Metro Detroit to be replaced by Metro Phoenix...

[EMG]

How could that statement possibly be true? You're generalizing.

Nope. The only people that don't like Arpaio are criminals and/or illegal immigrants.

[EMG]

Um, metro Detroit has its share of ludicrous city-suburban bullheadedness. Are you sure you lived here once?

Yep. ......

[Jimaz]

Nope. The only people that don't like Arpaio are criminals and/or illegal immigrants.

LOL! You keep on smoking whatever you're smoking. Not even one legal, law-abiding citizen objects to his thuggery?! Haven't you read his history? He's an asshole and he's proud of it. He cultivates it. Don't deny him his pride, man! He strives to be an asshole. It's his sole goal in life.

Or did they make it illegal to "have a problem with Joe?" It wouldn't surprise me if they made him the supreme dictator of Maricopa County. Only that would make sense of your posts at this point.

[48302]

This should not be a surprise. Immigrants settle and transients move to where the jobs are. The SW area of the country has been growing like gangbusters when compared to the Midwest, Great Lakes, or Eastern areas. What is most distressing is that we will lose representation in DC due to redistricting, that will take some of our house seats and move them to either AZ, NV, or CA.

since we only vote for Democrats here anyways, it is no big loss

[szla]

some of the exchange that detroitnerd references are very accurate. i dont have that attitude but have lost both my children to chicago and minneapolis. i raised them mostly in the city but when the gerry springer family moved in the situation became untenable for our family. i didn't want to change my life too much so i didn't move far. i follow demographic trends and have now been to chicago enough times since my daughter has moved there that i think we in detroit look at things differently and get treated differently than chicago relative to the census. many of the estimates for metro chicago put the figure at 7.9-9.3 million people. they include about seventeen counties in illinois, 4-5 in indiana and maybe even one in michigan and wisconsin. many of the figures that are now included in metro chicago if they were included would give us a figure of about 5.5 million metro and if you threw in the canadian side would move it to about 6.050 million. st clair, lapeer, wayne, oakland, macomb, washtenaw, monroe, livingston, genesee and lenawee have melded into a region. the three canadian counties across the border are surely our sibling. as metro chicago looks at itself as chicagoland we need to think of ourselves as the detroit region. there is a fascinating book called frontier metropolis [[detroit from 1701-1840). when the french arrived they looked at the straits region as being from toledo to port huron. we need to look at ourselves differently than we do. we may do "shithole" too well, but there are stunning things in this region which we can build on.

[Jimaz]

Let's just put a quick, humane stop to the embarrassment of defending Joe Arpaio:
Controversy and criticism . It's the single largest entry in his Wikipedia file.

[Jimaz]

And good luck with that Coccidioidomycosis. People in Michigan don't have to contract that disease.

[jt1]

How is the availability of fresh water going in Phoenix? Who eats the cost when the Colorado river is drained and water needs to be transported there.

I'm sure the people in AZ and NV will be requesting federal funding.

[iheartthed]

And this is a silly article.

One can't predict the population of two cities 16 years into the future with any accuracy.

Just 8 years ago, metro Detroit had half the unemployment of the national average, had added a net 200,000 jobs in the second half of the 1990's, and had posted its largest population gains in nearly half a century.

And that population gain was minimal compared to the gains experienced in other metropolitan areas in the country. Even by posting a net gain, which was mainly due to having a higher birth rate than death rate, the metro area lost standing when ranked against other large metropolitan areas. Detroit was the 6th largest metro in 1990 and had dropped to the 9th or 10th largest by 2000.

[hudkina]

Back in the mid 90's the Census did a similar projection with the states. They assumed that Michigan wouldn't even reach 10 million until 2020. That happened in the early 2000's.

There's no saying whether or not Metro Detroit's economy will pick up steam, while some of the dustbelt cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas will stagnate over the next few decades. The only economy Phoenix has is new home construction. If people stop moving there then tens of thousands of Phoenix residents are out of the job. As those people lose jobs other people who rely on those high-paying jobs lose their jobs and Phoenix becomes Detroit South.

In the meantime, Detroit is adding new jobs in growing fields such as clean energy and battery technologies. The region has always been attractive to well-educated international immigrants, even if Michigan's youth think they'll be better-off by moving to cities like Seattle and Miami. I predict the 2010's will be very similar to the 1990's in that we may see economic and population growth as opposed to the stagnation we've witnessed over the last decade. I also predict that come 2010, the regional population loss won't be nearly as bad as the Census has predicted over the last five years.

[maxx]

First of all you have to remember Phoenix's weather is completely different from Detroit and is more attractive to seniors and retirees. AZ, TX, FL and now Costa Rica have been the destination for retirees for years. With the boomers retiring naturally the populations of these states will continue to increase.

First of all you have to remember that Phoenix is a hell hole with 3 digit weather in the spring and summer. It's a desert FGS. All someone has to do is pull the plug on the water supply and Phoenix would be a ghost town. It is really sad when Detroit with its temperate climate and proximity to water can't compete with the desert. And we even have casinos right downtown.

.

[skyl4rk]

If we could offer a Detroit shack and a shotgun to wannabe immigrants, Detroit would grow quickly.

The feds don't seem to enforce the immigration law anyway, lets encourage immigration to Detroit.

