Growing Detroit

[1953]

Thanks for proving my point, first two responders.

1953

[313WX]

Thanks for proving my point, first two responders.

1953

I'm not exactly sure what your point is.

The fact is, as it stands now, Detroit only has [[optimistic estimate) 700,000 people remaining, 1/3 of which live below the poverty line. The city simply can't maintain the infrastructure for 2 million people given that fact.

If you're expecting Detroit to be as great as it was in the past [[or a major city again), you're going to be sorely disappointed. The TPTB, judging by their actions so far, are making it very clear that they're perfectly content with just having a respectable mid-size Detroit versus anything close to a 1950s Detroit.

[corktownyuppie]

The TPTB, judging by their actions so far, are making it very clear that they're perfectly content with just having a respectable mid-size Detroit versus anything close to a 1950s Detroit.

The only way we can come anything close to a 1950s Detroit would be for us to re-emerge as the world's leader in some highly innovative technology, be the only city [[or one of the few) in the world that can provide it. Then find some way to eliminate the legacy costs that have been built up over the last 60 years from the fortune which we once created. Then we need to find some way of eliminating all of the people in the area who are unable to directly or indirectly participate in this new economy.

That's how Detroit became what it was in the 1950s. Every business was a giant growth engine, tripling...quadrupling production and profits annually. There's no mature industry that can triple its profits once its the size of GM. Going from $10MM to $30MM is fun. From $30MM to $90MM is lots of fun. From $100B to $300B is impossible.

I am not content becoming a mid-size city. I'm reluctantly accepting that it's all we can be right now. We need to rightsize and stabilize. From that point we can start planting the seeds for the giant growth industries of the next generation.

Solely focusing our efforts on those seeds now would be like planting them in a land filled with toxic waste. Sure, they might grow, but once they look strong enough to be something big, we're going to transplant them to Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas. If we're lucky, maybe Ann Arbor.

This new Detroit is going to be a 30-60 year process. Then, maybe, then, we'll be a top 5 city again.

[illwill]

The only way we can come anything close to a 1950s Detroit would be for us to re-emerge as the world's leader in some highly innovative technology, be the only city [[or one of the few) in the world that can provide it. Then find some way to eliminate the legacy costs that have been built up over the last 60 years from the fortune which we once created. Then we need to find some way of eliminating all of the people in the area who are unable to directly or indirectly participate in this new economy.

That's how Detroit became what it was in the 1950s. Every business was a giant growth engine, tripling...quadrupling production and profits annually. There's no mature industry that can triple its profits once its the size of GM. Going from $10MM to $30MM is fun. From $30MM to $90MM is lots of fun. From $100B to $300B is impossible.

I am not content becoming a mid-size city. I'm reluctantly accepting that it's all we can be right now. We need to rightsize and stabilize. From that point we can start planting the seeds for the giant growth industries of the next generation.

Solely focusing our efforts on those seeds now would be like planting them in a land filled with toxic waste. Sure, they might grow, but once they look strong enough to be something big, we're going to transplant them to Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas. If we're lucky, maybe Ann Arbor.

This new Detroit is going to be a 30-60 year process. Then, maybe, then, we'll be a top 5 city again.

I'm not sure if a new technology can ever solve Detroit's problem. Most technology companies only make a small number of people wealthy. Detroit needs many "different" industries that will offer its residents mass employment that offers living wages. It's gonna be hard to recreate the $5/day assembly line for today's modern times all over again.

But if any city can do, Detroit can.

[corktownyuppie]

I'm not sure if a new technology can ever solve Detroit's problem. Most technology companies only make a small number of people wealthy.

I think a giant growth accelerator would be improving the "technology" of social work. Make it more effective. Make it more efficient. Make it more repeatable.

We have hundreds of thousands who are in cyclical poverty coming from families who lack the basic skills to function in the modern world. They've suffered from the emotional trauma of dysfunctional families which are now repeating generations.

The 20th century solution to solving social problems was by moving away from it. The 21st century solution will be by finding more and more effective ways of eliminating them.

And if we master that...we can sell that technology all over the country, just like we once sold the Model T.

[sumas]

Hi, 1953 from 1954. Detroit used to have a huge diversity in jobs and industry. All fled between 1948 to present.

Cash is king and greener pastures existed. We need to find imperatives to lure back assorted industries. Strangely, vacant land to be bought cheap and tax incentives may work.