Over 140 economists, researchers, Michigan and Ohio state and local officials, business and non-profit leaders recently camped for two days at the Detroit Branch of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, to review--in ghastly, numerical detail--the economic and human toll of the collapse of the auto industry, and to vet any and all approaches to aid dislocated auto workers in response.

Overall, the atmosphere and information was grim: Huge job losses in auto-dependent communities, significant human and community suffering, and maddeningly small increments of opportunity for those that have been thrown out of work.

Despite all the gloom and doom, there was still a bit of wishful thinking in the air, that for me (as one working in Flint, Lansing, and Detroit, Michigan for 20 years) underscored the now bi-polar Detroit and auto community attitude towards its once-dominant, sugar daddy industry. 

While historically standing four square behind the Big Three and the UAW--and fighting valiantly for whatever was in their self-professed interests--the cold shower of having now lost more auto-related jobs over the past decade (600,000) than are left in the region (400,000) places Detroit (and similar places) business, civic and political leadership in a very conflicted position.

Half the brain is still rooting for another comeback, hitting the end of the bungee cord and industry freefall. The other half of the brain is realizing that, finally, maybe the years of talk of “diversification,” embracing new sectors, and riding new economic ponies, is not only necessary, it may have already arrived as a fait accompli.

Don’t look now but the poster child for urban disinvestment and the decline of manufacturing has at least one small bright spot.

As the New York Times pointed out last month, the Flint, Mich. neighborhood of Carriage Town is experiencing increased investment with new and existing homeowners revamping the area’s historic Victorian houses. The old architecture and the neighborhood’s location adjacent to downtown provide the lure.

Don’t look now but the poster child for urban disinvestment and the decline of manufacturing has at least one small bright spot.

As the New York Times pointed out last month, the Flint, Mich. neighborhood of Carriage Town is experiencing increased investment with new and existing homeowners revamping the area’s historic Victorian houses. The old architecture and the neighborhood’s location adjacent to downtown provide the lure.

It's been more than a month since the auto industry came to Washington, begging for a rescue. And, since that time, it's become clear just how dry Detroit's reservoir of goodwill has run. For conservative opponents of bailout legislation, like Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, the U.S. auto industry is an object of scorn--"dinosaurs," he has called them. For the liberals who support a rescue, like Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, Detroit remains an embarrassment.

It's been more than a month since the auto industry came to Washington, begging for a rescue. And, since that time, it's become clear just how dry Detroit's reservoir of goodwill has run. For conservative opponents of bailout legislation, like Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, the U.S. auto industry is an object of scorn--"dinosaurs," he has called them. For the liberals who support a rescue, like Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, Detroit remains an embarrassment.

A mainstream liberal consensus on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 has emerged quickly. It goes something like this: Moore's a nutty conspiracy theorist, and parts of the movie--in which he suggests, among other things, that we invaded Afghanistan not because of 9/11 but because we wanted to build a natural gas pipeline--showcase Moore at his least responsible.