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More of the same, or, why I continue to beat a dead horse…

Published May 23rd, 2009 in transit, news, moving, public transportation, dysfunctional, anonymous, abandone houses, Denver, abandoned, urban, angry people, urban living, Michigan, jobs, economy, photos, photography and Detroit. 0 Comments

I know I say the same things over and over. I guess I just feel I can’t say them enough. One of my favorite topics is the need to make the Metro Detroit area an attractive place to live. The usual xenophobic reaction is to resist any kind of change. The typical mindset seems to be something like the following: If something worked 75 years ago, it’s got to work now. We didn’t need mass transit, bike lanes, or parks then, so why would we need them now. In fact people only go to cities for jobs, right? So we need to get some big corporation to relocate to our sad, depressed area, and give us jobs.

In reality, highly educated, creative, young people go where they want to go. And guess what? They don’t want to go to Metro Detroit. They want to go to cities they may actually enjoy living in, not just one that provides a job. A good urban area can, and usually does attract educated, creative, and entrepreneurial young professionals, so important to economic growth. And young, creative, educated types start companies, and create jobs. Corporations are also much more likely to locate where they can pick from a large qualified workforce.

The metro area, and Michigan as a whole, has not been very forward thinking. In fact it’s pretty much been in reverse, while the vast majority of the country was in drive. Now, believe it or not, G.M. is planning to cut even more white collar jobs, we are having to loan G.M. $4B more, GMAC is getting a $7.5B loan, and the automotive industry’s pension funds appear to be on life support.

And to top it all off, Detroit’s got an image problem, largely due to the darn media. Constantly painting Detroit in a bad light; how could they? If only they new the truth; it’s a safe city, with lots of job opportunities and a bright future… Heck, even I am getting hate messages. Apparently I am a “disgusting human being” for taking photos of abandonment, and I surely “could’ve chosen a different subject matter.” Shoot the messenger. Always a good idea. In fact maybe if we say, “Detroit is good enough. Detroit is smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like Detroit”, maybe the abandonment and corruption will magically vanish, jobs will appear, and the economy and unemployment won’t be the worst in the nation anymore. Maybe I can pretend my house is worth more than my mortgage too.

Detroit does have a future of some kind. Most likely though, it’ll never look like it did 4o years ago. It’ll almost certainly be something very different. Hopefully, at the very least, it’ll look very different than it does today. Some possibilities include urban farming, green spaces, giving away land to entrepreneurs and urban villages. It’s obvious that Detroit can’t provide traditional services to the area it currently encompasses. It is time for a change.

Finally, while I feel very bad for the subject of this story, you just have to ask, “what were you thinking?” or “were you thinking?” It’s not like the Metro Detroit areas outlook suddenly went from promising to bleak overnight.

Job opening in Detroit

Published March 30th, 2009 in abandoned, decay, industrial, cold, industry, recession, snow, dysfunctional, bailout, news, urban, winter, politicians, politics, poverty, Michigan, jobs, economy, photos, photography, big three and Detroit. 4 Comments

Looks like there’s a job opening at G.M. With Rick Wagoner gone General Motors is now leaderless. What will they do? They won’t know how to make cars or, more importantly, how to make money…oh wait they already don’t know how to make money. In fact since they had industry insiders leading the charge towards irrelevance for decades maybe the could hire someone with no industry experience…like me, for instance. I have no idea how to manage an auto manufacturing company, neither did Rick Wagoner apparently. Rick Wagoner was paid lots of money. Oh sure, by Wall Street standards he was paid practically nothing, but compared to me, he was paid a lot. They could have paid me a lot less, and ended up in the same spot.

All kidding aside (ok, most), Chrysler and G.M. appear to be in deep doo-doo. I wondered what Cerberus was thinking when they purchased Chrysler from Daimler-Benz. I know what Cerberus’ M.O. is, but I think they were overly optomistic, and I don’t think their plan worked out too well. Now Chrysler has to Merge with Fiat. Wonderful. So, now, two crappy car companies can make crappy cars together. Maybe, at least, the crappy cars will cost less. I know I’m bound to anger some with statements such as the one I just made, but let me make it clear, that I believe management is to blame. The Union played a role in Chrysler’s demise as well, but any time a company is poorly run, and Chrysler has been poorly run, management is to blame. Management’s job is to maker sure all parts of a company function in unison to achieve a goal. If the goal is wrong, or portions of the company are not performing, it’s always managements job to redress such issues. And, most likely what G.M. really needs is a leader who the skeptical public will believe feels as disgusted with the old ways as they do. Someone who isn’t part of the dysfunctional machine, and shows a desire for a complete overhaul.

