part of the reason i just moved to the area is that there's a strong potential to build sustainable local communities in the areas that have been abandoned by industry. this sounds like the kind of area i was thinking of - a residential area that has been partially abandoned and has left behind spaces for squatting and growing in a relative vacuum of capital. i fully understood that such a thing would be quashed, but hopefully not before some experiments could be carried out and a movement could create some momentum to move into further tazs. if the momentum can continue to grow, the tazs will become harder and harder to quash.
the key here is demonstrating that a life outside of slavery is, indeed, possible. i have faith that, once people realize that, they will free themselves from their own chains. i further believe that once people taste freedom they'll have a hard time giving it up.
i see a mass of empty houses and mass of homeless people and suggest the obvious; the landowner sees the same thing and concludes that the empty houses are decreasing his profit, and should consequently be torn down. this isn't an economic system, it's organized psychopathy.
worse is that it's not even a smart investment. buying up the land and turning it into a park, or condos, doesn't solve any of the economic "problems" that exist in the area. it just eliminates a source of affordable housing, further exacerbating the existing social problems. i'd expect the park to be full of squatters and that they'll have to be removed by force. on top of that, whatever is built will lack a market until production returns, which it won't. the result is simply more empty houses.
i could look at it on the bright side. this is going to piss people off. but, i realize the futility of fighting the class war head on.
i have to hope that landowners are, on average, more intelligent than this one and this isn't a trend that will pick up. if it is, however, the result is likely to be a mass of angry homeless people, and that gets me to a second best option in the end.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/10/140-acre-forest-about-materialize-middle-detroit/7371/