 
Rocket_city
Member
Username: Rocket_city
Post Number: 350
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 1:18 pm: |    |
I've been finding myself increasingly referencing this report.
http://www.tedconline.com/uplo ads/DMCVB_June_Final_Report.pd f |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1421
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 4:09 pm: | |
Sad thing is, you are preaching to the choir. |
Kslice
Member
Username: Kslice
Post Number: 133
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 4:21 pm: | |
Ya know the authors email address is right on the bottom of the article. rather than letting off steam in a place that will do now good I'm gonna go to the source, in his mailbox!
Who's with me! |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 5073
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:58 pm: | |
Once the Cascadia fault has its next major shift (last one was in 1700AD with a 200 foot high Tsunami and 8.+ on the Richter Scale), or Mt. Rainier has its' next major eruption with pyroclastic flows and 70 mile long lahars (flooding caused by melting of the Rainier Glacier)... we'll be talking about Seattle in the past tense. One of the last Mt. Rainier lahars had a 1/2 cubic mile of debris. Mt. Rainier is not only the largest mountain (and volcano) in the northwest, but also has the largest glacier.
With the Cascadia event happening in 300 year intervals, and the Rainier event happening something like every 500 years, it's not a matter of IF, but WHEN. |
Mind_field
Member
Username: Mind_field
Post Number: 762
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 3:46 am: | |
An earthquake could devastate Seattle, and many major west coast cities for that matter. But isn't Mt. Rainier way too far away from the actual city of Seattle to have a big impact on it should it erupt? I think a major eruption would only affect the far southeast suburbs of Seattle, but the city is safe. |
Ffdfd
Member
Username: Ffdfd
Post Number: 137
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 6:14 am: | |
The defensiveness on this thread borders on the absurd. It was a throwaway line in a column from the other side of the country. Now we're eagerly awaiting some inevitable natural disaster to wipe Seattle off the map in the next few hundred years? Get a grip. Obsessing over slights like this makes Detroiters look like provincial yahoos.
The city doth protest too much, methinks. |
Exmotowner
Member
Username: Exmotowner
Post Number: 393
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 6:53 am: | |
When I was home over memorial day, I never felt safer in downtown. I was never more than a holler away from a cop. There were cops on the PM platforms, riding the PM, etc. But guys, This is how people perceive Detroit. One big huge crime ridden getto. (even the people in detroits burbs). Thats why the PR department (or in detroit's case the lack there of) is so important. Detroit needs to send out positive messages and invites to all the country. ("come see the new safer detroit"). We never hear anything from the city of detroit itself. If Detroit has a Public Relations department, they all need to be fired. It doesnt matter how much it pisses you off guys, this is how people feel about detroit. Accept it and work to make changes. You have to have people like me comming home and going WOW! This is great! And then leave and come back to nashville(or insert any city) and tell people how awsome it is and how much the city is trying to change. I've never heard a positive spin from the city. Detroit needs good PR and it just DOES NOT HAVE IT!. |
Karl
Member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 9260
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 7:12 am: | |
Agreed, Exmotown - since there's no organized PR for Detroit, what's left is the media (feeling of the day) or govt crime stats (looooong record to overcome starting when again?) to persuade folks who might be thinking about having some weekend fun in ______ or Detroit. |
Hpgrmln
Member
Username: Hpgrmln
Post Number: 91
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 7:15 am: | |
This is nothing new. When the Superbowl was in town, I read a copy of Seattles newspaper. Someone was offering a place for rent just for the event. Location? "Beautiful crime-free Windsor Canada". Our image apparently IS that bad over there if they have to throw that line in there.
At least here in Detroit WE don't have a rampant meth problem wiping out the communities and turning people into zombies like Washington does. |
Parkguy
Member
Username: Parkguy
Post Number: 91
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 8:23 am: | |
Ffdfd--
I agree that discussions often get off track on this forum, like just about every forum on the internet. But, as for the original topic-- I believe that things are turning around for Detroit. We went into this economic abyss before the rest of the country, and we're coming out of it before they will. I can't imagine how much construction would be going on in the city if the economy were going full-force. Perceptions will change. Look at Cleveland, which used to be "the mistake by the lake." Look at New York, which was bankrupt in the '70s, and had movies made with titles like "Escape from New York" and "The Prisoner of 7th Avenue." As for PR, the "One Detroit" campaign is already helping, the techno festival (whatever name it has this year) has changed the perception of the "beautiful city" for a whole generation around the world, and the casinos will promote the city like you've never seen once they are all up and running full-scale. And, a busy city will do more to give the perception of life and safety than any PR campaign. |
Digitalvision
Member
Username: Digitalvision
Post Number: 278
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 8:36 am: | |
I agree about PR - it is sooo key.
