Ridin' across Detroit - nothing new for decades. In part the hood resembles a war zone... as
time passes more and more buildings abandoned and set on fire. Far from the iconic image
of an Industrial center, the real Detroit is an illustration of the negative side of
the globalization, the consequences of the Communications and Information Age, the roadside
of the digital highway.
My friend ain't here, She might bring me something to eat. How many people live here, in this
apartment? Four. Is this vicinity dangerous? Very Why? Because they've been killing people, a lot of gangs
run through here and have their initiations, What did you do on Ford? Just putting on tires, on assembly
line. I mean automobile industry is going to China. You know we're losing lot of jobs
here, especially in Michigan.
Luis worked at Ford and knows much about globalization
-- He is typical of the homeless in Detroit.
There are more than 15,000 homeless in the city. They are enthusiastic speakers when
it comes to reasons for their problems. Businesses are going from United States. Lot
of businesses going like...Canada is getting some, Mexico is getting some, because its
cheaper labor, and they don't have to pay as much hospitalization and Union dudes and
all that staff, And the employment and the rate of pay is a whole lot cheaper, so that's
where they going. There's no work in Michigan. Even people with degrees have a hard time
getting work. If you ride around some neighborhoods, East side, West side, all
you see is vacant houses, All you see is vacant houses man, And you see this white pieces
of paper in that window in the vacant house, that means it was evicted.
Michigan Central Depot -- a Detroit landmark, it tells a lot about the city's history and
its path of the Industrial development. Built in 1913 it used to be the symbol of new modern
times and prosperity. Henry Ford made it a business center at the crossing of the railroads
and trams lines. The Great Depression put an end to the economical development. The Great
Highway system replaced the railroad and put an end to the Depot. It was simply not needed
in the time of the car. A symbol of the automobile's complete triumph over public transportation
the Station is still there as well as all the surrounding buildings. Good times never
came back to the area. Some of the buildings were used as storages till early 90-s but
at some point people left completely, they left all their stuff inside, like if it was
infected with a deadly virus, but the real reason is simple -- it would cost money.
I think they don't fix it its because its too expensive, and there's no use for it.
And I think that says a lot about American culture, of things being disposable, even
beautiful buildings are disposable. Charles Psenka is a Detroiter with roots but
the only reason for him to visit the city is his hobby -- the web-site devoted to abandoned
buildings. He takes photos and then posts them online. His business and home are couple
of hours from Detroit. Charles says the abandonments are used often to store and sell drugs and
are very dangerous -- there can even be booby-traps to protect the illegal trade.
This are all measuring spoons, three different sets, four different sets, one two three,
four. There were probably used to cook heroin. Would be my guess. Right about the time the automotive
industry quit this city I guess would be a good starting point for the decline. A lot
of jobs left, A lot of secure jobs left, very good manufacturing jobs, a lot of that may
be had to do with the unions, that the Unions fought so hard, and so well for the workers,
that may be the companies couldn't afford them anymore? Casinos, make sure you film
casinos before you leave town. They are beautiful buildings, brand new gorgeous buildings. And
the areas around them are also brand new, beautiful. And occupied, lots of people going
in and out. Lots of money being spent. Its all based on gambling you know, and the city
make a good enough of money out of that.
Another example of the decline -- the legendary Carl's steak-house. It been here for almost
a century and once had dozens of waiters and cooking staff.
You say a motherfucker in Russia? Forget about it. This is America.
Today the chief Ioannis and the waiter Max are among the few members of staff.
Max is a Russian immigrant and has worked here for 30 years.
20 years ago you couldn't come in into this restaurant. You had to wait in line for about
45 minutes to get a table. Right now look -- its empty, on the regular, on the Sunday.
Monday rush hour. Not a surprise the center is empty.
Dozens of buildings here are abandoned, including twelve of the skyscrapers. The main question
-- what to do with this massive but useless architectural structures -- has remained unanswered
for decades. The only giant in this ghost Downtown is the General Motors headquarters
- the Renaissance center. The industry leader has its offices here. But the manufacturing
facilities are in areas where labor is cheaper. The nearest GM plants are right across the
river, in Canada. The country gives incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars to GM
and other carmakers in order to create more jobs for its citizens.
