Posted on 08/03/2013 9:18:54 AM PDT by re_tail20
What do northwest Washington, D.C., South Beach Miami and upper Manhattan have in common? Less than 50 years ago, the now vibrant communities didn't look much different from most of Detroit, says emergency manager Kevyn Orr—whom Gov. Rick Snyder tapped in March to revive the broken Motor City. This is what gives him hope that Detroit can stage a comeback.
"D.C. in '91 was still burned out from the 1968 riots," recalls the youthful 55-year-old attorney who worked for 22 years in D.C., at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Resolution Trust Corporation, Justice Department and Jones Day law firm. "You couldn't go up 7th Street corridor because it was burned out. But now it's thriving. You have $10 million condos on Shaw, U Street, Cardozo." Detroit "has that feel" of a rebound.
"I've now seen this many times in places that I personally have lived," he says, including in his hometown of Miami, where he cut his chops after graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in 1983. People wouldn't set foot in South Beach in the 1980s "because it was both dangerous and boring." Last year, Miami Heat president Pat Riley bought a penthouse in SoBe for $11.75 million. "I probably should have bought a couple of lots down there," Mr. Orr quips.
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Randy Jones His downtown office overlooks Detroit's restored waterfront and the redeveloped General Motors Renaissance Center. From this vantage point the city appears almost lustrous, and Mr. Orr exudes a contagious energy and optimism about the future. He plans to navigate the city out of bankruptcy by next fall, when his 18-month term expires, notwithstanding opposition from creditors who want to gut public services and soak taxpayers to get their money back.
The emergency manager's biggest challenge, however, isn't negotiating with creditors.,,
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Motown’s ‘benevolent dictator’ talks about his fight with creditors and unions, and what the city’s leaders can learn from Miami and Atlanta about revival.
It’s easy enough, in principle, to fix Detroit. The first step is to shrink city hall back to a manageable size. The second step is to make that shrinkage permanent. The third step is to get out of the way of business.
From there, it will grow.
Unless you replace the culture of corruption that infects the leadership of the city and a failed education system that leaves most of the populace as functional illiterates, nothing will revive Detroit. What business would want to invest in a cesspool?
$10 million condos.
Yeah, you are going to sell a lot of those in Detroit to the indigenous population.
Suggesting that Detroit will rise again is OK. But it wont have anything to do with the government. It will be private investment and the current occupants (or the ones who could not afford to leave) will be shoved to ghettos or to other cities.
“It’s easy enough, in principle, to fix Detroit.”
Fixing Detroit must come from within - starting with the humbling before the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. There is no other way.
2 CHRONICLES 7:14:
14 If MY people, who are called by MY name, will humble themselves and pray and seek MY face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
City hall is the weed killer contaminating the economic soil of Detroit. Indict pretty much all of city hall, Slash the taxes and regulation and the city will boom.
Now we all love to make fun of pretentious yuppies, but anybody who knew NYC in the 1970s can appreciate the effect of the yuppies in certain areas of Queens, Brooklyn, the Village and even pockets of the Bronx.
Areas that were burnt out wastelands have been transformed into trendy little urban communities of quaint shops, exotic restaurants and a whole mess of pubs and coffee shops with live music - usually some goateed guy in sandals with a guitar, trying to become the next Bob Dylan. Tourists now go there! Taking pictures and posting them to Facebook!
One thing for sure, the government's not going to fix it.
Yes, Detroit can rise again at the expense of the tax payer forking over trillions. The “Rising” would last for the length of time it took those of the low IQ and poor impulse control to grab the funds for personal use. Everyone knows who would grab the funds one simply cannot say so given as what passes as mores today.
The only thing that would actually “fix” Detroit permanently and not be a band-aid on the problem would be a neutron bomb.
First step, ban the Democratic Party from all elections.
Perhaps Detroit just needed to be smaller.
Look at the majority of the current population of Detroit...it is largely an underclass living off government handouts. To fix Detroit you would need capital investment, but who would invest in a city where most of the population could care less about working and has no problem with stealing or looting?
****14 If MY people, who are called by MY name, will humble themselves and pray and seek MY face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.****
Well said.
Change the name to Jerusalem and invite all those of Jewish faith to rebuild and bless it.
Well, people keep moving into those areas. No one is moving into Detroit.
In order to rise again Detroit would need to entice people to move there.
It would need to have a business-friendly climate and good schools.
Don't see either of those happening.
On the positive side, Detroit got rid the pollution generated by the awful industrial development. It should now be a liberal paradise; clean air and no jobs.
Well yes, Mr. Orr, I suppose if you moved the U.S. Capitol city to Detroit, you’d see revitalization like you describe in D.C., otherwise, forget it. Detroit is dead because, you see, the SAME voters still live there: the SAME voters who’ve elected 50 years worth of Democrat/Progressive/Marxist/Racist Party crooks during the past, and who will elect another 50 years worth of Democrat/Progressive/Marxist/Racist Party crooks during the future.
Orr is ridiculous to compare Miami Beach, an established beach resort for decades that fell apart, with an ex-industrial center like Detroit.
I’d want to see Detroit converted into a theme park with a live “Grand Theft Auto” experience for the gamers.
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