Detroit Turnaround 
Posted on 04/10/2013 6:26:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Detroit, in the minds of many people, looks like something from the film Gran Torino, in which Clint Eastwood’s retired car worker defiantly manicures his lawn and flies an American flag as the city around him descends into chaos. With its fraying social fabric and the imposition of an emergency manager to cope with its collapsing finances, it would be easy to argue a city that was a global centre of carmaking and musical innovation 50 years ago has passed the point of no return.
Easy, yes; but wrong. Detroit’s days as a manufacturing powerhouse – like those of many industrial cities in America, Europe and elsewhere – are irrevocable. But its downtown is rebounding, thanks to the kind of central location, affordable property, improved efficiency and productivity also bringing people and businesses back to struggling former industrial hubs such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Thousands of residents, including designers, techies and music makers, have moved to Detroit’s old central business district. They are drawn, to borrow a phrase from Jane Jacobs’ 1961 work, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, to the old buildings new ideas require. More than 40 per cent of the young adults living there are university educated, according to a recent report, compared with 11 per cent for the city as a whole, 29 per cent for the state of Michigan and 31 per cent for the nation. The urban centre is home to more than 600 new companies and draws 10.5m visitors to its leisure attractions each year.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
This article somehow doesn’t pass the sniff test.
According to his own site, Mister Florida is an “Urbanist, Author, Professor, Researcher, Talker, Bike Rider, Guitar Player”
Well, Isn’t that just so special? Detroit is in a turnaround.....if this weren’t so patently ludicrous it would be funny.
You see and hear this push/prod wishful thinking every damned day from so-called experts on the Radio, TV and in Print. Usually, they have some sort of vested interest like the dweeb here in Atlanta that just can’t find anything bad to say about unemployment, the stock market or the economy.
If you dig far enough, you’ll invariably find some sort of vested interest that precludes them from making any ‘expert’ opinion or from giving advice.
This spew isn’t even worth the trouble posting it.
I just knew the yuppies would come through and save Detroit.
Yeah, they will turn Detroit around selling each other Lattes, overpriced “ art” and publishing Blogs about what hip urban pioneers they are....
Absolutely. “Affordable property”? Hahahaha.
They move out too once the kids start coming.
Detroit Turnaround
I would guess gay is implied?
This is a common dream for urban planner types. They shout from the rooftops that ‘people are coming back to the city’....but its only after buildings are abandoned and rents are so low, that ‘young’ and ‘artsy’ and ‘hip’ people move in and make the city ‘vibrant’.
But its not a real recovery. The rents will stay low, and real estate values will stay static. And these ‘young people’ aren’t true consumers that drive an economy.
Somebody will renovate some building into ‘lofts’...some kid will open up a new art gallery, alot of people will carry coffee cups around and perfect their hipster look...
But the housing market, tax base, industrial base, rental market, and just about every metric you can think of is upside-down in Detroit, and will be for a long time.
The pollyanna tone certainly makes it seem unbelievable. But editing like this does not help either. Irrevocable???
A little digging unearths an enthusiastic vote for Obama every time...
They should change their name to Phoenix if they can get something out of those ashes.
Not so ridiculous as everyone here is making it out. Detroit has become a pet project for liberals; the rock-bottom real-estate makes it super-affordable to live in; is it really open-carry? That would help people feel safer moving in.
Come on, guys: Buy low, sell high is the mantra for capitalism. It’d be kinda goofy if only liberals recognized that. Is Detriot a basket-case; yes, and it has been for so long that its basket-case status has been priced in by everyone. Is Detroit ever going to be a capitol for capitalism, literally driving the American economy again? No way in hell. Is it a potentially savvy investment for some? Maybe. Can conditions for those stuck there improve? They can’t get worse.
Possibly, I don’t know for sure. But I’d be willing to hazard a guess that this ‘urbanite’ doesn’t spend much time in Detroit proper at night. If he does, it’s from one protected zone to another.
You see this kind of hip-urban white guy/girl crap in Atlanta sometimes...there are enclaves where they live, little islands of protected isolationism and they (the inhabitants) just have a gay old time.
It’s when one ventures outside that area they are brought to reality.
I get email blasts every week from a major university here in downtown Atlanta (required by Federal Law) about some mugging, rape or worse on its students who live near the campus. Sometimes two or three on a weekend.
In this country today, despite the bleats of these people like the writer of the article, there is nothing urbane about urban life in America. To the contrary, it is often a lesson in devolvement and the utter inhumaneness of its denizens.
And what kind of real estate do you own there you’re trying to sell?
Not only that, the enclaves are only safe during the day.
Cities are designed for one scenario: Armed gangsters and unarmed victims. Mothers will vote for people who keep their aspiring rappers from being killed while they rob people.
Musicians and artists, the pillars of an economy, to the rescue...
Yes, I would go to Detroit to see the “leisure attractions”. You can wish that Detroit will change, but you can’t change those Detroit winters.
Wasn’t everyone “shocked” that Canada Jenny sprinted for the west coast when her term was up?:
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