For Kids of Bankrupt Detroit, Challenges Abound

ABC News ^ | March 22, 2014 | By DAVID CRARY

[Oldeconomybuyer]

... Teachers and parents are fighting to do right by the children, and many believe Detroit is finally on the rise after hitting bottom. Yet they worry about the toll of growing up amid danger, dysfunction and the blight epitomized by tens of thousands of abandoned homes.

High levels of gang violence and premature births combine to make the youth mortality rate the worst of any major U.S. city, according to a recent analysis by the Detroit News.

Even the city's 300 parks — traditionally a haven for children to play — have mostly become unusable, overgrown wastelands.

"Detroit is a very difficult place to be a child," said Dan Varner, CEO of an education watchdog group called Excellent Schools Detroit.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Detroit ran out of other people's money.

[BenLurkin]

Bill Gates seems to think he is more enlightened than most Americans — let HIM pay for these kids out of his own pocket.

[umgud]

Does Detroit have a chance of recovery?

IMHO......... Probably not in our lifetime and maybe never.

[Responsibility2nd]

Parks in Detroit? Hah. There’s a thread from earlier today about dozens of dead dogs being discovered in a Detroit park.

Anyone contemplating raising children in Detroit should be investigated by child protective services.

[abclily]

Detroit is a prime example of Socialist rule.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Give Detroit to Steve Wynn and Donald Trump with a 99-year lease and no income or property tax.

[econjack]

Same old...same old. Everyone living in Detroit looks to the gov't, local, state, and federal, for a solution. Wrong place to look, people. They're part of the reason you are where you are. The first place you need to look is in the mirror. If your parks are a mess, get a bunch of people together, spend a few weekends and clean it up yourself rather than sitting on your fat a$$ asking someone else to do it.

If you want some interaction with gov't, how about the trade unions agreeing to hiring some of the unemployed youth in Detroit as novices, the city donating the abandoned houses for the unions to teach the kids, and local residents chipping in some funds with the local gov't for materials. In the end, the rehabbed house gets back on the tax roles, the house is sold to low-income people, the city uses the funds to expand the program, the union gets new members,and the kids learn a trade that provides them with a life-long income rather than public assistance. Of course, this assumes you don't have crooks running the city.

This isn't rocket science, folks, and it's time for you (and everyone else) to quit looking for a handout from gov't.

[Vaduz]

Years ahead of Obama’s plans but he’s going to keep pushing for a higher failure rate.

[cripplecreek]

There appears to be a swarm of Michigan stories lately.



Michigan legislative action thread

[cripplecreek]

Even the city's 300 parks — traditionally a haven for children to play

My grandmother lived in Detroit as a child in the 1920s or 30s. She said the playground was concrete pad with a chain link cage around it.

[cripplecreek]

Same old...same old. Everyone living in Detroit looks to the gov't, local, state, and federal, for a solution.

The fact that they're looking out for their own self defense with the approval of the new police chief is a good sign. I know there are groups that are volunteering to mow parks a couple of times per summer.

I couldn't help but chuckle at Malik Shabazz (Detroit edition) when he called for volunteers to help clean up abandoned properties. He ended up with a bunch of white Wayne State students to do the work and when they bagged up the trash and grass clippings, the city left it there to rot in the gutter.

A friend in Detroit tells me that Shabazz and the whole city are really starting to struggle with the whole race thing. The black nationalists are all leaving town, they elected their first white mayor in a half century, and republicans are the only ones stepping up to help.

[Beagle8U]

“Does Detroit have a chance of recovery?”

Not unless the people living there move out.

[Bigg Red]

Does Detroit have a chance of recovery?

IMHO......... Probably not in our lifetime and maybe never.

&&
Dan Gilbert the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans might disagree with you there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/business/dan-gilberts-quest-to-remake-downtown-detroit.html?pagewanted%3Dall&_r=0

[dfwgator]

You laugh at Detroit now, but this is pretty much the future for pretty much any urban city in the US.

[kearnyirish2]

“Does Detroit have a chance of recovery?”

No; like much of the economy centered around the Great Lakes, there is simply no reason to be there anymore. If Europeans arrived here today, they wouldn’t have built many of these northern cities.