UM to Partner with Gilbert on Innovation Center at Fail Jail Site

**Scottathew** · July-16-21, 08:56 AM

Originally Posted by Richard

You increase social programs as your tax base increases,outside of that you are increasing the tax burden on a already overburdened tax base.

You're hitting on a pretty big issue. Folks in Detroit pay more in taxes, by a lot, but they don't really seem to get more. Instead of getting economies of scale, they seem to get the opposite, as waste and fraud seem to find an easier way to hide in a larger city.

I've thrown around in my head the idea of carving Detroit up into multiple cities and school districts. Focusing more on locally governing than at the scale of 140 square miles. I think the magic number would be to go from one city to four or five cities and school districts. School district boundaries should match the new city boundaries. I don't think any such solution like that should be imposed on Detroit residents, but only implemented if chosen by them.

**Satiricalivory** · July-16-21, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by Scottathew

I've thrown around in my head the idea of carving Detroit up into multiple cities and school districts. Focusing more on locally governing than at the scale of 140 square miles. I think the magic number would be to go from one city to four or five cities and school districts. School district boundaries should match the new city boundaries. I don't think any such solution like that should be imposed on Detroit residents, but only implemented if chosen by them.

Hell no. All that would do is kneecap the shit out of the city and its best interests. And never in a million years would it happen.

**Satiricalivory** · July-16-21, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by K-slice

This sounds dead to me. Hope I'm wrong but the quote from Ross is peppered with buzz words with basically no details. "Inclusive growth, affordable housing, historic preservation", wanna throw a bone to another interest group? It reeks of appeasement, and what do these things even have to do with an "innovation center"???

The excuse of the site not being large enough also makes little sense to me. This site is a blank state and Bedrock is handing Ross the chalk to create what he wants. Now he suddenly wants to wrangle one of the other vacant areas in the city away from potentially multiple private interests? I don't buy it.

It makes perfect sense. Obviously Ross and Gilbert disagreed on how to use the Gratiot site. Bedrock owns the land so they call the shots. They couldn't compromise so now Ross has to find a new place to build his baby. Of course they're not going to broadcast all their internal dealings to the media and the world.

Only Detroityes would read a statement like that from the most credible billionaire developer in the world and one of the most respected universities in North America and come to an "It's dead!" conclusion. This is a university not a condo development.

**401don** · July-16-21, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by Scottathew

You're hitting on a pretty big issue. Folks in Detroit pay more in taxes, by a lot, but they don't really seem to get more. .

Those who actually pay their taxes. Does any other city of Detroit's size approach its delinquency rate?

**Satiricalivory** · July-16-21, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

Those who actually pay their taxes. Does any other city of Detroit's size approach its delinquency rate?

Huh?? The city's property delinquent tax rate isn't that large anymore and it's about to be zero with Gilbert paying the back taxes.

**401don** · July-16-21, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

Huh?? The city's property delinquent tax rate isn't that large anymore and it's about to be zero with Gilbert paying the back taxes.

You really are roses and sunshine on everything.
Gilbert is not going to just start paying all of the delinquent taxes now and in the future. Site something more recent than this which shows a dramatic change:
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...ncy/700005002/

**bust** · July-16-21, 05:38 PM

Hudson Yards bears little resemblance to the Ren Cen, except for bad timing, scale, and glass. It's standoffish, not nearly as closed off-- one of the Ren Cen's most defining features.

I have a lot less faith in Ross than many seem to.

Re the Monroe site-- it makes perfect sense to wait out uncertainty. Too prime a location. With patience we'll see a better plan once things bounce back than any that would happen today.

Sure as the momentum toward work at home, it's exaggerated, will equilibrate.

**Satiricalivory** · July-19-21, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

You really are roses and sunshine on everything.
Gilbert is not going to just start paying all of the delinquent taxes now and in the future. Site something more recent than this which shows a dramatic change:
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...ncy/700005002/

This story, originally published on Feb. 21, 2013

.....

**13606Cedargrove** · July-19-21, 02:28 PM

I, too, have "thrown around in my head" a similar idea. It will not be popular, but a solution would be to reduce the size of Detroit to the Downtown/New Center area, and divide the rest of the City into townships. Then, let the arrangement adjust itself organically over time - annexations, mergers, new towns and cities, etc. I know the devil is in the details [police, fire, etc.] but that is my view from 10,000 feet. A change in the 1926 ['27?] Michigan law regarding municipal annexations should be considered as part of this.

**Gistok** · July-19-21, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by bust

Sure as the momentum toward work at home, it's exaggerated, will equilibrate.

Yeah my comparison to RenCen was based on monumental complex alone... Hudson Yard also has residential, something missing from RenCen. And then there's a mass transit station. A People Mover stop isn't quite the same.

But about your comment on work-at-home. When I was working IT at the phone company in the 90s, we got to work from home 2 days a week. Worked out great. But we found out that the more your boss saw of you, the more visible you were... and since our company "right-sized" their work force every 2-3 years [got rid of their bottom 10% ranked employees]. I had 2 bosses who were top notch... but because their boss was out of state... when it came down to review time... the employee review process worked against people who were not seen often by their bosses. 3 years apart I lost both great bosses to right-sizing.

For companies that do not do periodic employee "weeding out", full time work from home may be a good thing. But for companies that like to right-size... it can be a serious problem not to be seen at the company.

