Is It Too Late To Save Detroit---Not If Liberals Democrats Are In Charge (highway, layoffs)
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Money comes from the increase in the tax base by trying to bring in a more diverse industry.
If they can find the miracle worker that will bring their industry to a crime ridden bankrupt city that is willing to deal with the unions, I will wish them well. Until then that is just wishful thinking.
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If they focus their current funds towards safety and sanitation services, while trying to restructure their school system as well as sell off excess buildings to encourage the growth of charter schools to help improve the education of the city.
Also, neighborhoods that are almost completely bulldozed or vacant already could be fully bulldozed and reclaimed natural land, creating a mixture of park land and possibly forest land within the city. Neighborhoods that are more intact, the city should strengthen and encourage renovation of buildings and the building of new homes, making it easier for people to purchase lots and build homes for themselves.
Once there is a foundation for the city and a growing tax base, as well as a growing diverse industry, then it begins to turn debt into a healthy city.
None of this happens overnight, and none of this is easy to do. It requires city officials, community leaders, and the people of Detroit to make their city come back.
Bulldozing the entire city and starting over is nothing more than a copout.
Again I am faced with the dishonest poster. You take up my argument about bulldozing sections of the city and then accuse me of taking a position I never did.
If they can find the miracle worker that will bring their industry to a crime ridden bankrupt city that is willing to deal with the unions, I will wish them well. Until then that is just wishful thinking.
Again I am faced with the dishonest poster. You take up my argument about bulldozing sections of the city and then accuse me of taking a position I never did.
You know, you clearly have no interest in actually talking about how a city like Detroit could improve its city, so I am gonna end the conversation.
No one is saying Detroit should start printing money, and suggesting Detroit just needs to cut spending is nothing more than a "small government" talking point because it leaves the question, what should spending be cut down to and what should be cut?
For a city like Detroit, it needs to invest in its police and education to insure safety and to improve education. From there the city needs to look at how to redevelop old neighborhoods and how to expand to expand its industries through incentives. I would also be good for the city to promote small manufacturing with all sorts of products and create a "made in Detroit" branding to help the city produce again. From there it should try and expand its private sector through tech jobs and making it easier for the city to be upgraded with better technology.
There is a number of things the city can do, but it isn't easy and it isn't free.
Well, they are doing the opposite of what you suggest. They have been laying off police officers for years, and leaving the city dangerously under patrolled. Response time is around 1 hour. Schools are a complete disaster. District consolidation and teacher layoffs are the order of the day.
As for promoting manufacturing... They had their chance. They taxed the snot out of them and chased them all away. Businesses failed to stay on top of the technology, so they fell behind. There's the issue of their potential workforce. You're dealing with a populous that is ill educated, and you expect them to digest everything needed to operate today's tech intensive manufacturing equipment? I don't think so. Businesses will continue to invest in areas that have good education, and an adequate supply of qualified labor. That is to say, manufacturers will invest in the suburbs, but not Detroit. When ever you see a story about Detroit and manufacturing, it's usually because some workers got caught smoking pot or drinking on their lunch break, and the union made sure they kept their jobs. Would you open a plant in such a location???
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Originally Posted by pknopp
So Detroit should open up their own printing presses and just start printing money?
Municipalities can't print money, only the federal reserve can do this. Detroit has been subsidized for years, and the results are still horrific.
Well, they are doing the opposite of what you suggest. They have been laying off police officers for years, and leaving the city dangerously under patrolled. Response time is around 1 hour. Schools are a complete disaster. District consolidation and teacher layoffs are the order of the day.
As for promoting manufacturing... They had their chance. They taxed the snot out of them and chased them all away. Businesses failed to stay on top of the technology, so they fell behind. There's the issue of their potential workforce. You're dealing with a populous that is ill educated, and you expect them to digest everything needed to operate today's tech intensive manufacturing equipment? I don't think so. Businesses will continue to invest in areas that have good education, and an adequate supply of qualified labor. That is to say, manufacturers will invest in the suburbs, but not Detroit. When ever you see a story about Detroit and manufacturing, it's usually because some workers got caught smoking pot or drinking on their lunch break, and the union made sure they kept their jobs. Would you open a plant in such a location???
