Journey to Detroit

[jsmyers]

http://www.america2050.org/2010/02/j...o-detriot.html

I wonder if the Tigers won?

[[Direct to Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2V_yny7DmI)

Does anybody else see the "error" in the production? It should be easy for Detroiters, but it doesn't really get in the way of the great message of the film.

-Jason

[Detroitnerd]

What's the error. I couldn't watch all of it. I was puking up synthetic saccharine halfway through.

[EastsideAl]

I too am not sure what the error is, unless it's that it could be inferred from the visuals that he passes by the Main Library after he passes the Maccabees Building.

This little video is really overkill, and just the sort of adolescent utopian vision that is likely to alienate as many or more people than it attracts. Still, it would be nice to have some of these things that seem to be within the reach of other folks in this country and on this planet, like urban light rail and high speed inter-city rail. I can tell you from personal experience that the basic scenario the video depicts is not far off what visiting baseball fans in Japan do regularly, taking the Shinkansen [[bullet train) and efficient local public transport to stadiums in other cities for day-trips to see their team play road games.

[jsmyers]

I see that the forum is as much [[or more) DetroitNO as ever. It has been over 6 years since I first posted. I wonder how many who were active then are still around now.

I didn't notice the order of passing buildings on Woodward. I guess that counts as an error too. The one I was talking about is a little harder to see, but a little more jarring when you do.

The video is meant to be a modern equivalent of the 1939 Futurama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cO9X4NMb4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU7dT2HId-c

I think it is pretty effective. And the things depicted in the video are really not very SciFI. Step back some of the computer technology, add an hour and a half to the train journey, and make the electric a Fusion Hybrid, and it could have been what we enjoy today, if Michigan had made the right policy shifts ten years ago. But we know what happened with Michigan's transportation priorities, don't we:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...11.16,,0,-5.55
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...15.18,,0,-5.76

Those two interchanges cost the state about $60 million, and did nothing to help the state or the region....But they did allow some people to profit on developing this land:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...54932&t=k&z=15

in order to help businesses move north and west of the rest of the region.

[Detroitnerd]

Oh, jeez. Throw a hissy if you want, but that video is just cheesy, that's all.

[cman710]

First off, I want to state that I think that expanding high speed rail between Chicago and Detroit would be a great option, if at all feasible.

Now, for my devil's advocate question: Would it not be more green to stay at home and watch a baseball game on TV than to take a train several hundred miles? I suppose the response would be that one now might drive or take a flight, which is more polluting. But if high-speed rail were to make such trips more convenient and cheap, surely more people would travel than before.

[jsmyers]

It is very feasible. Last week, fixing the bottleneck that prevents Chicago to Detroit trains from getting into Chicago got funding. The state of Michigan has had a plan to make the current 5:30 trip between Chicago and Detroit take well under 4 hours. If Michigan keeps up its end of the bargin, they should be able to get some federal money in the next few years to execute that vision. It will take more time and money to get the trip down to 2:15 [[like the video), but that is certainly also feasible.

cman710, HSR isn't some green fantasy, where everybody lives sustainably off their little plot of land, it is about growing a more productive economy, using much less energy than the alternatives. Induced demand is exactly the point.

[jsmyers]

I think the cheese is part of the charm...just like Futurama's cheese was part of its charm 70 years ago.

Oh, jeez. Throw a hissy if you want, but that video is just cheesy, that's all.

[Detroitnerd]

Maybe so. I'm sort of turned off by the idea that the future will be this wonderful world where we all live in harmony as consumers of electronic devices, high speed rail and apparently have no jobs to go to. Perhaps in 2050, we'll actually all be doing subsistence farming under a junta government. Who knows?

Seriously, though, the most amazing thing about the future is that by then I'm a black man living in Chicago.

Welcome back, jsmyers!

[jsmyers]

Maybe so. I'm sort of turned off by the idea that the future will be this wonderful world where we all live in harmony as consumers of electronic devices, high speed rail and apparently have no jobs to go to. Perhaps in 2050, we'll actually all be doing subsistence farming under a junta government.

Actually, the only part of that video that I thought was patently absurd was the corn growing on Woodward! I think urban agriculture is a good thing for any city, and especially Detroit, but not it belongs on rooftops, in backyards, and in the off-the-beaten-path parts of the city. Not on the sidewalk on your Main Street. But I suppose that they wanted to stick that idea in there somewhere, IMHO, it would have been something better to have seen from the tracks as the train was approaching the station.

Welcome back, jsmyers!

Thanks, but I never really went anywhere, and I'm not really go to suddenly become a super-active poster again. I saw the vid and thought, "I know who wants to see this."

[cman710]

cman710, HSR isn't some green fantasy, where everybody lives sustainably off their little plot of land, it is about growing a more productive economy, using much less energy than the alternatives. Induced demand is exactly the point.

jsmyers, I agree with you as a general matter. I think HSR would be great for Detroit, and it would make rail more attractive and contribute to the growth of the metro Detroit economy. I hope that HSR will also be economically feasible, but it will be difficult to fully analyze that before it exists and I think it is great that we are moving closer and closer to a higher speed connection with Chicago. My comment was more a devil's advocate response to the emphasis on green-ness in the video.

[jsmyers]

Bump...

Clue about the "mistake:" look for the Ren Cen.

[EastsideAl]

Guess I wasn't paying attention when he went to the "Chicago" train station. Also, I wonder why he wears a Tigers cap if he's a Sox fan? Just trying to fit in?

[Bullet]

That was very realistic: Imagery buildings, trains and people in downtown Detroit.