Plan to save Detroit unveiled: Vision for a smaller, stronger Motor City

[AUSSIE]

More and more, I'm coming to the realization I'm wasting my time and money in Detroit.

Sad, but true.

It all turned pear shape when 25% of the population left town, and your leaders have no vision or balls to save the joint, just hot air talk.

Shame really, i wonder how many people in Detroit are thinking to leave but are holding on and hope for better times, would be a tough choice what to do.

Cheers

[corktownyuppie]

The problem is a plan like this is inherently fiscally unsound. You do not make money building a couple cities the size of Port Huron, and bulldozing 37 square miles of the city except in the very long term. That means you need loans or grants from someplace to do it. $150 mil from Kresge would really help, but funding is just not easy for a project this scale.

Hell why would Snyder push for this? Has he shown any interest in the project whatsoever?

That said I can't actually read the plan yet. The plan only seems to be available in PDF, and the PDF is formatted so that it is unreadable on my computer. If I zoom in enough to actually read the dang text none of the graphics are on-screen. It's probably trivial to find a workaround, but this is not a very encouraging sign.

Is there a text version? Or a .doc? Heck, why they didn't they just put it on a standard HTML webpage?

In all fairness, because I know you mean well, I strongly encourage you to read plan top to bottom once you can get it in a format that works. There is nothing about the plan that is fiscally unsound.

It is quite actually the soundest set of ideas I've yet seen that address both the political and economic realities we're facing. I'm not gonna speak for him but my bet is that Snyder is totally on board with this because the plan is addressing reality on the ground rather than the politics of interest groups.

With $150MM on the first day, it would not surprise me if $1B in corporate, state, and federal money is found to make this happen.

[Wesley Mouch]

...But I think people are going to be surprised at how receptive all sides are to this.

I always wonder just how deep the support for the anti-outsider point-of-view really is.

[cman710]

I always wonder just how deep the support for the anti-outsider point-of-view really is.

If anyone finds a way to easily obtain a paper version of this report via mail, please let me know. I have been following the Detroit Works project for the past few years and am eager to read the whole thing, but given the format, it will take hours and hours to read. I have no doubt that it will look beautiful when printed by a professional, but it is extremely hard to read online.

[Islandman]

The problem is a plan like this is inherently fiscally unsound. You do not make money building a couple cities the size of Port Huron, and bulldozing 37 square miles of the city except in the very long term. That means you need loans or grants from someplace to do it. $150 mil from Kresge would really help, but funding is just not easy for a project this scale.

Hell why would Snyder push for this? Has he shown any interest in the project whatsoever?

That said I can't actually read the plan yet. The plan only seems to be available in PDF, and the PDF is formatted so that it is unreadable on my computer. If I zoom in enough to actually read the dang text none of the graphics are on-screen. It's probably trivial to find a workaround, but this is not a very encouraging sign.

Is there a text version? Or a .doc? Heck, why they didn't they just put it on a standard HTML webpage?

You know you can do this yourself by copying the contents of the PDF to a DOC? Hell, you can even save the DOC to HTML format also. Go crazy with it.

[Strong]

I attend the press conference and I walked away just impressed with the efforts. Now, many might say so what, I say it's better than doing nothing especially since we have all heard it's better to plan and know where you're going than not plan at all and go anywhere the wind takes you.

[poobert]

Well, they're not turning my neighborhood into a search engine farm, or whatever, so I guess that's good that I won't have to worry about annual garbage pickup. Outside of that, I wish them well, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm just tired.

[shasha]

if you prefer to view a paper document, Detroit Works said that copies of the full report [[300 pages+) will be at all Detroit Public libraries for review.

[WaCoTS]

I wish that this could work but what if our new Mayor isn't interested in this plan or as someone said upthread the EFM or whoever is in power has NO interest in this plan. Would it be shelved for years until someone in power dusts it off or would it just be scrapped before it sees the light of day?

well we're about to find out i think. from what i hear coming from Lansing, the EFM is coming [[despite current impressions)...it will be announced next friday.

[townonenorth]

The problem is a plan like this is inherently fiscally unsound. You do not make money building a couple cities the size of Port Huron, and bulldozing 37 square miles of the city except in the very long term. That means you need loans or grants from someplace to do it. $150 mil from Kresge would really help, but funding is just not easy for a project this scale.

Hell why would Snyder push for this? Has he shown any interest in the project whatsoever?

That said I can't actually read the plan yet. The plan only seems to be available in PDF, and the PDF is formatted so that it is unreadable on my computer. If I zoom in enough to actually read the dang text none of the graphics are on-screen. It's probably trivial to find a workaround, but this is not a very encouraging sign.

Is there a text version? Or a .doc? Heck, why they didn't they just put it on a standard HTML webpage?

I find that the format is really a major pain, as well. It's designed for a book format, so maybe if one prints it out it may be worthwhile. But, I doubt it. It isn't the first document lately that I've found that is made that way. Must be a hipster thing or something.,,

[Richard]

With $150MM on the first day, it would not surprise me if $1B in corporate, state, and federal money is found to make this happen.

It is already been there on the fed level just not being spent without some kind of plan in place $383 million plus just from one source.

[getmoore]

It is already been there on the fed level just not being spent without some kind of plan in place $383 million plus just from one source.

WOW!!. That would be a heck of a start!!

[RickBeall]

From what I have heard, it sounds like they are doing everything right. For the folks who live in areas that are to be greened, they might start liking the plan when they are offered a house swap that gives them more green.

[royce]

I haven't read the final report, but I have followed some of the actions of Detroit Works. I know that they are just making recommendations and that's fine. I watched Flashpoint this morning and some of the participants of Detroit Works were present. When you hear them talk they sound so apologetic, as if they did something wrong. The reality in Detroit is dire and they should be more forceful in saying that some areas of the city will be lost.

Some people should accept that it is a waste of time, money, and resources to try to maintain their area. They need to get out if they can, and if someone offers them a swap to live in a more densely populated part of the city, then they should take it without hesitation. Just read one of the comments made by a resident in the caption of the online Free Press article by John Gallagher. What does this resident want to happen to the vacant land if she doesn't like the Detroit Work's suggestion? I mean really, at some point people have to use common sense and accept the reality of their situation. I mean my mother's home, my boyhood home, is in a distressed area. As much as I cherish the memories of that home, if someone said, "We want to swap you mom's home with one in a more densely populated area," I would strongly advise my mother to do it.

Residents in these areas have to see the benefits of leaving as opposed to the negatives of leaving. The benefits clearly outnumber the negatives. Holding on to a pipe-dream that the area will come back is just that a pipe-dream. Hell, believing a once populated Detroit will come back is a pipe-dream. However, believing that a smaller, more dense Detroit has a chance of coming back is not.