With two (here, and here) recent announcements by smaller companies, you have to wonder where the Big Three have had their collective heads lodged lately. Of course those cars aren’t out yet, and Tesla, and Detroit Electric have nothing to lose by making claims they may not be able to follow through on. Meanwhile the Big Three can’t afford to fall short of big claims. But that’s mainly because they’ve become the definition of over promising and under delivering. They’ve already used up their “get out of jail free” cards. Still, why did G.M. wait until the verge of bankruptcy to come up with a plan for a usable electric vehicle?

So the price to pay for such short-sightedness by the Big Three is partial socialization of a huge portion of our manufacturing industry. Anyone who’s angry about the state we are in should have spoken up long ago. It’s now a choice of pay to save the very ones at center of problem, or pay the price of doing nothing, and watching as an entire industry collapses around us. And actually there’s a third scenario as well. We may pay to save the industry, only to have it fail anyway.

Preaching to the choir…

Published January 25th, 2009 in moving, abandoned, decay, industry, recession, dysfunctional, light rail, public transportation, industrial, photos, politics, rants, Michigan, politicians, jobs, photography, economy and Detroit. 0 Comments

A discussion with my sister-in-law, regarding the inevitability of change, facing change, and dealing with change, somehow made me think of Detroit. Detroit’s like some people I know who refuse to face up to the fact that change is inevitable. And not only that it’s inevitable, but that you’d better prepare for it, and make the most of it. Once change is accepted, it can become an opportunity. Anyone who knows me, is well aware of how irritated Michigan’s, and Metro Detroit’s, resistance to change makes me.

As an individual, I, like so many others, had to face up the reality that the opportunities that my previous career choice, and my location in Metro Detroit, offered were limited. I mourned the loss of what I once had, and moved on. I learned new skills, used my spare time to build up some experience in my new industry, and, along with a move to a new, more economically viable location, am making a good living in an industry with a lot more current and future potential.

For Metro Detroit, it’s time to mourn and move on. The past is past. It’s time to look towards the future. Time to figure out how to become relevant in the 21st century. When I talk with friends,with similar sensibilities, I always realize how we are simply preaching to the choir. More and more, people are coming to the realization that we are in the midst of a dramatic shift away from our industrial past. When will a Critical Mass emerge, that will force the change upon the area, that is necessary Detroit’s survival? Talk is cheap, and as these articles suggest, there’s plenty of talk…plenty of preaching to the choir. How can we convince the skeptics that change is not only inevitable, but necessary, potentially the best thing that can happen to the area?

New Detroit: A Radical Vision of America’s Greenest City

Immigrants in the 313: This is where the future begins

Essay: Is mass transit in Metro Detroit for real this time?

Return to Detroit

Published January 18th, 2009 in decay, cold, urban, abandoned, industry, dysfunctional, housing, winter, photos, smoking, rants, Michigan, jobs, economy, photography, big three and Detroit. 0 Comments

I made two separate trips to Metro Detroit recently, and was reminded of both why I miss the area, and why I hate it. First, we made the usual holiday family visit to Detroit, followed shortly after by a business trip to the area. During both trips we experienced the usual irritants such as only seeing the sun twice in a week, and driving on some of the worst roads on the planet.

The first trip back started with an evening of food and drinks with friends at the Royal Oak Brewery. Even though most of the restaurant is non-smoking, the entire place filled with smoke fairly quickly. By the time we left, we reeked of smoke, and my throat was scratchy. The next morning both my wife and I woke up with terrible headaches which developed in to full blown migraines. The next night, while laying incapacitated, and doped up on anti-nausea and migraine medication, I was already cursing my return to Detroit. In most major cities (at least the ones I like), you can enjoy dinner and a drink without smelling like an ashtray, but not in Detroit.

