No one getting paid in Highland Park

**O3H** · February-13-19, 02:21 PM

Gee, there you have it - NO ONE cared, NO ONE acted, drugs were rampant
Now those drug dealers died, got old, and can't secure any decent jobs, wow

Highland Park failed due to Society.

**Honky Tonk** · February-13-19, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by O3H

Gee, there you have it - NO ONE cared, NO ONE acted, drugs were rampant
Now those drug dealers died, got old, and can't secure any decent jobs, wow

Highland Park failed due to Society.

HP failed for the same reason Detroit failed, piss-poor leadership. Those elected kept milking the cow until it went belly-up. Why spend money on a bale of hay when you can put that money in your own pocket? Now it's going to take something short of a miracle to bring it back around.

**Bham1982** · February-13-19, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

HP failed for the same reason Detroit failed, piss-poor leadership.

Detroit didn't fail because of poor leadership. If anything, it's had pretty decent mayors for big-city standards. Cavanaugh, Archer and Duggan are pretty much universally regarded as top-tier mayors.

Young was divisive but most folks acknowledge he did OK-to-well considering circumstances. Bing was a cipher and Kwame a crook, but really none had absurd public policy decisions.

No man [[or woman) could have stopped Detroit's epic decline.

**K-slice** · February-13-19, 04:51 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Detroit didn't fail because of poor leadership. If anything, it's had pretty decent mayors for big-city standards. Cavanaugh, Archer and Duggan are pretty much universally regarded as top-tier mayors.

Young was divisive but most folks acknowledge he did OK-to-well considering circumstances. Bing was a cipher and Kwame a crook, but really none had absurd public policy decisions.

No man [[or woman) could have stopped Detroit's epic decline.

There's a lot more to leadership than the guy who sits at the top of the pile. You have City Council, City Clerk, DPS leadership, hundreds of others in leadership roles and their staff. Through all that bureaucracy there is plenty of room for people with no show jobs, shady contractors, and overall waste especially in a city too distracted by crime, drugs, and decline to really notice the internal corruption. The Mayor has to assume that the people 4, 5, 6, rungs down the ladder are doing their jobs as there are so many of them even the most diligent executive can't keep tabs on them all.

Until Duggan no Mayor seemed overly interested in shaking up "business as usual" in the city government as a whole. Perhaps it's just the timing that allowed him to make such progress [[once you hit rock bottom the only way to go is up) but I think it's more than that.

**Towne Cluber** · February-13-19, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

...Kwame a crook, but really none had absurd public policy decisions.

Credit default swaps

**Honky Tonk** · February-13-19, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by K-slice

There's a lot more to leadership than the guy who sits at the top of the pile. You have City Council, City Clerk, DPS leadership, hundreds of others in leadership roles and their staff. Through all that bureaucracy there is plenty of room for people with no show jobs, shady contractors, and overall waste especially in a city too distracted by crime, drugs, and decline to really notice the internal corruption. The Mayor has to assume that the people 4, 5, 6, rungs down the ladder are doing their jobs as there are so many of them even the most diligent executive can't keep tabs on them all.

Until Duggan no Mayor seemed overly interested in shaking up "business as usual" in the city government as a whole. Perhaps it's just the timing that allowed him to make such progress [[once you hit rock bottom the only way to go is up) but I think it's more than that.

Exactly...

**O3H** · February-13-19, 08:11 PM

So when people have a complete lack of desire to achieve
-- it is the mayors fault, and the city councils fault ?

People in HP fail to pull in $15,000 a year on average,
and no one is willing to blame the individuals for their failures ?

Perhaps if people demanded straight A's from all students in a class,
and devoted a society towards creating achievement from people,
so they actually function in society ? How about that ?
Then there is no ""entitlement"" of food stamps, paying utility bills, etc.
A city functions on its own, as a sustainable environment, intellectually.

**Honky Tonk** · February-13-19, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by O3H

So when people have a complete lack of desire to achieve
-- it is the mayors fault, and the city councils fault ?

People in HP fail to pull in $15,000 a year on average,
and no one is willing to blame the individuals for their failures ?

Perhaps if people demanded straight A's from all students in a class,
and devoted a society towards creating achievement from people,
so they actually function in society ? How about that ?
Then there is no ""entitlement"" of food stamps, paying utility bills, etc.
A city functions on its own, as a sustainable environment, intellectually.

You're putting the cart in front of the horse. HP is not in the condition it's in because the current residents can't pull in over $15k, the current residents are there because of the condition HP is in. HP @ one point was a fairly well-to-do place to live. As safety and services deteriorated, those residents voted with their feet, and were replaced with who you have now, residents looking for a bargain basement place to live. If the people you vote in can't, won't, grow or maintain what was entrusted to them or continue to bleed it dry, what other results can you expect? Wasn't the mayor or some other office holder indited on some fraudulent activity just a few years ago? I can't recall all the details right now.

**Danny** · February-14-19, 04:38 PM

100 years later. HP is the core of the black ghetto. No High School, no street lights, no community college, no public library, no Ford plant, no Chrysler Corp, no hope!!!

