WE ALMOST LOST DETROIT

[Postman]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/10/10911/

Police officials seriously debated evacuating Detroit, just forty miles north.

[blogslut]

1. Semi-off topic

I watched a BBC documentary on Gil Scott-Heron the other day. I think it was done in 2007. Does anyone know if he had to go to jail again? I hope not. I'm worried about that guy.

[cascadiance]

2. Hell, I lived in East Lansing area in 1974... Would have probably got toasted from nuclear fallout!

Sheesh!

[knitter4democracy]

3. Much of Michigan would've been affected.

Even though the winds are usually west to east or north to south, that's not always the case. If the winds had shifted, much of lower Michigan would've gotten radiated.

I grew up in Mason, just south and east of Lansing. That's really scary to think about.

[Bill McBlueState]

4. this further confirms my point

(which West Wing fans will appreciate)

that the Republicans would have been better off having Alan Alda play the role of John McCain in this election.

[MadrasT]

5. 15 miles from TMI

I grew up in Lancaster County, PA... lived 15 miles from TMI in 1979. It was a terrifying time.

http://www.threemileisland.org/virtual_museum/index.html

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf36.htm

:kick: & R, thanks for the Detroit story.

[azmouse]

7. I lived in the Reading area at the time.

My cousin got married the weekend that TMI was happening and all anyone wanted to do was sit near a radio to see if we needed to evacuate.

[SidneyCarton]

6. I read that book a few years back...

Check it out, Nuclear reactors are impossible to insure and require serious maintenance in order to remain safe and functional.

[Demeter]

8. The Sad Part Is We Did Lose Detroit The Very Next Year

The riot of 1967 was the death blow to the Motor City. 50 years later, the population is less than half what it was; whole city blocks are vacant of residents; trees grow in abandoned hotels downtown; retail outlets of all kinds vanished to the suburbs.

Dennis Archer did some good, and there are some small seedlings of citylife sprouting, but too much of the once great city is sterile, waiting for people to bring it back to life.

Unfortunately, now the entire state is going the way of Detroit. For decades the rednecks in the west and north of Michigan stomped all over Detroit in their sneering, cutting off any plans for help and revival from the legislature....today, they get to feel the results of their killing the engine of the economy, which any city of size provides to the state.

[Blue_Tires]

11. good points....

[roamer65]

9. Everytime I drive by Fermi 2's cooling towers...

I think of Fermi 1 and how Fermi 2 almost brought Detroit Edison to the brink of bankruptcy. Nuclear just has too much expense and too much risk.

Another horrible plant was and still is Toledo Edison's Davis-Besse. Google it and it will send shivers down your spine just how close its reactor vessel came to a breach in 2002.

[begin_within]

10. We almost lost Denver, too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5038783