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What’s wrong with Michigan…

Published May 30th, 2008 in industry, news, transit, public transportation, industrial, economy, Michigan, politics, jobs and Detroit. 0 Comments

I often feel like a loner in Michigan when it comes to discussions of what’s wrong with Michigan. Mainly because I don’t subscribe to any particular political lines of thought. This article about the Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Conference, reminds that I’m not way off base.

One day when I went to the Post Office, a man outside asked me to sign something regarding lowering taxes. When I said no he became angry, saying, “what…you don’t want lower taxes!” Of course that’s not it at all. I do want lower taxes. Who doesn’t? He followed me to the door of the Post Office ranting about our economy. On the way back to the car he accosted me again, stating, “This state’s in big trouble because of people like you!” Wow! I didn’t realize it was me… I thought perhaps it had something to do with our over reliance on one dying industry, or perhaps our refusal to build a decent transit system. Or could it be our lack of a decent city center…or maybe our refusal to put a high priority higher education (heck, many in Michigan look upon higher education with disdain). It could have been many things, but I didn’t think it was me.

Not one to accept responsibility for the state of the economy, I pointed out that the top states have arguably higher, and less pro business tax structures. How did he respond. Well, he mentioned something about socialism, which meant he’d been listening to a little too much talk radio. I suggested he do a little research on his own and left it at that.

I had the same argument with someone who over borrowed for their business, and moved it to a poor location, just as the economy took a downturn. This person used the same, old, tired, “Michigan has too high a tax rate” argument, that simply holds no water, but that’s the danger of letting others do the thinking for you. No, immigrants are the problem. It’s not Michigan’s tax structure, and neither are “liberals” to blame, as the forum posters on Freep.com are fond of saying. No it’s a fairly simple issue. Michigan has ignored the rest of the world, and often times, the rest of the country. Times are changing. Always have been, and always will. I know, from experience, that Michigan breeds a certain type of personality. One that is adverse to change. “If it ain’t broke…” the saying goes. Well, if you can’t change ahead of time, to keep up with the times, you’re going to be left behind. And guess what happened to Michigan?

Anyone else see a problem with this?

Published May 21st, 2008 in industry, health care, economy, jobs, rants, poverty and Michigan. 0 Comments

Health Michigan: hospitals vie for affluent…

Basically Michigan’s putting all of its new eggs in the health care basket, and all of the large hospitals are vying for a larger piece of a shrinking pie. Too many beds, large expenditures, a declining population, and the population that’s being left behind is going to have a harder time paying for all of this expensive new health care. It’s looking to be another shoe to drop…

A lot of people are looking to health care to be Michigan’s saving grace, but unless other sectors of the economy pick up, who’s going to buy all of this new health care? If less people can afford it, or less are here to buy it, it will eventually lead to cut backs in the health care sector.

Seems to me many are being overly optimistic about what the health care industry can do for Michigan’s economy. I certainly hope Michigan would have learned that relying on one industry is a bad idea.

Snow White and the Six(?) Dwarves

Published May 19th, 2008 in morning, decay, abandoned, photos, photography, Michigan, art, economy and Detroit. 0 Comments

Only in Detroit? Maybe not, but certainly symbolic of the state of the Metro Detroit area.

Do what Cleveland does…

Published April 23rd, 2008 in real estate, housing, sprawl, suburbs, moving, abandoned, Michigan, urban living, economy, urban and Detroit. 0 Comments

After watching Making Sense of Place: Cleveland, I was reminded of something I’ve said over and over. Metro Detroit is in competition with all of the other metropolitan areas in the country for today and tomorrow’s young and educated population. At one point in the episode it was stated that the city had two choices: “entice this desirable demographic with the ammenities and lifestyle they desire, or hand them suitcases,” because if Cleveland couldn’t provide them with what they wanted, they’d head elsewhere.

Metro Detroit is facing this same problem, and until everyone gets on board…the decline will continue.

One of the most interesting aspects of the episode was the continuing cycle of building and abandonment. Newer, outer ring, suburbs always think they are going to be immune to the problems of the city, or now, inner ring suburbs. But the fact is, it catches up eventually. What was once the new hot place, eventually becomes a struggling area of despair. It is one of the reasons commutes continue to grow. Living in Lake Orion, and working in Dearborn makes no sense, but people do it. But tough times and crime know no borders. Someone always has to buy your old place before you move to your new place. It’s unsustainable. Now outer suburbs build massive high schools. Tomorrow, those same communities are trying to close schools, and condense their school system due to a declining school population.

