NY Times: A Missionary’s Quest to Remake Motor City?

[bopcity]

Anyone recall Phil Cooley getting slagged for being a publicity hound? Chances are that era will soon be known as the good old days.

>> DRESSED in a red-checked button-down shirt and a blue blazer, Mr. Gilbert is 5 feet 5 inches of restless energy. He has slicked-back dark hair, a Hollywood smile and dolorous eyes that give him the look of a man in need of sleep.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/bu...pagewanted=all

[DetroitPlanner]

Ironically the guy who is the expert and talks about the impact of deindustrialization is tooling around town in a made-in-japan prius.

[Gannon]

And we're hearing more and more that many of his employees are fueled by a curious powder from Columbia and other parts south. Internal theft from one another is their biggest security concern. There are significant fractures within his organization.

His empire is not based on solid business practises. I suspect that things will be weird and precarious and funky at the ground level, while we'll continually hear these trumped-up PR-flacked so-called 'news' stories about the savior of the city.

Not watching this with any glee...

[401don]

Pretty decent article. Nothing new but more comprehensive than most. I would trade my 6 ft. height for dolorous eyes any day.

[erikd]

A master salesman, Mr. Gilbert describes a reinvigorated downtown as though it is inevitable, but there are more than a few skeptics. They include Mr. Ryan, who teaches in the department of urban studies and planning at M.I.T.


“Urban renewal always happens as a symphony of events, and part of the symphony is innovative, optimistic developers with the ability and willingness to transform historic properties,” he said in a recent interview. “But another part is a strong regional economy. You can’t fight the fact that Detroit is a de-industrializing market and it isn’t facing dramatic, positive transformation.”

Mr. Ryan is either being misquoted or he is an idiot. To be sure, the entire city and metro area can not be reinvigorated without a dramatic economic transformation, but to assert that the 1 square mile of downtown Detroit can not be revitalized without dramatically growing the overall region from the current 4-5 million people to some vastly larger number? That is illogical and factually incorrect. We don't need to dramatically transform the entire region to have a nice downtown. We could just have a half a percent of the metro area's economic activity relocate downtown and it would be booming like nothing seen since the roaring 20s.

[canuck]

Pretty decent article. Nothing new but more comprehensive than most. I would trade my 6 ft. height for dolorous eyes any day.

Yes well maybe a Napoleon complex gave our Gilbert a snappy boost.

I agree the article was pretty good, less about banal statistics and the author Segal managed to tell a lot in a very short essay.

[DetroitPlanner]

Mr. Ryan is either being misquoted or he is an idiot. To be sure, the entire city and metro area can not be reinvigorated without a dramatic economic transformation, but to assert that the 1 square mile of downtown Detroit can not be revitalized without dramatically growing the overall region from the current 4-5 million people to some vastly larger number? That is illogical and factually incorrect. We don't need to dramatically transform the entire region to have a nice downtown. We could just have a half a percent of the metro area's economic activity relocate downtown and it would be booming like nothing seen since the roaring 20s.

All he is saying is nothing different than other quotes such as "It takes a village to raise a child" or "A rising tide will raise all boats". I am a bit of a skeptic on how this is going to play out too, but why fight it? If nothing else it is an interesting experiment being done that has never been done before. It sure won't make things worse.

[Wesley Mouch]

Ironically the guy who is the expert and talks about the impact of deindustrialization is tooling around town in a made-in-japan prius.

Detroit needs lots of outside examples of the best. We should admire Toyota, not disdain them because their makers are a different skin color.

Prius broke the mold. Detroit needs more mold breaking.

[DetroitPlanner]

Detroit needs lots of outside examples of the best. We should admire Toyota, not disdain them because their makers are a different skin color.

Prius broke the mold. Detroit needs more mold breaking.

Detroit automakers have broken many molds as well. Hey I would have been equally pissed if he had a Mercedes. From the article:

"There are many causes — the decline of the auto industry and white flight among them — but the one that Professor Galster returns to time and again is development in the suburbs."

This is simple export base economics. This is the sort of stuff that Jane Jacobs was talking about. Unfortunately all people ever hear is make the city pretty and people will come. You have to be able to be at the cutting edge to export your goods and support your local businesses.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Detroit automakers have broken many molds as well. Hey I would have been equally pissed if he had a Mercedes. From the article:

"There are many causes — the decline of the auto industry and white flight among them — but the one that Professor Galster returns to time and again is development in the suburbs."

This is simple export base economics. This is the sort of stuff that Jane Jacobs was talking about. Unfortunately all people ever hear is make the city pretty and people will come. You have to be able to be at the cutting edge to export your goods and support your local businesses.

