  Bvos Member Username: Bvos Post Number: 2225 Registered: 10-2003 |
The magazine Fast Company is currently rating cities for their "fastness". They've laid out 5 world cities that are too fast and 5 world cities that are two slow. Detroit is listed in the 5 slow world cities. http://www.fastcompany.com/mag azine/117/features-fast-cities -slow-cities.html | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1294 Registered: 07-2004 |
Wow, the insights they pack into two or three sentences are truly, er, mediocre. | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 219 Registered: 03-2006 |
Mentally slow? | ||
Susanarosa Member Username: Susanarosa Post Number: 1625 Registered: 11-2003 |
Have you ever been stuck walking behind a group of Metro Detroiters? I'd say they're pretty darn accurate. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1295 Registered: 07-2004 |
That’s why for the longest time I thought it was called "Waddles Road." | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 2636 Registered: 06-2004 |
Isn't Metro Detroit one of the most wired areas in the country? Wired = invisible speed  | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1668 Registered: 12-2005 |
maybe that's why the restaurant is called "Slows" | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1023 Registered: 10-2003 |
http://www.theslowskys.com/hom e/ | ||
Elsuperbob Member Username: Elsuperbob Post Number: 68 Registered: 03-2007 |
At least we're going slowly to nowhere... But, really, what a joke. What even is fastcompany? Blaming Castro alone and not economic embargoes for Havana shows what they know or how much research they put into this. | ||
Broken_main Member Username: Broken_main Post Number: 1269 Registered: 06-2005 |
That site is a waste of broadband | ||
Rb336 Member Username: Rb336 Post Number: 1452 Registered: 02-2007 |
Sounds like another hmmmm... bad city -- gotta put Detroit in there somewhere. | ||
Jjw Member Username: Jjw Post Number: 419 Registered: 10-2005 |
Elsuper---very good point you made about Havana. The embargoes have had a major effect on it. And you are right, it was not mentioned in the article. Good detective work! | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 3019 Registered: 12-2005 |
http://www.fastcompany.com/ has a surprisingly slow website. | ||
Frumoasa Member Username: Frumoasa Post Number: 43 Registered: 03-2007 |
I find it ironic that Budapest is also on that list of slow cities and my husband left Romania to find work in Budapest as a teenager and young adult, only to immigrate to....Detroit. And I must say that he didn't do too badly in either city, so there is always a way to make the economy work for you, even if it is not among a magazine's "hot spots." | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 295 Registered: 11-2003 |
Here's the deal guys - in the publishing biz, and I've seen this happen, what the editors/writers do is sit around a table and arbitrarily decide these things over a half-dozen quadruple mocha frap-azz chino lattes (with sprinkles, whip) and a bucket of scones. And they, in their luminance, devoid of statistics, divine an answer from the Starbucks mother gaia, write it down before deadline (with two sentences, this is such a "we need to fill space" piece) and then go back to playing Texas Hold'em on their iPod. Since obviously there isn't much science behind this, it doesn't carry much weight in my book (although, of course, people will read it and think negatively, but what else is new). Sure, Detroit Metro ain't perfect, but I don't put tons of stock in these things. | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 4792 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yeah that article is really well thought out... ....not | ||
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge Post Number: 193 Registered: 08-2006 |
Judging by how my fellow Detroiters and I drive on I-75 I'd say we're a pretty damn fast city... | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1311 Registered: 07-2004 |
GSG: Ever see that Simpsons episode where Homer keeps shouting while driving, "OUTTA MY WAY, JERKASS!" That is soooo I-75... | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 687 Registered: 12-2006 |
I think they define "fast" as "full of self-important jackasses in their mid 20s wearing suits and making lots of money at phoney-baloney jobs". So Detroit isn't "fast". That's OK with me. When the Wings won the Cup in '97 (I think it was '97), Al Sobotka got to ride on the Zamboni in the victory parade, and I'd rather have that kind of vibe than be what this magazine thinks of as "fast". Just IMHO, of course | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 887 Registered: 12-2003 |
Before everyone's panties are in a bunch over what seems to be an unfair jab at our fair city, maybe you ought to read the counterpart article about fast cities and what defines them. Then, sit back, and honestly determine if which category the D fits into. There is a true and serious lesson in this article. Detroit is not forward-thinking enough, not entrepreneurial enough, not creative enough. Rather than just dismissing this as another publication "Detroit-hating"; think about the realities, and further more, how YOU might be willing to change that reality. Only then will our region begin to become what it ought to be. Here's the counterpart article: http://www.fastcompany.com/mag azine/117/features-fast-cities -intro.html | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1315 Registered: 07-2004 |
