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Old 03-29-2011, 11:50 AM
 
Location: Grand Rapids Metro
8,882 posts, read 19,762,447 times
Reputation: 3920

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A great article that ran here locally in GR:

Chris Ilitch tells Grand Rapids: Detroit is poised for rebirth | MLive.com

The big families in Grand Rapids basically saved downtown from dying, and the younger generations of those families have started stepping up with new ideas (Rick Devos with ArtPrize, for instance).
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Old 03-29-2011, 12:47 PM
 
13,806 posts, read 9,635,709 times
Reputation: 5243
I think that sometimes the bad fortunes for some translate into improved fortunes for others. The best example of this was WWII in which the American economy and people benefitted from the destruction off all the competing world economies at that time.

The unfortunate events in Japan may translate into increased sales for US auto companies. Its kind of hard to predict the total ramification of events related to the Nuclear crisis in Japan, but it may have a big impact on their ability to sell cars. Will consumers around the globe start fearing radiation contamination of Vehicles imported from Japan?

On the other hand Japan's economy needs to repatriat its monies to pay for all the damage that has been done. So there ability to buy US debt will be severly strained, which can have a very bad consquence for the overall US economy, which in turn will hit the US auto sector, and hence, Detroit hard again.

Even before the census numbers were released I strongly beleived that Detroit and Michigan had hit bottom. Already Michigan is no longer consitently the worse state in terms of levels of unemployment and job losses. In fact there are more high tech job openings in the Detroit area than most areas of the country.

I also believe that for America to have a sustainable energy future, its KEY that it redensify its cities to reduce petro consumption. US cities will have to look like Europe in regards to density and that means the class structure will flip from the poor living in the cities to living in the suburbs. Cities will start morphing from the core by class and race. In other words, many cities most central areas will have changing demographics as poor and minorities move the suburbs gradually while a new demographics begins to expand outward from the core.
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Old 03-29-2011, 01:01 PM
 
13,806 posts, read 9,635,709 times
Reputation: 5243
I wrote the above response before reading the details of the Article. People with that kind of money usually send their kids to private schools. Thus, I really do not buy his argument that he would be living in the city if the schools were better. I also do not buy the political corruption point of view either. I mean......New York City and Chicago popularized political corruption in America and it never seemed to have the impact that political corrupstion is blamed for in Detroit. I mean, Kwame was brought down for what........essentially having an affair and lying about it. If you look at the history of corruption in Chicago......there should be about 10 people living in Chicago today if corruption is the root of Detroits problems.

Detroit will comeback as a result of the rebirth of the American Auto Industry and a national return to cities movement by many young white Americans.
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Old 03-29-2011, 01:45 PM
 
Location: Metro Detroit Area, Michigan
1,107 posts, read 3,058,360 times
Reputation: 537
Quote:
Originally Posted by Indentured Servant View Post
I think that sometimes the bad fortunes for some translate into improved fortunes for others. The best example of this was WWII in which the American economy and people benefitted from the destruction off all the competing world economies at that time.

The unfortunate events in Japan may translate into increased sales for US auto companies. Its kind of hard to predict the total ramification of events related to the Nuclear crisis in Japan, but it may have a big impact on their ability to sell cars. Will consumers around the globe start fearing radiation contamination of Vehicles imported from Japan?


On the other hand Japan's economy needs to repatriat its monies to pay for all the damage that has been done. So there ability to buy US debt will be severly strained, which can have a very bad consquence for the overall US economy, which in turn will hit the US auto sector, and hence, Detroit hard again.

Even before the census numbers were released I strongly beleived that Detroit and Michigan had hit bottom. Already Michigan is no longer consitently the worse state in terms of levels of unemployment and job losses. In fact there are more high tech job openings in the Detroit area than most areas of the country.

I also believe that for America to have a sustainable energy future, its KEY that it redensify its cities to reduce petro consumption. US cities will have to look like Europe in regards to density and that means the class structure will flip from the poor living in the cities to living in the suburbs. Cities will start morphing from the core by class and race. In other words, many cities most central areas will have changing demographics as poor and minorities move the suburbs gradually while a new demographics begins to expand outward from the core.
Parts and paint are in short demand for Ford, GM and Chrysler since they all come from Japan. The companies are telling dealerships to hold off on selling certain colors of cars as plants in Japan have been shutdown due to the earthquake.
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Old 03-29-2011, 02:04 PM
 
Location: Grand Rapids Metro
8,882 posts, read 19,762,447 times
Reputation: 3920
Quote:
Originally Posted by Indentured Servant View Post
I wrote the above response before reading the details of the Article. People with that kind of money usually send their kids to private schools. Thus, I really do not buy his argument that he would be living in the city if the schools were better. I also do not buy the political corruption point of view either. I mean......New York City and Chicago popularized political corruption in America and it never seemed to have the impact that political corrupstion is blamed for in Detroit. I mean, Kwame was brought down for what........essentially having an affair and lying about it. If you look at the history of corruption in Chicago......there should be about 10 people living in Chicago today if corruption is the root of Detroits problems.

Detroit will comeback as a result of the rebirth of the American Auto Industry and a national return to cities movement by many young white Americans.
I agree. Many would say that Chicago and Washington D.C. are world-class cities, even though their public school systems suck still. If Detroit can even get 20,000 young professionals back into the city in 10 years, who don't care about the schools but who shake up the establishment and run for offices, that would be huge. The changes would be plainly evident.
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Old 03-29-2011, 03:14 PM
 
13,806 posts, read 9,635,709 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by magellan View Post
I agree. Many would say that Chicago and Washington D.C. are world-class cities, even though their public school systems suck still. If Detroit can even get 20,000 young professionals back into the city in 10 years, who don't care about the schools but who shake up the establishment and run for offices, that would be huge. The changes would be plainly evident.
Yes, I do not know of many urban school districts that are not labelled as "Poor schools". Many of the reasons given for Detroits decline and problems are experienced in many large urban areas.....without the same result of population drop.

