Dear readers, all two of you, I don't think our friends in England, the UK, really get it. As in, CONUS metrosprawl megacity and all of that has gone. Sure, it seems OK, like civilization, with roads and stuff, at least in parts, for now, but it's all going DETROIT.
You know what I mean, nice people flee, bye-bye tax base, leaving a corrupt crew of bruvvas lording it over an urban apocalypse of burned out shells of former greatness as urban hipsters reinvent downtown to serve their technocrat they/them masters, Good work, vote blue someliers.
Let's cut to the chase. What are we, Grand Zimbabwe or something else. I call in between. But over to you.
LSP
Careful, you may be too optimistic.
ReplyDeleteYeah, pretty accurate with part of that Zimbabwe description but I wouldn't call what's been going on around here of late "grand" by any means. Too much more of this and we're gonna end up screwt, bloot and tatoot.
ReplyDeleteDetroit’s not Zimbabwe. Not yet. No goblins in DTW. So far.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thezimbabwean.co/2024/06/zimbabwe-police-officers-terrorised-by-goblins-at-night/
Crusty Old TV Tech here. You have nailed one symptom/cause of the decline of US cities. Not too far from the Metrosprawl of N. Central Texas is a small city, Shreveport, Louisiana. Up until the late 70's, Shreveport was a place where things got made, petroleum was refined, natural gas pipelines were controlled, etc. Then in the late 70's, BULL (Blacks United for Lasting Leadership) sued various governmental entities. Eventually the city went from a decently-working Commission form of government, to a Chicago-style Mayor-Council form, complete with grievance groups and ward healers. Crime and completely dysfunctional municipal government (the two are related) since then have caused exactly what you described to happen. Same in Jackson, MS, same in Detroit, coming soon to Houston...not so much Zimbabwe, but rather more like the Republic of South Africa, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteWSF, you have a point.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how we get outta this, Wild, barring catastrophe.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Mike. I was once offered a job in Matabeleland, by the the Anglican Bishop at the the time. He was a fine old gentleman, English, and wanted someone to teach in his seminary. Part of me wishes I'd done it, which I didn't, for some reason. Life would have been very different.
ReplyDeleteGood call, Tech.
ReplyDeleteI went to Shreveport back in the late '90s because a church was looking for a priest. I didn't go there.
Rhodesia is long gone in Ohio. Our downtown used to be fun and relatively safe …. no longer. I was walking to a “show” (yep - wife got tickets as a gift and you know … acting cultured and stuff) downtown and I felt that I needed to be armed. First time I have grabbed that vibe in the hometown.
ReplyDeleteSeamus, STAND FIRM.
ReplyDelete