New infrastructure follows the ever outward migration, paid for by the general population’s taxes. The infrastructure continues to require maintenance regardless of the ability to fund it.

So what do we do? So many think this cycle is just as it should be. But it’s incredibly expensive. It’s wasteful. It makes it hard to create real communities. It creates dangerous social divisions. The rich live here, and the poor live there. Running from our problems is not a solution to the problem. It is the problem.

Picking on Detroit?

Published April 15th, 2008 in moving, decay, industrial, urban, industry, real estate, news, recession, housing, photos, photography, poverty, urban living, rants, Michigan, white flight, politics, economy, jobs, politicians and Detroit. 0 Comments

I’m occasionally accused of only pointing out Detroit’s flaws. It’s mostly true. I do have a “glass is half full” kind of attitude about Detroit. Actually my attitude is more of a “glass is empty” sort of attitude. But this isn’t elementary school. I’m not a bully, and Detroit’s not a little school child. I’m one person pointing out why droves of the most desirable people are leaving Detroit. And I do point out what I think needs to change. Detroit can take it.
And I’m not alone. Lately Detroit’s daily paper’s have taken up the cause as well.

The Free Press is reporting about the Nation’s cities, and what needs to change in order to keep them safe, vibrant, and economically viable. While this series does not focus solely on Detroit, it does point out what Detroit faces, and what it needs to do in order to recover from the depths it’s reached.

The News is reporting about the horrible state of the Detroit Public Schools, and right or wrong, presenting a way to fix it.

The Free Press compares Detroit and Pittsburgh. Detroiters often defend Detroit, pointing out how it’s so different from other cities. Of course it’s not that different. And the solutions aren’t that different either.

And here’s something I’ve mentioned and complained about before. Some idiots still refuse to get with the times. Banning smoking, in public spaces, is within State’s rights of protecting public health, and does not ruin local economies.

An article in the Free Press about how Detroit’s biggest problem is providing basic services to it’s residents.

A Free Press article about Michigan’s over supply of homes.

The area still can’t get it’s act together on the convention center (goodbye Auto Show?).

Some will say that all this misses the good things happening in the area. That may be the case, but reporting about the lipstick on a pig, doesn’t prevent anyone from recognizing that it’s still a pig. Detroit and the Metro Area, won’t get better until a majority of the residents look in the mirror and realize the area’s failings, of which there are way too many.

Michigan’s foreclosure problem

Published April 9th, 2008 in decay, urban, abandoned, real estate, recession, housing, photos, photography, poverty, Michigan, politics, politicians, economy, jobs and Detroit. 0 Comments

Michigan’s foreclosure problem, like in so many other states, is huge. And like with so many other issues no one seems to be able to agree on any possible solutions. The primary question seems to be, who do we bail out? Why do we have to bail anyone out? Because, number one, spending our money is what the government does when there’s a problem. We should all know that by now. Secondly, and more importantly though, bail out or no bail out, we’ll all pay one way or another.

Let’s look at the root of the problem first. Lenders lent too much too easily to too many people. Borrowers borrowed too much, with too little down, and without the means to pay it back. Investors bought these bad loans, without due diligence. Builders built too much, speculators speculated too much, and our entire economy became too reliant on this house of cards. Everyone thought the party would never end. Everyone either fed into, or bought into (o.k., I didn’t, but it seems everyone else did) the idea that housing prices could not go down.

Several years ago, I was told by an employee of a developer, who was then developing housing out in the middle of nowhere, outside of, Metro Detroit that there was no end to the demand. When I asked were everyone was coming from (knowing that Michigan, at the time, had one of the lowest rates of population growth), she replied, “they’re coming from older, closer in suburbs.” As if that could go on indefinitely. Who was buying their houses? Eventually, you need a growing population to fulfill the needs of a growing stock of housing developments. Without it, it’s unsustainable. An unrealistic, and decidedly Pollyannaish, view of the market, combined with a bad economy created Michigan’s housing disaster. Of course the market’s crashing everywhere, not just in Michigan. In other places the speculation got out of hand, prices were driven up to unaffordable rates, and people were sold, or bought (depends on your perspective) bad mortgages. Different cause, same result.