I can't tell you how many businesses I've talked to who want information from the city about relocating, and they get - nothing. Not even a $1.00 brochure. I still get materials from Grand Rapids, Mt. Clemens, Ann Arbor... "by the way, if you're thinking about it, come locate here."
Not that I think every project deserves the full weight of the DEGC, but come on - a brochure? One phone call? Have one or two people that that is what they work on and spread it amongst a few hundred leads. If little towns in Oakland County can do it, don't tell me that the city of Detroit can't if it had the will to.
Referring to non-multibazillion dollar projects, many I've talked to also say that the city government (and I stress government, not inhabitants) treats them as if they shouldn't have to do anything to bring business to the city. |
Jjw
Member
Username: Jjw
Post Number: 394
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 9:08 am: | |
"The defensiveness on this thread borders on the absurd. It was a throwaway line in a column from the other side of the country. Now we're eagerly awaiting some inevitable natural disaster to wipe Seattle off the map in the next few hundred years? Get a grip. Obsessing over slights like this makes Detroiters look like provincial yahoos.
The city doth protest too much, methinks."
Ffdfd: I couldn't have said it better. In fact, it was so well said. it deserves repeating. |
Citylover
Member
Username: Citylover
Post Number: 2554
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 9:17 am: | |
You all are such nipple sucking babies.............jesus is it neccessary to always react so damned defensively_ who gives a shit.
Anyone that appreciates cities will appreciate Detroit........and Seattle.
Detroit has some glaring issues.It also has a downtown with architecture and history that Seattle does not have..........so what...........Seattle has some shit happening too.............. stop being so damned defensive no one really cares. |
Mauser765
Member
Username: Mauser765
Post Number: 1795
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 9:48 am: | |
"The Wayne County Sheriff's Mounted Unit is the last mounted police unit left in Michigan"
Huh ?
Guess they dont consider the Macomb County Sheriff Mounted Unit because..........What ? Because Macomb County isnt part of Michigan ? |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1349
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 10:06 am: | |
^Lexus sucks! |
Danindc
Member
Username: Danindc
Post Number: 2999
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 10:42 am: | |
You know, after reading the piece in the link above, I fail to see where the problem is. Did the author lie? Did he fabricate anything?
Let's be honest here folks. As much as we all love Detroit, it's certainly seen better days. The new "entertainment zone" is no substitute for a thriving city. While things are improving, Detroit still has a LONG way to go. |
Exmotowner
Member
Username: Exmotowner
Post Number: 394
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 10:43 am: | |
Citylover
Your wrong. People do care and do listen and all we hear out of detroit is BAD. Detroit does a shit job selling itself. City counsel really needs to take heed.
Detroit has so much to offer downtown and NOBODY AND I MEAN NOBODY is talking it up. Somebody better start talking the D up. Everyone else is talking it down. If I was mayor one of the first things i would do is a nationwide PR to sell the city. When the hell is the city going to wake up to this fact? |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1353
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 10:48 am: | |
"Detroit does a shit job selling itself. City counsel really needs to take heed. "
Very true! |
Oakmangirl
Member
Username: Oakmangirl
Post Number: 32
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 10:50 am: | |
Detroit bashing has been fodder with the popular press for years now. Really, it's so hackneyed an analogy, comparison, etc. that I simply see it in terms of poor writing. |
Exmotowner
Member
Username: Exmotowner
Post Number: 395
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 3:43 pm: | |
I tried sending this thread to the city concil, but kept getting "page cannot be displayed". So I wrote them a letter (see below) and tried to send that and it still says "page cannot be displayed". Is city council so out of reach we cannot even contact them. Heres the letter I tried to send....
There is a post on the DetroitYes website talking about the news from Seattle bashing Detroit.
