Detroit R.I.P.

"Economists have found no evidence of positive economic impact of professional sports teams and facilities on urban economies."  -Cato Institute report

Back in 2011, I wrote a handful of articles about the city of my birth - Detroit. 

The initial series was: Imported From Detroit told in four parts: I, II, III, IV. I followed that up with two later reports: Detroit Redux and Detroit On a Positive Note.

My message was then and is now that Detroit is a lost cause. The recent bankruptcy only lends credence to the inescapable plight of the former Motor City. Now the stupidity has reached the pinnacle, much like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Great State Appointed Bankruptcy Overseer has approved four hundred and fifty million dollars to be directed to a hockey arena for a privately owned corporation.

Don't bother to post any lame comments about economic advantages and new construction jobs. Those excuses have been disproved repeatedly over the years in dozens of cities throughout the country. Think not? Read this. For once try tempering your beliefs with facts.

Let Detroit go, turn the urban blight back to nature and stop flushing money down the maw of a hungry ghost that no longer is a city.

Prose on Monday, Images on Friday