[Indentured Servant]

iEXTERIORS

BROWNSTONES

Woodbridge Estates - Home

Research Lofts - Trumbull Avenue - Detroit, MI - Detroit Loft

Lofts at New Center - Detroit, Michigan - Crosswinds Communities

English Village

Garden Lofts at Woodward Place

Inside The Park Shelton

http://www.1001covington.com/

[canudigit]

Very cool, thanks for sharing this information. For those of us who are rooting for Detroit and believe that it can come back better than ever, this is very encouraging.

[Indentured Servant]

Originally Posted by canudigit

Very cool, thanks for sharing this information. For those of us who are rooting for Detroit and believe that it can come back better than ever, this is very encouraging.

I believe that the whole Detroit region has suffered greatly from the propensity of some Michiganders to disparage the city of Detroit. I went to college in Atlanta for a couple of years, before returning to Michigan for my BS. Detroit and Atlanta have or had similar issues and similar demographics. However, there was a stark, stark difference between the way the residents of Georgia viewed and talked about Atlanta the way Metro Detroiters and outstate Michiganders talked about its major city. In short, I swear that everyone in Atlanta in the late 80's worked for their convention and visitor agencies. Oh they could not wait to tell you how great their city was, despite the Atlanta child murders, a crime and murder rate that surpassed Detroit some years.....they we hell bent on selling Atlanta and being positive about it. I kid you not. It was to the point that the media in Atlanta was not even objective. I would read stories in the AJC about how Atlanta ranked relative to other cities and they would skew the comparison to make Atlanta seem bigger and better. The reason that I know they skewed the data is because I have always been a demographic nerd and I knew all the statistics in my head and clearly know that it was, if not media bias, terrible research in their reporting. I can't help but to believe that Atlanta and Georgia created a self fulfilling prophecy for itself. The people believed Atlanta was bigger and better than it really was......and eventually it became that. Detroit and Michigan is the complete opposite with its self fulfilling prophecy of negativity. People in Michigan seem to take pride in Detroit’s downfall and it been seen negatively as if Detroit’s negative image and being helps lift them up or something. In truth what happens is that when people see something as negative they start treating it negatively, which in turns exacerbates the negativity which then reinforces more negativity. People will move out, people will not visit for culture or sporting events.....largely due to negative perceptions. Its amazing to me that some people say they are pro Michigan and act as if they have the interest of Michigan at heart, yet, don't realize that their attitude is a large part of Michigan’s problem.
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

[magellan]

It's good to see some investment in Detroit.

I believe that instead of city residents all working for their convention and visitors bureaus, they should actively root out corruption in their government, not elect and defend criminals (Kwame), work to reduce poverty, invest in neighborhoods where others won't, work together with their suburban counterparts, support the school systems, pick up trash, sit on city commissions, attend planning commission meetings, fight to preserve historic structures instead of letting them all be torn down, work with their city to makes sure that public spaces and arts programs are supported, support expansion of mass transit, help businesses get started, support locally owned businesses, and on and on. The resulting city will market itself. Then there's no need to exaggerate or lie (Atlanta). And then residents will be proud, even boosterish, about their successes. Nuff said.

[ForStarters]

Originally Posted by magellan

It's good to see some investment in Detroit.

I believe that instead of city residents all working for their convention and visitors bureaus, they should actively root out corruption in their government, not elect and defend criminals (Kwame), work to reduce poverty, invest in neighborhoods where others won't, work together with their suburban counterparts, support the school systems, pick up trash, sit on city commissions, attend planning commission meetings, fight to preserve historic structures instead of letting them all be torn down, work with their city to makes sure that public spaces and arts programs are supported, support expansion of mass transit, help businesses get started, support locally owned businesses, and on and on. The resulting city will market itself. Then there's no need to exaggerate or lie (Atlanta). And then residents will be proud, even boosterish, about their successes. Nuff said.