Why doesnt Detroit have a Public Relations Department? My screen name on this website is Exmotowner. Detroit is constantly being verbally bashed all over the country. Why is it we NEVER hear anything good from Detroit itself? Why is there not PR to sell the city. Everyone is always talking Detroit down, I think its about time detroit starts talking itself up! Nobody else is going to.
I was home over memorial day for the first time in 10 years and was amazed at how clean downtown was. I also was amazed that I was never out of hollering distance from a police officer. Somebody needs to tell the country about it! "Come see the new Safe Detroit"!
If Detroit does have a PR department (in my opinion) they ALL need to be fired.
Thank you.
(included my name etc. |
Danindc
Member
Username: Danindc
Post Number: 3001
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 3:49 pm: | |
^^^That's great. Unfortunately, PR doesn't fill buildings with tenants, build on empty lots, pick up trash, maintain parks, and put people on the sidewalks.
Good luck with that, though.
I really don't see how the author was "bashing" Detroit. It would be different if Detroit were a lush paradise full of gardens and teeming with street life and other activity. Unfortunately, not many people are naive enough to think that. |
Kslice
Member
Username: Kslice
Post Number: 138
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 4:03 pm: | |
anyone see the part of Scary Movie 4, where after the alien invasion, Anna Faris says here's Detroit. (Points to a TV showing a destroyed city) Here's Detroit after the invasion (City is still destroyed, but now aliens are roaming around).
That part was kinda funny. |
Waz
Member
Username: Waz
Post Number: 156
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 4:47 pm: | |
Danindc said: quote:I really don't see how the author was "bashing" Detroit. It would be different if Detroit were a lush paradise full of gardens and teeming with street life and other activity. Unfortunately, not many people are naive enough to think that.
While I can't say for sure, I'd be willing to bet that the author of the article has never set foot in Detroit. It seems to be written as if he was thinking to himself "Now what city can I use as an example of really crappy city to goad the readers of this article into action? Detroit! Perfect!"
What I resent is the knee-jerk recognition of Detroit as a cesspool that gets perpetuated by off-hand comments in articles like this.
Obviously Detroit ain't the Garden of Eden, but it's no longer an "unsafe eyesore" either. |
Belleislerunner
Member
Username: Belleislerunner
Post Number: 330
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 4:52 pm: | |
Ex - you might want to try here...
http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us/cc sd/default.htm
However, no one really cares about someone else's opinion unless you also provide a solution to your problem. Otherwise, it's merely ranting. That's what "rants and raves" is for. |
Southwestmap
Member
Username: Southwestmap
Post Number: 882
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 4:53 pm: | |
I am thinking that Detroit is less safe than ever right now. Maybe you saw my post on another thread about three middle-aged ladies who were robbed at gunpoint outside of Slows on Friday evening. I have lived in SW Detroit for 20 years and I have never been afraid on Michigan Ave in the late daylight.
I just don't think that there are enough police and the police leadership is disfunctional and dissembling.
Waz, you seem to think that no news in good news (it's no longer unsafe) -but I am wondering a lot about why we aren't officially hearing about crime that is making the street talk. |
Danindc
Member
Username: Danindc
Post Number: 3002
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 4:58 pm: | |
quote:While I can't say for sure, I'd be willing to bet that the author of the article has never set foot in Detroit.
That's a fool's bet then. You're *guessing* the author has never been to Detroit. For all you know, he covered Super Bowl XL. Provincialism on the other foot, perhaps?
Want to talk about "knee-jerk" reactions? How about everyone on this forum getting pissed at an obscure comment made by someone 2500 miles away, and then generating a barrage of Letters to the Editor and e-mails to City Council? Yikes.
You know how you get people to stop badmouthing Detroit? Stop tearing down all the fricking buildings, stop subsidizing billionaires to build parking lots, and work toward building a city instead of a theme park. It's hard to generate any kind of respect when Detroit merely copies ideas that failed in other cities years ago. |
Jiminnm
Member
Username: Jiminnm
Post Number: 1374
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 6:15 pm: | |
Mayor, Seattle had a population of 564,000 in 2000 and is estimated to be about 590,000 in 2007. The metro area is about 3.3 million. That's somewhat larger than "isn't even half our size" and heading in the opposite direction of Detroit and SE Michigan. |
Jrvass
Member
Username: Jrvass
Post Number: 169
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 7:03 pm: | |
I spent 10 weeks working in Seattle (actually Poulsbo, across Puget Sound from Seattle) about 14 years ago on a project for GM/EDS. We'd often take the ferry across to Seattle for nightlife, shopping, restaurants, or sight-seeing.
