Posted on 11/30/2018 5:59:21 AM PST by george76
General Motors Co on Monday pulled the plug on the Chevrolet Volt hybrid and the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant that builds it, both examples of a costly gamble that is not paying off.
GM’s widely touted factory of the future, forced on a town desperate for jobs and hailed decades later by former resident Barack Obama, is set to wind down over the next few years, leaving beleaguered Hamtramck wondering what happened.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference Monday that he told GM chief executive Mary Barra Monday that “we moved thousands of people out of that neighborhood ... to create that assembly plant and I felt that the city of Detroit deserved more consideration.”
The Detroit-Hamtramck plant stands on 465 acres of land that was once a neighborhood known as “Poletown.”
In 1981, the Michigan Supreme Court approved a decision to allow Detroit to tear down up to 1,500 homes, more than 140 businesses, a hospital and six churches to build the $500 million plant. The Detroit News reported 4,200 people lost their homes as a result.
GM convinced officials in the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck, the state of Michigan - and ultimately the state’s highest court - to use eminent domain, a controversial process in which government seizes private land.
Karen Majewski, the mayor of Hamtramck, told Reuters that the GM plant is one of the largest contributors to local property taxes. Empty, she worried the factory will discourage other investments.
“They destroyed homes and churches and local businesses, all to build that plant,” Majewski said. “Now that the plant is going to close, people will wonder why that neighborhood had to be sacrificed in the first place.”
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
This seems to have been kept well hidden.
Get hired by leaching off taxpayer subsidies, get fired when taxpayers cut off the gravy train.
from ‘87 - ‘03 had 5 GM vehicles, and other than a minor problem or two I was pretty satisfied with ‘em. When they got into bed with obama I wrote ‘em off. I’ll stick with my imports......no unions ya know.
I would go back to 1981 and the Michigan Supreme Court decision to allow the property to ‘be grabbed’. It’s another case where the state and the court really screwed private citizens badly, and no one can be punished today.
Upstate NY learned this lesson the hard way. Just because you can bribe them doesn’t mean they’ll stay bought.
New London, CT is a whole different story. After displacing residents and businesses under a similar eminent domain process -- and even fighting the legal challenges all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where it ended with the controversial Kelo decision -- the major pharmaceutical firm that was the keystone of the redevelopment project pulled out of the deal.
Stuff like this happens more often than you would think. Even here in Canada the government appropriated many homes in order to build a certain Road. But they never did build it. These people had lived in their homes for years and years. It’s not right.
That's a new tidbit to me. When did Obama live in Hamtramck or Detroit?
Sounds like that failed solar panel factory, was it called Solaris? Another liberal dream.
Assuming this is a modern plant, I’d think another manufacturer will gladly pay yard sale price for it.
How to kill a muslim community.
While we focus on the southern border, a few of us have not forgotten the northern border, especially in view of Minnesota's recent attempt to invade the USA.
It’s mostly foreign manufacturers that are building new plants in the U.S. these days, and they tend to steer clear of these UAW-run states.
Barack Built That.
Solyndra 500 million dollars gone where?
“Forget it Jake. It’s Poletown.”
Nicely kept secret! Way to go, GM! So glad I’ve never owned any of your products, nor will I.
Janesville, WI went through the same thing with its GM Plant. After a DECADE of sitting vacant, clearing of the site has finally been started and it is being put up for sale on the global market.
0bama gave the plant and the Volt his usual Kiss of Death.
I sure hope workers can be re-located, or find jobs with competing plants. Get as far away from those LOSERS as possible.
Awexizd Wanachexesin and Sartwxia Mojoleskiwzap were interviewed but were too choked up to say anything
Sounds like a great location for the Barrack Hussein Obama Presidential Library. Big enough for his ego and would solve a couple of problems.
Also, who woulda thought turning over control of your car company to a “genius” like Obama would turn out to be a mistake?
I agree with you. As a kid my first car was a 58 Chevy and I was more or less solid Chevy up until my last new pickup, a 2008 Chevy. Since obama, we’ve bought Japanese cars and Ford trucks.
With Dodge (actually Ram) new styling, I’m considering a new Dodge PU.
GM can go pound sand.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.