Nobody wants to bail out those who made foolish decisions, but it seems all parties involved made poor decisions. If I am a lender, and lend my money to too many, who, with bad credit, and meager income, have little realistic chance of paying back, I’m at fault, and I deserve to lose that money. Even more so if I’ve convinced borrowers, and purchasers of the loans I make, that it’s a good deal, there’s nothing, to worry about, and we’re all going to get rich doing it.

If I’m a borrower, and I borrow an amount I can’t afford, with the crazy assumption that the 25% annual gains will continue, and I’ll refinance my way out of my negative amortization loan, then I deserve to lose my house.

If I’m an investor, and I foolishly invest money in SIVs, without investigating them first, I deserve to lose my money.

If I’m a developer, and I develop in a community with high vacancy rates, an unstable economy, more housing units than residents, or other obvious signs of trouble, and I fail to head the warnings, I deserve to lose my money.

Unfortunately, we don’t just have one of these groups in trouble, we have all of them in trouble. And when they are all in trouble, we are all in trouble. So the question, is, as was asked at the top, who do we bail out. Right now the politicians are working on various bills for each of these groups, and of course we’ve already bailed out Bear Sterns. Just wait there’s more to come.

This is where the blame game starts. If you fit into one of the above categories, it’s not your fault. It’s the fault of parties in the other groups. Which ever group has the most money, and the best lobbyists wins (gets the bail out).

I don’t know what the answer is, I only know there’s going to be pain, and lots of it. One thing we do need, is to keep as many people in their houses as possible. I know that I don’t want vacant houses around my neighborhood. High numbers of vacant houses do no one any good. So why is it there is so much reporting about lending banks not responding to borrowers who are in over their heads? Why are so many houses being foreclosed on? What do the banks think they’re going to get for vacant, often vandalized homes in, largely, vacant areas of our nation’s cities? Who in their right mind is going to buy a house in an urban area of Detroit, in a market with declining values, when the houses around you look like this:

We shouldn’t cut off our noses, to spite our faces. Forcing people out of their houses because they made bad choices only works if it’s just a few people. When the number about to lose their houses becomes large enough, it’s not just their problem anymore, it becomes our problem.

Abandoned house of the day…

Published April 8th, 2008 in abandoned, decay, real estate, housing, recession, urban, photos, urban living, Michigan, poverty, economy, photography and Detroit. 0 Comments

An abandoned house in Detroit, Michigan.

53 Places to go in 2008?

Published April 3rd, 2008 in abandoned, are you kidding?, New York Times, photos, photography, art, economy and Detroit. 0 Comments

No this one is for real. I’m not making it up, and there’s been no Photoshop manipulation here. The New York Times says that Detroit’s one of the top places to visit in 2008.

Detroit’s a better place to visit in 2008 then San Diego, Australia, London, and New York! Wow, I guess my cynicism got in the way of realizing what a gem Detroit is! Yea, right… Who paid who, to get this listing? I agree that the new hotels are really nice, but if it’s about new hotels, why does Vegas rank lower? Hmm…perhaps the Times was trying to come up with some places that were a little out of the ordinary? Well, Detroit seems to be the only one out of the ordinary. Maybe one of us can’t see the forest for the trees…

I also do think the DIA is great, and the renovation is great. There’s more space, and it shows off the collections better. To bad the DIA doesn’t seem to be able to do for Detroit what the Guggenheim did for Bilbao, Spain.

I like to visit Detroit, but that’s because I like to take photos of abandoned and decaying spaces. What city could be better? That said here’s a few new photos:

Am I a cynic?

Published March 28th, 2008 in photos, photography, urban, industrial, industry, decay, big three, economy, rants, Michigan, poverty, politics, jobs, politicians and Detroit. 0 Comments

Am I a cynic, or am I a realist? Maybe I’m both. Yesterday, shortly after posting my, admittedly, rant filled proclamation of how I’d left Metro Detroit, I got a comment stating that I was contributing to the exact thing I detested about the area. I claimed that “Metro Detroit area is a black hole of despair and self-pity, and full of people who refuse to acknowledge, or can’t see, the basic problems…” I think the main point I wanted to make was that people refuse to acknowledge the underlying problems. It’s not that Detroit sucks. It does. It’s not that Detroit’s dangerous. It is. It’s not that the city lacks basic services. It does. And it’s not that the area is almost entirely reliant on a dying industry. It is. It’s that no one wants to make the necessary changes. They want to go on with their lives as if the same old rules apply today that applied in Metro Detroit’s hey day.

