Good-bye Detroit. Thanks for what you once did for this great country. Sorry your end had to come this way. All the rest of can do is learn from what happened to Detroit. Or, maybe we can't. Maybe the Democratic addition runs much deeper and wider than just Detroit. If so, we are royally screwed.
As tempting as it was to write about this nation's growing disharmony this morning, I am choosing to address Detroit instead. Not the Red Hen restaurant becoming the "Dead Hen" restaurant after what they did to Sarah Sanders. Not the caterwauling going on by the Loony Left outside DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's house. And not the skyrocketing murder rate of over 250 year to date in the city of Chicago. No, today I want to discuss big trouble for the long suffering city of Detroit.
Detroit in the early 1900's. What a place to live and work! It earned the title of Motor City, and wore that crown proudly up until the end of the century. From 1910 to 1950, Detroit had the same reputation as a boom town in gold country. With close to 2M inhabitants by 1960, with 200,000 of them employed by the auto industry in the city itself. It was the city our national leaders liked to use as an example for the world to see and envy. American ingenuity and work ethics on display. So what the heck happened?
Dateline today. Detroit's population is slightly over 750,000, Only about 20,000 are working in manufacturing in the city. In today's paper, was a harbinger of worse things to come for this once fine city. Detroit now has the lowest labor participation rate of any large city in America.
A big part of this decline comes from city governance. In 1957, Detroit had its last Republican Mayor. And he was no gem. In fact, he was a crook. He served 10 months for federal tax evasion. Then after he was gone, from 1962 to present, Detroit has had nothing but Democrats. A true blue city. Over promise and under deliver. Net result? Many of the big companies left town, as did the money. The unchained taxing and spending had taken its tole. Suddenly, Detroit became a hollowed out city, with big time poverty and crime issues.
What is going to keep Detroit from getting back on its feet more than anything else is simply this - not enough people with the right kind of training. In fact, Detroit's school system has been so dysfunctional, the graduation rate for years has been about 70%. Recently however it came up 6%. That leaves 25% to 30% never finishing high school. Plus, the curriculum has been so "dumbed down" to get those graduation numbers up, many who graduate don't know spit.
What are we left with in Detroit? A hollowed out city, which parts still look like they have been through a bombing raid. Trust me - I have been there on business more than once. Companies are reticent to locate or relocate back to Detroit because 1) the reputation of Detroit is still, well, Detroit and 2) a HUGE and growing labor shortage of the right kind of people for tomorrow's jobs.
What does Detroit really need right now? A Donald Trump type of Mayor. For some reason the good folks in Detroit are blind to a very important fact. When you find yourself in a ditch, quit driving the same direction. In other words, QUIT ELECTING DEMOCRATS! They are part of the problem! Hire innovators to come in and re-tool the schools. Fiscal conservatives to run the city. Set a course with a ten year plan to really start re-making the city. From the bottom up. Right now, trying to fix Detroit using tired old tax and spend Democratic methods, is only sinking the boat faster.
In the first part of the 1900's, Detroit was used as an example for a large city should be run. In the early part of the 2000's, Detroit could be used as an example of how a large city was run into the ground. Sad but true.
My feelings? The fix will not come. Maybe never. Why? People who live in traditionally Blue Cities are hooked to Democratic rule like a drug user is to crack. Every four years they hear the Blue Charlatans promise two chickens in every pot, and better days for everyone. Nothing ever changes. And they fall for it over and over and over again.
Good-bye Detroit. Thanks for what you once did for this great country. Sorry your end had to come this way. All the rest of can do is learn from what happened to Detroit. Or, maybe we can't. Maybe the Democratic addition runs much deeper and wider than just Detroit. If so, we are royally screwed.
For the first time since it was founded in 1701, the City of Detroit is a virtual blank canvas. The one-time Motor City finds itself with thousands of available building lots, miles upon miles of open space, and scores of reforested areas, all within its city limits.
ReplyDeleteIt is in many ways an urban planner’s utopia: a city craving retribution and redefinition, and one armed with thousands of hungry, skilled workers, available space and as many natural resources as any city in the country.
The issue of who will be allowed to share control of the city’s future direction and development will most likely be the elephant in the room.
And are the neighborhoods finally getting the attention that has been poured all over downtown?
And how much of a part will black people play in the re-imagining and redevelopment of this majority black city?
How much do the issues of race and poverty factor into the decisions made by these community leaders when making economic decisions affecting a community that is overwhelmingly black and poor?
It won't happen with any GOP mayor or councilman, it will return to it's former glory with progressives at the helm.
Mike Duggan, the first white mayor in decades is turning the downtown into a first world destination. He ran DMC, one of the finest medical centers in the country til his election in 2014.
His next huge task will be to help the neighborhoods revive and also assimilate the thousands of Muslims who now make Detroit their home.
Good luck and God Bless Detroit.
Other rust belt cities that will NEVER AGAIN see manufacturing as king should take notice.