  Crumbled_pavement Member Username: Crumbled_pavement Post Number: 48 Registered: 08-2007 |
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20071125/BUS INESS05/711250659#article_comm ents Too far off in the future, too many obstacles to overcome, opposition from residents that would be affected, and ofcourse the evilest of evil evils: tax money spent to build infrastructure. Is this something metro Detroit should pursue? Why or why not? P.S.: Sorry if this thread has been done before but I didn't see it anywhere so I created this one. | ||
Mwilbert Member Username: Mwilbert Post Number: 5 Registered: 11-2007 |
This may be a good idea, but air freight is likely to decline in relative importance because of rising jet fuel prices and carbon regulations, both of which are almost certain in the time scale involved in planning a venture of this kind. Those issues may also favor air-rail-truck hubs over air-truck hubs. I know there are rail lines near both Metro and Willow Run, but don't know how close they are or what their capacity and condition. As you suggest, there is every reason to think this is beyond the political capabilities of the governmental units involved. | ||
Miesfan Member Username: Miesfan Post Number: 62 Registered: 11-2007 |
It sounds nice but at the end of the day it's just sprawl in a new direction. Aside from a Detroit-DTW-Ann Arbor express rail line, there is little about the airport city concept that is all that new or productive. Romulus and other communities around DTW already have the kind of transportation industry they are talking about. Truck depots, etc. I'm skeptical there would be much demand for any significant residential development around the airport especially considering metro Detroit has a huge surplus of housing stock. According to the 1980 census 4,680,000 million people lived in metro Detroit them. According to the 2000 census 4,468,966 live in metro Detroit now. despite this population loss over the last generation metro Detroit witnessed a boom in new housing over the last decade like it hasn't seen since the end of WWII. So who will live at the Airport City? Worse, I think the US will see a collapse in the value of commercial real estate in the next 10 years. The rise of the internet has made work-from-home at telecommuting a practical and attractive option from white-collar employees and their employers. Think of the savings to the Fortune 500 if they could shed 1/10 of their office real estate and do so without cutting their workforce? Offices with unassigned workstations and work-from-home policies can be reduced is size and cost while still allowing a firm to maintain the same level of workforce capacity. And the environment benefits are huge as well. Commercial real estate for office space has never been an easy sell in this town and it's only going to get worse. Adding a whole bunch of new office complexes near the airport won't help matters. As for "logistics" as a growth industry? Again its a job that doesn't require the employee to be in a specific place. Most employees anyway. A trucking company in Romulus could conceivably outsource almost all of their logistical employees to Singapore. The Airport City is a classic idiot culture idea. People are impressed by buzzwords like new economy, transportation hub and logistics but fail to look at the details it's just lipstick on a pig. | ||
Fareastsider Member Username: Fareastsider Post Number: 695 Registered: 08-2006 |
Stupid idea it just going to be a glorified industrial park. We have to many vacant industrial and commercial structures as is. Metro Detroit has to many blighted underused areas to justify eating up what little open land is left in Wayne County. | ||
Trainman Member Username: Trainman Post Number: 573 Registered: 04-2006 |
Translations are needed and here they are We've got to start doing things outside the box," means we need a one half percent county sales tax to raise more tax money to pay county workers. We cannot be afraid of failure." means we can all dig just a little deeper into our pockets to pay for the health care benefits of Wayne county workers, so they don't have to pay more just like private sector workers. Wayne County has paid K $158,000 for his consulting services means he took out top officials for a lunch in Paris and then on a train ride all over Europe so they can come back and give big speeches about how other countries are attracting jobs, complete with movies, pop and free popcorn for the public. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 2297 Registered: 01-2005 |
The argument for air express is speed, compared to rail/truck. On the other hand, I recently purchased an item on the web and paid substantially extra for overnight delivery. I sent the order in on a Thursday. FedEx delivered it the following Tuesday. (Was a medical item my wife needed for our Detroit trip; fortunately, we left on the next Wednesday.) May as well have gone by truck. And the SOB only came to Vegas from Bumfork, California. | ||
Warrenite84 Member Username: Warrenite84 Post Number: 181 Registered: 01-2007 |
There's nothing wrong in getting the ball rolling on a shipping logistics area such as this. A portion of our job development must be invested in items that have a distant payout in the 20-30 year range. That would include re-evaluating our assets to include never before imagined market opportunities. We are already a hub for NW Airlines and have two good sized airports near each other. Why not utilize these assets to to their best advantage? | ||
Warrenite84 Member Username: Warrenite84 Post Number: 182 Registered: 01-2007 |
If you want to further diversify our local economy away from automotive, this could be a good possibility. (Message edited by warrenite84 on November 26, 2007) | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 282 Registered: 07-2007 |
Let's pour billions of dollars into roads, water and sewer to develop more farmland farther out from Detroit and the suburbs and call it growth. If this is a a "key to our future" then we're in worse shape than I thought. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 78 Registered: 11-2007 |
Is a bumfork a safe medical device? | ||
Warrenite84 Member Username: Warrenite84 Post Number: 183 Registered: 01-2007 |
