Detroit has a long history of Big Projects motivated by the hope that, this time, we\u2019ll revitalize the city.\u00a0 What\u2019s actually remarkable about Detroit is that many of these projects are funded by private dollars to a significant degree, although if I had more time, I\u2019d try to find data on how much city funding was behind the private money, in tax credits, land acquisition, etc.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my partial list, just going from memory, with dates filled in by Wikipedia:<\/p>\n
The Renaissance Center, 1977, financed by Ford.<\/p>\n
The GM Detroit\/Hamtramck Assembly Plant, i.e., Poletown (land acquired by eminent domain), 1981<\/p>\n
People Mover, 1987<\/p>\n
Detroit City Airport\u00a0(major expansion in the 80s, but a flop since then so it doesn\u2019t even merit coverage in Wikipedia)<\/p>\n
Chrysler\u00a0Jefferson North Assembly Plant, 1991<\/p>\n
Comerica Park, 2000<\/p>\n
Ford Field, 2002<\/p>\n
The Greektown Casinos, 2000s<\/p>\n
I can easily believe that promoters of the Big Project approach to urban development can tout ways that these \u201cinvestments\u201d generated a certain return on their money (both with respect to public money and the extra costs the private investors took on by building in Detroit, as a form of PR\/\u201dcommunity social responsibility\u201d).\u00a0 But the bottom line is still:\u00a0 a functional illiteracy rate of approximately 50%?\u00a0 A dysfunctional workforce is the key problem Detroit suffers from.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Detroit has a long history of Big Projects motivated by the hope that, this time, we\u2019ll revitalize the city.\u00a0 What\u2019s actually remarkable about Detroit is that many of these projects are funded by private dollars to a significant degree, although if I had more time, I\u2019d try to find data on how much city funding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n