• Chronicon [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    not a huge of using Detroit as a comedy bit when nearly everyone in the US constantly shits on it, usually with obvious racist undertones.

    same tbh

    and yeah, the downtown is empty af but not a bombed out wreck. I believe this is the intersection circa 2007:

    Show

    and more recently:

    Show

    the covered up windows, no loitering signs and security cameras are all really welcoming

    • BashfulBob [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      the covered up windows, no loitering signs and security cameras are all really welcoming

      yeonmi-park In the Soviet State of Michigan, it no one is allowed to stop walking when outdoors. You are constantly monitored by the police and if you stop walking, you are arrested and beaten. In order to cover up these abuses, the state has made windows illegal.

    • BakerBagel@midwest.social
      ·
      2 months ago

      Pretty much every major downtown at this point. All American cities have been hollowed out by absurd rent and property values, leaving nothing but a veneer of shops for just the wealthiest of financers and brookers. Everything that made American cities unique and interesting is gone at this point, replaced by corporate franchises and luxury apartments that cost $5000 a month.

      • Lussy [any, hy/hym]
        ·
        2 months ago

        Yeah, unless it's New York, all decently sized American cities I've been to are like this. Utterly soulless/lifeless city centers surrounded by suburbs. I haven't been out west or to Chicago, those may be different and a bit more lively and city like the way New York is, but they're almost all the same.

        • BakerBagel@midwest.social
          ·
          2 months ago

          I'm in Ohio and the small towns have thay character, but Cleveland, Cincinnati, and especially Columbus are like that.