Why should we admire Toyota? All these Japanese car companies learned they're craft from the US, although they might have done a better job at developing and promoting it. I agree with DetroitPlanner, why is he trying to prove a point while driving a Toyota?

[Gistok]

If it were only so simple as delivering a product... we would have had big sales in Japan long ago. It's not just the product... it's the sales and distribution network... and all the roadblocks that the Japanese set up. And then it's also the Japanese mindset against foreign items. Maybe we could have blamed our product in the 70s and 80s... but in the last 15 years our product has performed quite well against the Japanese.

I just did some major research about the problems that the LEGO Company of Billund Denmark had in penetrating the Japanese market [[even though sales started there in 1962). LEGO tried one thing after another unsuccessfully in order to penetrate the Japanese market, while finding success in almost every other market. Even the high quality of the product was not enough to get thru the distribution and mindset issues. It was only around 2005 that the Japanese finally started major sales of LEGO, and today are among the biggest fans of it in the world. And quality wise... LEGO hasn't changed in 40 years.

[Believer1]

Gannon,

You sound like a bit of a bitter, jealous pathetic soul.

What kind of person sits at home on a nice Sunday afternoon and postsfabricated lies on discussion forums that the employees of a 28-year-oldcompany that is known as one of the most successful businesses not only inDetroit but in the entire country, are running rampant stealing from each otherand doing such with cocaine up their noses?

I guess that it must be that same company not "based on solid businesspractises" that typically wins the highest honor in all these UnitedStates for customer service in their field from JD Power three years in a row,huh?

But then again, it must be all of those happy and drugged larceny riddenemployees that has put QL into the top 15 of Fortune Magazine's 100 'bestplaces to work in the country' ranking for the past 9-10 years and according tothe NYT article the third largest residential lender in America who will close100 Billion in home loan volume this year.

Perhaps, before you anonymously libel a company and its numerous hard-workingemployees you should examine what would create such hostility in you to inventthis nonsense and post publicly what you know to be completely false.

Did you get fired from their organisation for fraud or poor customer service? Iwould suspect that someone with the likes of your stench combined with yourdevious capacity to commit such 'brave' slanderous lies while maintaining yourincognito identity, would likely stand out like a flatulent turd in a rosegarden at any place of employment who even subscribes to mediocre sets of principleslet alone the over-the-top standards QL imposes.

In other words, they would show the likes of one with your character flaws the doormighty quickly, I surmise.

I rarely post on this board but when I see a great American company that hasnot only stood the test of time but survived a complete collapse of theirindustry and thrived as one of the few remaining participants of size beingdisparaged by some whiny malcontent with twisted fantasies, I feel it honorableto shine truth on the matter so the deviant perpetrating such trash is exposed.

Now, I do realize the mutant invertebrate cowers in the fetal position when heexperiences his recurring nightmare of being outed but he should have noworries. His spiteful defamation remains safely protected behind the namelessand faceless confines of his keyboard where identification is an unlikelyevent.

However, after reading this response, I have an inkling things will be, shallwe say "weird, precarious and funky" for this poltroon when he looksin the mirror before retiring to his likely unstable sleep.

Yours Truly,

The Deliverer of Truth

PS...For the other poster on this board whose depleted self-esteem seemedto get a false temporary boost from his reveling in the piece of informationthat the "savior" of our fair city stands at 65 inches so istherefore boosted by "Napoleonic influences", I have bad news foryou: Either through misprint or simple error, and although the MotownMissionary will never play center for the NBA franchise he owns, he is minimum67" and perhaps 68". I played many an athletic competition againstthe chap and in high top gym shoes he gets over the 68" marker with ease.Being 70" myself, I have taken close note to such an importantcharacteristic of the man because he crushes me [[tennis, bowling, weightlifting, basketballand golf just to name a few) at a much higher frequency than is of my liking.

Sleep well, miscreants.

[Believer1]

Gannon,

You sound like a bit of a bitter, jealous pathetic soul.

What kind of person sits at home on a nice Sunday afternoon and postsfabricated lies on discussion forums that the employees of a 28-year-oldcompany that is known as one of the most successful businesses not only inDetroit but in the entire country, are running rampant stealing from each otherand doing such with cocaine up their noses?

I guess that it must be that same company not "based on solid businesspractises" that typically wins the highest honor in all these UnitedStates for customer service in their field from JD Power three years in a row,huh?

But then again, it must be all of those happy and drugged larceny riddenemployees that has put QL into the top 15 of Fortune Magazine's 100 'bestplaces to work in the country' ranking for the past 9-10 years and according tothe NYT article the third largest residential lender in America who will close100 Billion in home loan volume this year.