During our trip we constantly heard how Detroit’s automotive legacy was responsible for making this country what it is today, so therefore the (not so) Big 3 deserve loans. Guess what? Nobody cares. The Big 3 have had a broken business model for years, didn’t control their costs, gave away the automobile market to their foreign competitors, and failed to conceive of rising gas prices (how could gas get more expensive). The rest of the country doesn’t care much about the Big 3, because they’ve been aware of the industry’s problems for years. Why is Detroit still trying to avoid the inevitable?

We also heard how auto workers have hard jobs, and are hard workers. Unfortunately how hard your job is does not determine pay. Sorry, but, most of the time, it’s true. The market determines pay, and if you are easy to replace the market pays less. If you are difficult to replace, the market pays more. Simple enough. Workers for the Big 3 (both management and union) were often paid rates much higher than similar jobs in other industries. The wages had to fall to what both the companies can pay, and what the market will bear.

On the second trip back, while doing a job at the North American International Auto Show, I experienced the, seemingly never ending, incompetence of Detroit. When we went to park at Cobo Hall, the ticket machine wasn’t working, so one worker would remove the ticket from the machine, and give it to the driver. The driver would advance two feet to the toll booth where another worker took that same ticket, and ten dollars. That seemed strange, but it got worse. When attempting to leave, the same worker that took the ticket and your money at the booth, asked for our ticket again. We had to explain to him how he took our ticket, and our money, when we entered. Eventually we convinced him that we’d already paid, and we headed home.

The final kick in the teeth came from a publisher of several prominent magazines in the area. I had provided photography for use in an issue of one of their magazines. After agreeing to an amount, and running the images in the magazine, the editor, after several weeks of back and forth emails and phone calls attempting to get my invoice paid, told me that the person who agreed to an amount for reuse of the images had no authority to negotiate, and therefore they would not be paying me. Thanks for nothing. I’ve been asked many times why I haven’t worked for this particular publisher in the past. Well, this is the reason.

I’m always torn, when thinking about whether or not I want to move back to Metro Detroit at some point. We still have our families, friends, and a house in the area, but going back is like beating your head against a wall. The big question is always, what will happen to the area. The problem is that, collectively, the question wasn’t asked until it was too late. If Detroit hopes to remake itself, it’s got to do better.

Suggested New Year’s resolution for Detroit

Published January 8th, 2009 in satire, urban, photos, positive, transit, dysfunctional, sprawl, public transportation, photography, economy, urban living, rants, Michigan, poverty, politics, jobs, politicians and Detroit. 0 Comments

With 2009 upon us, and the current economic situation not looking good, it’s time for Metro Detroit to make some New Year’s resolutions of its own.

Everyone knows about Detroit’s problems, and by the looks of things, the entire state is in big trouble. Detroit is not alone, however, and just like individuals, small businesses, and corporations, the city is in competition with other Metro areas, to attract (and keep) the best people and companies. Many states and cities around the country are facing very tough financial outlooks. There’s no way for Detroit and Southeastern Michigan to avoid the tough times ahead. What the area can do, however, is work together to make smart investments and chart a course for a better future. As individuals we can, in tough times, hide our money under a mattress, or make investments in our future. We can keep our fingers crossed that the job we’re in will exist beyond next week, or that the social safety net we’re relying on will be there tomorrow, or get additional training to prepare ourselves for better paying jobs in the days ahead. Corporations that fail to invest in new technologies, stop marketing, or fail to invest in there employees will be far behind their competitors that do make those investments when the economy recovers. Similarly, an area lacking a decent education system, infrastructure, and basic services, will lose out to the areas that have been making smart investments over the years.

Detroit’s got crumbling infrastructure, a pathetic school system, unreliable city services, and lacks a comprehensive transportation system. In fact the whole state has infrastructure problems and no mass transit other than a hodgepodge mix of bus systems. The area’s rapidly aging population is going to have problems getting around, particularly in the winter. Services and housing are far apart with few options for moving between them. Michigan’s mantra could be “No car? Tough shit!” Most areas in the state lack any kind of cohesive urban center, and most have no viable plan to create one.