Some people do. Some people perpetually spread positive news AND do everything you just listed. Sadly, we are usually met with perpetual negativity by fellow Michiganians as if somehow it's our fault things aren't exactly perfect. The vast amount of people fall into one of two categories: naysayers and fans. The naysayers will do anything to down-talk positive news, while the fans enjoy sitting in the stands, jeering or cheering depending on the news of the day. If you want things to change, you gotta quit being a fan and be player, down on the field, getting dirty scoring points with the rest of the team. We're a very welcoming group, I swear!

[ForStarters]

Originally Posted by Indentured Servant

iEXTERIORS

BROWNSTONES

Woodbridge Estates - Home

Research Lofts - Trumbull Avenue - Detroit, MI - Detroit Loft

Lofts at New Center - Detroit, Michigan - Crosswinds Communities

English Village

Garden Lofts at Woodward Place

Inside The Park Shelton

http://www.1001covington.com/

Great post. And, to be fair, this is really only a fraction of the total developments taking place.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by ForStarters

Some people do. Some people perpetually spread positive news AND do everything you just listed. Sadly, we are usually met with perpetual negativity by fellow Michiganians as if somehow it's our fault things aren't exactly perfect. The vast amount of people fall into one of two categories: naysayers and fans. The naysayers will do anything to down-talk positive news, while the fans enjoy sitting in the stands, jeering or cheering depending on the news of the day. If you want things to change, you gotta quit being a fan and be player, down on the field, getting dirty scoring points with the rest of the team. We're a very welcoming group, I swear!

Word.

[Indentured Servant]

People underestimate the role and power of self reinforcing prophecy. Self reinforcing prophecy manifest when ones beliefs, and subsequent behaviors born from those beliefs, exacerbates, if not create, the condition that were prophesized. Say, as an example, someone prejudges another to be an a-hole, based upon what they heard. These beliefs then effect they way they treat this person. In other words, they treat this person like they are an a-hole and then, in turn, the person responds (to the negative treatment) like an a-hole which then reinforces the belief that the person is a a-hole ("just like I thought"). Take another example. Say you judge a certain segment of the population as lazy and not wanting to work. Thus, when a person in this demographic applies for a job they may not get hired because they are perceived or believed to be lazy and not wanting to work, which results in the person not being employed. Then one looks at the person or groups rate of unemployment which then reinforces the belief that the group is lazy and do not want to work. Take the stock market and the power of mass speculation. If massive numbers of people believe that a stock is going to go up in price, masses number of people will buy the stock and hence the forces of supply and demand will drive up the price. Here is another. Say that people believe that certain groups of people moving into a neighborhood ruins the neighborhood by driving down property values. Hence, when these “people” start moving into communities the reactions of those currently living in those communities is to sell their properties and leave, which has the impact of driving down the property values which in turn reinforces the belief that these “people” are driving down property values.

Detroit’s condition, most profoundly, is the result of a massive self reinforcing prophecy perpetrated on it by the people of Southeastern Michigan, out-state Michigan, followed by the rest of the nation. Detroit never had problems that Chicago did not have, the Philadelphia did not have, that Los Angeles did not have, that New York did not have etc. Instead, it is the way that Michiganders participated in the self reinforcing demise of the city of Detroit that caused the Decline of Detroit relative to other major cities. Granted, the Auto Companies and its woes played a big part, but not as much. Detroit should be a city of about 1.3 million people today….one that should be about 48% black, 40% white and the rest other. The reason that it is 85% black and 15% other is not due to the decline in the auto industry, but rather, the self reinforcing prophecy that largely is centered on race and who controls and area.

This is not rocket science. Its very simple. If you believe in yourself and others believe in you......you will go much further, as a general rule, than if you don't belive in yourself and others don't believe in you. Those beliefs become self reinforced realities. That is what I teach my kids. Believe in yourself and you will self reinforce that belief. However, one must be careful because when large number of people don't believe in you, and vocalize such, one can internalize and co-opt the belief of others.....making it true.

Cities are like kids. If you treat a kid like the black sheep of the family, treating them worse, denigrating them and not believing in them....chances are they will be failures more so than if had not treated them in a negative manner relative to the other kids. Cities are the same. When you treat cities and neighborhoods as the "black sheep" of the family.....you self fullfill their failure. In other words....the failure is not inate....but rather....nurtured by how others of influence treated them.