I think that many companies will do partial work-from-home. And at some companies, the employees won't want to work-from-home full time anyway.

**Richard** · July-19-21, 03:28 PM

I do not think WFH is not what it is touted as,the Achilles heel is the stability of the internet and lost production in the process.

How many moved rural because of WFH after selling everything only to discover that the only internet available is satellite that drops when a cloud goes by or in a rainy day.

You see it on the news and with zoom calls getting dropped,imagine how the boss would feel if they paid you for weeks of research to present to a client,the moment comes to pitch that multi million dollar sale and you have to call them up and say,my internet is down.

**Henry Whalley** · July-19-21, 03:35 PM

They should build a prison for all the faculty molesters and enablers.

**ShadowSoarer** · August-19-21, 08:43 AM

World Economic Forum plans Detroit Urban Innovation Center:

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...ck/8189401002/

**EGrant** · August-19-21, 10:17 AM

What exactly does the World Economic Forum do?

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · August-19-21, 11:23 AM

From the WEF:

https://www.weforum.org/press/2021/0...on-in-detroit/

How infinitely preferable with this center be in the “fail jail” location instead of a jail itself.

**Honky Tonk** · August-19-21, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by EGrant

What exactly does the World Economic Forum do?

"Why, it's a major award!"

A Christmas Story

**401don** · August-19-21, 01:11 PM

Trying to figure this out. Isn't an Innovation Center what U of M was planning? Will there be two now?

**Satiricalivory** · August-19-21, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

Trying to figure this out. Isn't an Innovation Center what U of M was planning? Will there be two now?

U of M is planning a university with students, professors and degrees. This seems like some kind of global organization that will base their US HQ here.

**Richard** · August-19-21, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by EGrant

What exactly does the World Economic Forum do?

They are what is called a NGO or Non Governmental Organization.

They operate off of corporate donations on a world scale.

NGOs have a scetchy side to them,some of them anyways,useing lots of money to get what they want,using any means necessary.

A tin hat person would classify this as a part of global control over a city,and it would not matter if you oppose what they are doing because you really would have no say in it,or a privately funded world order.

Right now they are on the level of green - like you have stolen my childhood level- my personal view is,with the trillions getting ready to flow or the green ready to flow,they are going to use Detroit to get some.

They have a saying - beware of those bearing gifts and that would be on the citizenry of Detroit to do their research as they become another social experiment.

You are not talking about local level anymore,decisions will be made based on the worlds benefit as a whole but you pay for it.

As an example,their solution to homelessness,is to give everybody a home,but you pay for it.

They are agenda based on a world scale and what works in a socialist society might not be the best thing for Detroit.

You guys have to decide right now how far you want to go with this or how much rope you want to let out.

Are you really interested in corporate control over your city?

The intensions are good but you have to pay close attention to the implementation of those and how much say you will really have.

So what do they actually do?

Pretty much pick causes and implement solutions according to how the rest of the world does it.

If a large corporation wants to implement change in the city,they send the funding through them,but once they have the money,they become in total control over it.

**Satiricalivory** · August-19-21, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by EGrant

What exactly does the World Economic Forum do?

I did some searching and remembered what they are. It's a non-government organization that brings together a bunch of uber powerful people and companies to promote capitalism.

**Satiricalivory** · August-19-21, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Richard

They are agenda based on a world scale and what works in a socialist society might not be the best thing for Detroit.

Their whole agenda is the opposite of socialism so this doesn't make a lot of sense.

**EGrant** · August-19-21, 02:50 PM

Thanks Satiricalivory, that makes sense. It was hard to decipher the corporate-speak word salad that is their website.

**drjeff** · August-19-21, 02:59 PM

I don't know anything about this particular group but basically every charity on the planet is an "NGO" so there is not something insidious about that term.

**Richard** · August-19-21, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

Their whole agenda is the opposite of socialism so this doesn't make a lot of sense.

To enable every country to take part in the transition, wealthier countries need to deliver the $100 billion per year of climate finance required for developing countries so they too can bring their brilliance to the race to reduce emissions.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/...ness-response/

You would not have an extra 100 billion laying around,neither do I,where does our government get their 100 billion from?

You know how many countries that are out there that could be considered developing countries,and where that money would go.

These are the billionaires that gather up in Davos every year to remind us if we do not do this right now,we will all die.

They have already placed the goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.

It was already explained the trillions in costs it would take,can you imagine removing everything carbon based from the Detroit region by 50% in 8 years and what the scope of that entails.

It gets cold,how do you heat your house and at what cost when the heating supply has been reduced by 1/2?

At that point only those with high means will have the luxury of heat in the winter.

It’s moving the money from the bottom to the top because the average person has a tough time paying the light bill let alone the massive tax increase this agenda would require.

It’s okay to have an agenda of good intentions,but at the end of the day,it realistically has to be paid for and what have you gained at the expense of who?

It is the basis of socialism,all the money goes to the top and everybody else works to send it there.

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · August-19-21, 04:57 PM

Richard, you mistakenly said “socialism” when the correct term was “capitalism.”

The boogeyman of “socialism” really is such a tedious 1950’s/1960’s mantra.

BTW, “an extra 100 billion” would be 1/20th of what we wasted in Afghanistan.