I think the point was that their one or two sentences about Detroit had little insight. And, yeah, they seem like a bunch of MBA dickheads to boot. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 689 Registered: 12-2006 |
From the article: "The second component: innovation. Fast Cities invest in physical, cultural, and intellectual infrastructure that will sustain growth." So tell me how, with the 1950s-thinking governments we have all over the metro area, we are ever supposed to get near this idea. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 2641 Registered: 06-2004 |
"fast" = "fad" | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 690 Registered: 12-2006 |
I agree, 'pup, but I still think that second component is a worthwhile thing for any healthy region to strive for. Story: as Joe Muer's was losing business through the 80s and 90s, I went there a few times, and the restaurant looked and felt like a great place to eat in 1949. The crowd demographics reflected that. Meanwhile, Fishbone's opens in Greektown, and it's lively, the menu is interesting, crowds flock to the place, all ages and races. Joe would complain to anyone he knew about how the City was changing and it was ruining his business; the fact was his restaurant wasn't changing and became irrelevant, and is now a vacant lot. Where we ought to be, as a region, is Fishbone's. Where we are, and where our politicians seem intent on keeping us, is Joe Muer's. (Message edited by professorscott on August 24, 2007) | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1318 Registered: 07-2004 |
This marks the first time I've heard a culinary metaphor for civic and cultural life. Outstanding, Professor! ;) | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 301 Registered: 11-2003 |
Great post, Professor. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1455 Registered: 04-2006 |
Where we ought to be, as a region, is Fishbone's. Where we are, and where our politicians seem intent on keeping us, is Joe Muer's. Agreed with above sentiments. Great metaphor. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 691 Registered: 12-2006 |
Appreciate the kudos. Now all we need to do is find some civic-minded folks who are Fishbone's thinkers and who are willing to step up to the plate and take a role in government. The Joe Muer's thinkers eventually fade from the scene. There's no need to fret over them. We just need to start replacing them. | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 302 Registered: 11-2003 |
I do agree - problem is, it's really hard to get the funding to make that happen in government (as far as campaign finance). The political machines control the money, it'd have to be people who are independently wealthy. | ||
Rb336 Member Username: Rb336 Post Number: 1524 Registered: 02-2007 |
the whole parochial attitude that seems to attach itself to various government officials and entities both city and suburban is the single greatest threat to the survival of this region. even when private money is involved, someone somewhere will object to the project and do what they can to block it due to some perceived slight or for some other reason. what is needed is a board that is independent of the local whims, who will look at projects on their merits and then get fast-track approval for projects. once a project is fast-tracked, all permits would be issued in one place. | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 888 Registered: 12-2003 |
Here's part of the problem. The few comments above cite primarily GOVERNMENT fault, when in reality, it is the businesses and people within the region that can foster the change as much, if not more so, than the government. Penske has the right idea. Are government bodies entrenched and stagnant? Yes definitely, but quibbling about political machines and government parochialism won't solve the problems we face. Think about what YOU can do to drive the region forward. Start a business; run for office; join/sponsor a charity or neighborhood group, become a member of the DIA, Friends of Belle Isle, etc, etc, etc. Lots of ways to make the area a forward moving place, rather than stagnating or even shrinking/deteriorating. John Kennedy was right; "Ask not what you're country can do for you..." ...stepping off soapbox... | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 692 Registered: 12-2006 |
I disagree with part of what you say Rrl. Major change doesn't happen without major government involvement. The sea changes in how other regions develop and redevelop often start with a Roger Penske but pretty quickly the local politicians have to get on board or major things don't take place. We have major problems, for instance, with land use, transportation and education, and those are all government related things. I can join every charity in Michigan and start nine businesses and all those things will still be wrong. | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 889 Registered: 12-2003 |
