Friday, March 27, 2009

Goodbye to Dubai


Flint and Dubai finally have something in common — empty buildings and a shrinking population. Newsday.com reports:
"The same belt-tightening mood is found almost anywhere. A report last week by the Jones Lang LaSalle consultants showed the supply of empty office in Dubai has doubled to 16 percent over the past six months. Standard & Poor's this month cut the credit ratings of six Dubai government-backed entities and a leading property developer.

"The Shuaa capital report forecast a 5 percent drop in Dubai's population from about 1.7 million last year to 1.62 million by the end of 2009 as Gulf construction and financial markets seize up, sending expatriate workers packing."


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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.