They had horrendous traffic. We have horrendous traffic. They had bums. We have bums. They used to have that monstrosity called the "Kingdome" where I saw U of M play in the Sweet-16. We still have Tiger Stadium and the Silverdome... rotting/rusting away... because the Detroit and Pontiac city councils can't "shit or get off the pot".
In fact I think they are on 'pot'.
I digress. My point is that the 2 cities are more alike than dissimilar.
One Saturday night in Seattle I missed the ferry to Bainbridge Island by a few minutes due to traffic. I had 45 minutes or so to kill before the next scheduled ferry, so I went to the bar near the dock.
I sat at the bar a couple stools down from a tall blond in a short skirt. So I'm drinking my drink (usually I pour it in my lap! What else would I be doing with a drink?) and I think about striking up a conversation to kill time, and maybe get lucky!
I got lucky all right. I turned to speak to the tall blond in the short skirt and notice in profile that "she" has an Adam's apple!
=8^0
I got a booth, finished my drink, and left. I was waiting for the ferry... not the fairy!
Poulsbo was a beautiful fishing village with Finnish roots that reminded me of the UP of MI. It's on the same chunk of land as the Bremerton Naval Base.
A$$wipes are everywhere. Apparently there is no intelligence at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
James |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 1723
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 7:37 pm: | |
"I was waiting for the ferry... not the fairy!"
Ha! Well played. |
Karl
Member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 9269
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 8:44 pm: | |
Least Affordable U.S. Real Estate Markets
By Matt Woolsey, Forbes.com
August 7, 2007
Forget coffee when it's time to sober up. Instead, check out the real estate listings in New York or Los Angeles.
There, buyers pay $1 million for a property that might fetch half that elsewhere. The disparity illustrates how affordability has been spiraling out of control in places on the East and West coasts.
For example, in the first quarter of 2001, 42.3% of homes sold in Los Angeles were available to the median earning household. But in the first quarter of 2007, only 3% of homes sold there were affordable to those households earning the median income. This is based on data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo that assumes a 10% down payment, a 6.1% mortgage, and tax and insurance costs calculated by the Federal Housing Finance Board.
Given those numbers, it's no surprise that Los Angeles tops our list of the nation's least affordable real estate markets. We determined our ranking by combining the NAHB/Wells-Fargo index with our rating of home price to earnings, which measures how many years of gross income it would take to buy a home at the median sales price. The lower the number, the more affordable a house is for the median home buyer.
Ten years ago, San Francisco was the only city above a 4.5. Today, there are 13. The more out of whack prices are with income, the more buyers are forced to rely on credit to make up for the market's unaffordability. That could mean trouble down the line. Look no further than the current tightening of credit standards; it's expected to create problems for markets trying to recover from a slump.
That's because without a strong influx of new buyers it's difficult for a market to grow. Homes sit on the market longer, and prices go down. This should, in turn, make markets more affordable, but that won't do much good if median-income families have too many barriers to getting a loan.
"The credit barrier affects all strata, but it's more critical at the lower end," says Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a New York-based real estate appraisal and consultancy firm. He points out that recent bank struggles with subprime lending have resulted in tighter lending standards. "And the success of the market's lower strata is critical to recovery of the whole market."
Regional Restrictions
Also contributing to an area's unaffordability are local policies that jack up the cost of building new homes. This increases price pressure.
"A lot of it has to do with regulations and zoning," says Robert Bruegmann, a history and urban planning professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "The higher cost of doing business--and the uncertainly of business--in places like California drives up home prices. The cost of building isn't that different in Houston versus Los Angeles, yet L.A. prices are so much higher. ... One of the few variables you can look at is regulatory burden."
Affordability also has a great deal to do with where a city is in its growth cycle. Five years ago Las Vegas was one of the nation's most affordable cities, thanks to a rash of development. Today, growth has slowed enough that less than 20% of home sales last quarter were available to households at the median income level.
