Detroit Mayor Knocks Down 3,000th House
May 5th, 2011
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In his first year of office, Detroit mayor Dave Bing has torn down 3,000 houses on the east side of the city[1]. Before he’s done, he hopes to make it 10,000. When Bing ran for office, he promised to “tear down dangerous structures in neighborhoods.” This includes removing abandoned homes that are too far gone to save and that are “eyesores…that bring our neighborhoods down,” says Bing, who is using $20 million in federal money from Detroit’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to fund the demolitions. Bing and his supporters believe that the abandoned, derelict homes are present a threat to safety and encourage crime in their areas.
Tearing down houses is just one way in which Bing hopes to save his city. He has also initiated a program called Project 14, which offers incentives to police officers to move back to the city, and is aiming to bring the city’s population back to 700,000[2] (the population peaked in the auto industry heyday around 2 million, but fell from 1 million to under 713,777 in 2010)[3].The city also brought in renowned real estate investor and developer Tony Goldman, who officials hope will take Detroit on as he did with New York City’s SoHo and Florida’s South Beach, both of which are now thriving.
Do you think Detroit can be saved, or should Mayor Bing just tear the rest of the city down?
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[1] http://www.detnews.com/article/20110429/METRO01/104290410/1361/Bing-initiative-tears-down-3-000th-Detroit-vacant-home
[2] http://www.detnews.com/article/20110415/METRO/104150369/1409/METRO
[3] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704461304576216850733151470.html
May 5th, 2011 at 12:08 PM
I think that Mayor Bing has a great idea. Once the properties are torn down, you can create new neighborhoods with modern designs and amenities, which will attract new and younger people as opposed to remodeling old houses and hoping people will move into them. When Jerry brown was Mayor of Oakland, Ca he came up with a plan to bring 10,000 new residents to downtown Oakland, which ment that a lot of old buildings were demolished, and replaced with new buildings, condos, bars and restuarants. It is a way to get young people back to the inter city and keep them there. The pattern for the young is usually live in the city when you are young, then move to the subburds to raise their families. Cities cannot survive if families will not stay there. The people that end up living there are there because they have no other options. I don’t think that is the population you want the people of your city to be, no options.
May 5th, 2011 at 1:11 PM
No Guts, No Glory! I have no idea if he can pull off a turnaround, but I wish him all the luck, help and success he will need to make it work.
Jim Myers