Since Detroit, Hamtramck and HP are [[or soon will be) all under financial management.

[nain rouge]

My point is the in the final sentence. We need metropolitan and state sharing of urban problems, not walling them off in to an increasingly impoverished setting.

I agree. I recently stayed at a hostel in Bedstuy, Brooklyn, and it was interesting to see how well NYC's government was able to support this gentrifying neighborhood.

In response to the ongoing gentrification if the neighborhood, the government drastically boosted the police presence and noticeably improved the area's infrastructure and level of service. The result was synergistic, leading to a rapid intensification of the reinvestment in the area, with new high-rise apartments going up where Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z once hid from gangs. This, in turn, will allow NYC to pour even more resources into Bedstuy as the area's tax base grows.

Meanwhile, in Metro Detroit, our system of suburban fiefdoms has crippled the City of Detroit's ability to properly support gentrification efforts. Though Detroit has done its best to support recovering neighborhoods, the resources just aren't there to do what really should be done. Imagine if the near west side of Detroit around Downtown had police constantly driving around all throughout the day, everything was cleaned up, and city services were made to be 100% reliable. The neighborhoods would truly boom in a way we have yet to see.

In an era were younger people are practically begging to live in and gentrify big cities, we're pissing away a lot of momentum by not take a broader approach to Detroit's problems that incorporates the resources of the entire region. It's a testament to the power of the pent-up demand for urban living that neighborhoods like Midtown and Corktown improved even this much, because we certainly haven't done much as a region to help. We need to work harder at capitalizing on this momentum while we have the chance, because there is no telling how long it will last at this high of a level. That means pouring more regional resources into Detroit.

Yes, there would be some initial pains experienced by the suburbs if we expanded Detroit's borders or consolidated funds and services on a large scale, we'd all be better off in the long run with a revitalized Detroit. People need to understand that. Too much of our public policy is based off of prejudices from decades ago that don't interest outsiders or new residents. Some here might think everything is great so long as they can keep their suburban enclaves intact, but they have to realize that outsiders just see a dumpy big city and suburbs that are like everywhere else. That puts us at a huge disadvantage when compared to the regions with decent to great big cities and suburbs that are like everywhere else. There's a reason Michigan was the only state to lose population in the census.