The New Scrappers?

[Lowell]

We're all enraged about the damage done by metal scrappers in the innercity but is there little difference between them and LBP and Warren's Mayor Fouts -- looting a poor area with profits ending up elsewhere?

This triggered a vision of an editorial page cartoon. LBP and Fouts are being arrested by cops [Bing and Granholm]. In the background is their beat-up pickup truck, sunk down to its axles, loaded with miniatures of Cobo and the RenCen.

They are protesting the arrest claiming that nobody was keeping them up and they are doing everybody a favor by recycling something going to waste.

[Bobl]

This could be expanded to the "private equity" firms that raid businesses, extract value, put employees out of work, and find a way to profit before moving on to the next target. This, of course, is not specifically a Detroit issue, but would certainly fall into the category of the New Scrappers.
I would suggest a Mitt Romney caricature for this version of the political cartoon.

[WolverinesA2]

If stealing jobs and tax revenues from your regional neighbors is so bad, then maybe Detroit should give the Quicken Loans HQ back to Livonia before it starts to complain about poaching by Warren and LBP.

[Bearinabox]

If stealing jobs and tax revenues from your regional neighbors is so bad, then maybe Detroit should give the Quicken Loans HQ back to Livonia before it starts to complain about poaching by Warren and LBP.

When did Detroit get the Quicken Loans HQ? Did I miss something?

[Buy American]

Mayor Fouts is simply trying to save jobs. It stands to reason that if GM has to leave the RenCen [[which I hope does not happen for my own selfish reasons), that Warren offers them a home rather than them moving out of state totally. Mayor Fourts does not have any hidden agendas other than to keep jobs here in Michigan, whether it be in Detroit or Warren.
To everyone looking at Mayor Fouts as some kind of cannibal to offer such a dasterdly thing, think again. He is a good man with only the best interest of the worker on his mind.

[Bearinabox]

It stands to reason that if GM has to leave the RenCen [[which I hope does not happen for my own selfish reasons), that Warren offers them a home rather than them moving out of state totally.

But that's not what Fouts did. He offered GM a package of incentives to move out of the RenCen and into Warren. Had GM previously announced plans to move out of state, your post would make some amount of sense.

You're correct, though, that there is nothing hidden about Fouts' agenda. Subtlety, it would appear, is not one of his strong points.

[econ expat]

History was made with Fout's offer-
Very quickly Bing and Granholm objected of course-
and among the objectors joining in was LBP of all people

[mjs]

Funny. Anyone able to draw and scan in what Lowell describes?

[East Detroit]

If stealing jobs and tax revenues from your regional neighbors is so bad, then maybe Detroit should give the Quicken Loans HQ back to Livonia before it starts to complain about poaching by Warren and LBP.

The original post said "looting a poor area with profits ending up elsewhere."

Are Detroit suburbs such as Livonia and Ann Arbor now poor areas?

[HazenPingree]

TECHNICALLY....

all jobs and residents were "looted a poached" from Detroit from about 1950 to 2009. So I see no reason why Livonia or anyone else would have reason to belly ache about Detroit "poaching" Quicken...

Drunken reply for a drunken thread.

[Novine]

The only ones poaching here is GM. They could have said "we're not interested Mayor Fouts". But they didn't. They've got it set up so they'll be able to stay at the Ren Cen practically tax free. Detroit loses millions in tax revenue. So does Wayne County and the State. GM makes out in the deal. Everyone else loses.

[Retroit]

I think part of Fouts' motivation was concern over what might happen to the Tech Center. With GM being reduced in size, there is a possibility that the Tech Center will be downsized [[if it hasn't already). By relocating the GM headquarters there, it would help prevent the abandonment of some Tech Center buildings. I don't think Fouts was trying to steal from Detroit as much as he was trying to save Warren.

Maybe if Detroit had been as aggressive in preserving its city as Fouts has been in preserving his, Detroit would not be a "poor area that is being looted by scrappers." [[paraphrase)

I would also question whether the "profits from scrapping are ending up somewhere else." [[paraphrase) I think Detroit is being destroyed from within by its own people. I'd be willing to bet that the management of GM that has chosen to keep the headquarters in Detroit are suburbanites.

[Bearinabox]

Maybe if Detroit had been as aggressive in preserving its city as Fouts has been in preserving his, Detroit would not be a "poor area that is being looted by scrappers."

You think Fouts is doing a good job of "preserving" Warren? I don't, particularly. If he were visionary and forward thinking, he'd have recognized that the "stealing from Detroit" well is more or less tapped, and that leaders in Sterling Heights and Shelby Township have discovered the vast potential offered by stealing from Warren. If he were smart and pragmatic, this is about the time he'd start clamoring for regionalism, because this is the point at which it would begin to work to his advantage.

If you think Fouts' tactics would have saved Detroit, which established job and population centers do you think they should have "stolen" from to mask their ongoing losses?

[barnesfoto]

What Bear said.

[Stosh]

Aggreeance with Bear and Barnes. Fouts is simply out of his league on the regional stage. But then again, most [[if not all) of the regional political leadership is in the same boat. It seems that there's no real innovative proposals coming out of any politicos around here, besides the response to Fouts, as the RenCen tax abatement was rather semi-creative.

Of course for a broke city and county, it was more or less throwing the baby out with the bathwater, in my opinion.

[DetroitDad]

When will it become apparent that it takes a region to raise and keep a company, a organization, and our young educated residents? If these moves damage relations between communities, then the benefiting community should not be overly supportive of it, as it is choosing shortsighted objectives against the overall goal of regionalism. Metro Detroiters of both city and suburbs need to view regionalism as a key to our economic rebuilding and growth, and hold our politicians responsible when they go against that goal. Yes, we all live in our separate Ferris wheel gondolas [[cars), but the gondolas are on the same Ferris wheel.

It's on us to do what we have to do to survive, and we're just not doing it.

[DetroitPlanner]

Unfortunately, you will see this behaviour increasing. Our region has been turned into vultures fighting over table scraps of what was left of our former economy. The only thing we can go is fight each other or find a way to grow the economy. These days, finding a way to grow the economy looks like an impossible task.

I can't blame anyone for acting in a defensive manner under these conditions, particularly the politicos. They have lots of people who depend on them for jobs, security, and general welfare of their respective communities. After several years of layoffs and cutting services, they can't cut back much more.

DetroitDad, our region has forgot to support itself first. You see more non-Michigan built cars on the road, even the Chips aisle of the supermarket is covered with Frito-Lay when we know that it makes more sense to buy Better Made. You can't even find a Detroit-based retail chain to support any longer. The best we have is Borders and they are on their last legs.