I could go on, but I, and others have regularly bitched, moaned, ranted, and reported on the area’s problems. So what will Detroit and the rest of Michigan do about it? Who knows…probably not much judging by the past, and the unwillingness of most to embrace change. Detroit, and Michigan, are in desperate need of change. The area needs to become better. A plan needs to be formulated and pursued, no matter how difficult. Michigan needs more than just slackers who have high tolerance for mediocrity, more than a population heading quickly for retirement (if such a thing exists any more). Detroit needs young, energetic, motivated, entrepreneurial and educated individuals who will not only embrace change, but make it happen.

So my suggested New Years resolution for Detroit is: “Stop being such a crappy place.”

Abandoned Detroit

Published December 20th, 2008 in decay, industrial, urban, abandoned, industry, bailout, public transportation, transit, photos, photography, poverty, rants, Michigan, politics, politicians, big three, economy, jobs and Detroit. 1 Comment

Detroit and Michigan have both been in the news quite a bit lately. Almost every evening news cast, in, and outside of, Michigan, has been focused on whether or not the Big 3 would get a loan (or a bail out, depending on your point of view). Now it appears that at least two of the Big 3 will have access to roughly $17 billion in Federal loans. The big question now is whether or not this loan, at around half of what was requested, will enable the Chrysler and General Motors to survive.

Unfortunately, even if the Big 3 do all survive, they will not be what they used to be, and neither will Michigan. The days of higher than average pay for both blue and white collar jobs at the Big 3 are over, and this will exact a heavy toll on the, heavily automotive dependent, Michigan economy. As it is, Michigan once again leads the nation in unemployment, while Detroit continues it’s downward slide, defying the belief once held by many that Detroit had nowhere to go but up. Michigan can’t seem to pass anti-smoking legislation, even as states such as Kentucky, and countries such as Italy, and France have passed smoking bans. And a decent mass transit system is still years away, though at least progress is being made in this area. Apparently the dire economic situation has made some of our previously reluctant politicians to expand Cobo Hall, and hopefully save the North American International Auto Show.

The most interesting news reports on Detroit though, have been about it’s long declining population. This is, of course, nothing new. Detroit’s population peeked in 1950 at almost 2 million. Since then the decline to roughly half it’s peek, leaves the city with around 850,000 residents. The Detroit Free Press, reports that Manhattan, Boston, and San Fransisco, could all fit in the boundaries of Detroit with room to spare. Apparently, at the rate of decline Detroit is experiencing, the city will be 50% vacant within five to ten years. The amount of vacant land has lead to an increase in the population of generally non-city dwelling animals, such as pheasants and coyotes. The city has also seen a large increase in the amount of urban farming. Perhaps Detroit will be the first American city to go from urban to suburban, or even rural classification. While the current state of the city is scary to say the least, the possibilities for Detroit’s future are much more interesting. Camilo Jose Vergara once suggested that Grand Circus Park become a skyscraper graveyard theme park. My wife always thought Detroit should turn it’s vacant land into large parks or green areas. I have been fond of recommending (tongue in cheek) that Detroit tries reverse annexation. While I don’t generally like eminant domain laws, I do think it’s impossible for a city of 850,000 (and still declining) to maintain and provide services to an area of 139 square miles. It’s possible nothing will change, and Detroit will continue it’s decline for the foreseeable future. It’s also possible that Detroit, and the Metro area, can make something better with this, potentially, clean slate.

Post (auto) Industrial

Published December 13th, 2008 in abandoned, decay, industrial, industry, New York Times, bailout, recession, urban, morning, poverty, Michigan, Detroit, jobs, economy, photos, photography and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

An interesting look at what happens when industries collapse. Unless one plans for change, the results can be disastrous…

When Cars Go Away

I told you so… or am I a cynic part 2

Published December 5th, 2008 in photos, urban, housing, recession, photography, economy, Michigan, rants, poverty, jobs and Detroit. 1 Comment

I told you so. That’s what I want to say to those who said I was needlessly negative, couldn’t see the positive side of Metro Detroit, and didn’t believe the area was on the way up.

Now before anyone gets to worked up, I should state that I didn’t want to be right. We own a rapidly depreciating house that we spent six years renovating. Most of our friends and both of our families live there, own houses there, and earn their livings there.

