Detroit's Image
Detroit's image is a concern to anyone hoping that the state of Michigan ever makes a significant economic comeback. Much of the city stands knee deep amid the crumbling structures that housed the manufacturing and manufacturers of the Motor City.
The city government is millions in debt, its schools system is recognized as being among the worst, if not the worst, in the whole country, its halls of politics have been greased with corruption for generations, and its history of crime and poor race relations stain its blemished skin like a botched $13 tattoo.
Dave Bing has a lot of ground to make up.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing knows he has a long road ahead as he attempts to attract new businesses and residents to his struggling city.And yet, when asked point blank by Paul W. Smith whether or not he would support making Michigan into a Right to Work state, Bing tosses out a simple and unhesitating "no."
"We need to work hard as hell to change our image," he said Friday at the Detroit Regional Chamber's 2010 Mackinac Policy Conference.
Businesses locate to an area for many reasons, but the most important reason for any business to move to another location is because of the potential profitability in the new area. That's it.
Grand libraries and a well trained work force are great, and they might even be the deciding factor in a business choosing one city over another if potential profit margins are more or less equal among competitors, but secondary factors are nothing more than secondary factors.
What Detroit's political leaders do not currently understand will haunt that once great city for future generations.
1 comment:
The lack of understanding has haunted past generations, too. And that is why Bing's response is so sad.
Combine public union growth (on the backs of private unions as well as everyone else) with endemic corruption, and with Bing's refusal to support right-to-work: Then you realize he hasn't recognized the single biggest problem Detroit faces.
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