"Detroit can't continue to follow the same path and expect different results."
Dave Bing is a quiet man. In his 16 months as mayor, Bing's displayed a tendency toward extremely deliberate decision-making. He spent months sifting over the city's finances before proclaiming earlier this year that he'd have to slash the budget and lay off countless city workers. This was dire news for a city already steeped in employment (25% as of July 2010). Bing's logic was simple: "We can't spend more than we take in."
To date, the massive budget cut was Bing's most significant action. The city needs massive restructuring, renovation, rebuilding - it's needs a true renaissance, not just a symbolic one built on a shaky foundation of SUVs. Bing was elected largely due to his popularity as a business leader. He was a tough-as-nails entrepreneur who knew how to create jobs.
Yet, for months, Bing remained silent. What was he doing? The city was crying for help.
Yesterday, Bing held the first of five town hall meetings to discuss his DetroitWorks Project:
The DetroitWorks Project's goal is to redesign the City. The City was built for a population of 2 million, and it's now under 1 million (and still dropping). They've got a surplus of land. Yet, Bing wisely sees the land as an asset. Real estate is always valuable, and the Detroit brain trust needs to decide how best to organize it.
As evidenced in the video, the reorganization of the City's land has folks nervous about forced relocation. My guess is that most families will want to move to better neighborhoods if they existed. The difficulty will be creating and fostering these safe, vibrant Detroit neighborhoods. They simply don't exist today. But that's the goal of the Project. They're attempting to seek input from the citizens and rebuild from scratch.
The "input" phase of the Project will last 18 months. Then we'll see if any action occurs.
My hope is that the citizens of Detroit throw aside their (justified) cynicism and push for change. If the people can relocate into manageable neighborhoods, the populace will be that much easier to manage with regard to police, schooling, and utilities. The City can then focus on leveling the myriad of structural eyesores. With a blank slate, I have no doubt hungry businesses will eat up the cheap, plentiful land. I've seen it happen before in the even more ravaged city of Berlin. That once-beautiful city was demolished in WWII, and then the east spent 50 years under Soviet rule, that had zero interest in renovation.
With focused, hardworking citizens behind it, East Berlin rebuilt itself into a modern city masterpiece. In 2-3 years time, this is what I hope to see in Detroit's skyline:
Just miles and miles of cranes. New buildings. But the question will be whether the City can shake its decades-long lethargy. Can Detroiters exhibit the passion and work ethic of the Berliners? Recent past says "no." I think it's about time to shake that reputation.
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