1800 New Jobs Coming to the City

[MotownSpartan]

1800 jobs coming to Warren, this sounds like a great boost for the region. Too bad this isn't happening in the city of Detroit proper. This project sounds like it will include a lot of engineers and other white-collar jobs which will attract the young and educated. Why doesn't Michigan pursue economic development policies that help strengthen our central cities [[which ultimately is good for suburb and city alike .... whereas projects that benefit the suburbs rarely benefit the central city)?

http://www.freep.com/article/2010011...1180317/?imw=Y

[Patrick]

You will see a lot of acquisition-related positions spring up at this particular site. This new site will probably end up becoming one of the main acquisitions sites for the military outside of the Pentagon. It will be tough to get your foot in the door and thousands will be applying for these rare spots. If you served in the military or had worked for the government before it will help you immensely in the selection process.

[Retroit]

Why doesn't Michigan pursue economic development policies that help strengthen our central cities [[which ultimately is good for suburb and city alike .... whereas projects that benefit the suburbs rarely benefit the central city)?

How do you encourage companies or the government to locate new facilities in an area that is known for high crime, low education, lack of decent housing, corrupt government, poor city services, etc.? The only way I can think of is with financial incentives, in which case it ends up costing all of us, city and suburbs, more.

I think the burden is on Detroit, or more specifically, Detroiters, to make their city an attractive place to do business.

[Tig3rzhark]

How do you encourage companies or the government to locate new facilities in an area that is known for high crime, low education, lack of decent housing, corrupt government, poor city services, etc.? The only way I can think of is with financial incentives, in which case it ends up costing all of us, city and suburbs, more.

I think the burden is on Detroit, or more specifically, Detroiters, to make their city an attractive place to do business.

After riding around many parts of the city I would have to agree.

There is a lot of office space just empty downtown. The mood within the city seems apathetic with broken glass and litter on the streets. Crime that is unable to be controlled as a result of not enough officers and citizens who still feel that the police can do nothing to stop the crime.

On my block, a house was broken into a few weeks ago. No action has been taken by the police as of yet. No increased police presence in my area either.

There are grocery stores within the city, but some of them sometimes tend to sell expired products and unreasonable prices, forcing those that are able, to go to the suburbs to buy groceries.

What will have to be done is businesses will have to be started here, and then in time there will be jobs.

What the city government will need to do, is offer incentives for businesses to start here.

The people of Detroit that are still here, most have lost all hope of salvation and struggle to merely survive. The burden does lie on the Detroiters that are left.

[casscorridor]

the burden of rebuilding Detroit, although does rest with the people, should also be placed on those who committed great crimes against the city and its people-- repayment of exploited labor, compesation for years of institutionalized descrimination and environmental injustice by the capitalist class.

while GM was the world's largest corporation, Detroit, GM's home, was the most depressed city in the U.S. Cadillac Centre, and now the Renaissance Center, look out into broken neighborhoods, hopeless citizens, and a collapsed local economy. The excutives sat in their offices, making millions of dollars, looking out and watching the city crumble to the ground.

did they care? perhapse. but do they care enough about human dignity and freedom to sacrafice their wealth and privilage? absolutely not.

and so the lines are drawn. yes, it is up to we the people, but we the people will not let those who did this to us get away scotch free. there shall be justice.

[Danny]

YAY GRANHOLM!

Keep the jobs coming. In the suburbs!

[Retroit]

the burden of rebuilding Detroit, although does rest with the people, should also be placed on those who committed great crimes against the city and its people-- repayment of exploited labor, compesation for years of institutionalized descrimination and environmental injustice by the capitalist class.

while GM was the world's largest corporation, Detroit, GM's home, was the most depressed city in the U.S. Cadillac Centre, and now the Renaissance Center, look out into broken neighborhoods, hopeless citizens, and a collapsed local economy. The excutives sat in their offices, making millions of dollars, looking out and watching the city crumble to the ground.

did they care? perhapse. but do they care enough about human dignity and freedom to sacrafice their wealth and privilage? absolutely not.

and so the lines are drawn. yes, it is up to we the people, but we the people will not let those who did this to us get away scotch free. there shall be justice.

I appreciate your perspective, but I don't think you are being realistic. How exactly do you expect GM to "care enough about human dignity and freedom"? GM can't dictate how the people of Detroit conduct themselves in their communities once they have left the workplace. Are companies located in other cities required to burden themselves by preventing those cities from "crumbling to the ground".

Labor was "exploited" because at the time it was legal, just like it still is legal in other countries where many of our goods come from. Are we willing to pay the additional cost of buying only from producers who do not "exploit" labor? If not, then we are just as guilty.

So, I acknowledge that we've come a long way with workers' rights and we still may have a way to go, but it is futile to think that companies should go back in time to correct all their past abuses when they are having a hard enough time competing with foreign companies who are still committing those abuses.

[iheartthed]

How do you encourage companies or the government to locate new facilities in an area that is known for high crime, low education, lack of decent housing, corrupt government, poor city services, etc.?

So I guess this is your explanation for Michigan's chronically high unemployment rate?

[Diehard]

YAY GRANHOLM!

Keep the jobs coming. In the suburbs!

Creating those jobs in Warren is better than creating them in Alabama, isn't it?

[sirrealone]

Creating those jobs in Warren is better than creating them in Alabama, isn't it?

Unfortunately, many see the two as the one in the same.

[Diehard]

Unfortunately, many see the two as the one in the same.

Ha, good one.

[CountrySquire]

"The influx of money and hiring should help the local housing market "

Well woohoo! Those accepting work at this new facility have thier choice of LOTs of homes in my neaby Hazel Park neighborhood. Four of them are forelcosed / vacant on my block.

[Gistok]

Casscorridor... have you ever heard of NEW CENTER COMMONS. GM spent millions and millions fixing up the neighborhood around its' former HQ in the New Center area back in the 1980s and 1990s.

When GM moved to the RenCen, it also bought up large chunks of land to the east of RenCen, and was planning on building a rivertown community. Of course bankrupcy put a kabosh onto that idea, but at least GM still owns the land, and once they pay the Feds back and get back into the black [[hopefully)... then they may proceed to develop that land.

But to somehow blame GM for the plight of the city is rather simplistic and untrue....

[kryptonite]

Gistok, very true. The big companies that made Detroit grow and that built a prosperous middle class here for transplants from the South and Europe after WWII made a better life for those people, even if those times are drawing to a close. I know about it first hand from my parents who left farms in the South to earn a good living here in the factories. I don't think GM or any local large business can be criticized - they paid good wages, paid enormous property taxes that fund local schools, and still help fund many local institutions such as DIA, Chas. Wright, Detroit Science Center, Detroit Symphony, MOT, PBS, colleges, charities, etc.

If GM and others were so criminally exploitive why would tens of thousands of workers come to Detroit from the South, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Canada, UK, Italy, etc. following WWII to work for the big3?

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Like some other posters, I would be happier if these jobs were in Detroit. However, the next best thing is for them to be in an older inner ring suburb rather than out in some farmland.