美国车企祖传8宗罪

8.大兴土木，再造底特律

不光是底特律三巨头会故伎重演，底特律这座城市也在一再上演同样的故事。这座目前已经宣告破产的城市正在对主城区进行改头换面的大改造：那儿的办公楼被翻修一新，建了一座耗资6亿美元的曲棍球场，还在伍德沃德大道上建了一条长达三英里的轻轨线。这么多大手笔的房地产投资都是旨在让这座深陷困境的城市重新焕发活力，它秉持的理念是：“只要造好房子，人们自然会来”。不过，在底特律的历史上，类似的做法却一再证明只是一厢情愿、自欺欺人：早在20世纪70年代，亨利•福特二世就建起了复兴中心（现在成了通用汽车的总部），80年代滨水区也曾经大兴土木，90年代大马戏公园和新中心区同样经历过了大规模的改造，21世纪初底特律老虎队和狮子队搬进了全新的市中心体育馆，还建了三座赌场。底特律的这种高楼大厦比比皆是，但就是没法吸引人们来安居乐业。只有这座城市首先能持续提供市政服务，合理收税，同时设法解决贻害不浅的种族政策，之后，它才有可能聚集人气。而想做到这一点，可能还需要吸取更深刻的教训。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远  

8. Rebuilding Detroit with bricks and mortar

There's more going round and round in Detroit than at just the auto companies. The bankrupt city is getting a downtown makeover with renovated office buildings, a $600 million hockey arena, and construction of a three-mile light rail train line on Woodward Ave. All that real estate investment is expected to spark the revitalization of a troubled city; it's the "If you build it, they will come" theory. But that's not what happened in the 1970s when Henry Ford II erected the Renaissance Center (now GM's corporate headquarters), the 1980s when large developments were built on the waterfront, the 1990s that saw Grand Circus Park and the New Center area get a lift, or the 00's, when the Tigers and Lions moved into new downtown stadiums and three casinos went up. Detroit has plenty of real estate; what is hasn't been able to do is attract the people needed to fill it up. That won't happen until the city begins to deliver municipal services on a consistent basis, rationalizes its tax base, and finds an antidote to its poisonous racial politics. And that may be a tough lesson to learn.