Metro and Willow Run are in a good area to take advantage of being in between two cities, Detroit and AnnArbor. Metropolitan populations will continue to grow between these two cities. The jobs created by this project will come strictly because of their proximity to these airports. Will you so quickly wave away the chance to grow jobs in areas we've never before? Many items trucked to Michigan were flown to Chicago because we're not well set up for it yet. Those flights and others should be coming here. Chicago is about maxed out in air freight and you don't hear Memphis complaining about all the FedEx flights it receives. The best way to maximize the benefits of an Aerotropolis is intensive pre-planning. Don't worry so much about this temporary gas crunch. We will have plenty of gas for at least 50 years. This $100/barrel oil will drive gas companies to tap otherwise marginal areas, and lessen oil prices with more available product. | ||
Rb336 Member Username: Rb336 Post Number: 3704 Registered: 02-2007 |
http://www.fastcompany.com/mag azine/107/aerotropolis.html http://americancity.org/articl e.php?id_article=148 just a couple more articles about aerotropolises | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 283 Registered: 07-2007 |
"Metro and Willow Run are in a good area to take advantage of being in between two cities, Detroit and AnnArbor. Metropolitan populations will continue to grow between these two cities." You're basing this on what? If you study the migration trends in SE Michigan, growth has moved outward in almost every direction. But it's been weakest around the airports. Why? It's not due to lack of infrastructure regionally as both airports have direct access to I-94 and Metro has access to 275. Nor can it be blamed on strict governmental control since Romulus allows just about anything to be built within its borders. Maybe there's a reason people don't want to live or work near an airport unless they have to. Hmm, I'm wondering why that might be... | ||
Mwilbert Member Username: Mwilbert Post Number: 10 Registered: 11-2007 |
We may or may not be in a "temporary" gas crunch but no one who has looked at the situation believes there will be "plenty of gas for at least 50 years". There is certainly debate about when exactly there won't be "plenty of gas", but the outside limit of even the optimists is about 2025-2030. Personally, I'll be surprised if prices aren't significantly higher in five years. That is not to say that alternatives will not be developed, but it isn't at all clear that those alternatives will priced any more attractively than gasoline. Electric/plug-in hybrid cars are probably the best solution we currently know how to build, but that isn't going to work for jets or trucks. And yes, this does contribute to my doubts about this aerotropolis idea. In all probability, the future of long-distance freight transport in the US is going to be rail, both because trains are energy-efficient and because they can be run on electricity. To be clear, I do not want to suggest that air freight or truck freight are going to disappear--just that there will be a substantial volume shift toward rail. | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1111 Registered: 10-2003 |
"We may or may not be in a "temporary" gas crunch but no one who has looked at the situation believes there will be "plenty of gas for at least 50 years". There is certainly debate about when exactly there won't be "plenty of gas", but the outside limit of even the optimists is about 2025-2030." Really? Well...no. Try to stay somewhere close to the facts when you throw out these statements of such strong conviction please. | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1112 Registered: 10-2003 |
The aerotropolis is a great, and overdue idea. I am in a related industry and have watched as other cities with the location, real estate and transportation systems have taken advantage of the fulfillment and distribution market that is booming in this country. As more products and components are manufactured from multiple world locations, the fulfillment of these components into finished subassemblies or products for distribution to other assembly locations or end-users will continue to grow. The opportunity to do this in the most efficient manner possible is significant and one that offers both high profit and high employment potential. The savy business leaders will push this forward, hopefully, in a business-friendly manner that is beneficial for this area. The naysayers will...continue to naysay | ||
Warrenite84 Member Username: Warrenite84 Post Number: 184 Registered: 01-2007 |
Population tends to grow along freeways; particularly ones that connect two cities. Those who live in between have the benefit of greater choices and conveniences. My best example is the population growth between Raleigh/Durham and Winston/Salem, NC along I-40. Yes, living near the noise of an airport is not very desirable, but that matters very little in a factory or shipping setting. These businesses already generate noise in the course of doing business. Future homes would only be built on the fringes so as to minimize the noise pollution. I don't see Dubai and others sinking huge amounts of cash into an Aerotropolis if the oil will run dry in 2025-2030. | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 287 Registered: 07-2007 |
"Future homes would only be built on the fringes so as to minimize the noise pollution." But wait, earlier you said: "Metropolitan populations will continue to grow between these two cities." So how's that going to happen when most of the area between Metro and Willow Run is impacted by airport noise, to say nothing of the train and truck traffic that you suggest would be a great addition for the area. Doesn't sound like it's going to be anything more than a giant intermodal terminal. 25,000 acres of that? I doubt it. | ||
Warrenite84 Member Username: Warrenite84 Post Number: 186 Registered: 01-2007 |
I would think the areas between the two airports ,I-94 to Ecorse Rd. would be more intermodal/light industry. The area south of I-94 around Belleville down to Willow Rd. would be better suited for offices, hotels, and residential. They would still have easy access to I-94, I-275, and both airports. Novine, I think proper zoning would limit development to intermodal/light industrial use in this area along I-94 north to Ecorse Rd. Of course this is all speculation on my part and your guess is as good as mine. |