Honestly I never thought of myself as a pessimist, but more of a realist. I’ve always felt that those who accused me of seeing the glass as half empty were painting themselves a rosy picture. They simply did not want to see the writing on the wall. The path Detroit was on has been easy enough to see. Currently almost everyone we know in Michigan is either recently unemployed or has a spouse recently unemployed. Maybe the current economic situation in Michigan shows I was right, but it doesn’t make me happy.

Hopefully Detroit, and Michigan, will recover in the foreseeable future, but I fear it’s going to be a while. The rest of the nation is hurting too, and even if the (not so) Big Three pull out of the nosedive they’re in with the help of the taxpayer loans, Detroit’s still going to have to wait for the public to start buying cars, and American ones at that.

The Big 3 Bailout, or, is this the end of the road for Detroit

Published November 19th, 2008 in industry, industrial, urban, New York Times, news, bailout, transit, big three, economy, Michigan, Detroit, poverty, politics, jobs, politicians and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

It seems the Big Three, and consequently Detroit, doesn’t have too many friends these days. Public support for a bailout of financial companies had little public support, and the U.S. automotive industry has even less. The industry has been viewed by the average person as a slow moving, inefficient, and wasteful industry incapable of producing quality vehicles. The politicians see an industry that fought against requirements for producing more fuel efficient automobiles, lobbied for tariffs on light trucks and SUV’s, had out of control expenses, and couldn’t see far enough down the road to be ready for a day when the public didn’t want Hummers or Excursions anymore. Unfortunately many who were too close to the industry didn’t, and maybe still don’t, see things this way.

Rick Wagoner testified in Washington on the need for a government bailout for the Big Three. In his statement Rick Wagoner made several good points, including, “General Motors directly employs approximately 96,000 people in the United States”, and “Last year, we purchased more than $30 billion of goods and services from more than 2,000 suppliers in 46 states.” He also made the claims that GM had made tremendous progress in recent years, by cutting costs, improved vehicle quality, and lowered legacy costs, and that the biggest problem was out of their hands. Rick Wagoner stated that it was the downturn in the economy and the automotive industry, and the current credit crisis that posed the greatest threat to GM’s survival.

I have no love for the Big Three. Over the past decade I’ve watched as CEO’s pushed off dealing with a broken business model, and walked away with fat payouts for their short-sited, and almost certainly, damaging business decisions. The lack of foresight that the American automotive industry has shown, seems to be almost unequaled. Sure other industries have failed to see what was right around the corner, but the ability of the Big Three to ignore the obvious, and insist on business as usual while the industry was cratering, was astounding.

All that said, we’re all on the hook for this one. So while I can still be angry that assembly line workers could make upwards of $140k (yes, I know someone who did…), and that CEOs could make millions while steering a once great industry straight down the drain, I have to remember that Detroit, Michigan, the Midwest, and the entire U.S. economy is still dependent on it. With out, not only do employees of the auto companies lose their jobs, but those of the suppliers, and those who sell meals to workers, and employers, and so on and so on. The numbers who are indirectly connected to the industry are staggering. I am bitter and angry at how these companies have been run, but I’m not willing to cut off my nose to spite my face. Unfortunately I need the Big Three and so do you. What I want to know is why financial companies that made very poor business decisions and took dangerously large, and over leveraged risks, while paying managers and CEOs millions, get a bailout on my dime, but one of the largest industries in the country, seems to be so undeserving.

I think loans should be made, with conditions. The current management and board of directors are out, and long term plans of action must be in place. Management and the U.A.W. need to be on the same page (I was once told by the head of the U.A.W Chrysler that it was “a war between the U.A.W. and Chrysler.” Sorry, thought you were both trying to achieve the same goal…), and the public gets paid back with interest.

What’s really killing Detroit

Auto bailout: showdown

GM Failure: the

How to fix the Big Three

In Detroit, Failure’s a Done Deal

Detroit is going down — if not now, eventually

Saving Detroit from itself

G.O.P. Senators oppose bailout

Moore: Automakers never listened

Retirees Watching Anxiously: Will GM Be Saved

Dems want automakers to show bailout spending plan

No need for bailout, say diners near thriving car plant

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?

The Motor(less) City