[Fury13]

If we could offer a Detroit shack and a shotgun to wannabe immigrants, Detroit would grow quickly.

The feds don't seem to enforce the immigration law anyway, lets encourage immigration to Detroit.

Realistically, masses of new immigrants are probably the only thing that can save the city.

[Roq]

First of all you have to remember that Phoenix is a hell hole with 3 digit weather in the spring and summer. It's a desert FGS. All someone has to do is pull the plug on the water supply and Phoenix would be a ghost town. It is really sad when Detroit with its temperate climate and proximity to water can't compete with the desert. And we even have casinos right downtown
.

A-fricking-men. The people who have moved to the South\Southwest seem to think everyone wants to swelter in 100 degree plus heat and don't get that many of us hate that weather and much prefer Michigan's comfortable temperatures and beautiful greenery.

[Roq]

I for one like summer, and I like my summers to be REAL summers.

Real summers where you spend the majority of your time in air conditioned comfort?

[Fury13]

A-fricking-men. The people who have moved to the South\Southwest seem to think everyone wants to swelter in 100 degree plus heat and don't get that many of us hate that weather and much prefer Michigan's comfortable temperatures and beautiful greenery.

There's a good reason why Phoenix and the rest of the American Southwest wasn't heavily populated until the 1950s and '60s: widely affordable air conditioning came on the scene at that time.

I agree, I can't stand that kind of heat.

[313WX]

Realistically, masses of new immigrants are probably the only thing that can save the city.

But even more realistically, masses of new immigrants re-locate to places with plentiful service jobs [[like the Southwest US).

[EMG]

There's a good reason why Phoenix and the rest of the American Southwest wasn't heavily populated until the 1950s and '60s: widely affordable air conditioning came on the scene at that time.

I agree, I can't stand that kind of heat.

Wimp!!!!!!!!

[Fury13]

Wimp!!!!!!!!

Well, I like it cold... as in 10 below zero.

[dove-7]

... in top 10 largest MSAs by 2025.

3. Detroit will drop out of the top 10, with Phoenix replacing it
Detroit and Phoenix are two of the most economically troubled areas in America today, but their future prospects are considerably different.

Detroit is the only metro expected to slip from the top 10 during the next two decades. It’s projected to fall from 10th place in 2005 to 14th place in 2025, losing 59,500 residents during that span.

Phoenix, on the other hand, is likely to bounce back strongly from its current problems. Its projected 2025 population of 6.9 million will elevate it to seventh place, up from 13th in 2005.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31130897

So is Metro Detroit salvageable?

We know the stats about Detroit. It is the only American city in history to have had over 1 million residents and fallen back below that threshold. It is the only top 5 city from the 1950 census to not even be a top 10 city today. Blah, blah...

But what will save Metro Detroit? Are Detroit's woes just a magnification of what is happening with the metropolitan area? Or is this just a coincidence?

I just finished posting and I got logged out.

Can't really compare the two. Phoenix suffering is more related to the recession like the majority of the major cities. Detroit is a different kind of economic duck; Detroit seems to have a 24/7 Recession and when there is a nationwide recession, Detroit shuts down. Kind of reminds me of what Coleman Young said during his early terms running the city during the 70's. "When Detroit gets sick it catches a cold, but when the rest of the country gets hit economically, Detroit gets the flu." Not the exact quote but something like that.

Phoenix is in the same bracket that the southern and western cites are in; it's a destination city for retirement because of the warm weather.

[313WX]

Well, I like it cold... as in 10 below zero.

Well it's clear you don't have to wait for a DDOT bus or stand in an charity line during the middle of January.

[Fury13]

Well it's clear you don't have to wait for a DDOT bus or stand in an charity line during the middle of January.

Ahh, if I did have to, would that make me a better person?

[Ocean2026]

I was once driving into Phoenix in a car with windows closed and A/C on full. Was coming from Cal and had an important appt with ASU at 1:30. I was on the other end of town and saw one of the time displays at a bank say 117 and was really upset that I wasn't going to make it-- then it said Time 1:05. Anyone who would rather spend a summer in Phoenix than Detroit with the heat and traffic has to be nuts.

While we are on the topic of nuts there are people on here who were arguing with me that the Detroit area is actually growing.. oh well.

Bigger isn't always better. If we took 100,000 of Detroit's worst criminals and drowned them in the river, wouldn't the place improve?

[Fury13]

If we took 100,000 of Detroit's worst criminals and drowned them in the river, wouldn't the place improve?

If you did that, there would be no one left to run city government.

[dove-7]

I was once driving into Phoenix in a car with windows closed and A/C on full. Was coming from Cal and had an important appt with ASU at 1:30. I was on the other end of town and saw one of the time displays at a bank say 117 and was really upset that I wasn't going to make it-- then it said Time 1:05. Anyone who would rather spend a summer in Phoenix than Detroit with the heat and traffic has to be nuts.

While we are on the topic of nuts there are people on here who were arguing with me that the Detroit area is actually growing.. oh well.

Bigger isn't always better. If we took 100,000 of Detroit's worst criminals and drowned them in the river, wouldn't the place improve?

The same can be said about sub zero weather vs. cool summers here. Preference don't equate to being nuts. And that humidity back there sure doesn't reassure me that I'm nuts. But it'll drive you nuts.

You're right, bigger isn't always better, but a thriving city is a surviving one. That's the key point.