The Renaissance center hasn't lived up to its name. GM closed four of its plants at
its home in Michigan, in 2006 to 2008 and six in other states. More than 12 000 American
jobs will be lost. With new plants opening in other corners of the world, GM now employees
almost 3 hundred thousand people in 31 countries. That's the equivalent to third of Detroit's
total population. And this building Downtown is ground zero
for the Detroit Industrial age -- the first Ford workshop. The automobile boom started
here ...and here the assembly line was invented. It would take the car industry away from its
home town later. The building hides a place that encapsulates the story of Detroit more
than any other.
Michigan Theatre built in 1926 used to be the biggest in the city. It now a car park
-- a symbiosis of art and cars in the Motorcity. The theater lost the struggle with Television
as the people moved out from Detroit. After the Theatre was closed in the mid sixties
it became a porn cinema, than a rock club, but neither were financially viable. Only
car parking for the workers of the office building nearby proved to be a money earner
-- a tough but profitable decision. June and Lester Thompson are architecture
and history teachers in the University of Michigan and work on various learning projects
on the city development of Detroit. They call the total dependence on automobile manufacturing
-- Detroit's crucial mistake in the Industrial age. And the main problems began with the
modernization of the industry. They wanted to have long assembly line. And
they couldn't make a long assembly line unless they had more land, because they couldn't
do it with four storey factories. So they were beginning to look for the land that will
allow them to have this assembly lines and they began to leave the city. Whites began
moving out to the suburbs. But blacks were not allowed to move to the suburbs. And so
you had and increasingly black and poor population that was consentrated in the central city.
The developers are now seeking to breathe life back into the city streets and buildings.
And some solutions turn upside down our understanding of a city.
The class that I worked with this semester ... There was so much vacant land in the neighborhood
that we were working with that we actually thought that one of the best options would
be farms, to turn some of the vacant land into farms. I think the word city has already
changed. Yes, It has already changed for Detroit.
Charles Psenka's brewery is far outside Detroit and is a typical model of local businesses.
Charles says in a world of global communications and information there is a total freedom to
choose where to live, work and where to set up your business. And that is why the city
as a civilization phenomenon hasn't survived the changes.
The city of Detroit has been facing some attrition lately. Within the past several decades its
been declining in population. Last statistics guide of Detroit has 800 thousands people
that actually live within the city proper. The greater metropolitan area of South-East
Michigan is over 4 million. So there is a lot of people that live around Detroit but
don't live actually in Detroit. I think the world is shrinking So I think its inevitable.
Globalization has an impact on us in everything from our bottle prices from our hops?? to
the malt, And globalizations makes it perhaps easier for us to sell beer in places like
Japan or Denmark which have been a little bit more difficult lets say a decade ago.
In general the situation in Detroit can't be described as a disaster as it may seem
judging by the images. The homeless in Detroit have food delivered by various humanitarian
organizations. Shelters are quite a common thing for the area. But that can never be
enough for the crisis zone.
Some people like to mess with homeless people, you know, they like to mess with handicapped
people in wheelchairs, you know, young guys, they call it having fun, you know, they are
crazy, you know, they call it party, when six guys jump on one guy, they call it party.
When I was at Ford I worked on the line. Assembly line. Putting up tails. And stuff
like that.
I didn't hold that job very long. The whole plant shut down and moved out of
the city. That was about 20 years ago. I'm fifty five years old and that was about 20
years ago. They send more money out of the country than they spend here on their own
people. That's a shame, you want to raise your homeless and can't get no help. So many people
are homeless and the shelters are full, like tonight, shelters are full so I stay here. When
the shelters ain't full, I stay in the shelters when I can, you know, or sometimes I stay
with my friends, I never know, each night I don't know where I'm staying at night.
People have been dying and it become a regular, they froze, they OD, somebody fuck them up, you know,
I'm telling you its just a bunch of chaos, man, bunch of chaos, its sad, sad,
So who will miss the city when its gone. Workers in the car industry headquarters? The managers
of global sales? The people who work in the few remaining skyscrapers down town?
And what will they miss, the spirit, the mood of the city? It appears
that the era of the urban giants in the Western world is passing. And Detroit is becoming
one of the first ghosts of the industrial age.