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 ...
I bet he’s very careful about where he rides his bike and plays his guitar and does his urbanizing.
Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, ever say that. Things can ALWAYS get worse. I learned that the hard way.
Really? I wasn’t aware of any. Probably in the ‘burbs.
LOL! Each and every one of those “nevers” were worthwhile, too!
>> And what kind of real estate do you own there you’re trying to sell? <<
Anything. All these damned hippies moving next door are worse than the crack dens. Just kidding; I don’t live or own property anywhere near Michigan.
I was a bit worried I might be wasting JimRob’s bandwith with it, but I thought it was important to emphasize. I just well remember the time the words, “It can’t get any worse” came out my mouth. I was quite depressed and had just been through a distressing ordeal...
Turned out it was like rolling down a bumpy, 100-foot hill. What I didn’t know was that 100-foot hill was atop Mount Everest, and I was about to keep on rollin’... right down to the Marianas Trench. I learned never say that phrase “can’t” ever again. Remember when a lot of us said that with Bubba ? We learned.
I notice when they run ads for Michigan tourism (and we get them down in Tennessee), they just show the beaches and lakes way north in the U.P. They’d be nuts to emphasize Motown. Sadly, the latter is the perception for most folks outside the state.
Here is the truth: Detroit stood in the post war era as a Colossus of manufacturing. Europe was flat on its back and Asia was a basket case.
If you wanted a car or a stove or most anything manufactured you came to Detroit. Unions and Corporate Detroit never thought the rest of the world would recover and they signed contracts that reflected this distorted view of life.
Then: the riots. 1967 was the beginning of the end.
It will never be what it was because it was a distorted market.
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