Nature Reclaiming Abandoned Houses in Detroit
Across many cities in the United States, hundreds of thousands of foreclosed and abandoned homes turned some neighborhoods into urban blight … but nowhere is the effect as acutely felt as in Detroit.
Sweet Juniper blog has an interesting post about how nature is now reclaiming some of those abandoned houses. They use the description "feral houses," which given the condition they are in, seem very appropriate:
I’ve seen "feral" used to describe dogs, cats, even goats. But I have wondered if it couldn’t also be used to describe certain houses in Detroit. Abandoned houses are really no big deal here. Some estimate that there are as many as 10,000 abandoned structures at any given time, and that seems conservative. But for a few beautiful months during the summer, some of these houses become "feral" in every sense: they disappear behind ivy or the untended shrubs and trees planted generations ago to decorate their yards. The wood that framed the rooms gets crushed by trees rooted still in the earth. The burnt lime, sand, gravel, and plaster slowly erode into dust, encouraged by ivy spreading tentacles in its endless search for more sunlight.
Previously on Neatorama: 100 Abandoned Houses (also in Detroit)
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10 Facts About Detroit
For many people, even the word “Detroit” brings to mind images of crime, cars and poverty. But no city can really be that black and white. The things you don’t know about Detroit might just entertain you. Elovethiscity has a fun collection of 10 Detroit Facts You Should Know. For example, did you know the city hosts the only floating post office in America (shown above):
The J. W. Westcott II docks just South of The Ambassador Bridge along the western shore of the Detroit River. She is America’s only floating ZIP Code [48222]. Delivering over 100 years of “mail-by-the-pail”, the J.W. Westcott Company was originally formed in 1874 by Captain J.W. Westcott to inform passing vessels of changes in orders.
Today the 45-foot vessel’s duties include U.S. mail delivery; freight delivery, storage, forwarding; message service; passenger service to and from vessels and pilot boat services for the Port of Detroit. The Westcott also sells nautical charts, postcards, books, and has been known to deliver the occasional mid-river pizza.
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America's Most Miserable Cities of 2009
Are you miserable where you live? How does your city rank in misery as compared to others in the nation?
Forbes has come out with their annual list of the most miserable cities in America. This list is based on several indexes including violent crime, unemployment, and taxes. Last year’s number 1, Detroit, fell to number 7. This year’s unenviable "winner": Stockton, California.
Stockton ranks in the bottom seven in four of the nine categories we looked at: commute times, income tax rates, unemployment and violent crime. Only New York City has a higher income tax rate than what Stockton, and all California residents, are forced to pay.
Stockton was ground zero for the housing boom and now the subsequent bust. Home prices more than tripled between 1998 and 2005 and then came crashing down last year. Stockton had the country’s highest foreclosure rate last year at 9.5%, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed property. Things are not looking much brighter in 2009 as housing prices are expected to fall another 36% on the heels of a 39% drop in 2008. Also, unemployment is expected to jump to 13.3% from 10.4%, according to economic research firm Moody’s Economy.com.
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Good Detroit News (For a Change): the Beavers Are Back!
That’s right, delicious and nutritious beavers are returning to the Detroit River after being gone for decades. This is an encouraging sign that efforts to clean up the waterways are working. See, it’s not all almost-free homes and urban blight.
(I made up the stuff about beavers being delicious and nutritious)
The Detroit Free Press reports that a beaver lodge has been discovered in an intake canal at a Detroit Edison riverfront plant. Officials believe the beaver spotted by the utility’s motion-sensitive camera marks the animal’s return to the river for the first time in at least 75 years.
(Photo: Detroit Edison)
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100 Abandoned Houses
Photographer Kevin Bauman took exquisite photographs of 100 abandoned houses in Detroit, Michigan. He has managed to turn the economic crisis, in form of crumbling houses in various stages of disrepair, into an artwork.
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