By John E. Mogk

Detroit Free Press Guest Writer
The necessary scramble to avoid insolvency by cutting the city's budget will not fix Detroit. The staggering economic, social and neighborhood problems dragging the city down will not be addressed and may increase.

Only economic growth that provides jobs, lifts the median income of residents and expands private investment will reverse the city's fall. There is an urgent need for a long-term economic growth plan for Detroit to build on any short-term fix. Otherwise, budget cutting ultimately solves nothing; it simply seals the city's fate.

Balancing the budget will be painful, but it is the city's easiest challenge. Elected leaders, an emergency manager or a bankruptcy court will cut Detroit's workforce, reduce compensation, sell municipal assets, privatize services and raise fees or taxes. Residents will see services reduced and costs increased.

Then what? Then the real challenges begin.
The city's second effort is fostering growth within Midtown and downtown, led by support and involvement of Detroit's corporate and civic leaders, small entrepreneurs and young professionals. New urban energy and vitality are flourishing within the 10-square-mile Woodward corridor and lifting Detroit's image. Yet outside of this core, there is little discernible effect on distressed conditions in the city's vast outlying neighborhood areas.
Full article at: http://www.freep.com/article/2011122...ic-growth-plan