I aslo believe that the constant, constant focus on Detroit problems and bad side only helps fuel problems and the bad side. If you look on the web people love to show images of the run down housing in Detroit and rarely do you see the images of well kept neighborhoods and the miles of them in the city. We constantly here about how bad Crime is as if life in Chicago, LA, Atlanta, Miami and others is utopia. Detroit simply became the city that America loved to use as an example of problems and many residents of Michigan gleefully participated in the onesided focus of negativity. Its free negative advertisement by word of mouth. Negative ads drive people away and positive ads drive people towards the city. It is almost as if people wanted to see the city fail for some reason or they took enjoyment in the problems. I hope that is changed because Detroit is really a Great city with great potential to rebound. All Detroit need is a little positive reinforcement and a lot less denigration. Well.....actually it needs much more than that but it would go a long way if people just stop treating Detroit as a poster child......because that helps make it one.
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Old 03-29-2011, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Downtown Detroit
1,497 posts, read 3,475,562 times
Reputation: 930
Quote:
Originally Posted by Indentured Servant View Post
Yes, I do not know of many urban school districts that are not labelled as "Poor schools". Many of the reasons given for Detroits decline and problems are experienced in many large urban areas.....without the same result of population drop.

I aslo believe that the constant, constant focus on Detroit problems and bad side only helps fuel problems and the bad side. If you look on the web people love to show images of the run down housing in Detroit and rarely do you see the images of well kept neighborhoods and the miles of them in the city. We constantly here about how bad Crime is as if life in Chicago, LA, Atlanta, Miami and others is utopia. Detroit simply became the city that America loved to use as an example of problems and many residents of Michigan gleefully participated in the onesided focus of negativity. Its free negative advertisement by word of mouth. Negative ads drive people away and positive ads drive people towards the city. It is almost as if people wanted to see the city fail for some reason or they took enjoyment in the problems. I hope that is changed because Detroit is really a Great city with great potential to rebound. All Detroit need is a little positive reinforcement and a lot less denigration. Well.....actually it needs much more than that but it would go a long way if people just stop treating Detroit as a poster child......because that helps make it one.
It's what one might call a self-fulfilling prophecy...
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Old 03-29-2011, 06:29 PM
 
Location: Toronto
348 posts, read 635,083 times
Reputation: 270
Quote:
Originally Posted by Indentured Servant View Post

I also believe that for America to have a sustainable energy future, its KEY that it redensify its cities to reduce petro consumption. US cities will have to look like Europe in regards to density and that means the class structure will flip from the poor living in the cities to living in the suburbs. Cities will start morphing from the core by class and race. In other words, many cities most central areas will have changing demographics as poor and minorities move the suburbs gradually while a new demographics begins to expand outward from the core.
Actually, in Europe, there are several rings of suburbs and different styles of suburbs. You have your elite suburbs, with their posh villas and condos, and then you have the working class suburbs. Families with $$$ also choose to live in the burbs, just like in the US. Families with less $$ and fewer kids, stay closer to the city core, trading space for lower transportation costs and convenience. It's not all poor and suburban vs urban and wealthy.
Just to give you an idea, I just visited Istanbul, and what they've got going on is mass gentrification of both suburbs and the old city.
The key to it all it all is MASS TRANSPORTATION. Now that it doesn't take forever to cross the Bosphorus, the urban hipsters CHOOSE to also live in the burbs, and just like in the Detroit region, the suburban neighborhoods have lives of their own. The downtown core is vibrant, but so are many of the suburbs. The class division is more about quality of housing than the location, in terms of distance from the city core.

Istanbul also has some pretty decrepit old suburban industrial neighborhoods that can't even be gentrified because of the substandard quality of the old buildings. Their plans are to completely demolish these areas and build all anew, with world class architecture and town planning (Zaha Hadid is working on a project called Kartal). Again, even though this area is pretty suburban, it's still going to be very attractive and desirable because it's going to be linked to the city center (and airports) with MASS TRANSPORTATION.
http://www.zaha-hadid.com/masterplan...dik-masterplan

Last edited by SadieMirsade; 03-29-2011 at 06:39 PM..
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Old 03-29-2011, 07:03 PM
 
Location: SA-PHX
28 posts, read 80,258 times
Reputation: 22
[quote=Indentured Servant;18493039] I also do not buy the political corruption point of view either. I mean......New York City and Chicago popularized political corruption in America and it never seemed to have the impact that political corrupstion is blamed for in Detroit. I mean, Kwame was brought down for what........essentially having an affair and lying about it. If you look at the history of corruption in Chicago......there should be about 10 people living in Chicago today if corruption is the root of Detroits problems.


You need to remember that in Chicago and New York the "coruption" was steering contracts to certain individuals WHO ACTUALLY DID THE WORK. Kwami and Coleman stuffed it in their pockets.
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Old 03-29-2011, 08:55 PM
 
Location: west mich
5,739 posts, read 6,892,436 times
Reputation: 2130
More sanity on this thread than most others - a cut above! Most posters seem to have a genuine concern.
Not being in the Detroit area, threads like this are a source of real information for me. Thanks.
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