Maybe we need to enlist and elect better civic leaders then. Move with us, or get out of the way. Note I did include running for office. If you don't like how things are being handled, voice your opinion and work to change it by becoming a policy maker yourself. And, I might add, starting a business (or nine) is one way. As your business develops strength, it brings with it clout and reason for governments to consider your point of view; money and jobs speak to the pols. Think Dan Gilbert. He has the CoD jerking themselves off just talking about him moving his firm to the city. That is the sea change YOU can bring. Granted, most of us will ever run multi-million dollar corps like Penske or Gilbert, but even the small fry has a favored status if you will bring jobs to their citizens. If nothing else, you're making the area a better place to live. | ||
Yvette248 Member Username: Yvette248 Post Number: 875 Registered: 10-2006 |
It's all the old surburbanites slowing the young city folks down, w-a-y.... d--o--w--n......... | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1591 Registered: 04-2006 |
I just got this e-mail today: from: "newsletters@fastcompany.com" <newsletters@fastcompany.com> to me date Sep 10, 2007 11:57 AM subject Fast Company submission has been approved Hi [iheartthed], Congratulations! http://www.fastcompany.com/cit ies/2007/profile.php?id=193 | ||
Beavis1981 Member Username: Beavis1981 Post Number: 584 Registered: 08-2006 |
The Wal-Mart You Don't Know The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line? From: Issue 77 | December 2003 | Page 68 | By: Charles Fishman | Photographs By: Livia Corona A gallon-sized jar of whole pickles is something to behold. The jar is the size of a small aquarium. The fat green pickles, floating in swampy juice, look reptilian, their shapes exaggerated by the glass. It weighs 12 pounds, too big to carry with one hand. The gallon jar of pickles is a display of abundance and excess; it is entrancing, and also vaguely unsettling. This is the product that Wal-Mart fell in love with: Vlasic's gallon jar of pickles. Advertisement Read more about Wal-Mart: * The Man Who Said No to Wal-Mart Companies want their products on the shelves of the world’s biggest retailer. Jim Wier wanted Wal-Mart to stop selling his Snapper mowers. * Retooling Wal-Mart To neutralize its critics, Wal-Mart must radically change its approach. * Pulling Punches CEO Lee Scott went on the record to fight Wal-Mart's bad rep. But his PR effort hit the mat. * 60 Seconds with Mona Williams She defends the world's biggest company against ethical charges -- meet Wal-Mart's head of PR. * The Next Big (Legal) Thing? America's largest private employer is in a lawsuit for discriminating against its female workers. Wal-Mart 10 Steps to Turn Around Wal-Mart Sponsored Sections Hiring Center Advertisement Enter Key Words: (example: sales, java, marketing vp) * Newsletters Fast Take: FC's weekly newsletter First Impression: daily insights FC Now: staff blog Transit Authority: business travel tips * Featured Services * Find Biz Software Wal-Mart priced it at $2.97--a year's supply of pickles for less than $3! "They were using it as a 'statement' item," says Pat Hunn, who calls himself the "mad scientist" of Vlasic's gallon jar. "Wal-Mart was putting it before consumers, saying, This represents what Wal-Mart's about. You can buy a stinkin' gallon of pickles for $2.97. And it's the nation's number-one brand." Therein lies the basic conundrum of doing business with the world's largest retailer. By selling a gallon of kosher dills for less than most grocers sell a quart, Wal-Mart may have provided a ser-vice for its customers. But what did it do for Vlasic? The pickle maker had spent decades convincing customers that they should pay a premium for its brand. Now Wal-Mart was practically giving them away. And the fevered buying spree that resulted distorted every aspect of Vlasic's operations, from farm field to factory to financial statement. Indeed, as Vlasic discovered, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer relentlessly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us "every day low prices." It's the story of what that pressure does to the companies Wal-Mart does business with, to U.S. manufacturing, and to the economy as a whole. That story can be found floating in a gallon jar of pickles at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer. It's the world's largest company--bigger than ExxonMobil, General Motors, and General Electric. The scale can be hard to absorb. Wal-Mart sold $244.5 billion worth of goods last year. It sells in three months what number-two retailer Home Depot sells in a year. And in its own category of general merchandise and groceries, Wal-Mart no longer has any real rivals. It does more business than Target, Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Safeway, and Kroger combined. "Clearly," says Edward Fox, head of Southern Methodist University's J.C. Penney Center for Retailing Excellence, "Wal-Mart is more powerful than any retailer has ever been." It is, in fact, so big and so furtively powerful as to have become an entirely different order of corporate being. Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas. http://www.fastcompany.com/mag azine/77/walmart.html O.K. I scanned through this website and this article was supposed to be about A&P but after reading 2 pages of redudancy alas I have yet to see anything but Walmart. | ||
