Downtown Parking Tax

[Hermod]

Young, upwardly mobile, creative class, various-buzzwords-you-know-what-I'm-talking-about people choose where they want to live, and then find a job in that city. They do not do a tax projection, they look at being able to walk home from bars, the cultural scene, diversity, so on.

Diversity???? Detroit is not diverse and loses more diversity by the day.

Here are the racial breakdowns of two cities:

City One: 82.3%--13.3%--2.1%--1.5%--0.2%

City Two: 81.6%--12.3%--5.0%--1.0%--0.3%


Does their diversity seem about the same to you?

City One is Troy and City Two is Detroit

The tax environment is an important factor, sure, but it's not the only one, and it can be outweighed by other factors. New York and California have punitiviley high state & local income taxes, as does DC.

And the best and the brightest and the most creative do not live in DC, they live across the river in Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Vienna, Springfield, McLean, Dunn Loring, etc. Most of their offices are along the beltway and not in DC either.

Troy is not something Detroit should try to be.

Not sure of the measurement metrics, but Wiki says Troy is the 5th safest city in the US and the safest in Michigan. Maybe Detroit should try to be that.

[Detroitnerd]

Diversity???? Detroit is not diverse and loses more diversity by the day.

Confusing the point. I don't believe the poster was saying that Detroit was diverse, but that young creative people value diversity. I should point out, however, the diversity along Woodward between I-94 and downtown ...

And the best and the brightest and the most creative do not live in DC, they live across the river in Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Vienna, Springfield, McLean, Dunn Loring, etc. Most of their offices are along the beltway and not in DC either.

Not as true as it was 10 or 20 years ago. Washington DC is all built out now, having filled in its last vacant parcel and posting a surplus. On the other side of the river, they're beginning to see shortfalls. Tysons Corners is in a last-ditch effort to become more pedestrian- and transit-oriented. This has been discussed before on the forum.

Not sure of the measurement metrics, but Wiki says Troy is the 5th safest city in the US and the safest in Michigan. Maybe Detroit should try to be that.

The point, Hermod, as you well know, that Detroit should not try to emulate a car-oriented, freeway-crossed, parking-lot-infested, strip-mall-having, park-in-front, mid-20th-century ideal. It should try to be, you know, a city. Quality of life indicators are important, yes, but we ain't gonna get there by trying to turn Detroit into the beet fields Troy was in 1950.