  Bvos Member Username: Bvos Post Number: 1498 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 70.228.2.1 |
I'm not saying that I agree with everything in the article or with the foundation that published it, but it is an interesting read, especially since the person who wrote it has lived in Metro Detroit for 18 years. (Dtwphoenix has the correct link. Thanks for pointing out the error) (Message edited by BVos on June 09, 2006) | ||
Dtwphoenix Member Username: Dtwphoenix Post Number: 49 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 70.190.215.201 |
I think you meant: What Detroit Can Learn From Bangalore http://www.reason.com/0606/fe. sd.what.shtml | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 1022 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 64.142.86.133 |
That first article has nothing to do with Detroit. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3839 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
Hmmm...the similarties between a capital city (and third largest city in India) of a state in a developing Third World nation, and an industrial city in a developed First World Nation. Very poor comparison, at best. They are two very different cities, at two very different points in their respective histories. Come on, there are better comparisons than this. | ||
Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 184 Registered: 07-2004 Posted From: 65.95.58.116 |
The city that Detroit should look at for answers and follow in many ways is Joburg, South Africa. That city and Detroit are like carbon copies. The only difference is, Joburg has been able to bring back the inner city in a much shorter time period. And one of the big reasons for that? They merged the entire metro area into one city. So now the rich suburbs must fund programs in the poorer inner city. And well its working. The inner city is becoming the PLACE TO BE again, and investment is up. So Detroit should look at Joburg. A city that had a booming inner city full of white people. Then the white people fled to the suburbs in fear of whites. The downtown and inner city went to rot, and was the most dangerous place in the world. Then a new city governmenting taking over all the suburbs started, and the inner city started to recover, and even the whites are starting to move back in certain areas. Cities far apart, but socially they have a lot in common if you read the history of the two places. Both even have a famous hotel sitting empty. Joburg's might be reopening soon if the downtown keeps on the path its going. So those two cities should be twins and learn from each other what to do. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3840 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
A much better, though Joburg is still considerably more dangerous. Jjaba may want to chime in on that one, but I still get the sense that even though downtown still acts as safe zone for visitors and "outsiders" moving back in, the situation is even more stark in Joburg (i.e. and incredibly heavy police presence, security cameras for days, cars equip with extreme anti theft measures...) | ||
Tomoh Member Username: Tomoh Post Number: 206 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 24.136.10.153 |
Bangalore and Detroit don't have anything at all particularly in common -- it just happens to be where the author lives and where the author visited. No comparison comes from the author until halfway through the article when the argument displays how weak it really is by comparing Detroit to the entire country of India. Not only is any comparison flawed, the basic description of Detroit contains much hyperbole and incorrect "conventional wisdom". From knowing that Reason is the libertarian's magazine, the prescription for Detroit is not hard to guess beforehand -- abolish taxes, abolish regulations on markets, industries, and labor. However, there is one piece related to this that does kind of resonate with me:
Not that zoning laws, like taxes and other regulations, shouldn't be removed suddenly and completely, but that zoning should be made more flexible to allow mixed-use neighborhoods not just in Detroit but in every suburb and city in the state and country. Nonetheless, any problems in Detroit's laws and regulations, and certainly many problems do exist that should be fixed, are only part of the problem and not the main source of the problem as this magazine tries to make it seem. Because even if Detroit were to abolish taxes and market regulations, Detroit would still not see the boom that Bangalore is now seeing. And such changes won't alone prevent Bangalore from declining one day in the same way that Detroit has. | ||
Miss_cleo Member Username: Miss_cleo Post Number: 240 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 69.47.85.139 |
Then the white people fled to the suburbs in fear of whites. Whites are fleeing from whites now??? | ||
Naturalsister Member Username: Naturalsister Post Number: 722 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 68.255.240.120 |