**O3H** · February-15-19, 07:28 PM

The ones living in HP are not forced to work in HP, they CAN go elsewhere.
If they had skills, talent, knowledge, jobs exist nearby as well.

**Bham1982** · February-16-19, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by O3H

The ones living in HP are not forced to work in HP, they CAN go elsewhere.
If they had skills, talent, knowledge, jobs exist nearby as well.

But they don't, hence the point. HP is a defacto "throwaway" community, ignored by anyone with resources, unfortunately, and the current residents mostly live there because there's nowhere else to go.

But the issues in HP have basically nothing to do with the current residents. They're there because the city is deemed practically worthless.

**Towne Cluber** · February-16-19, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

...Kwame a crook, but really none had absurd public policy decisions.

Switching the police department from 12 precincts to 6 districts. A move that made already inexcusable police response times even longer.

**Zacha341** · February-17-19, 01:27 PM

^^^ Uh, yeah. Somehow that has been forgotten. Unless you live in Detroit.

**Towne Cluber** · February-17-19, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

...Kwame a crook, but really none had absurd public policy decisions.

Asian Village and African Town

**O3H** · February-17-19, 11:32 PM

WTF ???

"" the issues in HP have basically nothing to do with the current residents. ""

I wholeheartedly dis-agree .
Did HP actually SUCK those people in [[like a vacuum cleaner) ??
The people don't make money, so is there is none at city hall !!!
I put the blame on the residents, fair and square.
No aspirations to evolve forward. They don't seem very motivated.
The 11,000 people barely make over $15,000 a year on average.

I've read reports that nearly 80% of the city’s residents live in senior homes, meaning ~ 2,000 property owners are the tax rolls.

In 2001, Highland Park’s financial crisis grew so severe
Jennifer Granholm appointed an “emergency financial manager”
to handle the city’s finances. That was almost 20 YEARS AGO.

Our systems are broken and HP reflects it directly.

**Bham1982** · February-18-19, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by O3H

WTF ???

"" the issues in HP have basically nothing to do with the current residents. ""

I wholeheartedly dis-agree .
Did HP actually SUCK those people in [[like a vacuum cleaner) ??

Yes. "Those people" wouldn't live in HP if it were prosperous.

If you are really so "outraged" about HP, blame people like me. The residents cannot fix that town.

Or, better yet, invest in the town.

**Towne Cluber** · February-18-19, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

HW has very high taxes, partly because it doesn't have any commercial tax base.

Once again, this is not accurate. Huntington Woods has commercial office buildings along Woodward Ave.

**Bham1982** · February-18-19, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Towne Cluber

Once again, this is not accurate. Huntington Woods has commercial office buildings along Woodward Ave.

Towne Clubber stop being a trolling idiot. No one claimed that there wasn't a single commercial taxable property in HW.

HW is an overwhelmingly residential community, which is why it has high property taxes. That doesn't mean its commercial tax base is literally 0.

Get a freakin life already, and stop trying to play braindead "gotcha" with every post.

**Towne Cluber** · February-18-19, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Towne Clubber stop being a trolling idiot. No one claimed that there wasn't a single commercial taxable property in HW.

HW is an overwhelmingly residential community, which is why it has high property taxes. That doesn't mean its commercial tax base is literally 0.

Get a freakin life already, and stop trying to play braindead "gotcha" with every post.

Huntington Woods is also 65% Jewish, yet you claimed that only Oak Park and West Bloomfield had sizable Jewish populations.

**O3H** · February-18-19, 01:35 PM

How does a city become prosperous and well to do ?
It involves money coming in, from businesses and residents.
Highly skilled, educated residents, are the backbone of any city.

If we drop many of the 11,000 HP residents into Grosse Point, Birmingham,
etc., etc., etc., etc - many would simply fail with wealth all around them.

If cities give HUGE tax breaks over and over again to big business,
then the tax burden falls onto the senior citizens - also whacked !!
Younger people won't move in, because the taxes are high. Paradox.

**Towne Cluber** · February-18-19, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Towne Clubber stop being a trolling idiot...Get a freakin life already, and stop trying to play braindead "gotcha" with every post.

Speaking of brain dead, is that the reason that you continuously post false information? To repeatedly and [[often) intentionally do so is the ultimate in trolling.

Not to mention your whole “Birmingham” act, which is highly doubtful at best. Talk about being an idiot and needing to get a life.

**313WX** · February-18-19, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by O3H

Younger people won't move in, because the taxes are high.

That's an awfully broad brush you're painting with.

Taxes have never been high on my priority list when it comes to picking a place to live.

Rather:

*Proximity to trendy/upscale amenities
*Growth rates
*Proximity to high-paying corporate jobs

Are the main things I look for. I don't want to live in an area with a rapidly aging population nor an area where the residents have limited disposable incomes [[as these areas will be most susceptible to store closures and regressive governance).

After those 3 things, I look at school quality and safety.