Quote Originally Posted by corktownyuppie View Post
Hm. Some of the stuff you say has me concerned but others I have a hard time getting on board with.

First, for some reason, people around here equate "service sector" jobs to pushing fries at McDonalds. And I take issue with that. If that's not what you mean, then I'm sorry in advance for setting up a straw man argument.

The service sector is the primary engine of the USA GDP. It makes up over 2/3 of our production. While some people think of Burger King when they hear "service sector", I hear information technology, consultancy services, retail, technical, and professional services. This is the heart of the modern day economy. This is why cities with highly educated workforces have so much money...the people high levels of education do this stuff. You add financial and insurance services, you get New York and Chicago.

If this is the future of Detroit, that's the future I wanna sign up for.

Warehouses and factories will eventually become more obsolete. They won't [[and shouldn't) disappear completely, but the future of this country's economy is not going to be based on making and shipping stuff. Other [[lesser paid) countries are going to make the things. Higher paid countries are going to invent and improve the things.

So when I hear about warehouses disappearing, I don't think about "losing our soul", I think about "shedding the past". When I think about NYC or Chicago or San Francisco or Dallas, I don't imagine shipyards and factories and giant plants. I imagine centers of finance, creativity, innovation, invention.

By the way, this is how Detroit became one of the wealthiest cities in the world in 1950. We were the hub and center for innovations in engineering and finance. If we want to escape the identity of one of the poorest American cities, we need to embrace that creative spirit again.
Service sector jobs: There are three categories of service sector jobs,the one I was referring to was the original one which is the sector that produces non consumable goods ,so yes it includes hospitality.landscaping, general the barely above minimum wage.

When you say that there are no manufacturing or that is a dead industry once again you have to look at the big picture of what is happening globally,
jobs went to Mexico, now Mexico is returning with the next elections back to the old guard, bombings and kidnappings are occurring at US owned corporations because they pay so those business leaders are coming back across the border.

China , the workers are working at the factories and wondering why they cannot afford the products they are producing, weekly there are demonstrations demanding better pay and working conditions .

Remember history and developing nations and the cycles ,china is reaching the top of the cycle as are other countries where it will become a point that it is cheaper to produce here verses overseas,it is already happening with call centers.

There are a lot of powerful political people on the fed level that have had enough and know no boundaries in realizing that this country needs to start producing again,every gov contract states made in America using US labor and made in US products.There are also other bills that are added at to last second to ensure that this country begins to stand on their own two feet again.

RE: AREO
Lindsay said the biggest possible negative of the aerotropolis is that it could attract companies that might otherwise locate in a revitalizing downtown Detroit.
“The larger question is whether building a whole new business district around those airports is the best thing to do,” he said.

This is the guy that wrote the floor plan for Areo telling you hey this is what to expect.

I find it hard to believe that 8000 hotel rooms ,20,000 homes ,10,000,000 sqft of warehousing,etc. etc. will not have an adverse affect on Detroit.
RE Spark and VC. I cannot say that Spark and VC is all bad and have not done good but the bottom line is VC is hard money,the exit plan is within two years most cases and more geared towards apps and such like let me invest 20 mill to build the app so we can sell it for 50 mill ,fast money and you have already explained and most know what happens with fast money.


Detroit has everything already in place to be a major player in this country,just no leadership or direction,every city large or small has a future growth plan,not Detroit, so you have to see what everybody is doing and what their plans are in order to figure out where the city is going,nobody is going to invest in me without a plan the city needs a plan for those to invest in and not speculate, which is what is happening now.

Did you know that Detroit is a EB-5 regional center? There are cities crying to become one of these right now and hers is sitting in the drawer.

EB-5 is foreign investment visa where it takes a min $500,000 investment employing X amount of workers at a livable or higher wage ,so someone else in another country gets their buddies and puts together a few million and you have investment capital.

The tools are there so I guess it really does not matter who gets elected as long as they can show a plan, both the newly elected mayor and city council needs to show a plan first of where they are going to take the city and neighborhoods from this point on.

I am not sure about Mr Bing ,maybe with a more involved city council he can do better but his lack of connection with the people hurts him not to even mention the constant flip flopping shows instability in government..

A state run city I have my doubts as to the real reason and a puppet city has no identity.

Mr Duggin I cannot say yet I guess I can try and speak with him and see if he is for the state or for the city and then make my decision.He certainly has the background to maneuver the politics and if channeled right could maybe a good thing for Detroit but me personally I have to give him the benefit of the doubt and not judge him for the past just as I cannot judge the city for what has happened in the past . Just look forward.