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I got to rep. my city of Syracuse. We are still losing manufacturing. Fortunately, the factories my parents work(ed in the case of my mother) are still around. For how long? Who knows......Luckily, Syracuse University, LeMoyne College and the healthcare industry has been helping us stay steady. Can't forget companies like Syracuse Research Corporation and Sensis, which are companies big into engineering and government contacts, along with Lockheed Martin have been big too. Time Warner has also had a big presence in the area.
We still have a car plant(Magna/New Venture Gear-formerly just Chrysler parts), a plant that makes lighting(Cooper Crouse-Hinds), Bristol Myers Squibb and a steel plant(Crucible Steel) still around. Can't forget Budweiser too. We recently lost Syracuse China, a Carrier Air Conditioner plant(but still have offices) and a few other smaller companies. We did have a big GE plant, a big GM plant, an Easy Washer Company plant, R.E. Dietz lantern plant and others in the area leave in the past.
we are on the cusp of the rustbelt, but since the decline of the manufacturing era i think we made the transition since we are now on the top major global cities in the world, pretty impressive since we used to be the meat packing champs in the US.
i think its where manufacturing was the dominant trade, and many cities were built upon it. luckily many cites were able to convert to a business like economy. ex. Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philly etc.
The Rust Belt is actually what had been called the Manufacturing Belt for almost 100 years.
When the industrial revolution came about, these were the new areas of the country with resources and geography that made them obvious choices for large heavy industry.
The area grew by leaps and bounds, and cities poped out of nowhere and grew amazingly fast. They also could ship their goods to the east coast, and to the ever expanding areas out west/south.
By the 1970s a lot of manufacturing started to shift to places with lower labor costs, overseas, down south.
Cities that boomed the fastest and ran with their industry suffered the most. Cities that grew around other "industries" like education, healthcare, etc did fine. Chicago was large enough by the decline of manufacturing that it had a massive service sector in place.
The service/financial/professional/sheer size of Chicago was able to be its lifeline. The city declined to almost being on life support supported by the service sector as the city shed a massive portion of its manufacturing/industry sector.
What sets this city apart is that while many other areas fought to their death to keep industry, Chicago ran the opposite direction. It threw down much of its manufacturing/industry from the early 20th century and charged into the service sectors as a replacement.
The city went through hell and back during this transformation in the 70's through early 90's, but once it was, for the most part, all said and done - the city walked away a "new man".
It's a very different city than it was in the past, and only in the last 15 years has it been able to work actively on improving itself and rebuilding instead of having to spend 50% of its energy on just sustaining through the transformation.
Basically it had a heart attack, and instead of spending all its energy on repairing the old heart and tip-toeing around possible complecations, it just got a heart transplant. A mess time during the surgery, but it walked away without the baggage of a timebomb just waiting to go off....
The city was lucky it was as large as it was, and definitely lucky that it had leadership during many times that absolutely refused the idea that Chicago COULD or ever WOULD possibly go down. There was the mentality that THIS city of all cities had to survive. It was only natural. It's part of what gives Chicago its almost bizzare civic pride that drives so many people around the country to roll their eyes to this day. I appreciate having leadership that almost act like a mother. The almost unrational support at times that as bad as things may get and as much as something might go wrong, don't think for a minute that the game is over. I moved here 7 years ago, and from all the other places I've lived, I never thought a city could become such a part of who you are. It creeps inside you, and so many people I know in Chicago fiercely defend the city like it's some family member. It's especially peculiar when you look at the city's problems, the schools, corruption, poverty, crime, the weather for gods sake. It's an unlikely city for such outward pride.
Wow..that was a post that sure got away from my intentions....
Last edited by Chicago60614; 02-06-2009 at 09:33 AM..
Lol, that's like trying to decide between my left armpit or my right...doh
I would say Pittsburgh is the best of the ones listed (I don't consider Chicago rust best since I think they dodged that bullet), but Buffalo and St. Louis should be added to the list. Perhaps even Rochester.
The Rust Belt is actually what had been called the Manufacturing Belt for almost 100 years.
The city went through hell and back during this transformation in the 70's through early 90's, but once it was, for the most part, all said and done - the city walked away a "new man".
The city was lucky it was as large as it was, and definitely lucky that it had leadership during many times that absolutely refused the idea that Chicago COULD or ever WOULD possibly go down. There was the mentality that THIS city of all cities had to survive. It was only natural. ..
Chicago is dying. First it lost its second largest city status to LA and now its population has been shrinking for the seven straight years according to US census. It's a trend that will be hard to reverse. The unemployment rate in Chicago is very high and it is estimated to reach over 9% in 2009.
It is hard to recover as a XXI metro area when you are classified as both Rust Belt and Corn Belt city i.e. when you bet your future on very specific industries.
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