Detroit Mayor Dave Bing Plans to Keep City Viable by Bulldozing 25% of It, 10K Homes
Battered Detroit wouldn’t have to struggle to pay for services in the vast areas of the city that are essentially abandoned if they didn’t exist—so it’s going to bulldoze them. Mayor Dave Bing did the calculus on a $300 million budget deficit and the 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 empty residential lots and came up with the solution. Over 3 years, a quarter of the city and 10,000 homes will come down, remaining residents will be relocated, and resources will be focused on still-viable neighborhoods.
So, has the homeless problem gone away?
Too bad we can't just relocate folks without homes from other cities to cities like Detroit, rather than destroying thousands of homes. With all those new people, new businesses would open to support their needs. New jobs would be created.
It's bizarre--all the "cost cutting" tactics we've seen corporations use over the years (like downsizing and outsourcing) are now being used by governments like Detroit's. What's worse is that no one seems to be discussing alternatives OR noticing that downsizing and outsourcing doesn't spur growth.
Hell, I could save some cash on food if I didn't have two legs and two arms to supply calories to. Perhaps I should lop them off and shrink that grocery bill?
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