Poletown, GM, the Archdiocese, etc. and the closure of the Detroit Hamtramack GM plant

Another story I didn't get around to discussing was the November announcement that General Motors will be closing some car plants to rightsize production in the face of reduced sales of cars (as opposed to trucks and SUVs).

It's a surprise to many that with low gas prices (that's why you need higher excise taxes on gasoline) more and more people are buying SUVs and trucks, so plants making cars are redundant.

The reason that this announcement is particularly poignant is because the Poletown neighborhood was wiped out in the early 1980s, because GM wanted to build a plant there.    Hamtramck is a small city enveloped by Detroit that at the time was Polish-majority, hence the name "Poletown."

Immaculate Conception Church.  Historic American Building Survey photo.

The residents fought with the help of organizers (I knew some of them back when I was in college), but the air was kicked out of them when the Catholic Church agreed to sell the various church sites in the district.

- "GM Hamtramck plant closing reopens old Detroit controversy," Detroit Free Press
-- "Thousands lost their homes in epic fight to build GM’s Detroit plant. Now it’s closing," Washington Post

In 1981, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the use of eminent domain for this project was legal, although a couple decades later the same Court sheepishly ruled they were in error.

-- "Michigan Legal Milestones: 33. Poletown and Eminent Domain," Michigan Bar Association
-- "Michigan Court Reverses "Poletown" Decision on Eminent Domain," Appraisal Institute

"Poletown Lives" was a documentary made about what happened.  And books and journal articles have been published as well.

-- Lost Poletown webpage, Detroit Historical Society

Houses in Poletown.  Photo from a Detroit Free Press image gallery.

Ironically, GM "needed" the land occupied by the Poletown neighborhood for a parking lot for the workers.  A big one, sure.  But a parking lot. 

If the company had been willing to build a parking garage, they wouldn't have even needed the land and a neighborhood wouldn't have been demolished.

One lesson is that even back then, Detroit had lots of empty land and the company should have been directed to empty land, rather than land that was utilized productively with residences, businesses, even a hospital.

Today, GM announced it's not likely that another vehicle will be assigned to the plant for manufacture ("GM's Barra signals no new vehicles for Detroit Hamtramck, Lordstown," Detroit Free Press).