Fallen City Looking for a Hero

By now everyone is talking about Detroit’s bankruptcy and the problems that have led to its decline.  Michigan’s economic decline has long been a battlefield of political ideologies. In our history we have both stories of the success of capitalism — the boom of industry that once made Detroit the fastest growing city in the world — as well as its failures — a history of inequality and violence which birthed our strong unions.

Depending on your ideological leanings the “death” of the Big Three could be due to unreasonable demands by the UAW, money grubbing executives moving their shops to Mexico to make a larger profit with the help of NAFTA, an industry that had turned its back on innovation as it continues to produce gas guzzling SUVs during times of soaring fuel prices, or the failure of the state government to provide economic incentives for companies to stay. Corruption, racism, corporate mismanagement all play a role in the failure of Detroit’s government. I could spend days debating the varying autopsies of the once great city, but I won’t.

Among many unknowns here is one known: Detroit cannot be saved without an economic revival.

While understanding the problem can provide us the means to uncovering the solution, I think the game of pointing fingers that has unfolded on the national stage of late is not helpful at all to the city. Instead the question that racks my mind is not how Detroit came to these crossroads but how do they get out. The city has been promised renaissance after renaissance and has been left wondering: what if things never get better? What if Detroit goes from being the largest city of bankruptcy to the largest ghost town, a decrepit corpse of the boom and bust of industry?

Detroit is not the first city to be visited by dark times. Other cities have lived to reinvent themselves: New York, San Francisco, Boston, Pittsburgh. As a recent Washington Post op-ed pointed out:

“In 1971, two Seattle realtors posted this funny-dreary billboard: “Will the last person leaving SEATTLE — Turn out the lights.” Employment at Boeing had plunged from 100,800 in 1967 to 38,690…But the losses weren’t fatal. The Seattle area now has Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks.”

So what does it take to reinvent a city? Well, that’s the subject of a new series of Thagomizer posts.

 

 Part I: Embracing Change

Let me start by what I think won’t bring back Detroit: the auto industry. Much press that juxtaposes the bankruptcy of Detroit with the slow recovery of the domestic auto industry fails to realize that Detroit is no longer the motor city. Only one of the Big Three has headquarters in Detroit and only two plants remain in the city limits. The rest have fled to the suburbs or other parts of Michigan, Canada, and beyond. In fact there are more casinos in Detroit then there are automobile factories. Chrysler, famous for its “Imported from Detroit” Super Bowl ad is actually headquartered in a suburb and none of the three cars featured in that ad, the Chrysler 200, Chrysler 300 and Chrysler Town & Country are actually made in the city.

Pittsburgh has long been thought of a rust belt success story. In many ways it is connected to steel in the same way Detroit has been connected to the auto industry. It was not just a part of their economy, it was and continues to be a part of their history, culture, and identity. However Pittsburgh’s success came when they looked at the hard truth: steel was never coming back. Instead they invested in new industries, in technology and healthcare and put money in higher education and retraining to help workers transition to these new economic power houses. Economic resiliency means constantly changing and having a workforce that can change with you.

Detroit has been held back by clinging to the auto industry, fighting imports under the assumption that the auto industry will return the city to where it was a half decade ago. Letting go of that hope means not only looking at new economic mainstays but also providing opportunities for people to shift careers. It’s a tough job convincing people that they will have to retrain to succeed, but this nimbleness is necessary to revitalize Detroit. It also means changing the education system for youth to prepare them for innovation not stagnation.

Detroit is seeing some new business in the area. Quicken Loans has brought in new money into the city and is helping to build a tech industry downtown. Unemployment is dropping and the tax base is rising in Detroit. Perhaps the bankruptcy will finally allow Detroit to shake off the cloak of the past and embrace a new future. Fast Company puts Detroit’s failure in a new light:

The tech world has a word for Detroit’s bankruptcy filing yesterday, and it’s not fiasco, fatal, or doomsday. It’s pivot. If something fundamental isn’t working–the business model, the core technology–you make a dramatic change, despite the risk and short-term pain. It’s a gambit for the long-term survival of the enterprise.

However, the city has to be able to transition its residents to these new fields. This means Motor City dwellers have to be able to admit that factory jobs are not returning to Detroit and take a risk on job retraining to seize new economic opportunities. It’s a change that requires a drastic shift in identity for the people and city, one I do not easily prescribe.

I remember when Michigan built cars; everyone I knew growing up had parents whose jobs were in some way tied to the auto industry. We’re asking people to give up a way a life — yes, a way of life that is not sustainable, but one we’ve always been proud of. However if we learn from Pittsburgh, changing careers doesn’t mean they can’t still root for the Steelers, but they can’t wait for the steel mills to return to rebuild their city. If this bankruptcy symbolizes anything, it is that the city of Detroit can’t wait either.