This is seriously the most awful thing I have ever read.
In Camden, New Jersey, according to this article in The Nation, the local homeless encampment is the most orderly neighborhood. Unemployed residents smoke a drug called “wet,” marijuana soaked in embalming fluid. The only white people are hookers, many of whom are infected with AIDS, Hepatitis C and other STDs.
Is this the future of all our post-industrial cities in the United States, The Nation asks.
“The poor have to help the poor,” an elderly resident says, “because the ones who make …

The recent high profile shooting of an elderly couple leaving church on Youngstown’s south side—the second such murder of a parishioner at Saint Dominic’s this year—has rocked the city. The usual calls for greater police crackdowns and the typical mystified responses from the public and the media make it clear that few people understand why exactly a cycle of crime is playing out in our inner cities. The only explanations usually given involve the same stories of the loss of manufacturing jobs and the closures of the mills in the 1970s. Almost none address the fact that Youngstown’s—and indeed almost every ghetto in the Rust Belt—has largely been created by economic structural changes that have disproportionately affected African Americans and by deliberately exclusionary policies designed to reinforce segregation.

In the 1950s urban renewal projects changed the face of entire sections of the city of Youngstown. African Americans found themselves time and again in front of the wrecking ball as highways and industrial parks bisected or obliterated their neighborhoods.

Hot off being named the national leader in manufacturing job growth, two senseless crimes are causing the city of Youngstown to temper its exuberance.

Tales From the Rust Belt offers this analysis:

The recent murders of Realtor Vivian Martin on the East Side and elderly residents Thomas Repchic and Angela Figmonari on the South Side near St. Dominic’s church are especially hard on a city that seemed to be focusing on the positives. Earlier this year we were able to celebrate the long list of jobs coming to the area including a third shift at GM Lordstown and the V&M Steel expansion.

Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka is making news again for his aggressive stance on dilapidated properties- especially those purchased by people outside of Cleveland and hoping to make a quick buck.
Judge Pianka’s work was previously highlighted on Rust Wire and in this New York Times Magazine cover story last year. (Read more about him here.)
The Plain Dealer reports he is ordering absentee owners of vacant homes to pay restitution to neighbors whose property values have been eroded by the vacant structures nearby.

“What is happening (in Cleveland) is certainly …

Some good reporting from Tube City Almanac on the efforts of McKeesport, PA, to demolish vacant and abandoned properties.
-KG
Tweet

Reading this Wall Street Journal piece about “pranksters” causing “mischief” in Detroit’s abandonded buildings totally pissed me off.
It sounded more like wanton destruction for the sake of destruction to me.
The article details how this group used sledgehammers to break down this wall and push a truck out of a fourth story window in the old Packard plant (a site we’ve previously highlighted on this blog). They even videotaped their caper.
I don’t fault people for wanting to go inside and explore these old structures – I’ve done it myself. But wrecking …

By now you have probably heard, police have found ten bodies inside and east Cleveland home.
The resident, Anthony Sowell, was arrested by Cleveland police earlier this week after a short manhunt. Sowell, a convicted rapist, was found not far from the home.

He previously served 15 years for rape and was being monitored by police when he was accused of raping and strangling a neighborhood woman he lured into his house with an offer of alcohol.
For days, investigators have been dismantling Sowell’s home, finding remains throughout. Neighbors reported a foul smell, …

The city of Youngstown is experiencing another arson spree, this time though the crime is personal for many city activists.
A historic mansion in the Wick park neighborhood was burned a few weeks ago, according to the Youngstown Renaissance blog.
Instances of Arson are familiar in the city, however, many city boosters are outraged because there was talk of renovating the particular house and the Wick Park neighborhood is the site of an ongoing revitalization campaign that is seen as crucial to stabilizing downtown and Youngstown State University area.
The fire was part …

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this Wall Street Journal article that traces the story of one home in the Motor City – and through that house, decades of history and change in the neighborhood and the city overall.
Spend a few minutes reading about 1626 W. Boston Boulevard, in Detroit’s Boston-Edison neighborhood, from its auto-industry origins to a subprime borrower.
-KG
Tweet

I saw an interesting ad recently, previewing the Sundance Channel documentary Brick City.
The show will focus on Newark, New Jersey (a city that while not in the Rust Belt, has certainly had its share of problems), Mayor Cory Booker, and other city officials and residents, such as the chief of police, a gang member, and a youth counselor.
You can watch a number of clips from the show and read a bit about it on the web site.
We’ve written about Mayor Booker and his efforts to turn the city around on …