestern city, as I thought I pointed out. It is a tale of how to revitalize a place, though, because that neighborhood was all but abandoned 20 to 25 years ago -- except for the rats -- and now it is thriving and a much different place. That was the point. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

EDIT: And the point of the post, which I forgot by getting sidetracked, was that a city government trying to spearhead that, which was Bob's example, isn't a great model. It takes private development. They have the profit incentive, and the resources, to see it through. Government can help out with things like tax breaks to induce business. But really it takes someone with money and vision.

 

Jeez. I didn't say anything about BROOKLYN HEIGHTS. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS is NOT DUMBO. Get it?

DUMBO is across Old Fulton Street. Its character could not be more different, even if it is adjacent. Just as Fort Greene was completely different than Brooklyn Heights, even though it is near by. As Cobble Hill is different, even if it is a bit more affluent than Fort Greene.

I am talking about DUMBO, not BROOKLYN HEIGHTS. The Heights has been a residential neighborhood for as long as the U.S. has existed. The whole neighborhood is protected by the landmark commission. The homes are all in their original 1820s - 1880s shape. There is no housing like that in DUMBO. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS is unique. It is NOTHING LIKE DUMBO. The Heights had a down period in the 70s and into the 80s (I know someone who bought a home on State Street in the 70s for a $200K and today it is worth more than $5 million), but it was never down and out. And it wasn't industrial, as DUMBO was. It was always residential and during the time period I am talking about, affluent beyond belief.

The HEIGHTS is not DUMBO. I have no idea when you lived there, but whenever it was, it wasn't DUMBO. And if you lived in the Heights in the 80s, you know that DUMBO -- if you ever tread into the neighborhood -- was dark and dingy and small streets in which every other building was abandoned and in decay.