Unaffordability is also relative. Few residents of Sacramento, Calif., and Seattle can afford homes in the areas, but property there is still reasonable by regional standards. Both cities are experiencing strong growth and immigration patterns, in large part due to the fact that they're less costly than West Coast cities like San Francisco, San Diego or Los Angeles.
Nationwide, what's interesting about the fall-off in affordability is that it doesn't directly correlate to home price increases. Since 2000, Boston area home prices have risen 16.7%. Median-income buyers who make up 50% of the buying pool in 2000 now represent only 28% of it. By contrast, in Raleigh, N.C., home prices have grown by 37% in that time period, and the share of median-income earners buying homes has dropped by only 3%.
This explanation is especially pronounced given that seven of the 10 least affordable cities have negative domestic migration, meaning more people are leaving than coming in. Affordability drops, therefore, cannot be attributed to an increase in demand.
Rounding out the top ten least affordable markets are San Diego , Calif.; New York, Miami, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Seattle, Wash.; Boston and Orlando. |
Ray
Member
Username: Ray
Post Number: 972
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 11:30 pm: | |
We should definitely send him an email. I will first thing in the morning.
What's interesting and long forgotten is that Seattle was a distressed city in the 1970's.
An amazing comeback in 30 years and one that I hope Detroit will outdo. |
Ray
Member
Username: Ray
Post Number: 973
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 11:38 pm: | |
Another 1970s parallell... Seattle was a single industry company town...
------------------------------ ------------------------------ --------------------
This story ran in The Seattle Times on Nov. 3, 1996
By Sharon Boswell
and Lorraine McConaghy
Special to The Times
In March 1971, workers at the Boeing Supersonic Transport Division listened to Boeing vice president Lowell Mickelwait announce the final U.S. Senate rejection of funding for the SST program.
Photo Credit: Pete Liddell / Seattle Times.
ON NEW YEAR'S DAY 1970, SEATTLE READERS OPENED THEIR TIMES to find the customary annual reviews and predictions. Times guest columnist Miner Baker, president of Seattle-First National Bank, recalled "the Soaring '60s" in which the booming Puget Sound economy "lived up to every promise and then some."
But Baker noted that Boeing's workforce had declined in 1969 to about 80,000 from a 1968 high of more than 100,000; he warned readers that 1970 would be "a painful year of readjustment" to a decade of modest prosperity dependent on the "continued growth in diversified manufacturing."
For 20 years, optimists had claimed a growing industrial versatility, but the region's economic health remained stubbornly pegged to the fortunes of The Boeing Co. In The Times, the biggest news story of 1969 was the introduction of the 747, the world's largest commercial jet. In 1970, the Puget Sound economy was still a one-trick pony; reality would prove far more dire than Baker's forecast.
By late 1971, the Boeing workforce plummeted to 32,500, and local economic indicators were in freefall. Battered by the misfortunes of the area's largest employer and by a national business slump coupled with inflation, the region entered "the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression," as a Times writer put it in 1975.
In November 1971, D.B. Cooper hijacks a Northwest jetliner, demanding $200,000 in ransom. He parachutes from the plane, never to be seen again, and becomes a folk hero of the grim 1970s. Sketch at right.
In the early 1970s, the U.S. economy was torn between guns and butter, struggling to pay for the Great Society's social programs while waging the war in Southeast Asia. Federal deficit spending rose, as did inflation and interest rates; economic growth slowed and employment fell. Confronted with "stagflation" -- an extraordinary combination of rising prices and economic stagnation -- Richard Nixon's administration cut taxes, raised interest rates and devalued the dollar in quick succession.
Nothing worked, and the energy crisis delivered the final, crippling blow. The world's industrial economy depended on Middle East oil, quadrupling consumption between 1950 and 1970. But in 1973, U.S. military support for Israel prompted the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to embargo crude oil and then to raise prices. Acute shortages of heating oil and gasoline resulted, and the price of crude oil skyrocketed. By 1979, it would cost $30 a barrel.
At home, Boeing sales had soared in the '60s when air carriers eagerly built their fleets of 707s, 727s and 737s, but suddenly there were more seats than passengers to fill them. Sales of the new 747 and the older family of jetliners were slow. In 1970, the company began a 17-month period without a single new order from any U.S. airline. In March 1971, the U.S. Senate rejected further funding to develop Boeing's SST, the supersonic transport with commercial and military applications. Then, the energy crisis hit, driving up the cost of flying.