This guy is ranting. 900,000+ and 6,000,000. WTF? ...and which two decades did the Ren Cen sit nearly vacant? later - naturalsister | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 87 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 65.88.88.173 |
I cosign on the ranting sentiment. His memory is obviously very selective in regards to that snow storm debacle... | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3842 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
Naturalsister, I've always heard that the RenCen never really posted high occupancy, and built more as a speculative office complex. Until GM moved in in the mid-90's the place had been pretty empty ever since it was built from what I heard. | ||
Machoken Member Username: Machoken Post Number: 1289 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.85.155.145 |
I've been saying we should do that in SE Mich. for awhile now. It's nice to hear that it is working somewhere. Do you have more specific info on exactly how it is working in johannesburg? | ||
Dillpicklesoup Member Username: Dillpicklesoup Post Number: 37 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 64.7.188.40 |
breaking news!!!! Oakland County does fund the inner city- | ||
Naturalsister Member Username: Naturalsister Post Number: 725 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 70.8.24.232 |
When I was in high school in the 80s- 82-85, and would skip class, catch the Dexter to hang out inside the Ren Cen, the place was bustling with people in the middle of the day. "Sat nearly empty for 2 decades" just sounds like a bit of an exaggeration. I try to get the real numbers. later - naturalsister | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3844 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
Off subject, but my mom would play hooky, sometimes, to catch the same bus to see a movie downtown in the 60's. | ||
Motorcitymayor2026 Member Username: Motorcitymayor2026 Post Number: 922 Registered: 10-2005 Posted From: 24.231.189.137 |
Naturalsister, Before GM bought the building, the RenCen was in big trouble. Ford was the only business really keeping it afloat, and the hotel occupancy was extremely low. The 2 21-story buildings were nearly vacant. Deloitte was also one of the only companies holding the place together. Thus, GM purchased the building for $75 million, and it cost over $500 million to build in the 70's | ||
Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 185 Registered: 07-2004 Posted From: 65.95.57.146 |
Sorry about the typo. I meant the whites fled in fear of the blacks. About the Ren Centre. Is it true that when the Ren Centre opened, it was like a somerset collection mall, with Gucci, etc in it? I heard someone say that once, that it was suppose to be the high end capital of Metro Detroit. Just wondering if there was any truth to that. | ||
Vandykenjefferson Member Username: Vandykenjefferson Post Number: 6 Registered: 06-2006 Posted From: 68.40.195.233 |
I wouldn't say that 8000 employees is "near vacant." This is just another example of a suburban want-to-be pulitzer prize winner making generalizations instead of trips to the library... http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f ullpage.html?res=9900E0D71338F 933A15754C0A961958260&sec=&pag ewanted=print | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 1540 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 67.100.158.10 |
Elaborate, please. And for the rest of you--don't you know it's impossible and unfair to compare Detroit to anyplace else that is the slightest bit different than Detroit? | ||
Gumby Member Username: Gumby Post Number: 1256 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 141.216.1.4 |
Any article with phrases like this I don't like. yeah i know it is gramatically correct but it just sound stupid. Who wrote this article, Yoda?  | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3857 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
Dan, this comparison takes the cakes. Try Los Angeles, or Houston, but again comparing a Third World city in a developing nation to a First World, industrialized city that is downsizing? I think this is about one of the most ridiculous comparions one can make. | ||
Ray Member Username: Ray Post Number: 705 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 69.209.163.71 |
The expensive and poorly peforming city government is undermining Detroit and its people year after year. Why this problem is not corrected just defies imagination. Small datapoint from Martha Reeves: "Reeves, whose property taxes are current, said the red tape and difficulty working with the city to fix the properties was "absolutely unbelievable." "Absoultely unbelievable" Wow! From the horse's mouth. There is no sane reason why the city needs to operate this way. It could restrucure tomorrow. Corporations and individuals would run to city hall, with checkbooks in hand, to underwrite whatever computers, training or other capital improvements were required to properly administer the city if they thought that real, radical reform would take place. The only conclusion I can draw is that the city government is operated on the basis corruption and self-interest of its employees and not for the benefit of the people. |