Well I am not surprised, it is a hard thing for people to accept a need for change. Detroit could definitely do that, but as I have pointed out, it would require a lot of hard work and would have to do it in a non-traditional way. I would love to see Detroit bounce back because we all love a Cinderella story, but it will need leaders who dream big and people within the city to want more out of their city. Those are the two keys any city needs to grow.
Seems most arguments are around what should have been done in the past. But considering the way Detroit currently is, how will a conservative bring it back - that's the question. (The parents remain the same parents). How cutting spending (and or lowering taxes) will solve the problems of this city? (Even if unions are banned from tomorrow). Will cutting budgets lower the crime rate? If budgets are cut, will that improve the education system? If I have money to invest - will I move to, or invest in Detroit?
And, as some posters demand - who will invest the billions Detroit needs?
I've said that it would take some investment in Detroit. I've also mentioned that it starts at home too. However, I think you might be alluding to a point that I didn't intend to make, but just the same, a point that is sadly true. No one wants to invest in Detroit. The things Detroit needs to come back, it isn't going to come out of thin air.
Cutting the budget and lowering the taxes won't work. Detroit is basically broke and could very well go into bankruptcy soon. Detroit doesn't have much to cut. It will only mean more people getting laid off, fewer police on the streets, fewer EMT's, fewer firemen, fewer teachers. Detroit's tax base is basically poor. The murder rate is one thing to look at. Lack of trust in the police combined with the fear of retribution from criminals means cooperation with the police isn't that common. This often means that criminals often commit murder, and sometimes get away with it. A shortage of EMT's means that response times for the ambulances are very slow. This means if you get shot in Detroit, your chances of dying will be higher than in other major cities, with adds to the city's murder rate.
It's a nasty cycle. No one wants to invest because of the crime, and other issues, which means no jobs, with also means this cycle continues again.
Having established this, this is a question of what has happened to Detroit as opposed to Atlanta or DC.
People chose to invest money in these locations. The few that have picked Detroit got burned. Once bitten, twice shy. Only the federal government is silly enough to invest in an almost guaranteed loser. Seems Detroit is a sensitive subject for you merely because of race.
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Originally Posted by green_mariner
I was trying to say something similar. Detroit puts its eggs in one basket. It depended heavily and singularly on the automobile jobs. North Carolina wasn't dependent of textiles. It went into other things like banks, and technology.
Detroit did not put all it's eggs in one basket. The auto industry was based there for nearly 100 years. Other businesses existed there, but one by one, they either left or went bankrupt. The auto industry was the only mass employer left after many decades.
Detroit's fatal flaw was that it was managed in such a poor fashion. As businesses left or went bankrupt, they failed to attract any other business development to fill the vacuum. You can buy land for pennies on the dollar today, yet there is little hope of making any money on such an investment.
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Originally Posted by green_mariner
To bring Detroit back, it starts with education and innovation. It also starts with getting the crime under control. It is a cycle. The money to pay police officers, EMT's and firemen has to come from somewhere. Improvements from schools have to come from somewhere. I will be the first say that it starts with the parents. It also starts with getting the education system improved.
Than Detroit is truly finish. Rounds of layoffs, one after another for teachers and police. At one point, the city ran out of money to pay it's EMS. The parents are a lost cause, so the students won't fare much better. Detroit is basically becoming a 3rd world city. Maybe liberals will take notice and learn something, but they probably won't. The view from inside their rear tends to distort reality.
"My office was not surprised about the culture of corruption that we've been seeing in the past in the Detroit Public Schools system," she said. "What did surprise even us, though ... is how rampant, how overt and how conspicuous and downright bold-faced the corruption is, allegedly, in some of the cases that we've been looking at."
(Reuters) - Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, once seen as a rising star in Democratic Party politics, was convicted on Monday on two dozen federal charges of corruption and bribery during his seven-year tenure.
And then what happens when someone is appointed to try and address these problems?
Invoking the specter of Southern violations of the voting rights of African Americans, the Detroit Branch NAACP urged Gov. Rick Snyder not to appoint an emergency financial manager but instead work on a partnership with the city to fix Detroit’s financial crisis.
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