Two Ideas to Save Detroit

[jwlcosu]

Robert Reich says redraw and redistribute.

National Journal proposes illegal immigrants.

 

[byco42]

Reich has it backwards. Detroit needs to contract. 140 square miles big, 700,000 people. No one can connect with each other. Resources are not where the people are.

The thing about Detroit is that it is DESIGNED to dispurse people and goods. When neither are there, it becomes a rotted, spoked wheel.

 

[Mitchrapp]

The only thing to do to save Detroit..

 

[mhughes0021]

invite al Qaida to use it as their base camp. Let them run around and blow themselves up for awhile. In a couple of years we can 1) rebuild Detroit 2) al Qaida will be gone. win win.

 

[jswain]

A controlled burn would work..maybe this year we can cancel the angels night patrol and get back to the good ol days of devils night

 

[grandy]

My idea has always been...

Demolish the mostly uninhabited areas (with relocation help) and replace them with parks and farms.

Then condense the city limits to downtown and the surrounding areas.


I don't know how practical this is or what the cost would be, but it would be nice to add some beauty and usefulness to the city (while removing blight at the same time). Condensing the city limits would also make it easier on the police and other city services.

Unfortunately this would all revolve around how well the city can handle relocation, transformation costs, and maintenance (which I don't put much trust in).

I mainly say this because I honestly don't see these run down areas being repopulated in the near future (or ever).

 

[Mitchrapp]

Unless you get people, like a Mayor, that are worth a damn - it doesn't matter what they do.

But I'm cool with the devils night idea..

 

[byco42]

Unless you get people, like a Mayor, that are worth a damn - it doesn't matter what they do.

But I'm cool with the devils night idea..

I thought Dave Bing is approaching what is required in a Detroit Mayor.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I thought Dave Bing is approaching what is required in a Detroit Mayor.

Laziness? If that's the single requirement than yeah..

Unfortunately, for Bing, he has a long way to reach Kwame status.

 

[Michchamp]

I thought Dave Bing is approaching what is required in a Detroit Mayor.

approaching is probably a good word.

I get the sense he's just too old and out of it to really do the job though.

I can't see them ramming the emergency manager thing through against anyone else.

on a slightly related note, would love to hear the reasons Dennis Archer didn't run again. I heard he was too fed up with fighting the corruption and decided to move on, but who knows? from the suburbs, we get a very different story/view of the city, and typically ignored the corruption going on around us because... well... it's more fun to pick on Detroit.

 

[turok]

Only thing that might save Detroit is to drastically shrink it and conventrate business and residents into areas that total ~1/3 the size of the city as it is now. Perhaps sectioning it off into Northeast-Northwest (b/c of the city airport) Southwest, Midtown and Downtown. The rest bulldozed flat and trees planted so that each section is surrounded by mini-forests. There could be a return to agriculture in some areas that are not too ground-polluted.

 

[Mitchrapp]

And the big problem, as usual (though I like the plan, turok) is money.

 

[tinselwolverine]

They could just evacuate it and fence it off then turn it into a maximum security prison for life sentenced inmates that has no guards and then when the president's pod crashlands there they could send Snake Pliskin in to rescue him.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Would Snake Pliskin rescue Obama? That's the bigger question..

Maybe Kwame needs rescuing. Of course he'd be one of the inmates most likely..

 

[tinselwolverine]

Would Snake Pliskin rescue Obama? That's the bigger question..

Maybe Kwame needs rescuing. Of course he'd be one of the inmates most likely..

The president will be a white guy again by the time they need to call on Snake.

 

[michiganalex]

#1 destroy all abandoned/condemned houses
#2 destroy all.abandon/condemned industrial/commercial sites
#3 offer incentives to companies that will build factories in detroit
#4 form a team of financial wizards that will help detroit restructure their budget shop that if cuts have to be made, they can be done without jeopardizing public safety

 

[oletoes]

Broke, but NOT F-ing crazy!!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/4Jb8ZusO6R8?feature=player_detailpage

 

[Thumb]

#1 destroy all abandoned/condemned houses
#2 destroy all.abandon/condemned industrial/commercial sites
#3 offer incentives to companies that will build factories in detroit
#4 form a team of financial wizards that will help detroit restructure their budget shop that if cuts have to be made, they can be done without jeopardizing public safety

#1 and #2 couldn't be done.

All the demo crews would have to be paid, plus many old houses/factories/commercial buildings etc, have asbestos/lead paint, that stuff is a nightmare and expensive to deal with. And of course, the city is Broke.

And after you have torn them down, you need to pay the dumping costs of the debris from said houses/factories/etc. And Detroit is broke.

 

[michiganalex]

#1 and #2 couldn't be done.

All the demo crews would have to be paid, plus many old houses/factories/commercial buildings etc, have asbestos/lead paint, that stuff is a nightmare and expensive to deal with. And of course, the city is Broke.

And after you have torn them down, you need to pay the dumping costs of the debris from said houses/factories/etc. And Detroit is broke.

that's why you talk to county, state and federal agencies to see if there is anything that can be done to help detroit. Grants and the like. you have to try something or else this will continue for another 30 years

 

[michiganalex]

Hell the Army corp of engineers, Seabees and other military could use the commercial and industrial demos as practice for their own training