The mock-up of the SST, was sent to a Florida museum.
Photo Credit: Associated Press.
FIGHTING BANKRUPTCY, BOEING SCALED DOWN TO COMPETE. Growing "lean and mean," as a company spokesman put it, the company laid off 35,000 workers in 1970, another 15,000 the following year. Waves of layoffs rippled through machine shops and industrial suppliers, stores and restaurants. At its height, general Puget Sound unemployment stood at 17 percent. But even after recovery had begun in 1974, Boeing's workforce reached just 54,000 -- half the number of the glory days.
During the Great Boeing Bust, employees waited for the ax to fall, grimly joking that a Boeing optimist brought lunch to work, a pessimist left the car running in the parking lot. By 1972, laid-off machinists, managers, engineers and secretaries had saturated the local job market. Month after month, an avalanche of homes, cabins, powerboats and cars -- at fire-sale prices -- filled The Times' classifieds.
A student's letter was among many sent to Boeing offering sympathy and money for the SST. Nearly $1 million was sent, but returned after the final cut. Photo Credit: Associated Press.
AS THE HARD TIMES CONTINUED, UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS WERE EXHAUSTED, extended, then exhausted again; federal food stamps and local Neighbors in Need food banks met basic human needs. Seattle's Crisis Clinic phone volunteers counseled men and women coping with the despair of joblessness. As the area's birthrate fell, the suicide rate rose dramatically; an anti-suicide net was deployed on the Space Needle, and there were calls for a similar safeguard on the Aurora Bridge.
In 1973, a drought brought hydroelectric brownouts, and the ongoing oil crisis forced long waits to buy increasingly expensive gasoline. To a state starved for power, nuclear energy posed an appealing alternative, and the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) began construction of five nuclear-power plants. But in the mid-'70s, everything still depended on oil.
Consumer prices rose 12 percent in 1974 alone. Local housewives organized a boycott to protest the rising cost of beef, and Seattle-area butchers sold horsemeat roasts and ground buffalo. The Times' Dorothy Neighbors obliged readers with recipes for chili made with buffalo and for cheap, starchy main dishes -- Depression fare.
In 1971, Bob McDonald and Jim Youngren's billboard satirized local gloom-and-doom.
Photo Credit: Greg Gilbert / Seattle Times.
AFTER A GOOD YEAR IN 1972, THE BEAR MARKET OF THE MID-'70S HIT, AND THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL INDEX FELL 47 PERCENT IN 1973 AND '74, victim of the inflation-recession double punch. Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter met the energy crisis with calls to self-discipline and countered stagflation with an array of tweaks to the economy. But 1980 interest rates stood at nearly 20 percent, inflation was in double digits and unemployment hovered at 8 percent.
Down-sized, Boeing was resurgent by 1980. But the region's fishing, forest, mining, agricultural and shipbuilding industries found it difficult to rebound. For them, economic ills had been compounded by foreign competition, labor disputes and environmental legislation. Few noticed the signs of Seattle's coming high-tech boom; the cost of the 1970s had been too high. |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1441
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 2:26 am: | |
Quoting Danindc:"Unfortunately, PR doesn't fill buildings with tenants, build on empty lots, pick up trash, maintain parks, and put people on the sidewalks."
Dan, that is like saying, "Taxes don't build roads." That is a true statement. Rather, tax money is collected to fund and pay people and materials for building the roads. You see the analogy? I think a PR office would do be a good move. Also, Detroit does currently have good national advocates outside of city government. |
Zephyrprocess
Member
Username: Zephyrprocess
Post Number: 441
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 6:26 am: | |
quote:Guess they dont consider the Macomb County Sheriff Mounted Unit because..........What ? ...because the Macomb County's is an auxilary/reserve unit made up of volunteers who supply their own horses and uniforms. |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1375
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 8:18 am: | |
That Seattle Times piece sounds eerily similar to the current state of Michigan's largest metropolis. Didn't Seattle also go through a big period of rebuilding/reinvestment of the central city in the late 70s/early 80s? |
Lilpup
Member
Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 2590
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 11:25 am: | |
lol, Fox2 just blurbed this article and has put the guy's email on their site
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/my fox/ |
Goldensunshine
Member
Username: Goldensunshine
Post Number: 2
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 20, 2007 - 9:25 am: | |
OK . . .this post made me so mad that I had to quit lurking, and register so I could post!
