metro detroit is doing just fine (compared to other rust belt locales) though.
frankly, I think the best thing to do is for the “city of” to be drastically reduced in size, the resulting beltway of used-to-be-detroit be seized by the state government and directly run. they can afford to offer better tax deals (frankly, I’d reserve the cushiest tax deals for individuals, rather than businesses, but they can get some property tax breaks), they can afford (relative to detroit, I realize Michigan isn’t in hot shape fiscally) to snap stuff up through eminent domain, bla bla bla.
the state can spend the time and the money with the “new detroit” and better tailor it to return some suburban residents.
I would also create a greenbelt around the current extent of metro detroit to further prevent the run-out from the city core. This would be another thing that only the state could do.
It may be a general assumption but is it based on reality? It might just be based on corporate lobbying (businesses have an obvious motive in convincing local governments to give them sweetheart tax deals). It’s also a big political gesture - getting a big corporation to open a plant in your city makes you look like you’re doing something and the associated costs can be quietly swept under the rug.
I’m not saying this kind of thing is always a bad idea - but it’s wrong to claim that it’s always a good idea. It’s an idea that has costs and benefits and you’ve got to compare the two and not just follow the principle that whatever’s good for General Motors is good for America. (And I know it’s a misquote.)
There is talk about moving the people closer together , then farming the open land.
Detroit provided labor for the auto plants ,which were all located here. The Rouge plant is an enormous steel plant that was a cutting edge builder of autos . Now Rouge steel plant is owned by a Russian corporation.Thousands of big and small companies that provided engineering and parts for the auto industry are shuttered . Lots of educated people with great experience no longer have jobs. Homes are still dropping in value. Foreclosures are everywhere.Bankruptcies are big business now.
This is not new. As automation replaced line workers, who could make good livings without educations beyond highschool, these non working stayed in Detroit. They scrambled to make enough money to survive. To some degree they preyed off of each other. They live off minimum wage jobs and unemployment.
The people of Detroit were unceremoniously dropped when industry no longer needed them. Now the middle class across the nation are getting the same treatment. They are not needed. The work can be done in China and India cheaper.
look up Pfizer’s operation in Ann Arbor - they rolled in (undoubtedly thanks to numerous tax breaks by the State, City, County, and University) and then took off shortly thereafter (probably once the tax breaks and incentives wore off) if you want specific examples of how this may or may not work in Michigan
As for farms, I would think farming on some plots of land in Detroit is bound to be like playing a game of CERCLA roulette. I don’t think you really want to start digging.
The median home price in Detroit is seven thousand five hundred dollars. I didn’t use numbers so you would understand I’m not leaving out a zero. Knocking down these terrifies houses surely increases the value of the property, because nobody wants the house and the land is freed up to do something else with it.
With what money? The area around Detroit is highly suburbanized and developed already.
The city of Ann Arbor does this, with the greenbelt, but that’s because they’ve had long standing plans. Detroit has had union and Big Business involvement, for better or worse. We’re seeing how both of the “for worse”.
That’s why I fear the film industry credits. I think it’s a great idea to lure new and different industries over to Michigan, but it’s going to end up with a race to the bottom. We undercut California, someone undercuts us, we undercut them, and someone else undercuts us again, and we (and the other losers in the scenario) are going to be left holding the bag.
The council and the mayor are getting rejected now. It is late. but it seems the people of Detroit may be finally fed up. After Kwame got caught selling the city out, it seems the people are trying to get back on track. Bing is a start. More than 15 people in the government are doing time. The Feds are prosecuting some more. Perhaps a lesson will be learned. Whatever the lesson is.
It is not a mess because it is a liberal government. The politicians and administration were all thinking of themselves and looting the city. that is a Republican attitude. Money is all that matters.
As Ravenman pointed out, the value of these homes has already been destroyed. What they would be destroying are broken down eyesores and firetraps that are mostly being used as crack dens and clubhouses for gangbangers (criminal, not porn). It does not make sense for a city of 600,000 to try and continue to badly provide services (police, road, fire, utilities, etc) for 2 million. Many of those neighborhoods are reverting back to nature on their own anyway.
Which sort of explains why NYC has been such a shithole under Guilianni and Bloomburg.
Ive been to Windsor, and it is a nice city, with none of the problems of Detroit even though it is in the same location as Detroit but on the other side of the river.
In Windsor there is a much lower crime rate, most of the babies born are legitimate, most kids in Windsor finish high school, most of the people in Windsor are not on unemployment, etc etc etc.
Moreover, Detroit was not always poor, dirty, crime-ridden, Detroit was once one of the best cities in the world, and as recently as the 1950’s Detroit was a nice safe beautiful city where most people worked and where most babies were legitimate.
It is the kind of people who are now in Detroit that makes Detroit bad, corrupt, unsafe, poor, dirty, etc. Detroit will not revive until a different kind of people move into it. Unless a different kind of people move into Detroit, none of the touchy-feely nonsensical artificial gimmicks are going to work.
I was thinking of buying a house on the outskirts of Detroit. It is (was?) beautiful once you got out of the city. Do you know what property tax cost in Wayne County? My pay would be maxed out at $71K to work in Detroit Public School. Can I afford to live there? Would I want to?
Saint Cad: Last I heard there were houses selling for $50 in parts of Detroit. Even in the remaining nice neighborhoods, you can buy something really nice cheaply. Apparently the nicer neighborhoods are in the west of the country and on Lake St Clair.
I was looking at those.
Problem 1: Habitable? Usually not.
Problem 2: Property taxes from what I have seen are very high. Almost as much as what mortgage payments would be at the regular price.
I am constantly impressed by ralph’s ability to bitch about unions no matter what subject he’s discussing. He is to labor unions what Lou Dobbs is to immigrants.