How [Detroit] can teach us to reinvest the rest of the U.S. economy

[Jimaz]

From Time: How [Detroit] can teach us to reinvest the rest of the U.S. economy

In August, a year after I wrote a TIME cover story on Detroit’s bankruptcy, I visited Motown again. This time I found myself reporting on a remarkable economic resurgence that could become a model for other beleaguered American communities....

Since 2010, Gilbert has created 6,500 new jobs downtown,...

The question now is how to spread the prosperity. The answer starts with better public transportation. Motown has always been a disaster in this respect. It used to be that nobody wanted to go downtown; now nobody wants to leave. The M-1 Rail, a new public-private streetcar due to be completed in 2016, aims to link neighborhoods. GM, Penske, Quicken and other firms are contributing the majority of its $140 million cost, and the rail will be donated back to the city within a few years. Studies show that a similar project in Portland, Ore., has generated six times its cost in economic development. In the past few months, officials from New Orleans and Miami have visited Detroit to study the project....

Heh, Detroit as a role model. There we have it.

[Dbest]

Detroit needs to the national media to keep telling the general public that the city is turning around from the inside out. Regardless of whether its truly the beginning of a development gold rush or continuing the steady effort to repopulate downtown, the more people that hear it enough, the more that will begin to believe it. Interest is peaking in this old auto town and I hope Detroit can really capitalize by changing perceptions.

[Kevgoblue]

I hope there is a plan in place for funding after it is "donated back to the city within a few years".

[ABetterDetroit]

Detroit needs to the national media to keep telling the general public that the city is turning around from the inside out. Regardless of whether its truly the beginning of a development gold rush or continuing the steady effort to repopulate downtown, the more people that hear it enough, the more that will begin to believe it. Interest is peaking in this old auto town and I hope Detroit can really capitalize by changing perceptions.

Intrest is not even close to "peaking" in fact it is going to climb significantly higher but a very good point regardless.