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Something that belies the stereotypes that your area endures?
I live in SE Michigan. I wish that people knew that SE Michigan, much less all of Michigan, ISN'T Detroit. There are many, many desirable, safe, nonurban areas here. I live in a small town just under an hour from downtown Detroit and we live in a new subdivision surrounded by cornfields. No factories, no ghettos, and very little crime. People here have jobs, and some of them are very good, high paying jobs. There is not a mass exodus of people from our area, in fact, our little town has grown by 12% since the last census.
In Washington, DC, the city has been successfully cultivating industries within the city limits that the general populace may not be aware of outside of government, education, health care, and legal services.
For instance, DC is now one of the top captive insurance domiciles in the US (#5) and world (#14).
Captive insurance companies are companies that are established by a parent organization to insure their own risks. Some of the categories of organizations doing this are large associations, public agencies, and corporations.
DC has about 140 captive insurance companies headquartered in the city. Within the insurance industry, DC's Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking (DISB) is known nationally and internationally as a respected and proven agency.
DC leadership approved legislation in 2000 that allowed captive insurance companies to be formed and headquartered within the city to spur economic development and increase its tax base.
Here's a small list of organizations that have captive insurance companies headquartered in DC:
AARP
Sears Tower
Port Authority of New York/New Jersey
General Motors
Subaru of America
Millennium and Copthorne Hotels
California is not all L.A....not that I have a problem with L.A. It's just that people tend to have this view of CA that it's smoggy and crowded everywhere and everybody hangs out at the beach all day.
This is not the land of "fruits and nuts". Most people here are normal.
There is more rural/undeveloped land in CA than urban/developed land.
That 96% of people who live in Iowa do NOT live on a farm. So everyone can stop asking when I say I grew up in the state. 6 out of 10 people live in a metropolitan area.
People who grew up on farms also do NOT drive tractors to school. As my friend Paula told people in our accounting department in Chicago when I worked with her "No, our combine cost over $450,000 - so dad wouldn't let me drive it to school".
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