Detroit Budget Woes Could Leave Areas Of City Without Police, Fire Services, Garbage Pickup

In yet another sign of growing fiscal problems for states and municipalities, Detroit may be cutting key services in certain portions of the city, the WSJ reports.

This could mean that city officials will be faced with the tough decision whether to repurpose or outright abandon certain sections of the city, as the population has dwindled by half since 1950. Here's the WSJ:

"Until now, the mayor [Dave Bing] and his staff have spoken mostly in generalities about the problem, stressing the need for community input and pledging to a skeptical public that no resident would be forced to move.

But the approach discussed by city officials could have that effect. Mr. Bing's staff wants to concentrate Detroit's remaining population--expected to be less than 900,000 after this year's Census count--and limited local, state and federal dollars in the most viable swaths of the city, while other sectors could go without such services as garbage pickup, police patrols, road repair and street lights."

The move comes after the city borrowed $100 million to fund its police and fire departments and used other bond offerings to raise funds.

Mayor Dave Bing also recently announced that the city will offer incentives to residents to move to certain less blighted areas of town. Here's the AP with more details:

"The city has identified at least seven to nine population centers that would encompass two-thirds of its 139 square miles, the newspaper reported. Bing said his administration by spring plans to make the locations of core areas public and final decisions haven't been made. Details of incentives also haven't been decided.

"I don't want people to think that, if they hold out, there's going to be a pot full of money somewhere, because there's not," Bing said.

At a news conference Thursday, Bing aide Karla Henderson said the idea behind the plan is to concentrate the city's limited resources into stronger, more compact neighborhoods.

"We don't have a formal plan, but we feel we need to go back out to the community and share this information with our residents," said Henderson, group executive of the city's planning and facilities department.

Comments

[grifkami]

08:15 AM on 12/15/2010

There are a lot of comments on this board saying republicans ruined Detroit and that
the demise of Detroit was the result of republican/conservative policies. That is a
whole lot of BS and could not be further from truth. I live about 10 miles from
Detroit in Troy, MI and was born and raised here. Detroit hasn't had a republican
mayor in 50 years. All of Detroit's elected officials, such as the city council, are
democrats. A republican would be unelectable in Detroit. I'm not saying the fall of
Detroit was simply the result of democratic rule, but for one to put the blame on
republicans is just silly. There are several factors that contributed to the downward
spiral of Detroit, but corruption is number one. Detroit's mayor of 19 years Coleman
Young and many his appointed city officials were surrounded by corruption. His Chief
of Police was caught embezzling $2.6 million from the city's police budget. Coleman
proudly referred to himself as MFIC which stood for "Mother (You know what) In Charge". Kwame Kilpatrick was removed as mayor after he was charged with 19 federal indictments.
City council woman Monica Conyers, John Conyers wife, is serving 3 years in prison for
accepting over $60,000 in bribes for a contract with a waste management company.
Corruption and crime have plagued the city for decades. That's what led to urban
sprawl and the population dropping from almost 2 million in 1950 to 900,000 today.

[EJavaM07]

04:26 PM on 12/14/2010

To the poor of America of any color:

Your representatives in the Federal Government have sold to you like slaves to the highest bidder, by promising your tax dollars in the form of your labor to pay back the millions they've borrowed to give more money to the wealthy.

You now have at least the following three options:

1) Recognize that they're going to do nothing for you, and that your tax dollars will come back to you as a small percentage of what you give them, so stop paying taxes altogether. Or, at the very least, pay no more as a percentage of your income in taxes than Warren Buffet and Bill Gates pay (this would halve your rates).

2) Get yourself in trouble, preferably a felony, so that at least you're guaranteed 'three hots and a cot' as the country collapses and a new order forms.

3) Grow hemp in the abandoned areas of your state: no police to check on things means that your growing a tax free crop that is easily salable, and that would, by the way, let you eat real food that doesn't have a cat or dog on the label.

[mrcontinental]

12:00 PM on 12/14/2010

Detroit has police?

[Rearden 1957]

10:36 AM on 12/14/2010

Makes sense, the population of Detroit has dropped by how much in the last decade?

[SilentSage]

09:26 AM on 12/14/2010

This is where the military industrial complex has gotten us with the prison complex.

Cut the FAT that is draining the life out of America.

[rocknrollinhoneybadger]

08:07 AM on 12/14/2010

Detroit is a true study of what liberal policies beget.

[michiganguy586]

09:05 AM on 12/14/2010

ok if you look at it that way, the state of MI whole economy is a true study in what conservative/ republican policies beget. Once thriving state that had the main source of its economy outsourced to other countires for cheaper labor.

[Michael D Montoya]

03:35 PM on 12/14/2010

Corrupt conservatives get together with their pals at the local Ritz Carlton to figure out just how many jobs they can outsource then wonder why their markets such as Detroit collapse.

PS. Spare us the "libruul" nonsense.

[rocknrollinhoneybadger]

08:07 AM on 12/14/2010

And this would be different how?

[mountainweb]

07:52 AM on 12/14/2010

The statement "population has dwindled by half since 1950" pretty much states the core problem that the city has. Translated, the tax base has been cut in half at the same time that our government has sold out to Wall Street. Its not a matter of cutting key services in certain portions of the city, its a matter of redefining the city itself and then what services can be provided. Cites grew by expanding to include more people(ie more money in their tax base), now that people are fleeing those areas, the cities may have no choice but to "downsize" their base territory. Look for new "towns" to reform in their wake...

