Wells Hall Off Topic Board

I left 15 years ago.

Since then one of the Oldmobile plants on the Grand Raiver closed (-1500-2000 jobs), the plant on Verlinden near Sexton HS closed (another 1500-2000 jobs lost), the metal fabrication plant on West Saginaw is gone (another 750-1200 jobs) and the Delta plant went dark. (500-1000 jobs) . When the new Delta Township plant opened and employs 4100 but all those folks aren't from Lansing. Many drive from GR, Flint and Detroit because their plants closed. Foundries are gone, tool and die are shadows of what they were. Motor Wheel is now headquartered in Livonia and I'm not sure if they even have a Lansing presence. at one time they were the 3rd largest employer behond Oldsmobile and state government.

State government keeps "right sizing" and MSU's staffing isn't what it was. So you have a factory town full of undereducated people with little or no chance of a good income like was possible 30 years ago.

Just before WW2 towards the end of the Depression my father worked at Olds in Lansing. he said you could get mad at your boss on Wednesday afternoon and have a job to go to at the same or better wages starting the following Monday.

This is a very accurate description of history. My dad graduated high school and walked across the street to numerous shops offering a middle class wage. He went with Motor Wheel, which now he sees as a mistake. When they packed up he went into the police academy and now has a bad ass pension. I guess everything worked out well.

It just seems like more serious crimes are happening on a daily basis. Especially on the south end.