'How to Shrink a City' -- Time article preview

**RealityCheck** · November-11-10, 07:54 PM

Detroit Econ Club luncheon attendees on Thursday got advance copies of the Nov. 22 issue, hitting mailboxes and the Interwebs Friday [[Nov. 12) with an 8-page 'Assign Detroit' coda by Dan Okrent and Steven Gray.
[U P D A T E: Now online here.]

They distill "the best ideas put forward in the hundreds of interviews our writers and editors have conducted over the course of our yearlong project." Excerpts:

Even after decades of abandonment and decay, Detroit's housing is one of the city's greatest assets. handsome, well-preserved homes in viable neighborhoods like the University District, Rosedale Park and the Villages, near the east-side riverfront, are among the greatest housing bargains in America: You can buy a four-bedroom Tudor in move-in condition for less than $100,000.

But on a far larger scale, the modest bungalows and red bricks and half capes that have long housed most Detroiters comprise a compelling incentive to pull people . . . out of neighborhoods marked for abandonment. Instead of auctioning off tax-foreclosed properties for relative pennies, the city could save unoccupied houses in viable neighborhoods with an urban homesteading program, giving the homes to displaced residents, free of charge and exempt from property taxes for five years, so long as they remain owner-occupied and well-maintained,

The increasing African-American presence in the wealthier suburbs heightens suburban concern for the city's problems. At the same time, a growing presence of more affluent whites in the city enhances both the tax base and the perception of progress.

"I hate to admit it," native Detroiter Greg Thrasher recently commented on Time.com's Detroit blog, "but I am fully aware that the presence of white folks in America increases the quality of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for nonwhites. He concluded, :It us a reality I have confronted all my life as a Black activist, yet I do hope the return flight is full."

Meanwhile, as sensible as that urban homesteading notion may sound, wouldn't it require a whole lot of scam-proofing to assure giveaway homes remain owner-occupied by original recipient? Not saying it shouldn't be tried or couldn't work, just spotlighting a w-i-d-e pitfall to address.