Is Dan Gilbert the person to bring the biggest and fastest positive changes?

[iheartthed]

In raw numbers of bringing people to work in downtown Detroit, yes he has done the most of any single business owner in probably the past half century.

But... what has truly changed in Detroit? The city still seems to have mostly all of the same flaws that it did 10, 20 or 30 years ago, only now a bit more obvious.

[gameguy56]

In raw numbers of bringing people to work in downtown Detroit, yes he has done the most of any single business owner in probably the past half century.

Probably the most since GM moved, but they were already in the city in New Center. Gilbert is moving companies in from the suburbs.

[Danny]

Dan Gilbert is a venture capitalist. He sought that Downtown Detroit would be a real estate gold mine to lure exotic businesses there and increase jobs and regional growth just like Peter Karmanos and Mike Illitch. Glibert is doing an excellent jobs bringing businesses in Downtown Detroit while Detroit City government is failing financially and its neighborhoods declining. Once he complete his first phase of regional growth, then he would spread out into other Detroit outskirts and promises those residents a better community.

He knows that Detroit needs help rather than going to protesters in front of the Spirit of Detroit Statue.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET


For Trayvon Martin, George Stinney, Rodney King, Guy Fawkes, Neda and the 99 percenters.

[iheartthed]

Probably the most since GM moved, but they were already in the city in New Center. Gilbert is moving companies in from the suburbs.

I think Gilbert's headcount is 6,500 workers, right? I thought GM only brought about 3,000 downtown?

[DetroitPlanner]

I think Gilbert's headcount is 6,500 workers, right? I thought GM only brought about 3,000 downtown?

GM moved to the RenCen to centralize all of its management staff. This means folks were brought in from Lansing, Flint, and Warren where Oldsmobile, Buick, and Chevrolet still had independant operating offices. Its was more than just simply moving jobs from the Boulevard to Jefferson Ave. However, it was still a cost cutting move as once they were all together many layers of duplication could be removed. It was a net loss for the State, a net gain for Detroit. Then of course GM had a bit of trouble in 2007.......

Moving jobs from the suburbs to the city is nothing more than a game of shuffling buildings, but on a grander scale. This does not grow our City or the region, it just re-arranges the deck chairs on the titanic. What really needs to happen is for this region to embrace inovation once again. Innovation will bring jobs faster than increasing a company's bottom line by having the bean counters cut jobs to increase profits.

Gilbert is both an innovator and re-arranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

[iheartthed]

GM moved to the RenCen to centralize all of its management staff. This means folks were brought in from Lansing, Flint, and Warren where Oldsmobile, Buick, and Chevrolet still had independant operating offices. Its was more than just simply moving jobs from the Boulevard to Jefferson Ave. However, it was still a cost cutting move as once they were all together many layers of duplication could be removed. It was a net loss for the State, a net gain for Detroit. Then of course GM had a bit of trouble in 2007.......

Moving jobs from the suburbs to the city is nothing more than a game of shuffling buildings, but on a grander scale. This does not grow our City or the region, it just re-arranges the deck chairs on the titanic. What really needs to happen is for this region to embrace inovation once again. Innovation will bring jobs faster than increasing a company's bottom line by having the bean counters cut jobs to increase profits.

Gilbert is both an innovator and re-arranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

I don't agree that a job in a isolated suburban office park contributes to the local economy in the same way that one in the region's center does.

[DetroitPlanner]

I don't agree that a job in a isolated suburban office park contributes to the local economy in the same way that one in the region's center does.

We are all part of the same economic system. Whether you work in a factory in Detroit or a Office in Birmingham you are bringing money into the region. Where one goes to spend the money is a different thing all together. Its not like people who work downtown are spending all of their dollars downtown, but they will spend some. If they spent more, then we would have a lot more stores here. They don't spend retail dollars here regardless of where the job is located. Detroit however does capture some money from those who work outside of it who come to town for events or gambling.

[iheartthed]

We are all part of the same economic system. Whether you work in a factory in Detroit or a Office in Birmingham you are bringing money into the region. Where one goes to spend the money is a different thing all together. Its not like people who work downtown are spending all of their dollars downtown, but they will spend some. If they spent more, then we would have a lot more stores here. They don't spend retail dollars here regardless of where the job is located. Detroit however does capture some money from those who work outside of it who come to town for events or gambling.

I still don't view it as the same. A person who works downtown is probably, on average, supporting far more small businesses than a person who works in an isolated office park in random generic suburb. To be fair, I also do draw a distinction between someone working in downtown Birmingham or downtown Ann Arbor versus random Southfield or Troy office park.