Once a crowded urban center, Detroit has become a large city with many buildings and too few people. By mid-2008, its population had dropped to 912,062, about half the number of residents in 1950

In the first installment of what it says will become an exhaustive look at the downfall of Detroit,Time magazine had plenty of blame to spread around when it comes to showing how what was once America's fourth-largest city took a series of wrong turns. The former mayor, Coleman Young, and automakers get their share. But interestingly, so does the United Auto Workers union.

Time doesn't blame the UAW for winning big wages and benefits for its members. Its credits the UAW as having "once been the most visionary of American unions." But it blames the UAW for entering into an unholy alliance with the automakers themselves in 1990 to defeat tougher gas-mileage standards that, if they had been enacted, could have forestalled the industry meltdown that was due to come.

Time also takes the UAW to task for taking the position that workers with comparable skills and seniority should get the same paycheck wherever they work, whether the company is strong or weak.

The net effect of that decision has been to make weak automakers weaker and to dissuade non-automotive employers from coming to Detroit out of fear they will be subjected to the same rule. Drive On contacted the UAW for comment on the Time report. A "no comment" was offered.

So what do you think? Is the UAW to blame, at least in part, for Detroit's downfall?

Now, "nearly one in three Detroit residents is out of work -- and not many of the unemployed have a prayer of finding a job anytime soon," Time says.

http://blog.leasetrader.com/archive/2009/10/07/UAW-the-downfall-of-Detroit.aspx


What happened to Motown? Once a great city, has now become an eyesore. Building Casinos there didn't help either. Is there any way Detroit can dust itself off and become a great city again? Or is it doomed to be a failed city in the Rust Belt?

In 2008, Detroit ranked as the United States' eleventh most populous city, with 912,062 residents. At its peak in 1950, the city was the fourth-largest in the USA, but has since seen a major shift in its population to the suburbs.

"Detroit has numerous neighborhoods suffering from urban decay, consisting of vacant properties. Estimates during the recession in 2008 reported around 44,000 vacant houses in the city. The city states it costs about $10,000 to demolish one, where necessary, and it requires many legal steps to do so.

In April 2008, the city announced a $300-million stimulus plan to create jobs and revitalize neighborhoods, financed by city bonds and paid for by earmarking about 15% of the wagering tax. The city's working plans for neighborhood revitalizations include 7-Mile/Livernois, Brightmoor, East English Village, Grand River/Greenfield, North-End, and Osborn. Private organizations have pledged substantial funding to the efforts."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit

Try getting rid of the lions.

In the city, as of July 2009, the unemployment rate rose to a record 28.9%


And I thought times were tough in Denver.

Yes, the Lions need to be shipped out, like to maybe the U.S.'s second largest tv market, Los Angeles. No NFL team since '95.

Oh wait, they can't ship out the Lions, remember all that money they spent on building Ford Field? I guess they're stuck with them.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Dam and I thought it was because of the hugh crime rate and government corruption .

huge crime rate? Yes. Gov't corruption? Yes. Many boxes to check on why Detroit went into a tail-spin. Is it too late for Detroit, or will one of their Renaissances finally turn things around? Outsourcing to China and Mexico doesn't seem to be helping Detroit either.

The Lions, like em or not, even as bad as they are, are one of the FEW things that actually brings people to Detroit.

Well, part of it anyway. You also have the Pistons, Red Wings, and Tigers. Technically it is also still a convention city and much revenue is generated through business conventions in its downtown hotels. There are casinos there too, as hated as they may be by some, they still generate tax dollars. There are some good things you can say about the Motor City, but bad politics, insufficient urban renewal, the state of the economy, the demise of the UAW, crime, and unemployment have buried Detroit in a deep hole.

I have no argument to any of that at all.

Funny thing is, now that Detroit is seeing such hard times, there are an awful lot of people there who feel they are entitled to government hand outs.

I have been saying for a long time (well about 5 years or so) that the unions have a part in the failing economy in Detroit and Michigan. They got too greedy!

I don't under stand why you blame the unions . why does a workingman with a pocket full of money bring a city to its knees ? poor management at the car cos. was not the uaw s fault . the workers could not force the would be bad contracts . It is one of the lowest parts of human spirt that they always try to blame the janitors for the failure of the SMART PEOPLE . LOL stop blameing labor for corp. failures.....
THEY NOT ONLY SIGNED THE CONTRACTS THEY WROTE THEM .

And you don't think that the UAW management isn't corrupt?

Before anyone asks me, why do I care? I used to live in Michigan, and some members of this site do or used to. I had grandparents that lived in Lincoln Park and Southgate, and an Aunt in Wyandotte. I am very familiar with Detroit, have been there numerous times, as recently as 2008, and I am saddened by how bad things have gotten there. I just wish there was an answer or solution in turning it around. I don't like the idea of just giving up. New Orleans got whacked by a Cat 4 Hurricane, and they have managed to improve the city over the last 4 years. Detroit has had no such disaster, just decades of decline and neglect.

Detroit will only improve when the residents and surround suburbs take pride in the city.

THERE IS VERY LITTLE CORRUPTION IN THE UNIONS . THEY ARE WATCHED BY THE GOVERNMENT THEY COULDN'T DO MUCH . THERE CORRUPTION IS LIMITED TO CHEATING THERE OWN PEOPLE IN SMALL WAYS LIKE JOB PROMOTIONS .THATS NOT LIKE THE FED . WHO GAVE A CONSULTING CONTRACT TO A PERSON WHO GAVE THERE SELFS $3000000. YEAR WAGE FOR A 9 MO . JOB AND THEN A $200000 RETIREMENT PACKAGE .. WITH OUT THE GOVERNMENT IN PUT ABOUT THIS .

First of all... no need to scream.

Secondly, I have seen it first hand... the union's other purpose is to make money. My mother was thrown under the bus by UAW management after she was the primary organizer to get a union in the shop she worked for! She was blacklisted for a while for aiding in unionizing.. and the UAW did nothing to help her!

Except how do you do that, when she's falling apart and people are fleeing the city for the suburbs, or out of the city altogether? The ship is going down, and someone needs to patch the hole and bail her out. This is one of America's metropolises. There have been renaissance projects over the years, but so far, none have really been that effective.

i THINK DETROIT LIKE MOST AMERICAN CITYS NEEd TO STOP THIS POLITICAl Correctness AND TAKE BACK THE STREETS AND NEVER LOSE THEM AGAIN THEN THEY CAN TAKE PRIDE IN THE CITY AND BUSINESS WELL COME BACK . YOU HAVE THE PEOPLE THATS HALF WAY . JUST GET RID OF THE PROBLEMS .