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A Reddit post by me: >A Detroit News columnist playing the city-management computer game SimCity "found that Godzilla attacking the city in the 1972 Detroit sc

by TMWNN 3y ago

A Reddit post by me: >A Detroit News columnist playing the city-management computer game SimCity "found that Godzilla attacking the city in the 1972 Detroit scenario caused less destruction than the mayoralty of Coleman Young". <https://www.reddit.com/r/Detroit/comments/3r3dtl/a_detroit_news_columnist_playing_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Detroit/comments/3r3dtl/a_detroit_n...>

tptacek 3y ago
That's not really fair; he was mayor from the early 1970s all the way into the 1990s, a period that captured the peak of panic selling and white flight (not just in Detroit but across the midwest) and the deindustrialization and hollowing-out of the Detroit auto industry.
- moduspol 3y ago
  Was the mayor completely helpless to these phenomena? I mean it's only in hindsight that we can look back and say that these things happened. At the time, they were slowly happening over many years. Surely someone who served as mayor for decades may have had some power to help stem "white flight" and deindustrialization. A pattern I've seen a lot especially in big US cities is hard-leaning leadership getting elected, leading to many people who are capable of leaving doing so. This makes it even easier to elect hard-leaning leadership, which then makes even more of the same people leave. It creates a self-reinforcing cycle, and then residents of these cities end up blaming their issues on anything other than what they voted for. As a result, I'm skeptical of claims like these.
  - tptacek 3y ago
    Yes, in both instances.
    - moduspol 3y ago
      I guess that settles that. I may have to look into running for mayor. It seems like shrugging one's shoulders anytime a problem doesn't rest squarely within one's city limits allows for avoiding all accountability for one's own policies and actions (or lack thereof). And the tradition continues today.
      - tptacek 3y ago
        Yes. It's a cushy job. Nobody will expect you to singlehandedly reverse white flight or re-industrialize after the nation's largest industry decides to offshore the bulk of its production. All you'll have to deal with is the aftermath.
        moduspol 3y ago
        Apparently you can even make those things worse and still keep your job for decades, while avoiding blame, too. Tough to beat that.

by TMWNN 3y ago

tptacek 3y ago

That's not really fair; he was mayor from the early 1970s all the way into the 1990s, a period that captured the peak of panic selling and white flight (not just in Detroit but across the midwest) and the deindustrialization and hollowing-out of the Detroit auto industry.

moduspol 3y ago
Was the mayor completely helpless to these phenomena? I mean it's only in hindsight that we can look back and say that these things happened. At the time, they were slowly happening over many years. Surely someone who served as mayor for decades may have had some power to help stem "white flight" and deindustrialization. A pattern I've seen a lot especially in big US cities is hard-leaning leadership getting elected, leading to many people who are capable of leaving doing so. This makes it even easier to elect hard-leaning leadership, which then makes even more of the same people leave. It creates a self-reinforcing cycle, and then residents of these cities end up blaming their issues on anything other than what they voted for. As a result, I'm skeptical of claims like these.
- tptacek 3y ago
  Yes, in both instances.
  - moduspol 3y ago
    I guess that settles that. I may have to look into running for mayor. It seems like shrugging one's shoulders anytime a problem doesn't rest squarely within one's city limits allows for avoiding all accountability for one's own policies and actions (or lack thereof). And the tradition continues today.
    - tptacek 3y ago
      Yes. It's a cushy job. Nobody will expect you to singlehandedly reverse white flight or re-industrialize after the nation's largest industry decides to offshore the bulk of its production. All you'll have to deal with is the aftermath.
      - moduspol 3y ago
        Apparently you can even make those things worse and still keep your job for decades, while avoiding blame, too. Tough to beat that.