[Hayek89]

05:53 AM on 12/15/2010

The tax base comment is actually an understatement. When Detroit was at 1.7 - 1.8 million people and the fourth largest city in the U.S., it also had the highest average per-family income of any big city in the U.S. It now has the lowest of any big city. The half that are left are large in poverty and provide no tax base. It isn't all an issue of the fall of manufacturing though. That is a major part, but the other part is the great "white flight" out of the city and into the suburbs, followed by affluent blacks.

[arlandbaee]

03:43 AM on 12/14/2010

And so it begins.

[freethinking moderate]

10:50 PM on 12/13/2010

Detroit's scars expose the truth that the American empire is crumbling and that denying this reality doesn't change it.

[themodernleader]

10:25 PM on 12/13/2010

  The machines, tools, competence and tax revenues that were part of a modern organization were undermined and sold out  by the financial, Walll Street interests.  The result is the dissolution of our great cities and the disappearance of the Constitution for the U.S. of A.  Greed, selfishness, profligacy, licentious and division  are their repertoires of leadership.

[h23154]

10:23 PM on 12/13/2010

Is there anyone left there to pay taxes?

[Cougar29]

09:11 PM on 12/13/2010

Focus all Police and Fire inside M-102(8 Mile Rd) and will be fine!

[michiganguy586]

09:06 AM on 12/14/2010

what is that supposed to mean, 8 mile is the boarder for detroit (atleast on the north side) so why would they go outside of it to begin with?

[Brad Bishop]

08:59 PM on 12/13/2010

Downsizing the City does not guarantee improved City services. Lumping a bunch of people in "viable" areas will not mean the police will come faster or roads will be fixed. The problems with the City is much larger than that. Detroit (just as the state of Michigan) is a one shop town - automotive. When the bottom fell out of the industry, there was nothing left to take its place. The City has to reinvent itself and unfortunately this isn't it. As for the schools, people forget that the State took it over when the residents approved a $2 billion dollar bond for improvements. Once the money was spent, the State gave the schools back with a $200 million deficit. When you add in the mass exodus of people who left the City for lack of jobs and the flight of people to the suburbs, it's not suprising to see budget deficits of $400 million or more.

Detroit is really a larger fiascal of Buffalo, Birmingham, Flint and many other cities that lost its economic base.

This is really a microcosm of what is set to happen across the country as we continue to lose jobs to Asia, India and South America for cheaper labor.

As many shrug their shoulders and say, "so what, I have my own problems". Keep in mind that if it can happen to a city with 900,000 folks, cities with 1,2,5 or even 7 million can experience the same.

[ancientmarinader]

09:56 PM on 12/13/2010

If they cannot afford the current infrastructure, there is simply no other option. The wealthier tax base (black and white) have fled to the suburbs. 850,000 (or less) poor people can't support a 140 square mile infrastructure grid.

[Brad Bishop]

01:35 AM on 12/14/2010

Unfortunately the poor cannot afford much infrastructure (I agree with you). Once the 'offers' are made for the city to buy homes (market value should be pretty low) in the desolate areas, where do we expect these individuals to move? Most cannot afford the better neighborhoods and those that can will more than likely move out of the City reducing tax revenue even more. In addition, if I'm one of the individuals who decides to stay in my desolate neighborhood because I cannot afford to move, why would I pay City or State taxes if I'm not receving garbage pickup, street lights or police and fire support? What's really sad is Detroit is not the only city in Southeastern Michign in trouble. You can add Highland Park, River Rouge, Ecorse, Hamtramck, Riverview, Belleville, Clarkston, Garden City, Harper Woods, Inkster, Lincoln Park, Pontiac and Taylor.

Unemployment is the #1 reason these cities are failing and as long as people are unemployed or under-employed, consolidation will do nothing. If you cannot afford to pay rent or a mortgage, your place of refuge does not matter.

The automotive industry is not coming back. The factories and engineering are moving to South America, India and Asia. The area's infrastructure is failing and education scores are in the bucket.

This is not just a Detroit problem. You cannot fix Detroit until you fix the root problem - EMPLOYMENT.

This is why consolidation will untimately fail.

[natturnerx]

08:32 PM on 12/13/2010

i dont understand the logic of the city wanting to abandon sections & concentrate its 900,000 population into a smaller area. there are a lot of american cities with much smaller populations than detroit, while having several times its 139sq.m. land area. less density should be treated as a blessing, instead of a problem to be reversed; unless of course, the true agenda is to use "urban renewal" to move the curent residents out & move someone else in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_area

[ancientmarinader]

09:57 PM on 12/13/2010

Nobody else wants to move in and won't for a long time. If you imagine a white conquest of Detroit, no, that won't happen with crime and schools as they are. The white people are quite happy in the burbs and content to let the city act as a refugee camp.

[h23154]

10:26 PM on 12/13/2010

Detroit had a series of awful mayors who drove out the middle class and played a large part in what happened. In particular, they made it clear that whites were not welcome and all Detroit wanted from the rest of the state was money to do with as it pleased. Funny how taxpayers grow tired to pouring money in to cites run by incompetent and/or corrupt politicians.

[freethinking moderate]

10:51 PM on 12/13/2010

White people won't return and neither will the jobs until the corruption is under control to a reasonable level that other civilized cities have. Its a shame too because Detroit has some of the most beautiful architecture in the US.