As a recent transplant form Detroit to Seattle for my husband's work, it BEHOOVES me to speak on this ignorant rant, being that I have lived in both cities! Yes I know it was just a one liner, but this is Detroit- even with all its flaws is my home. So excuse me if I come off as overly-defensive. And please excuse any typos 
For the record, Seattle, beautiful city though it may be, is full of screw-ups (not the people, but some of the ideals, and cultural norms)!
So what if Detroit has it's problems! So does every other city, and you know it's true!
Kwame Kilpatrick and I don't always see eye to eye, but I agree when he frequently states that Detroit is on the cusp of being one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of the world!
I have gone on the Underground Tour of Seattle, and read the history of how this city was built. They can NEVER claim to have an infrastructure as streamlined, and well planned as my hometown! Seattle had to be rebuilt a COUPLE of times and there are STILL numerous flaws in the way the city is laid out. Aesthetically beautiful, but functionally a BUST! I give it to Seattle for being so earth conscious, and for maintaining both rustic charm, and a modern city lifestyle in tandem. It's a pretty cool city. I have loved living here thus far, but some of the Pacific Northwesterners I have come in contact with are pretty self righteous about this city if I do say so myself. Seattle is not the only place with mountains, beautiful landscapes, great views, and waterways! Michigan is not totally landlocked last time I checked. But speaking to some of the locals, you would think this was the case!
Some of the untruths & flights of fancy I have heard from Seattleites have ranged from the absence of mosquitoes & cockroaches in the state of Washington (the particular person I was speaking with just assumed since I was from Detroit that I would get the Holy Ghost when he said there were no cockroaches here - cockroaches can withstand nuclear fallout, but somehow they just can't handle Seattle I guess (BS!)), to one person rendering my bottled water purchases unnecessary, as the city's water is just as fresh as a mountain spring right out of the tap – NOT!
When I tell people I hail from Detroit, they are almost surprised to hear me say I miss home, as opposed to dissing my hometown like everyone else does!
So, okay . . . Seattle is getting light rail from the airport to downtown in 2009(and further our by 2020) . . .it couldn't have come at a better time, because the traffic here sucks, and everyone drives during rush hour as if they are on a Sunday Stroll. Don't let Mt. Rainier be visible from the freeway or the floating bridge . . .your break pads have never SEEN so much action!
Seattle is a great city, but there are other great cities too. How dare ANYONE look down on my hometown, when most other cities are shuffling to scoot their own dirty laundry under the table, by fussing about Detroit's flaws instead of their own!
The great Pacific Northwest, though geographically ideal, has its problems too.
Just go to the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver BC, over on Hastings Street, and then come back and tell me something worse about Detroit! Google this area if you have never been . . . it makes Cass Corridor look like Palm Springs!
The term "Skid Row" was COINED in Seattle, lest we forget!
Yes Detroit has been going through a rough time for sometime now, that doesn't give other cities the right to look down upon us. Ideally, it should give us the faith that if other cities can become great, Detroit can become even more great as well!
Seattle has been destroyed by both fire & floods, and built back up, and in my opinion, they still haven't gotten it completely right.
Yeah Seattle's nice, but NO one disses my city within my earshot without hearing about it from me! Seattle, and other cities, don't get too high on yourselves PLEASE. It's not a good look.
And note to DETROITERS!!!! Too many of us talk negatively about our own city . . .worse than the outsiders do. As many screwed up aspects as Seattle has, you would never know it talking to the locals! These people talk their city up like nobody's business . . .their land is "God's Country" (as one man referred to it a few weeks ago when we went hiking) and no one can tell them different. We need to have some pride, and not sit here like fools and agree with these verbal sh*t-slingers, or better-yet, argue with each other, while the rest of the world knocks Detroit, and perpetuates the bad aspects. Let's accentuate the positive! It's no wonder Detroit has this stigma! Just like childhood behavior, it starts at HOME! |
Buzzman0077
Member
Username: Buzzman0077
Post Number: 99
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - 1:34 am: | |
Welcome to the forum Goldensunshine, and hells yeah to every thing you've said. |
Goldensunshine
Member
Username: Goldensunshine
Post Number: 10
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - 10:13 am: | |
Thank you Buzzman - I know its a never ending battle, most times I bite my tongue, other times I don't LOL |
Parkguy
Member
Username: Parkguy
Post Number: 95
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - 6:17 pm: | |
Goldensunshine--
Energetically and well said. I, too, lurked for a long time before I joined the forum.
