Why doesn't Dan Gilbert live in Detroit?

[Scottathew]

Hypocrisy: Detroit is amazing! You all should move there and be a part of this come back. Me? Um I will be in a safe enclave 15 miles away.

Me? I'll be directing my empire from my downtown Detroit office as I bring thousands of jobs to Detroit and hundreds of residents to Detroit, purchase and renovate over 30 buildings, work with government officials to make the city safer, and make charitable investments back into the neighborhood. It probably won't be enough for some people, but it's more than what any person or group of people have been able to do in five decades, so I guess it's not too shabby...

[Scottathew]

how many billionaires live in Detroit? How about millionaires? Dan Gilbert is well insulated from crime in Franklin. Probably lives in a gated community. I for 1 think it would be a poor decision on his part to live in Detroit.

I wouldn't be surprised if JimmyR would be first in line to criticize Gilbert for purchasing a couple blocks in the ghetto and turning into Fortress Gilbert. "OMG, look at the rich man mocking the poor people in Detroit by building his mansion!"

[jiminnm]

Isn't it a bit hypocritical for him to tell everyone to give Detroit a chance when he drives home to a $4M mansion in tony Franklin each night? I haven't seen the media address this hypocrisy one time.

We could go a step further, Illitchs are all in Bingham Farms, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills. Penskes are in Birmingham, or out of the state entirely. And Rip Rapson, who runs the Kresge Foundation, also lives in Birmingham.

I read posts like this and realize that there is nothing that will make some folks happy and Detroit suffers greatly as a result. Perhaps you would be happier if Gilbert relocated his enterprises outside of the city.

[401don]

Since he has offices, a casino, an NBA team, a hockey team and an arena in Cleveland he should probably live there instead of the Detroit area. Hold on, that's it! He's an NBA owner so he probably is buddies with the Clippers guy and doesn't like black people. Congrats on starting the dumbest thread of the month.

[poobert]

Isn't it a bit hypocritical for him to tell everyone to give Detroit a chance when he drives home to a $4M mansion in tony Franklin each night? I haven't seen the media address this hypocrisy one time.

We could go a step further, Illitchs are all in Bingham Farms, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills. Penskes are in Birmingham, or out of the state entirely. And Rip Rapson, who runs the Kresge Foundation, also lives in Birmingham.

I can't recall where or when I read it, but I'm certain that I read that Dan Gilbert maintains a downtown residence. Given his business MO, I wouldn't be surprised if he crashed there more often than not.

It's like the Kid Rock house. I don't like Kid Rock, but dude owns a home in the city. Mad props. Of course he doesn't drive there every night after his 9-5 in his 98 Dodge Neon. When you're that filthy stinking rich, you have multiple "homes."

And it isn't a dumb thread. This city has bled residents for the past 60 years and that has been its most singular problem. Then somebody comes along and calls attention to the fact that entrepreneurs have had no problem making money here and getting lauded for it yet never woke up here? And that is stupid, why? Because you live in Jerkwater Heights and feel a little guilty yourselves?

I'm with OP on the rest of those clowns, though. They never considered living in the city. It's just their business venture. Thankfully we as a region appear to be less lauding of carpetbagging adventurers like Illitch and Penske who run mini-empires from the 'burbs and act like they're Mother Theresa just for making a shitload of money in the city.

Also to others: you don't pay double income tax when you both live and work in the city. You pay one percentage point more. It blows, but let's get our facts right. Which no one here seems to do. It's all doubling income tax and sumas' inhaler and who doesn't live in Detroit these days. What a bore.

[rb336]

And it isn't a dumb thread. This city has bled residents for the past 60 years and that has been its most singular problem. Then somebody comes along and calls attention to the fact that entrepreneurs have had no problem making money here and getting lauded for it yet never woke up here? And that is stupid, why? Because you live in Jerkwater Heights and feel a little guilty yourselves?

These threads seem like nothing more than sour grapes

[Scottathew]

Also to others: you don't pay double income tax when you both live and work in the city. You pay one percentage point more. It blows, but let's get our facts right. Which no one here seems to do. It's all doubling income tax and sumas' inhaler and who doesn't live in Detroit these days. What a bore.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but according to everything I can find you pay double if you live in the city.

For example:

https://www.detroitmi.gov/Department...sion/FAQs.aspx
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Departments...5/Default.aspx

[Scottathew]

These threads seem like nothing more than sour grapes

I certainly don't agree with the OP, but I don't like labeling people or ideas as "dumb". The OP certainly got us talking and debating, which is what gets my juices flowing.

[313WX]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but according to everything I can find you pay double if you live in the city.

For example:

https://www.detroitmi.gov/Department...sion/FAQs.aspx
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Departments...5/Default.aspx

That just recently changed.

For several years before, the rates were 2.5% and 1.5% respectfully.

[ABetterDetroit]

Thankfully we as a region appear to be less lauding of carpetbagging adventurers like Illitch and Penske who run mini-empires from the 'burbs and act like they're Mother Theresa just for making a shitload of money in the city. .

"Mother Theresa"? Next someone will be "GOD" Everyone knows that these people are just venture capitalists who decided to throw the dice in Detroit right? Stone cold fact- there are not a whole lot of folks bringing their bankroll and betting on Detroit. Maybe some peeps that just hate on rich people need to think about how these people pay taxes and bring jobs to the city. Even though the investments they make with their money are not the same as what the person who doesn't have as much would do... Quit vilifying them for doing what they can. Or bring in those highly successful socialist from Cuba and north Korea to show us how it's done, but we have run out of time so pick a plan and stick and make "change"

[jimmyr]

The symbolism and optics are lost on many of you. A guy that tucks his kids in in the burbs is trying to get me to lease my 23 yo kid an apartment in Detroit or buy a historic Detroit home for my family? Zero credibility. The long game for his interests is getting people to *move to Detroit* and build the tax base etc. yet he won't move his family there. That is pure hypocrisy.

