Detroit's Mayor, Dave Bing, recently acknowledged the need to "downsize" Detroit. An article by The Detroit News provided a graphic showing why that is so difficult... the best parts of Detroit, aside from the immediate downtown area, lie at the perimeter. The center is missing.[Click image to enlarge]
The reality is that Detroit is dying from a cancer of suicidal politics that Coleman Young initiated and Kwame Kilpatrick culminated.
It is the politics of appealing to the worst aspects of black racial "culture" that drove out business and other racial and ethnic groups. A prime example of that is the school system with its African-centered curriculum... as if Africa were a model of civilization at its best.
Mayor Bing is far too intelligent to have bought into that nonsense and now has the bullshit by the horns. He recognizes that any possible redemption for Detroit will require a realistic, business-like perception of reality... not the rap-culture nonsense represented by Kwame Kilpatrick.Still, that doesn't make the problem any easier to resolve. Detroit is the worst large city in the United States and Michigan is the most economically depressed state in the United States. There have been ample studies focused on solutions, but sometimes the horse has to be shot.
It is time to "downsize" by dividing. The best areas to the northwest and northeast should be allowed to split off and incorporate as new cities with governments focused on their specific geographies. The core downtown and surrounding areas... including the abandoned or decrepit areas should be the basis for Detroit going forward. The state should then allow all of the downsized Detroit to be a special enterprise zone that is exempt from all state taxes and is a "right to work" zone... in return for no other state subsidies. The state should also declare void all labor contracts the city has, if that can be done... and the new governor has the stomach for it.
Mayor Bing would then be in a position to dramatically streamline the city government, establish new service contracts, and attract business with a new, lower-cost base for doing business. Opportunities would include creating a special manufacturing zone and export port.
Naturally, the one major impediment would be the unions that have crippled the city for decades. They would rather cut of their noses to spite their faces than recognize the need for a different kind of "hope and change."