The whole state needs to invest in the future. Michigan wants to provide money to companies to start up in Michigan, but they put a limit on what industries they can be in. Michigan needs to encourage any viable business to start up in Michigan. Michigan, and Metro Detroit in particular needs to realize they are in competition for the 18-35 demographics, with cities like Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., etc. If you are a highly educated 18-35 year old, looking for a great place to live, and begin, or develop your career or business, why would you choose Metro Detroit? There are very few reasons. One of the few reasons to head to, or stay in, Michigan is for the automotive industry. Unfortunately Michigan’s lock on the auto industry is slipping. Southern California’s quickly becoming the new car design center, and other states have a lower per worker cost than Michigan for manufacturing. With a global economy there are many fewer reasons to locate your automotive company in Michigan. Even the big three are seeing more growth outside our country than in. One less reason to expand in Michigan.

So what does Michigan do to invest in the future, and attract highly educated and highly skilled workers? Not much. Michigan spends more on prisons than on education. Which of these two things will help Michigan to prepare for the future? Maybe Michigan can become the “Prison State,” and house prisoners from around the country. That’s sure to attract the kind of people Michigan needs. I continue to hear on the street, and on t.v., and on the radio, calls from the citizens to their politicians, to bring a big corporation in to Michigan to save the day. It’s not going to happen. Why? Why go to Michigan, when the people you need for your big corporation to be competitive are leaving in droves? What Michigan needs to do is invest in, and encourage, entrepreneurial activity. Everyone likes to point to companies like Google, and say that we need to bring a company like that to Michigan. Of course not to long ago Google was a two person start up. Google not going to relocate to Michigan. They may bring a few thousand jobs, but that’s small consolation considering the enormous job losses Michigan has had in the past five years.

The second thing Michigan needs to do is invest in the quality of life. Yes, there are beautiful things and places in Michigan, but compare Metro Detroit to other major cities around the country. Detroit’s got an amazing asset in Belle Isle, but head out to Belle Isle on a week day evening and marvel at the burned out buildings, or the trash in the parking lots. Portland, Seattle, San Fransisco, Chicago, New York, and D.C., all have incredible public assets, that attract the kind of people that Michigan needs. Parks, museums, culture, and public transportation (Seattle’s just so, so) , are all things that are neglected in Michigan as being frivolous, non-essential, expenditures, when the reality is these are the things that the very people Michigan is losing, and failing to attract, want to have access to. It’s relatively easy to move around our country, and that makes all major metropolitan areas in competition for the same highly prized workers, entrepreneurs, and businesses.

Trying to attract a business to Michigan is no easy task. As I mentioned before, why would anyone relocate their business to Michigan? There are very few reasons to do so. Tax policies alone are usually not enough. Relocating a business can be very expensive, and many things must be taken into account when making the decision. Will your workers relocate as well? If not, does the area you’re looking at have enough of the workers you need? What’s the quality of life like where you are considering moving the business to? Business owners generally have to live in the area as well.

So, the question is, am I a cynic, a realist or both? I guess I’m both. I’m very realistic in my assessment of Metro Detroit. I’m also cynical about the chances of any kind of turn around any time soon. When politicians like L. Brooks Patterson make statements like, “I love sprawl. I need it. I promote it. Oakland County can’t get enough of it” or “we can’t afford to spend a dime on an experiment like mass transit…” it’s hard not to be. L Brooks Patterson also cut funding to Ferndale’s downtown (one of the few to make an incredible turn around in Michigan) because he didn’t like their position on his spending on roads and views on suburban sprawl. Suburban sprawl is questionable in good times, but now that the population is declining, and sprawl has been encouraged (and achieved), how is the infrastructure going to be maintained? How’s it going to be paid for? And by whom?

