Detroit won't force residents to move in city's reshaping From The Detroit News: htt

DetroitDad · August-26-10, 10:39 PM

With that last post [[#73) in mind, isn't the job of the mayor to act as chief executive officer [[CEO) of the city? Why is the CEO coming back to the board of directors and stock holders [[voters), asking us non-experts what he [[expert, or coordinator of experts) should do? Does anyone else find that a little odd? Isn't identifying problems, their solutions, a team to carry out those solutions, and possible ramifications of all risk factors and decisions what we hired him to do? I know community feedback is important, but after the job is done. Will he be presenting us with all relevant information for us to make a decision?

Is this not how it is supposed to work.

**Hermod** · August-27-10, 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitDad

With that last post [[#73) in mind, isn't the job of the mayor to act as chief executive officer [[CEO) of the city? Why is the CEO coming back to the board of directors and stock holders [[voters), asking us non-experts what he [[expert, or coordinator of experts) should do? Does anyone else find that a little odd? Isn't identifying problems, their solutions, a team to carry out those solutions, and possible ramifications of all risk factors and decisions what we hired him to do? I know community feedback is important, but after the job is done. Will he be presenting us with all relevant information for us to make a decision?

Is this not how it is supposed to work.

1. Mayors do not have the power that most CEOs have.

2. City councils/commissions are a lot more active and jealous of their prerogatives than most company BODs.

**canuck** · August-27-10, 06:45 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitDad

With that last post [[#73) in mind, isn't the job of the mayor to act as chief executive officer [[CEO) of the city? Why is the CEO coming back to the board of directors and stock holders [[voters), asking us non-experts what he [[expert, or coordinator of experts) should do? Does anyone else find that a little odd? Isn't identifying problems, their solutions, a team to carry out those solutions, and possible ramifications of all risk factors and decisions what we hired him to do? I know community feedback is important, but after the job is done. Will he be presenting us with all relevant information for us to make a decision?

Is this not how it is supposed to work.

I think more not less citizen participation is needed in Detroit. The cliché disenfranchisement of the population in regards to past mistakes needs to be counterbalanced by ideas that make a better city for the people, not the corporate landowners. It is not a popular sell in Michigan maybe to stop development, any development because anything new is definitely more promising than nothing at all. But I think neighborhood re-sizing and connectivity in transit solutions and rehabs like proper streetlighting on a vast scale, well-lit bus shelters would make a big difference as mentioned by other posters. People in Detroit need to be more demanding, more nagging, need to input a lot more in order to get what they need. There is a better chance of getting more attention from Washington it seems, if the clamor is loud enough, but definitely, on a civic level there are projects to promote on behalf of the people, and others to demote. The mayor may be a visionary or a bland administrator but he must answer to residents first and foremost.

**JJD** · August-27-10, 11:03 AM

I, a city resident, am all for the right sizing plan. I see no way to make it happen though given conventional politics. I agree that if you tear up the streets and let them grow over, it will not be a mecca for crime any more than a corn field an hour north is. The city would have to run new water lines to the remaining areas, there are so many difficulties in achieving this plan, that I think the flight and arsonists will end up being more efficient at right-sizing than the city. The city can't even keep up with demolishing what has burned. There is no fix all solution for Detroit, so we keep trying new things. I say keep trying to make it better and hpefully the culmination of many different efforts will be a slow return to functioning city.

**Detroitnerd** · August-27-10, 11:29 AM

Just keep demolishing.
And the city will return.
Like a surgeon
Cutting cancers
Until nothing is left
Of your body
But your bones

**Fnemecek** · August-27-10, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by JJD

I, a city resident, am all for the right sizing plan. I see no way to make it happen though given conventional politics. I agree that if you tear up the streets and let them grow over, it will not be a mecca for crime any more than a corn field an hour north is. The city would have to run new water lines to the remaining areas, there are so many difficulties in achieving this plan, that I think the flight and arsonists will end up being more efficient at right-sizing than the city. The city can't even keep up with demolishing what has burned. There is no fix all solution for Detroit, so we keep trying new things. I say keep trying to make it better and hpefully the culmination of many different efforts will be a slow return to functioning city.

You pack a lot into this post.

First, there's a lot that goes into why someone commits a crime. At least a portion of the reason of why there is less crime an hour north of Detroit is that, cornfields or not, if you call the police they show up and they show quickly.

DPD has critical staffing shortage. Converting portions of Detroit into farmland will not change that.

Second, cutting off services to sections of the city is hardly something new. We've been doing it for years.

**kraig** · August-27-10, 06:45 PM

I wonder if anyone has considered the concept of expanding out instead of shrinking in. It would be much easier for the City to provide land and homes to people than take away. A lot less expensive too. After all, Detroit is only 139 square miles. That's really not that big when given some thought.

**malmarson** · August-27-10, 08:50 PM

Hey-about not moving in certain areas:

I have seen new faces around Farnsworth and Moran-urban pioneers? And the barber shop at Chene and Palmer's done more than a little renovation to their part of Chene.

And I know Chene & Ferry, Mt Elliott and E Grand. Want a history lesson? Jo-Ge's!

Gee, because I'm not scared of where I live, and want to get ideas how to get people back-I get the feeling from this thread that I'm naive!

[[ I did see a news report about Mt Elliot and Palmer being the fifth worse place for crime in the US last spring. I think it was a a US News & World Report internet article. )

Okay-so, how do we make things better? Or, am I in the wrong thread to ask this?

DetroitDad · August-28-10, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by malmarson

Hey-about not moving in certain areas:

I have seen new faces around Farnsworth and Moran-urban pioneers? And the barber shop at Chene and Palmer's done more than a little renovation to their part of Chene.

And I know Chene & Ferry, Mt Elliott and E Grand. Want a history lesson? Jo-Ge's!

Gee, because I'm not scared of where I live, and want to get ideas how to get people back-I get the feeling from this thread that I'm naive!

[[ I did see a news report about Mt Elliot and Palmer being the fifth worse place for crime in the US last spring. I think it was a a US News & World Report internet article. )

Okay-so, how do we make things better? Or, am I in the wrong thread to ask this?

Great point!

How about coming up with a root cause analyses? Try tracking your problem back to it's beginning.

This would be a great project for this evening or tomorrow [[Sunday). Anyone want to meet up at the Campus Martius to strategize? I should be out and about this evening.

**Hypestyles** · August-30-10, 02:13 PM

what's going to be done with those high-rise abandoned project tenements near the base of I-75 across from Ford Field..?

**LeannaM** · August-30-10, 05:38 PM

I see Detroit has quite a few urban gardens. Are there any plans to turn any of the abandoned empty lots into farms? St. Patrick's Center in St. Louis has a 15-week gardening program to teach their patients [[homeless, drug addicts, mentally ill) how to garden and take care of plants. Their site reports that most of the patients graduate and 65% of the graduates get jobs. A lot of gardens are also planted at schools and used as part of the curriculum.

Some of that may be going in Detroit as well, but maybe it could be expanded. That seems better than empty lots or parking lots anyway. At least the land would be productive.