I have spent part of past few weekends driving around to see the abandoned buildings rotting in the heart of some of Detroit's struggling neighborhoods to see whether Kwame Kilpatrick (our deeply-embattled mayor) had delivered on his promise to destroy 50 of them by year's end. Some of the buildings slated for demolition are architectural masterpieces, others insignificant factories and warehouses whose jobs will be missed far more than their bricks. Sometimes when I look at the photos of Detroit ten or fifteen years ago I kick myself for not having been around to do this then. There was so much more here ten or fifteen years ago. Still, the city is always changing and what's here today may be gone tomorrow. I feel compelled to document what I can.
This was a mid-century factory/warehouse space up near 7 Mile and Van Dyke that appears to have been partly demolished by scrappers if not by city contractors. A few seconds after I took this photo, a homeless-looking guy wielding a big metal pipe walked from left to right behind the rubble that's beyond that doorway. I thought I was alone in there. It was absolutely terrifying.
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