Long commutes, crumbling infrastructure, a lack of cultural resources, no mass transit, an over reliance on a single industry, and barely a plan in place to do anything about any of it. Sure there are plenty of individuals, and non-profit groups working to change things, but it takes real political might, and plenty of dollars to enact so much as a plan. Even an investigation into what Michigan needs (if it’s not obvious enough already) would be a start.

When the collective attitudes, and desires change, and the politicians of Michigan start to push for change, maybe things will change, and if it’s not to late, maybe some of us will come back.

We left Detroit…

Published March 27th, 2008 in industrial, urban, photos, decay, abandoned, industry, moving, photography, big three, poverty, rants, Michigan, politics, smoking, economy, jobs and Detroit. 6 Comments

Why? Because the whole Metro Detroit area is a black hole of despair and self-pity, and full of people who refuse to acknowledge, or can’t see, the basic problems (hint: Kwame is only a small part of the problem). The whole state has a lot of problems, including but not limited to, a city that leads the nation in crime, poverty, and stds, is in the top five for obesity, and for being sedentary, and trails the nation in high school graduation rates. Furthermore, Michigan is one of only two states to lose population in 2007, an exodus made up in large part by the highly educated and highly desirable 18-35 year old demographic. The Metro area has a dismal public transportation system. The state ranks 39th in terms of education level, is the worst for job hunting, has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, has an over dependence on one industry (that just happens to be on a steep decline), is last in the nation in entrepreneurial activity, and my own personal peeve, an inability to get a smoking ban in place. The list could go on and on.

I’m constantly told, “you’re just the kind of person we need here…” Of course, but so are most of the people who are leaving. That’s because anyone with an education, any ambition, and a desire to live in a healthy, livable community either has left, will leave, or wants to leave. Michigan’s going to end up with exactly what it wants, an unmotivated, dependent, overweight, undereducated, lazy, aging, and largely unhealthy population. I want no part of that.

I’m also told, Michigan, and Detroit in particular will “turn around.” Uh…when? I’m in my mid 30’s. How much time do you think I have? Detroit’s had many “renaissances,” and guess what, it’s just as bad off, if not worse than it was 20 years ago. The Renaissance Center opened in 1981, at just the start of the previously worst downturn in the state’s economic history. “Detroit’s not bad,” I’m constantly being told. Sure, start reading this from the top again, and then go drive south on Livernois from the northern end of Detroit, and then head back north on Schaeffer. Tell me Detroit’s not that bad. Maybe that tiny area near the stadiums and the Fox theater is not that bad, but Detroit’s a really big rotten donut.

Michigan’s still largely dependent on the auto industry. Even though we’ve known for more than 20 years that manufacturing was on the decline in this country, we continued to rely almost solely on one of the most precariously positions manufacturing companies in the world for our economic well being. We were content to sit around and take what we could while we could. Instead we should have been looking to the future. Anyone who thought that line workers making upwards of $100,000 a year, or laid off workers being paid 95% of their income or, being paid to “search for jobs, or be retrained,” was actually a sustainable way to run a business had their head in sand. If the Big 3 survive, they’ll be much different. The workers will be paid less, and there will be less workers. The worst for Michigan is probably still to be felt. The transition to whatever comes next is going to be painful for Michigan.

Detroit, and Michigan have some hard times ahead. So does the rest of the country, but Michigan’s been leading the pack on the way down, and never seems to lead on the way up. Michigan’s not investing much in the future, and instead continues to dwell on the past. It’d be easy to blame the state’s leadership, but of course, they’re elected by the populace.

It’s been easier to get offers for high paying, quality jobs out of the state than in it. According to Richard Florida, amongst others, the new economy jobs and workers have been and continue to migrate to the centers of the new economy. Just as workers migrated to Detroit to work on the assembly lines of the then burgeoning auto industry, workers are heading to cities, and regions, around the world that provide them with what they need, namely opportunities. Michigan and Detroit just don’t offer those opportunities, at least not in large enough numbers.

So we left. What else could we do? It’s not that we loved the area. The only thing keeping us in town was family, friends, and our work. Well, family and friends don’t pay the mortgage, put money in savings, or provide to many opportunities, and the work was slowing down dramatically. Seems everyone with a job was just hanging on for dear life, and the employers knew it. Low pay, long hours, and a miserable work life. It just isn’t worth it.

The Motor(less) City