MSU proposes urban agriculture project in Detroit

[nain rouge]

Let's get out of our own way. 50% of our population is unemployed. Maybe we should be a little less choosy about which industries should and shouldn't employ our people.

Well yeah, unemployment is so high because the rest of Metro Detroit basically fenced all the poor people into Detroit and took all the jobs out of the city [[look at the skyscrapers/high rises along I-75 N and I-696 W and all the auto factories in the suburbs - some of which are now closed, too - and you'll quickly see what killed Detroit in the '70s, '80s, and '90s). While the fences are starting to break down a little bit, it's being done haphazardly and in a way that I don't necessarily see as productive for our region's future. I'm seeing a much smaller Metro Detroit 50 years from now.

Yeah, "urban" farms are better than nothing, but that's probably the only strong argument you can make for it. There are hundreds of investments that I could think of that would be better, but people don't want to invest the money because of America's economic problems and Metro Detroit's ridiculously bad social issues. I mean, look at what we did to what was once a top 5 city in America.

[corktownyuppie]

Yeah, "urban" farms are better than nothing, but that's probably the only strong argument you can make for it. There are hundreds of investments that I could think of that would be better, but people don't want to invest the money because of America's economic problems and Metro Detroit's ridiculously bad social issues. I mean, look at what we did to what was once a top 5 city in America.

I'm sure there are many investments that would be better. I guess the question is what politically viable solutions exist to bring them here? And does urban farming somehow preclude other investments from taking place?

Frankly, I don't think what killed Detroit in the 70s, 80s, and 90s is all that important. The clock isn't turning backwards. Hearing people talk about how Detroit was a Top 5 City at one point is like hearing the South talking about wanting the Confederacy to rise again.

It points to an unresolved anger, and maybe even a points out many injustices that were never acknowledged. But how is looking at those things going to make us a Top 5 City again?

The "power center" of America has moved around the country as economies have changed over the last 200-300 years. New Orleans was once the wealthiest city in the US because of its access to the Mississippi River. When cotton was king, Atlanta was where it was at. Detroit was once the Paris of the Midwest. Silicon Valley wasn't put on the map until computers. Cities rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall with their economies.

We're never going back to 1930-1970 Detroit. Just like New Orleans will never go back to when the French Quarter was the Manhattan of the 1850s.

Urban farms are better than nothing. What we have right now is nothing. So, I say take the ball and run with it.