The low property values are a part of the problem.
When infrastructure is built to transport, feed, house, and otherwise take care of people in a booming industry, and then that industry leaves, that infrastructure doesn't magically downsize itself or continue to work forever. It has holding costs, and it has maintenance costs. A lot of those local costs are paid for by property taxes. And when the condo goes from San Francisco prices to Detroit prices (or sits empty and abandoned), those property taxes drop off.
Those maintenance needs apply to the offices and factories of the industry, too. And to the restaurants those employees visit, the malls, dealerships, dealerships, grocery stores, gas stations, and everywhere else they shop at. That Post Amazon Condo you'd like to buy needs maintenance, too. These service industries need money to come in from somewhere.
A town can't just pass around the same dollar forever. And when Amazon, or the mining company, or the auto company, or the steel company or whatever industry is actually providing value and bringing in external dollars disappears, the place will slowly die. People will want to continue to live in the booming city they remember, enjoying the gorgeous scenery, even as unemployment skyrockets, savvy businesses leave town, crime rises, and infrastructure rots and rusts. They will call for state aid, and federal aid, but those are just band-aids on the problem that the city's economy is running backwards, just trying to keep up with all the maintenance debt.
Michigan is a beautiful place, too. I wouldn't call the weather mild, but it's an amazing place with all four seasons and we Michiganders like that. But the cheap parts of the state are not known for their scenery, they're known as desolate concrete wastelands.
When infrastructure is built to transport, feed, house, and otherwise take care of people in a booming industry, and then that industry leaves, that infrastructure doesn't magically downsize itself or continue to work forever. It has holding costs, and it has maintenance costs. A lot of those local costs are paid for by property taxes. And when the condo goes from San Francisco prices to Detroit prices (or sits empty and abandoned), those property taxes drop off.
Those maintenance needs apply to the offices and factories of the industry, too. And to the restaurants those employees visit, the malls, dealerships, dealerships, grocery stores, gas stations, and everywhere else they shop at. That Post Amazon Condo you'd like to buy needs maintenance, too. These service industries need money to come in from somewhere.
A town can't just pass around the same dollar forever. And when Amazon, or the mining company, or the auto company, or the steel company or whatever industry is actually providing value and bringing in external dollars disappears, the place will slowly die. People will want to continue to live in the booming city they remember, enjoying the gorgeous scenery, even as unemployment skyrockets, savvy businesses leave town, crime rises, and infrastructure rots and rusts. They will call for state aid, and federal aid, but those are just band-aids on the problem that the city's economy is running backwards, just trying to keep up with all the maintenance debt.
Michigan is a beautiful place, too. I wouldn't call the weather mild, but it's an amazing place with all four seasons and we Michiganders like that. But the cheap parts of the state are not known for their scenery, they're known as desolate concrete wastelands.
It's a hard problem.