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Odd that Pittsburgh, another Midwestern industrial town of about the same size as Detroit, has faced very similar difficulties, but is now doing pretty well for
by Kudzu_Bob 13y ago
Odd that Pittsburgh, another Midwestern industrial town of about the same size as Detroit, has faced very similar difficulties, but is now doing pretty well for itself, so much so that some now consider it America's most livable city. Why the huge difference in outcome?
- Pxtl 13y agoI live in Hamilton, ON - basically Pittsburgh of Canada. Well, Pittsburgh with a time-machine back to that confused period when Steel City was on the pivotal moment where it could decay into Detroit or become what it is today. Local activists and even the CBC point to Pittsburgh as basically Hamilton's to-do list, and former mayor Tom Murphy in particular. Basically, his approach was this: cut spending brutally, raise taxes (especially parking tax, which improves revenue, cuts traffic, and gets more people into bikes and buses), call in favors from philanthropists, bulldoze the steel mills into profitable waterfront land. Too late for Detroit to make those changes, though.
- Kudzu_Bob 13y agoBut I am still left wondering why Pittsburghers not only made different choices than did Detroiters, but made ones that were so vastly superior as to lead to their city's becoming the best town in America even as Detroit transformed itself a post-apocalyptic wasteland whose denizens hunt raccoons for their flesh.
- Kudzu_Bob 13y agoIn other words, one cannot really explain why the Western Roman Empire fell if he cannot account also for how the Eastern Roman Empire managed to last another thousand years.
- Daniel_Newby 13y agoDemographics. Detroit is 82% African and 31% minors. Pittsburgh is 26% African and 20% minors. And Pittsburgh has not had an insurrection in living memory.
- camus 13y agothat's a pretty racist statement backed up by no facts or causality. Detroit used to be rich even \w all these "African" as you call them.
- Kudzu_Bob 13y agoYour first statement is an attempt to demonstrate moral superiority and therefore merits no response. Your second statement is misleading, in that it sweeps under the rug how Detroit's descent into poverty mirrored its changing demographics. You could, of course, attempt to disprove Daniel_Newby's contention that demographics is at the bottom of this. All that you need to do is provide a single counterexample by pointing out an instance--just one will suffice for our purposes--of a city that became richer or that economically speaking at least held its own even as the percentage of blacks comprising its population grew. This seems like a simple enough task.
- selimthegrim 13y agoI believe Metro Atlanta would like a word with you.
- Kudzu_Bob 13y agoI think that that city is too busy trying to keep the white suburbs from seceding, a move that would deprive Atlanta of its tax base, to have time to talk to the likes of me.
- alvilla 13y agoI remember reading several articles about massive "white plight" in Detroit. Especially in the middle class. 1950 - 16% black 2000 - 81% black http://historydetroit.com/statistics/ http://historydetroit.com/statistics/
- Kudzu_Bob 13y agoI believe that you mean "white flight," not "white plight," but a good catch on your part nonetheless.
- jlgreco 13y agoPittsburgh started with a bad reputation (soot covered steel city) and which cleared up when the steel industry there floundered. On the other hand Detroit arguably had a good reputation because of its industry; there were no upsides to the auto industry floundering.
- Kudzu_Bob 13y agoI shall have to add "Having a good reputation is really a handicap" to the list of such eternal verities as "Poor people are happier than the rich because their lives are simpler" and "It isn't easy being beautiful."