[WheredoIlive?]

Is it the cold winters? The economy?

I just do not understand why people do not want to live in this state.

To me Michigan is the most beautiful state in the country. {I have lived in Illinois, Virginia, Maryland}. Even when I lived in Illionois, and thank God I was near the lakefront there which made things tolerable, I missed even natural beauty of Michigan.

I know history and rust belt stuff, has impacted Michigan very badly, but sometimes wonder why Michigan is not more popular.

[SpaceGhost79]

1. The economy is terrible.

2. Cold winters, though that depends more on where in the state you live. Obviously winters in the U.P. and along Lake Michigan are worse due to all the lake effect snow. I never thought winters in Ann Arbor were bad.

3. The biggest reason, IMO, is as someone else made a point recently, that many outsiders think Michigan consists of Detroit and that's it. When Michigan makes national headlines these days it tends to involve Detroit, the Big Three, unemployment, crime, people leaving the city in droves, houses selling for $1 (literally), crumbling buildings, those lovable losers the Detroit Lions, and the political mess involving Kwame Kilpatrick. That's the impression outsiders get of Michigan. When they see Detroit, they think Michigan as a whole is that way.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by WheredoIlive?

Is it the cold winters? The economy?

I just do not understand why people do not want to live in this state.

To me Michigan is the most beautiful state in the country. {I have lived in Illinois, Virginia, Maryland}. Even when I lived in Illionois, and thank God I was near the lakefront there which made things tolerable, I missed even natural beauty of Michigan.

I know history and rust belt stuff, has impacted Michigan very badly, but sometimes wonder why Michigan is not more popular.

Jobs. 750,000 jobs lost (out of 5 Million labor force) in the last 10 years will tend to drive people away. And just imagine if all of those unemployed people had stayed.

I just read yesterday that General Motors 15 years ago employed 250,000 people. They are now close to 50,000, with a goal in their restructuring to get to 38,000. GM is one of the largest employers in the state.

Weather is sort of a factor, but when automotive was on the upswing back in the 60's, Michigan was one of the fastest growing states in the country. Portland's and Seattle's weather are terrible, yet they are growing. Minneapolis weather is colder than here, yet it's growing. Boston's weather is like here. Growing. Toronto, growing.

[SpaceGhost79]

Originally Posted by magellan

Weather is sort of a factor, but when automotive was on the upswing back in the 60's, Michigan was one of the fastest growing states in the country. Portland's and Seattle's weather are terrible, yet they are growing. Minneapolis weather is colder than here, yet it's growing. Boston's weather is like here. Growing. Toronto, growing.

All the big cities you mentioned are a heckuva lot nicer, safer, and more well maintained than Detroit. As I said, when outsiders think of Michigan, the first thing that probably comes to mind is Detroit and all the negatives associated with it, and that kind of brings down the image of the rest of the state, fair or not.

And I don't think the weather is as bad in Portland and Seattle as some folks make it out to be. I have family in both cities and been out there plenty of times and never found it to be any worse than anything I've experience in Michigan. Didn't rain more (don't get the "heavy" rain) and they rarely get snow in the city. Add in the ocean, the mountains (REAL mountains, not this midwest stuff ), lots to do between city and outdoors life, and it's simply a beautiful area and easy to see why people would want to move out there. I know I do.

[WheredoIlive?]

Originally Posted by SpaceGhost79

1. The economy is terrible.

2. Cold winters, though that depends more on where in the state you live. Obviously winters in the U.P. and along Lake Michigan are worse due to all the lake effect snow. I never thought winters in Ann Arbor were bad.

3. The biggest reason, IMO, is as someone else made a point recently, that many outsiders think Michigan consists of Detroit and that's it. When Michigan makes national headlines these days it tends to involve Detroit, the Big Three, unemployment, crime, people leaving the city in droves, houses selling for $1 (literally), crumbling buildings, those lovable losers the Detroit Lions, and the political mess involving Kwame Kilpatrick. That's the impression outsiders get of Michigan. When they see Detroit, they think Michigan as a whole is that way.

Yeah I think Detroit has given us a bad reputation.

People see those burnt out houses online, and that is enough.

They need to realize the whole place isnt Detroit.

