[Dan from Michigan]

Background - Saginaw is a blue collar small city 30 miles north of Flint. It's literally a car city for the most part and has gone through some hard times with GM's cutbacks.

This would apply to most mid sized or larger cities at least in Michigan, not just Saginaw. I'm not a cityguy myself(although my parents came from the city), but I do know that while downtowns are important, I'd say the most importants things are.
1. SCHOOLS. Bad public schools mean parents with kids will flee the city. Private schools are expensive. I'm not familiar with Saginaw Schools, but Detroit schools are legendary. Legendary for their incompetance.

2. Neighboorhoods. You can have the best downtowns around, but if the neighboorhoods are bad, no one will move there. Detroit does have a lot of downtown attractions. Greektown, Cobo Hall, Auto show, the casinoes, Sports, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Symphony Orchestra. A lot of people will go there and spend their money...and then drive home, AWAY from the city.

3. Jobs - Self-explanitory. Saginaw, Flint, Detroit, and Ypsilanti were hit hard with Auto Plant closings. If the jobs aren't there, people will move.

4. Taxes - I'm not familiar with Saginaw, but Detroit taxes are sky high. There's an income tax if you work in Detroit or Lansing. There a living tax as well. People vote for their pocketbook.

5. City(and County) Government. Related to Taxes, but when there are bad mayors and the like, people are going to move.

[olivia3boys]

No we don't. Gen Xers are all in their 30s now, raising small children. We want suburbs and good schools and backyards and Trader Joe's with lots of parking. And we want 7 mile commutes to slightly larger suburbs.

[nascarnation]

Just show them "Roger and Me"

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I grew up in Milford, (miss it terribly, loved Milford) and did not have the benefits of Bloomfield or Southfield tax dollars to support excellent public school education. However, people complain about the amount of money spent on education, and neglect the fact that throwing more money at the situation, will not make better students. Students who want to learn, and parents who support them, will succeed in schools. I was an excellent student, because I wanted to be!

Having said that, my husband and I live in the Atlanta area. And, should his employer want to move him to one of their buildings in the Detroit metro area, I would definitely say, NO!... the commute around Atlanta is long enough, and I know the commute in metro Detroit is about as long. Urban sprawl and larger metro-area commutes make life intolerable in many large cities.

Being a thirty-something myself, I think Atlanta has more to offer me and my family. I don't see Detroit as being that desirable anymore. Or, at least it wasn't in the early nineties. Kindly inform me if I am mistaken, and the city and South-Eastern Michigan is really turning around.

[frodolives]

Yes, number one chore- build new schools, nice, community based, pay the teachers the highest wage to work there, put in "innovative" programs for the yuppie-ettes. No matter what other method of urban revitalization is tried, a great school is a magnet. Developers will want to build nearby, and renovate quaint old houses. The infrastructure (sewers, curbs and gutters) is in place, there's real big full grown TREES! Make tax incentives to stop pushing development outward to the suburbs. Imagine the gas savings. Kids could walk to school- the list is endless.

[canyon]

I am originally from Flint. I think the #1 problem has been a corrupt local government (mostly mayor). My parents still live in the Flint area and it gets more and more depressing every time I visit.

[Notwithstanding]

NB: the governess noted in the state of the state address her aspiration that our cities become "hip" (her word)

[canyon]

One other thing that us "Michiganders" cannot ignore is the "union thug" mentality. I never noticed this entitlment issue until I moved out of Michigan.

[Major Matt Mason]

Substitute Buffalo, NY for Saginaw, MI, and this article could have been written about the area I live in. Like Saginaw, Buffalo has been talking ad nauseum about developing their waterfront; and, like Saginaw, the local politicians are clamoring for casino gambling as a magic bullet. Clearly, there isn't much original thinking taking place in the minds of many of our politicians, since they all seem to recommend the exact same remedies to their problems.

The best thing for the government bureaucrats to do, of course, is to simply get out of the way, and let the free market take its course. Stop placing egregious regulations and taxes on small, medium and large businesses, and stop trying to manage outcomes, and these Rust Bowl cities will start to comeback.

[weegee]

"...20-year-old Steve Cronkright confirmed ..."

Ahem, 20-year olds were born in 1982 or 1983. This is far outside of Generation-X/the BabyBust Generation (which ended somewhere in the mid-1970s).

[Lost Highway]

I think attractions to the inner city are not the answer. Anyone remember Autoworld?

A thriving city, in my opinion, is a combination of three things.
1. Low crime rates.
2. Low housing prices.
3. Plenty of high paying jobs.