Richard McCormack: An Obliterated City: On The Ground In Detroit

A friend of mine said I should go to Google Maps and type in 48212. It is a zip code in Detroit.

"I happened to be Googling one day and I thought, 'Let's take a look at the old neighborhood. And it was, 'Oh my God,' " said Marko Slusarczuk, executive director of the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association. "Go north a little and zoom in. You will see large areas of residential neighborhoods that are bulldozed."

So late one night I typed "48212" into Google Maps, hovered over what looked to be a nondescript area, zoomed in and then lifted and placed the yellow "Google Man icon" (located above the zoom tool) on the street for a ground-level view, double-clicking on the street in the distance, and driving around Detroit for hours on my computer. There are tens of thousands of abandoned homes, boarded up businesses and deserted streets.

I zoomed out, flew around at 800 feet altitude, and haphazardly landed on 1136 Puritan St. and then on 2932 Elmhurst Street. And I did 360-degree rotations.

Can I believe what I am looking at? Nothing of the sort exists in Washington, D.C.

My insides churned. I felt like a voyeur, safe inside my "car." Sidewalks and curbs are disappearing under weeds. There are empty playgrounds; dead trees and piles of debris.

cont.