Detroit wants to save itself by shrinking
By DAVID RUNK, Associated Press Writer David Runk, Associated Press Writer – Mon Mar 8, 4:33 pm ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100308/ap_on_bi_ge/us_downsizing_detroit

DETROIT – Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural. Near downtown, fruit trees and vegetable farms would replace neighborhoods that are an eerie landscape of empty buildings and vacant lots.

Several other declining industrial cities, such as Youngstown, Ohio, have also accepted downsizing. Since 2005, Youngstown has been tearing down a few hundred houses a year. But Detroit's plans dwarf that effort. The approximately 40 square miles of vacant property in Detroit is larger than the entire city of Youngstown.

The current plan would demolish about 10,000 houses and empty buildings in three years and pump new investment into stronger neighborhoods. In the neighborhoods that would be cleared, the city would offer to relocate residents or buy them out. The city could use tax foreclosure to claim abandoned property and invoke eminent domain for those who refuse to leave, much as cities now do for freeway projects.

It is not known who might get the cleared land, but with prospects for recruiting industry slim, planners are considering agricultural uses. The city might offer larger tracts for sale or lease, or turn over smaller pieces to community organizations to use.

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Now we're talking, kinda sounds like a Plan I have for Texas.

Cutting out bad growth to save the good growth has always been the solution to virtually everything that lives.  From cutting out bad spots on fruits and vegetables, to Cancer Surgery and Amputation.  A Community is a living organism with the people, animals, and its environment acting like cells in a body.  A good pruning is in order from time to time.  But what is a good pruning without trying to develop new, healthy growth.

Turning the empty tracts of land over for Community projects is an amazing idea.  If Detroit does a plan like some of what I've suggested on my site, they could utilize the areas to plant small Community Farms and construct Community Power Generation Projects to further alleviate the financial burden of a depressed city.  Owned and operated by the Community itself, people will have a  more vested interest the project.  They will get training and expertise that they can turn into job helping other Communities to start their own similar projects.

Detroit will become much cleaner, the people more self-sufficient, and it will experience a dramatic reduction in poverty and crime.  This is the greatest thing since the Automobile Assembly Line!

I just hope they continue to keep their eye on the goal and not let some giant corporation swoop in and co-opt their dream.

Power to the People of Detroit!