A tree climber's union?

Looking back in labor history you'll find that guilds were a way for people to have control over the value of their work. Within the guild movement there would be apprentice to master training. The education was tightly controlled so that the highest standards and skills were passed on. This worked quite well for centuries.

In order for labor to have the highest value it has to be controlled in some way...by the laborer. In our profession this model doesn't work.

Unions are good for labor. They united strength gives workers power that individuals don't have. Unfortunately there are people who abuse the system. That's human nature. Those abusers, like any minority, cause problems for the whole.
 
No didn't vote for him nor his mentor who is the current mayor. Talk about never learning lessons
I did tree work for Kwame's sister though
 
jim454 said:
Dutch Elm Disease?! That made me laugh.
I will partially agree with you guys though. How bout that Kwame Kilpatrick, Bing? I'd love know if you voted for him.

http://watchdog.org/96532/10-reasons-for-detroits-historic-failures/
Click to expand...
This article does nothing to explain the reasons for the loss of the population while citing it as the first reason for Detroits failure. Then proceeds to use this as the foundation for the rest of the reasons. While the population fell the city still retained the infrastructure that was needed for the peak population. Your public service doesn't shrink proportionately with the population (thus the ratio of civil servants to residents increasing).

Here's another article on the decline. http://www.urbanophile.com/2012/02/21/the-reasons-behind-detroits-decline-by-pete-saunders/
 
Yes people get cinfused because they think the whole region is broke. All the rich people left the city. That's what happened. Oakland county immediatly to the north of the city is always one of the richest counties in the country.

The reason there were so many public jobs in the city is because the city needed employment in order to survive at all.

What happened to detriot is that people left. Why they left is complex and I personally think the loss of the elms had a lot to do with it. Racism (white flight) freeways tearing up neighborhoods, no public transportation, cheap land in the suburbs, car culture.... we could talk about it for hours and unions are part of the conversation but just a part.
 
It has nothing to do with the topic, sorry for that, but i'm allways amazed how much lost space i can see in american cities. Everything is huge, out of reasonnable proportions for a european mind. Maybe is it the reason why cars are the same way... you got to fill these crazy roads. ^^

That has a big cost too when a city have to maintain its streets, enlight all these areas...
 
Oh yeah, our public infrastructure (the building of which helped to create a middle class in the first place by offering high paying work in the fields of labor and skilled trades) is completely falling apart and no one wants to pay taxes, so we can't rebuild it. Meanwhile we'll continue to enrich DoD contractors by spending 52% of our discretionary spending on "defense". Part of the reason Detroit was successful was that Henry Ford, for all his isolationism and anti-semitism, knew that he could sell a hell of a lot more cars if his workers could afford to buy them. So he paid them well enough that they were a major force in driving the economy.
 
Bradypus, you're seeing the influence of the automotive and big oil businesses on urban planning and development. Streets developed with a human scale instead of the automotive attract vibrancy and life. Having places within walking distance of home, convenient public transit, mixed use and socio-economic groups, buildings on a human scale and, yes, trees and greenscapes. Take a look at many big box retail outlets from a distance and you see them mimicking the smaller stores that were found on main street. The difference is they are scaled to cars. People are dwarfed and feel it. Where they fail, is in providing an interconnection with pedestrians. Massive parking lots and roadways to move vehicles around with the passengers an afterthought. While they serve cars, it's walk at your own peril.
 
Yes that's really true and interestingly said. Walking in Atlanta was dwarfing me for sure, it was a strange feeling as i'm used to european scales and walkable cities.

Let's make a pedestrian union ^^
 
European cities are more walkable because they've been around for way before the car was invented.
 
It's partially true. Horse-drawn carriages take a lot of space too and cities had been designed and redesigned to fit this need. Haussmannian streets in Paris were made way before the car was invented and are still the most confortable streets to drive through. And when car arrived the only thing that really needed to be made was finding place to park, so parking had been digged underground.

As you say european are used to a human scale. In big cities we are used to live in tiny appartments compared to american ones. So population density is really high and that provides enough clients to have many shops in each quarter. I think that more than an obligation it's because of a life style. We could have destroy everything and make it non pedestrian, in fact we have destroyed and rebuilt a lot but most often keeping the scale and facilities we are used too. Try to change the life style a parisian loves and you will end up with a revolution. ^^

Wich brings us back to unions... hum...
 
It seems as though we are aproaching times like the one's that inspired woody's lyrics. Those old folk songs are becoming more and more relevant... unfortunately
 
Treec said:
Woody was pretty much a communist, no?
Click to expand...
No, commi's claimed him as one of their own in an effort to give strength to their movement although he was just a good ol American. He even wrote propaganda songs for the US gov about the War and the grand Coulee damn and what not.
 
treehumper said:
This article does nothing to explain the reasons for the loss of the population while citing it as the first reason for Detroits failure. Then proceeds to use this as the foundation for the rest of the reasons. While the population fell the city still retained the infrastructure that was needed for the peak population. Your public service doesn't shrink proportionately with the population (thus the ratio of civil servants to residents increasing).

Here's another article on the decline. http://www.urbanophile.com/2012/02/21/the-reasons-behind-detroits-decline-by-pete-saunders/
Click to expand...

Reason for loss in population?!
Corrupt government, high taxes, growing crime. The list goes on and on.
Heck, I'd leave too!

Looks like the same thing is headed for New York. They're offering up this, http://startup.ny.gov
 
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