I always enjoy my trips to Seattle, but the biggest draw is that my daughter lives there. And I agree with some of the earlier posts about housing costs: she and her husband are buying a house, and my eyes pop at the prices. I enjoy Seattle's neighborhoods and the mountains and islands, but I'm not moving there anytime soon. I could live anywhere I want, but I choose to live in Detroit. |
Goldensunshine
Member
Username: Goldensunshine
Post Number: 32
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 11:44 am: | |
[" I could live anywhere I want, but I choose to live in Detroit. " ]
Yes Parkguy!
You tell em! |
Detroitrulez
Member
Username: Detroitrulez
Post Number: 366
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 1:32 pm: | |
wait. seriously?? "You tell em"??
If you really could live ANYWHERE you want, you're saying that Detroit is #1 on your list??
I can understand Detroit-boosting, to some extent, but that's a little deluded, donchathink?. |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1489
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 1:52 pm: | |
^No. What's wrong with wanting to live in Detroit? |
Yooper
Member
Username: Yooper
Post Number: 73
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 1:54 pm: | |
Iheartthed, didn't you choose to live in NYC? |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1492
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 2:12 pm: | |
Iheartthed, didn't you choose to live in NYC?
Yeah... but what's wrong with wanting to live in Detroit? Just because I chose to live in NYC (for the time being) doesn't mean this is the only place on the face of the planet that I want to live. |
Detroitrulez
Member
Username: Detroitrulez
Post Number: 367
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 2:18 pm: | |
That'snot what I said....If you could live ANYWHERE, would you choose to live in Detroit?
Me, I dunnow....I might choose Florence, Italy...Paris....a nice island in the Carib...Austin...NYC...SF....L ondon...Barcelona...DC...South Pacific....Sydney....Tierra del Fuego...etc. |
Lo_to_d
Member
Username: Lo_to_d
Post Number: 11
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 2:49 pm: | |
i've lived in florence, italy, panama city, panama, and chicago. I too prefer living in Detroit more than any other place. |
Detroitrulez
Member
Username: Detroitrulez
Post Number: 372
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 2:55 pm: | |
good to know.
I have friends and relatives living in London, Paris and Florence. They think Detroit is certainly an interesting place to visit, but if given the choice, it would not be #1 on their list.
You think otherwise. Bully for you!
Always room for a difference of opinion in this great wide DetroitYes of a world. |
Goldensunshine
Member
Username: Goldensunshine
Post Number: 33
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 3:19 pm: | |
I think that Parkguy meant within reason.
I don't think he meant it in the context of a "pick anyplace in the world, lets make believe money isn't an issue . . ." type thing. In that case, maybe he WOULD pick Key West, Los Angeles or Paris, Timbuktu, or some other far off place.
I know some die hard Detroit people who really do NOT want to live anywhere else, not matter what the state of the city might be ... who have been and lived other places, but choose Detroit.
The same can be said for NY, Dallas, Miami, or Defiance, Ohio - if that's your spot.
It is a matter of where you call home, and what place suits you best. I don't see anything peculiar Parkguy's comment.
I replied with "You Tell Em", because in my original post I mentioned people ALWAYS dogging, and using Detroit as that scapegoat, or an example of a city gone wrong, and how people react oddly when I mention that I miss home.
This is why I was glad to see that Parkguy & I shared that same esteem for our hometown. |
Parkguy
Member
Username: Parkguy
Post Number: 109
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 4:29 pm: | |
I like it here. Do I like any other places? Sure. Would they be fine places to live? Sure. But I am satisfied with my neighborhood, my neighbors, the service I get from the city (please don't go off on that-- there are plenty of hitches), and so on. When you compare the cost of city living here versus other places I might like to live, Detroit comes out looking pretty nice. We have great amenities, a good location for travel, and top notch institutions. There will come a time when I look for a change, probably as I go into a new phase of life. Where will that be? Who knows? That's why it's called a new phase in life. Right now, I'm in no hurry, and not even looking. |
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