Perhaps, before you anonymously libel a company and its numerous hard-workingemployees you should examine what would create such hostility in you to inventthis nonsense and post publicly what you know to be completely false.

Did you get fired from their organisation for fraud or poor customer service? Iwould suspect that someone with the likes of your stench combined with yourdevious capacity to commit such 'brave' slanderous lies while maintaining yourincognito identity, would likely stand out like a flatulent turd in a rosegarden at any place of employment who even subscribes to mediocre sets of principleslet alone the over-the-top standards QL imposes.

In other words, they would show the likes of one with your character flaws the doormighty quickly, I surmise.

I rarely post on this board but when I see a great American company that hasnot only stood the test of time but survived a complete collapse of theirindustry and thrived as one of the few remaining participants of size beingdisparaged by some whiny malcontent with twisted fantasies, I feel it honorableto shine truth on the matter so the deviant perpetrating such trash is exposed.

Now, I do realize the mutant invertebrate cowers in the fetal position when heexperiences his recurring nightmare of being outed but he should have noworries. His spiteful defamation remains safely protected behind the namelessand faceless confines of his keyboard where identification is an unlikelyevent.

However, after reading this response, I have an inkling things will be, shallwe say "weird, precarious and funky" for this poltroon when he looksin the mirror before retiring to his likely unstable sleep.

Yours Truly,

The Deliverer of Truth

PS...For the other poster on this board whose depleted self-esteem seemedto get a false temporary boost from his reveling in the piece of informationthat the "savior" of our fair city stands at 65 inches so istherefore boosted by "Napoleonic influences", I have bad news foryou: Either through misprint or simple error, and although the MotownMissionary will never play center for the NBA franchise he owns, he is minimum67" and perhaps 68". I played many an athletic competition againstthe chap and in high top gym shoes he gets over the 68" marker with ease.Being 70" myself, I have taken close note to such an importantcharacteristic of the man because he crushes me [[tennis, bowling, weightlifting, basketballand golf just to name a few) at a much higher frequency than is of my liking.

Sleep well, miscreants.

[antongast]

Hi, Dan! Can I call you Dan? I've heard you're Dannycakes to your friends, but let's not rush things here.

BTW, if you're looking for Comic Sans, it's sixth from the top in the "font" box in the top center of your Reply window. Welcome to the forum!

[313WX]

Hi, Dan! Can I call you Dan? I've heard you're Dannycakes to your friends, but let's not rush things here.

BTW, if you're looking for Comic Sans, it's sixth from the top in the "font" box in the top center of your Reply window. Welcome to the forum!

I figured that was Dan, or one of this colleagues.

According to all of my sources though, Dad Gilbert is only 5' 5".

[Richard]

Gannon,

You sound like a bit of a bitter, jealous pathetic soul.

What kind of person sits at home on a nice Sunday afternoon and postsfabricated lies on discussion forums that the employees of a 28-year-oldcompany that is known as one of the most successful businesses not only inDetroit but in the entire country, are running rampant stealing from each otherand doing such with cocaine up their noses?

I guess that it must be that same company not "based on solid businesspractises" that typically wins the highest honor in all these UnitedStates for customer service in their field from JD Power three years in a row,huh?

But then again, it must be all of those happy and drugged larceny riddenemployees that has put QL into the top 15 of Fortune Magazine's 100 'bestplaces to work in the country' ranking for the past 9-10 years and according tothe NYT article the third largest residential lender in America who will close100 Billion in home loan volume this year.

Perhaps, before you anonymously libel a company and its numerous hard-workingemployees you should examine what would create such hostility in you to inventthis nonsense and post publicly what you know to be completely false.

Did you get fired from their organisation for fraud or poor customer service? Iwould suspect that someone with the likes of your stench combined with yourdevious capacity to commit such 'brave' slanderous lies while maintaining yourincognito identity, would likely stand out like a flatulent turd in a rosegarden at any place of employment who even subscribes to mediocre sets of principleslet alone the over-the-top standards QL imposes.

In other words, they would show the likes of one with your character flaws the doormighty quickly, I surmise.

I rarely post on this board but when I see a great American company that hasnot only stood the test of time but survived a complete collapse of theirindustry and thrived as one of the few remaining participants of size beingdisparaged by some whiny malcontent with twisted fantasies, I feel it honorableto shine truth on the matter so the deviant perpetrating such trash is exposed.

Now, I do realize the mutant invertebrate cowers in the fetal position when heexperiences his recurring nightmare of being outed but he should have noworries. His spiteful defamation remains safely protected behind the namelessand faceless confines of his keyboard where identification is an unlikelyevent.

However, after reading this response, I have an inkling things will be, shallwe say "weird, precarious and funky" for this poltroon when he looksin the mirror before retiring to his likely unstable sleep.