You are right about Ann Abor having less severe winters, I realized moving from town about hour outside of Ann Abor to here, on West side on Lake, the winters are FAR WORSE.

[Cliffie]

Scare stories in the news and that sort of nonsense drives people away unreasonably. Detroit won the "Murder Capital of the World" crown in 1977, ten years after the infamous Detroit Riots, and no matter who else has outdone us afterwards, for what sort of gory massacre, the country still thinks of us as Stray Bullet Central. They never stress the arts and music scene here, like the huge yearly jazz festival, or the family-friendly attractions like the Detroit Zoo or the Detroit Institute of Arts. What you hear about is that some idjit pulled a gun on someone else during ther fireworks show in Hart Plaza, and everyone in the country hears about that and says "See what I mean about Detroit?"

The weather here is not a happy thing for a lot of people. That's less unreasonable.

Michigan itself has been so focused on its own negatives for so long that nobody has been putting any energy into developing some new opportunities or talking up our good points. This place is heaven on earth for freshwater fishing, boating, hiking, diving, waterskiing, anything like that, but you never hear about it. Mackinac fudge is the finest in the known and charted universe, but not enough people know about it. For the past CENTURY, the only strong industry has been the automakers, and where are they now?

[WheredoIlive?]

Originally Posted by magellan

Jobs. 750,000 jobs lost (out of 5 Million labor force) in the last 10 years will tend to drive people away. And just imagine if all of those unemployed people had stayed.

I just read yesterday that General Motors 15 years ago employed 250,000 people. They are now close to 50,000, with a goal in their restructuring to get to 38,000. GM is one of the largest employers in the state.

Weather is sort of a factor, but when automotive was on the upswing back in the 60's, Michigan was one of the fastest growing states in the country. Portland's and Seattle's weather are terrible, yet they are growing. Minneapolis weather is colder than here, yet it's growing. Boston's weather is like here. Growing. Toronto, growing.

Yeah those jobs lost are bad, and then lets take into account all the factories lost, that worked for car industry....that is pretty bad.

Minneapolis weather is bad, yeah you are right about that and they have plenty of growth.

[michmoldman]

Dont forget Michael Moores work. Didnt help any.

[glass_of_merlot]

Originally Posted by WheredoIlive?

Is it the cold winters? The economy?

I just do not understand why people do not want to live in this state.

To me Michigan is the most beautiful state in the country. {I have lived in Illinois, Virginia, Maryland}. Even when I lived in Illionois, and thank God I was near the lakefront there which made things tolerable, I missed even natural beauty of Michigan.

I know history and rust belt stuff, has impacted Michigan very badly, but sometimes wonder why Michigan is not more popular.

Well, DETROIT is my guess.

[Indentured Servant]

Even during the BEST of economic times, people in the State of Michigan were beating up on Detroit and using all sorts of pejoratives to define the area. They did that here in Michigan and when they traveled, they would spread those negative perceptions around to anyone who would listen. In other words, the people of the state of Michigan have been terrible ambassadors for the state. People did not think that bashing Detroit would eventually impact them….outside of Detroit. However, Detroit is the symbol of Michigan outside of Michigan, like it or not. That is what people think about when they think of Michigan, who lives outside the Great Lakes area. So in bashing Detroit, people bashed Michigan to potential investors and residents, to potential talented workers….etc.

When I live in Atlanta, everyone seemed to be ambassadors for the city or workers for the chamber of commerce. Despite Atlanta, at that time, having a poverty rate in the top 10, it also had a crime and murder rate right up there with Detroit. It has some very deplorable looking housing projects as well. Hell, they even had the infamous child killings as part of its history. Yet, people in Georgia and Atlanta handled the cities problems a lot different than Michiganders handled the problems of its largest city. People in Atlanta, including the media and citizens, kept the focus on the positive. In Michigan, the media and the residents keep the focus on the negative. Someone forget to tell the people of Michigan about the power of positive thinking and positive suggestions. Michigan has no self confidence or swagger about itself, while places like Atlanta does……AND IT MAKES THE PLACE ATTRACTIVE!!! News flash….confidence and swagger ATTRACTS while self depreciation and a hung head is UNATTRACTIVE. Its human nature 101. Michigan should take the course.