Detroit's Big Three trying to power up Motor City

[BlackGTP]

Detroit's Big Three trying to power up Motor City

Stephen McGee / for NBC News

The building has been abandoned for years, but its windows aren’t broken and there’s no graffiti on its walls – unlike so many other forgotten hulks nearby in the long-impoverished southwest corner of Detroit.

Community organizers promise to soon reopen the Mexicantown Mercado and turn it into an anchor for the city’s Latino community. They also hope to turn the complex into a shining example of what can happen in Detroit with help from the companies that transformed the once sleepy Midwest town into the Motor City.

As part of Operation Brighter Future, Ford Motor Co. is pumping $10 million into the resurrection of the Mexicantown Mercado – which will serve as a new food bank and community center and be renamed the Ford Resource and Engagement Center. Company officials, notably including new Chief Operating Officer Mark Fields, promise still more aid to come for the long-beleaguered Detroit.

Such moves are not entirely altruistic, said Fields. Detroit’s long-running problems don’t just serve as the butt of jokes when he travels, but the transplanted Jersey boy has also seen firsthand that it can be difficult to get others to migrate to Motown.

“The community we live in can be either a draw – or not – to get the best and brightest we need for our company’s future,” Fields said.

Article continues at link:
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/detr...city-1B7818498

[Neanderthal]

I hope their efforts succeed. As for Fields saying it can be difficult to get others to migrate to Motown? Yes it must be, since he commutes "home" to Florida on weekends. Har! Good one, Mark.

[Stéphane Dumas]

I hope their efforts succeed. As for Fields saying it can be difficult to get others to migrate to Motown? Yes it must be, since he commutes "home" to Florida on weekends. Har! Good one, Mark.

It won't be an easy task when we saw articles like Detroit tops 400 homicides http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/20...icides-in-2012

I spotted also that article from the Atlantic Cities about greening vacant lots http://www.theatlanticcities.com/nei...-violence/526/

And with the upcoming municipal elections of Detroit, one candidate need some anger menagement therapy class from what I read at http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...-comments-RUDE

On a off-topic sidenote, enjoy that little comic strip about Detroit http://reason.com/archives/2013/01/03/detroit

[voyager]

Did anyone hear anything from the "Detroit needs Robocop" initiative (or something alike)?

[Stéphane Dumas]

Did anyone hear anything from the "Detroit needs Robocop" initiative (or something alike)?

I think Robocop will be overloaded and might request the help of Dirty Harry, Lt. "Popeye" Doyle, Frank Bullitt, Paul Kersey, John McLaine, Tackleberry.

[Lowboy]

I think Robocop will be overloaded and might request the help of Dirty Harry, Lt. "Popeye" Doyle, Frank Bullitt, Paul Kersey, John McLaine, Tackleberry.

Don't forget Frank Drebin!

[Engelman]

I want Detroit to have a Renissance! I want the city to return to some of it's former glory. Chrysler,GM, and Ford need to invest in the infrastructure, and reopen those factories. Other corporations related to the auto industry need to move there. when more and more jobs are created, and people are again working, then the neighborhoods will come back. But most of all, Americans need to invest in the product. You don't create a job in Detroit by buying a car made in Germany or Japan.....

[Stéphane Dumas]

I want Detroit to have a Renissance! I want the city to return to some of it's former glory. Chrysler,GM, and Ford need to invest in the infrastructure, and reopen those factories. Other corporations related to the auto industry need to move there. when more and more jobs are created, and people are again working, then the neighborhoods will come back. But most of all, Americans need to invest in the product. You don't create a job in Detroit by buying a car made in Germany or Japan.....

Maybe Detroit could use one or 2 tips from Pittsburgh who menaged to diversify their economy. Then also, before automobile industry established in Detroit. Detroit was a home of former lumber barons like David Whitney Jr. and was also a agricultural center. Michigan got a interesting potential of oil shale and gas shale and if they play their cards right; Michigan could be the Texas of the Great Lakes. They also need to improve the business climate and don't do what governor Jerry "Moonbean" Brown of California do currently with California. http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...siness-climate

Getting rid of the current municipal "clowncil" at the Detroit city hall would help as well.

[voyager]

Detroit should seek activities that once again underline its automotive importance. Now these tend to shift towards California (Google robocars, Tesla etc.). Why can't Detroit play the role that Munich plays to BMW, Wolfsburg plays to Volkswagen?