Yours Truly,

The Deliverer of Truth

PS...For the other poster on this board whose depleted self-esteem seemedto get a false temporary boost from his reveling in the piece of informationthat the "savior" of our fair city stands at 65 inches so istherefore boosted by "Napoleonic influences", I have bad news foryou: Either through misprint or simple error, and although the MotownMissionary will never play center for the NBA franchise he owns, he is minimum67" and perhaps 68". I played many an athletic competition againstthe chap and in high top gym shoes he gets over the 68" marker with ease.Being 70" myself, I have taken close note to such an importantcharacteristic of the man because he crushes me [[tennis, bowling, weightlifting, basketballand golf just to name a few) at a much higher frequency than is of my liking.

Sleep well, miscreants.

Napolian complex much? He is hardly nameless or faceless and being he is an amercian he is entitled to his opinion.

Interesting how you have never posted before when negivtive comments have been expressed about other city movers and shakers or is this selective condoning .

When the man stands on stage and says that they are there to help others invest in the city by cutting through the red tape and other assistance then when given the operituinity supplies nothing but lip service and replies because it is company policy ?

Enron was also voted best place to work also and was also worth billions and many others in thier time.

Signed another miscreant.

[old guy]

I figured that was Dan, or one of this colleagues.

According to all of my sources though, Dad Gilbert is only 5' 5".

I hate it when people cut and paste an email and don't bother to edit the spacing.

[nain rouge]

Gilbert is doing good things for downtown. Yes, it would be better if we had more business leaders engaged in the recreation of downtown Detroit, but is it Gilbert's fault that so few others care? You can hate him for his faults, but he's the man stepping up to the plate.

Downtown is in a crazy position. Basically, it's tough to get value out of any property you buy unless you also have a large workforce you can move in. We're lucky we have someone like Gilbert willing to make that commitment.

I do agree that Gilbert's efforts could in some way be futile if the neighborhoods are allowed to keep deteriorating. But what's he supposed to do about that? Move into a home in Detroit?

[old guy]

Hey, I wish him and the city the best of luck.

[401don]

I do agree that Gilbert's efforts could in some way be futile if the neighborhoods are allowed to keep deteriorating. But what's he supposed to do about that? Move into a home in Detroit?[/QUOTE]

Maybe he should move into the Wayne County Building and turn it into the Gilberttown Palace.

[iheartthed]

I think we owe Detroitdave an apology:

About 80 small companies have already settled into buildings owned by Bedrock, many of them start-ups funded by Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm co-owned by Mr. Gilbert. A Twitter office is here, too, as is a branch of Uber, the online taxi-calling service. National brands, like Nike, are being courted.

[Wesley Mouch]

So we've descending into a thread on Gilbert. Sad.

Even if you don't like the nature of his business, you should be able to look past this and see that he's doing good. He could be like Matty Maroun and just leech, but instead he's doing good. I'd like him to know that his efforts to make Detroit better are so very much appreciated by many people.

Gilbert is creating the future in Detroit. More like him is precisely what Detroit needs, and most here on this forum want.

Thanks, Dan.

[hortonz]

Quicken Loans is a mortgage and loan company period. It does not create anything of physical value like GM or a steel company. It's nothing more than a pile of money that moves around looking to get bigger. We need to quit investing the bulk of our nation's wealth on abstract financial instruments and invest in manufacturing things of value. Bring back manufacturing and localized agriculture.

[Eber Brock Ward]

Quicken Loans is a mortgage and loan company period. It does not create anything of physical value like GM or a steel company. It's nothing more than a pile of money that moves around looking to get bigger. We need to quit investing the bulk of our nation's wealth on abstract financial instruments and invest in manufacturing things of value. Bring back manufacturing and localized agriculture.

How's that any different than most of what is produced in NY, the most successful city in the union? Or how a huge portion of Chicago's base is trading?

I'm glad to see us diversify away from being a one-trick manufacturing pony. Gotta keep the manufacturing there, of course, but the more types of businesses the better.

[Wesley Mouch]

Quicken Loans is a mortgage and loan company period. It does not create anything of physical value like GM or a steel company. It's nothing more than a pile of money that moves around looking to get bigger. We need to quit investing the bulk of our nation's wealth on abstract financial instruments and invest in manufacturing things of value. Bring back manufacturing and localized agriculture.

Its a lot more than a pile of money moving around. But let's not argue philosophy here. I can agree with you that the financial sector is out of control, but to say they have zero value is as wrong as saying it is the future of the USA.

An economy needs to be diversified. Steel, autos, financial service, international trade [[just moving thigns), internet [[just moving electronic bits around), conventions [[just talking about things). All are good.