Meet Allan Hill, the man who lives In Detroit’s abandoned Packard Auto Plant
Perhaps the biggest shortcoming of Detroit “ruin porn” is it inherently ignores the very real people who still live in the city. Now there’s a convergence — the amazing story of Allan Hill, the man who legally lives inside the city’s abandoned Packard Auto Plant.
What’s most surprising about this moving mini-documentary is Hill’s “quality of life” doesn’t look as terrible as you’d imagine, nor does his reasoning for choosing to stay in the largest abandoned factory in the world seem so unsound.
The whole creation is a huge gut-check to our biases. Yes, the Packard Plant is so giant and empty and strange they shoot Michael Bay movies there. And, occasionally, kids push a dump truck out a window.
Yet, Hill has power, Internet access, a welding setup, and a small kitchen. He even maintains a webcam. The owner apparently gave him his blessing so long as Hill works as a custodian of the property.
He reminds me of the Prophet Amos, whom God appointed to tell the Israelites to stop letting the wealthiest few prosper at the hands of the poorest. This was not a popular message as it came at a time when Israel was doing fairly well. Amos also told them to prepare themselves for judgement, especially from a foreign nation.
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.
“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God.”
Rest here…
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Proper understanding of the federal reserve in this nation is to fully understand Matthew 27, 25. And the roll of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her ilk
And before the city got involved, the old plant was in actually pretty good shape., with various sections rented out to other small businesses. I was in Detroit in the early nineties, and we saw the old plant (Packard Club tour,) and she looked fairly presentable, so the devastation you see now happened in a very short time span. It will stand for quite a while. The first steel reinforced concrete building, designed by Packard engineers, ceilings 5-6 foot thick in areas (bomb proof for WWII.) This video cannot convey the size of this place. And of course, Detroit, with one foot in the grave, can not afford to tear this place down due to its shear size. Detroit is always held up as the poster child for urban decay, but rotting Motor City is the established lesson plan for rust belt cities. People just haven’t read it yet, but they will!
This is awesome. Note how there is no Bank trying to make his life hell, evict or steal his money. This should be the model for millions who are in modest broken down old ranch, cape cods or other tract housing. As long as they keep the joint clean and pay property taxes, they’ve got shelter.