Detroit's worse than I thought
- Thread starter Capt Worley PE
- Start date
Help Support Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum:
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
Understatement of the year: "the city's bureaucratic structure makes it difficult to solve the financial problems."
And who is still loaning Detroit money? As a Michigan resident, God bless you. But hopefully you don't need it back soon... or ever.
And who is still loaning Detroit money? As a Michigan resident, God bless you. But hopefully you don't need it back soon... or ever.
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
snickerd3
Taking suggestions
^at least Illinois isn't the only state with politicians in jail...
Unfortunately, that is not new for Detroit. City Council President Monica Conyers just got done doing 27 months for selling her vote.
Probably most embarrassing was that she sold her deciding vote to approve a billion-dollar contract and only got $3000 in return.
Her chief of staff (Sam Riddle) served time too.
By the way, she is also married to congressman John Conyers (U.S. House, Michigan 14th District).
The difference is they are starting to get caught now. This crap has been going on for decades, but they (Coleman Young) managed to get away with it because the public loved them for some reason.
Kwame is definitely not lovable, lol!
I heard this morning Kwame is trying to get let out on bond to see his family in Texas. . . .gee, he wasn't thinking about his family when he was having the affair with the woman that eventually got him caught.
Kwame is definitely not lovable, lol!
I heard this morning Kwame is trying to get let out on bond to see his family in Texas. . . .gee, he wasn't thinking about his family when he was having the affair with the woman that eventually got him caught.
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
http://news.yahoo.com/detroit-broke-could-bankruptcy-lie-ahead-185859786.html
Buried waaaay down in the article, you find:
Buried waaaay down in the article, you find:
Oh, I see that working really well attracting bidness to Detroit.
There will be no surcharge on businesses, not as long as Gov. Snyder is around. He is an un-ashamedly pro-business politician.
He has no qualms about raising taxes though. Already created new taxes on pensions in order to finance his business tax reduction, and he also wants to raise the gas tax. He is definitely not a tea party republican, he is a business party republican.
He has no qualms about raising taxes though. Already created new taxes on pensions in order to finance his business tax reduction, and he also wants to raise the gas tax. He is definitely not a tea party republican, he is a business party republican.
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
I wish the ®s could find a lot more of them and not the "GAYS, FORNICATORS, AND LIBRULS ARE EEEEEVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIL!!!!!" types.
That emergency financial manager in Detroit is going to earn his money. Detroiters seem to think their financial condition is no need for concern. So when the EFM starts trimming the fat, folks will think he is making unnecessary cuts.
And regarding the Detroit Police, the biggest head-scratcher is that Detroit spends more per capita on police protection than nearly every other major city in the country. The cash is obviously not getting to the officers though.
And regarding the Detroit Police, the biggest head-scratcher is that Detroit spends more per capita on police protection than nearly every other major city in the country. The cash is obviously not getting to the officers though.
Master slacker
Something awesome.
And how unionized is Detroit?
Here's my thoughts; having only driven through Detroit a long time ago. I've seen many other cities and towns, some successful, some not.
Urban planning is good, especially planning that forces people to live in the city by making suburban development difficult, as long as you do it smart. Otherwise, sprawl inevitably happens because it's the path of least resistance to actually fixing urban neighborhoods. Ultimately, sprawl is not sustainable because we have to drive farther and farther, waste more gas, be more isolated, etc...
Detroit needs to be downsized and a lot of it needs demolition. Detroit is one of the biggest cities in the US by corporate area, and has the most abandoned buildings for a city its size. But we can't force Bubba X from his house because he's a citizen, and he has rights, even though it makes no sense for him to live there at great taxpayer expense.
The problem is our antiquated and weak eminent domain laws, plus local governments that spread power to too many people. NYC has fixed a lot of that, Mayor Bloomberg took power out of the myriad of school boards, and other boards. We're in 2013 big cities, not little towns in New England, most people haven't a clue who the heck is on this board or that; they might know their mayor, and they know the President. So give that mayor power, because he's the only one that Joe Schmo holds accountable.
In a place like Singapore, I doubt Detroit would be allowed to happen. The Prime Minister there would have demolished and downsized the city already...but here, it's all talk, little action from the government. Something like Detroit, a national embarassment, ought to be handled at Federal level and fixed. The fixes are staring us in the face, but nobody seems to be able to get it done.
You need to be business friendly and tough on crime. The two go hand in hand...but again, we have political correctness, racial tensions, and all this other stuff that keeps us from doing what we should.
Finally, we have a failure of keeping it real. We live in a Democracy, which in Detroit's case, means the blackest, poorest, and least educated population in the USA is voting for those city council members and mayor. The people might pick a decent leader here and there, but can we really expect anything to change given who the voting base is?
Urban planning is good, especially planning that forces people to live in the city by making suburban development difficult, as long as you do it smart. Otherwise, sprawl inevitably happens because it's the path of least resistance to actually fixing urban neighborhoods. Ultimately, sprawl is not sustainable because we have to drive farther and farther, waste more gas, be more isolated, etc...
Detroit needs to be downsized and a lot of it needs demolition. Detroit is one of the biggest cities in the US by corporate area, and has the most abandoned buildings for a city its size. But we can't force Bubba X from his house because he's a citizen, and he has rights, even though it makes no sense for him to live there at great taxpayer expense.
The problem is our antiquated and weak eminent domain laws, plus local governments that spread power to too many people. NYC has fixed a lot of that, Mayor Bloomberg took power out of the myriad of school boards, and other boards. We're in 2013 big cities, not little towns in New England, most people haven't a clue who the heck is on this board or that; they might know their mayor, and they know the President. So give that mayor power, because he's the only one that Joe Schmo holds accountable.
In a place like Singapore, I doubt Detroit would be allowed to happen. The Prime Minister there would have demolished and downsized the city already...but here, it's all talk, little action from the government. Something like Detroit, a national embarassment, ought to be handled at Federal level and fixed. The fixes are staring us in the face, but nobody seems to be able to get it done.
You need to be business friendly and tough on crime. The two go hand in hand...but again, we have political correctness, racial tensions, and all this other stuff that keeps us from doing what we should.
Finally, we have a failure of keeping it real. We live in a Democracy, which in Detroit's case, means the blackest, poorest, and least educated population in the USA is voting for those city council members and mayor. The people might pick a decent leader here and there, but can we really expect anything to change given who the voting base is?
When the new mayor (Bing) was elected, he started knocking old houses down at an awesome rate. Then folks started asking about asbestos and such. Demolition has been slow since then.
snickerd3
Taking suggestions
^that darn pesky mineral...causes so much trouble.
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
Dexman PE PMP
Internationally PMP'n his PE-ness
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
Shingles made of that stuff last a looooooong time, too. And do a good job of not letting the heat in.
They were popular in the south (along with metal roofs).
Master slacker
Something awesome.
My house has 80+ year old asbestos shingle siding. Not a bad product. Our house doesn't have insulation in the walls and the summer heat influx isn't all that bad.
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
Yep, forgot about the siding. that was big down here, too.
Asbestos was a great product that was completely overreacted to in the media.