Ray Member Username: Ray Post Number: 997 Registered: 06-2004 |
Detroit is a slow city and the people who live hear including me are insane. Otherwise they would live in Santa Monica. But they don't. Because they are insane. This is the crux of our problem. But here is my question: how the fuck can Ann Arbor, which is a suburb of Detroit by every measure, be on the Fast Company "on the verge" list for near-miss hot cities while Detroit is on the top five slowest? This says something. Something profound. But I don't know what it is because I live in Detroit not Ann Arbor. If I lived in Ann Arbor, I would think what it means is that we have a highly fractured area with strong and weak parts, the composite of which may look like crap but that composite underrates the strong parts. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 110 Registered: 07-2007 |
Walmart sells low prices, consumers win. Companies that don't know their market lose. Whats the problem, people have jobs, if they don't like it leave! What does this have to do with "Detroit not Up to Palo Alto's snuff" on Detroit lagging on high tech? | ||
Gianni Member Username: Gianni Post Number: 302 Registered: 05-2004 |
Don't forget the tortoise wins the race. Fast does not equal best. | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 894 Registered: 12-2003 |
Yeah, but if memory serves, at least the tortoise was moving forward. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1599 Registered: 04-2006 |
There is a big difference in thinking between Ann Arbor and nearly every other municipality in southeast Michigan. | ||
Citylover Member Username: Citylover Post Number: 2627 Registered: 07-2004 |
Hi Ray, it has been a while since I have had to say this but Ann Arbor is not a suburb of Detroit.There is a strong connection between Detroit and Ann Arbor however. It is mostly an academic connection as Detroit and it's suburbs are filled with people educated at UM. As usual this is not meant as a slight against Detroit. I hadn't read this thread in a while because I don't give a shit what some magazine says. However I might disagree with the profs analogy of Joe Muirs and Fishbones.Unfortunately I never went to Joe Muirs.But I have been to fishbones. The food at Fishbones is mediocre and music was played too loud.Of course that is a common trait of restaurants these days(blast music). Muirs was probably a throwback.But is that all bad? What is wrong with tradition? Of course I ask rhetorically as I believe in some instances not only is tradition short changed but our continuing infatuation with a 24 hr society and technology is not always good. | ||
Ray Member Username: Ray Post Number: 1007 Registered: 06-2004 |
City lover, I respect what you are saying and must admit that AA has a seperate identity and culture. But, I guess my point is that its still part of the region and that the region has its economic high points like Ann Arbor and pats of OC but is still perceived on the whole as "slow". | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4138 Registered: 10-2003 |
"But here is my question: how the fuck can Ann Arbor, which is a suburb of Detroit by every measure, be on the Fast Company "on the verge" list for near-miss hot cities while Detroit is on the top five slowest? " Ray, the suburb of Ann Arbor thrives, first and foremost, because it has been lucky to always have its cheek planted firmly against the state and federal government tit. At its core is the great University of Michigan that has benefited from billions of government dollars, which in turn has attracted great minds, who in turn move through a revolving door with private high tech companies, which in turn brings more prosperity to AA, which in turn attracts more great minds, which in turn attracts the Googles and venture capitol of this world. And the spiral circles upward. As a result of the investment of our tax dollars in this community, AA is truly and information age setting. It manufactures next to nothing, certainly no heavy/automotive manufacturing, and produces highly profitable intangibles such as research, medical services and products, software, university graduates and even entertainment in the form of the Wolverines, although the latter is in some dispute right now. Consequently, it has a virtually recession proof economy. Take away that history of government funding and it is just another Jackson or Battle Creek. Put proportionally the same government investment in Detroit institutions or any of Michigan's troubled older cities and they would be on the edge too. That said, AA a great community and is the economic model toward which Michigan should be rushing to break away from the automotive roller coaster. Use our heads, not our backs. | ||
Citylover Member Username: Citylover Post Number: 2628 Registered: 07-2004 |
Wrong before on this and still wrong Lowell_ nice with the damning with faint praise crap but that is how you have always talked about a2_ btw how you can say fool proof economy is confusing as a2 has just lost it's largest private employer pfizer. |