I'm not jealous or bitter or a terminal complainer. His investments are great, but they don't excuse him from being a hypocrite.

[Scottathew]

The symbolism and optics are lost on many of you. A guy that tucks his kids in in the burbs is trying to get me to lease my 23 yo kid an apartment in Detroit or buy a historic Detroit home for my family? Zero credibility. The long game for his interests is getting people to *move to Detroit* and build the tax base etc. yet he won't move his family there. That is pure hypocrisy.

I'm not jealous or bitter or a terminal complainer. His investments are great, but they don't excuse him from being a hypocrite.

Where is Gilbert saying these things? Please show me where his efforts to move you into Detroit are.

[Hermod]

That just recently changed.

For several years before, the rates were 2.5% and 1.5% respectfully.

Respectively. Nothing respectful about taxes.

[davewindsor]

The symbolism and optics are lost on many of you. A guy that tucks his kids in in the burbs is trying to get me to lease my 23 yo kid an apartment in Detroit or buy a historic Detroit home for my family? Zero credibility. The long game for his interests is getting people to *move to Detroit* and build the tax base etc. yet he won't move his family there. That is pure hypocrisy.

I'm not jealous or bitter or a terminal complainer. His investments are great, but they don't excuse him from being a hypocrite.

Do you rent property from Dan Gilbert? If not, what gives you the right?

Do you apply for any deductions available on your income tax returns to pay less tax or do you pay the full amount?

If you go after the deductions, how can you complain about Gilbert who's doing the same thing? The guy is rich and obviously has multiple residences and vacation homes. A busy guy like that probably does sleep a lot of nights in the city, but if he writes he lives out of town, he pays 1% less in city income taxes. That's a very rational human response. The city creates an incentive to say if you don't live there you pay less income taxes. It's a tax loophole. Most millionaires who make money in the city probably do the exact same thing too. If you don't like it, write to your local politician to change the tax system. It's not Gilbert's problem or fault; it's a problem that local politicians created and it's up to them to fix the tax loophole.

Why should he be a symbol and pay more income taxes? He's a business man, not a martyr. Why don't you be a symbol and pay all the taxes you don't have to?? If you claim deductions like the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction, you're a hypocrite for saying others like Gilbert can't claim deductions to reduce their income taxes payable.

[Hermod]

I guess Henry Ford with a factory in Highland Park then in Dearborn and living in Grosse Point did "nothing for Detroit".

[313WX]

Respectively. Nothing respectful about taxes.

Thanks for the correction.

And funny, people seem to have no problem paying the 10% sales tax when they visit Chicago for the weekend, or paying the income tax when living/working in NYC.

Is it the tax that's really the problem, or what one gets for the tax?

[noise]

Hypocrisy: Detroit is amazing! You all should move there and be a part of this come back. Me? Um I will be in a safe enclave 15 miles away.

Yeah, that's not hypocrisy.

[finster]

Hypocrisy: Detroit is amazing! You all should move there and be a part of this come back. Me? Um I will be in a safe enclave 15 miles away.

You just gave yourself away there. You start a thread that implies you might actually care about the city then you state you probably wouldn't live there if your life depended on it. So you decide to mock Gilbert in an underhanded sort of way because you hate Detroit. Why not just say so from the beginning?

[Dan Wesson]

You can't say Dan don't put his money where his mouth is.

[detroittrader]

This is so stupid. Not much different than people [[usually right wingers) saying Al Gore should not fly in airplanes or drive a car. Or Micheal Moore should live in Flint, not Torch Lake and Manhattan, never earn money but give it all away.

[bailey]

I guess Henry Ford with a factory in Highland Park then in Dearborn and living in Grosse Point did "nothing for Detroit".

Henry and Clara were at Fairlane in Dearborn...after living for years in Detroit proper in Boston Edison.

Edsel [[his son) built the house in GP.

[bailey]

This is so stupid. Not much different than people [[usually right wingers) saying Al Gore should not fly in airplanes or drive a car. Or Micheal Moore should live in Flint, not Torch Lake and Manhattan, never earn money but give it all away.

Apples and oranges. THIS thread is stupid. Yes. But criticism of the likes of Al Gore lecturing the rest of us peasants on how we need to lower our carbon foot print by doing things like living in smaller houses and travelling efficiently....while he owns multiple enormous homes and travels in the most inefficient manner possible is not unwarranted criticism. Its the typical do as a I say not as I do lecture from our betters. fuck him.

And fuck Micheal Moore too...here's his interview from Piers Morgan during the whole OWS stuff...

He[Moore] added: ‘I’m not in the one per cent. For a documentary filmmaker I do very well. There’s a big difference between a documentary and Avatar.’In another interview on Tuesday, Morgan said: ‘I need you to admit the bleeding obvious. I need you to sit here and say, “I'm in the one per cent”, because it's important.’
Moore refused, saying: ‘I'm not.’

[DetroitPlanner]

If I had the kind of money it took to live in Birmingham or Franklin, I'd live there too. Nice communities, very walkable. Quicken used to be in Livonia up until a couple of years ago, where was the outcry that Danny G should live there? Livonia has some very nice neighborhoods.

[Detroit_uke]

There is no "residency requirement." Even City of Detroit employees no longer have to live in the city! C'mon - how many people that own a business in Detroit actually live in the city. When the City had a residency requirement - how many employees lived outside the city then?

[Admiral Stockdale]

I think the Michael Moore example is different.Dan Gilbert is at least a part of the solution in Detroit. Michael Moore hasn't done a thing for the city although he has the power & money to make a dent.