The Auto industry continued in doomed practices along with the Unions, like the 'jobs bank' Paying people full wages for not working. High executive pay + perks. When the social benefits cost more than the steel in a car, something is out of balance. Please don't blame foreign auto manufacturers or the people that bought the cars, Detroit could have adopted their business model, but didn't. Now the they( US automakers) are building cars in China for THEIR markets instead of here. Where is 'Detroit's' loyalty at?

If you look at the neighborhoods that are doing fairly well within the city... it's because the residents take pride in their neighborhoods. Yes, there needs to be jobs... it's hard to explain. But it will have to be a patchwork project. Neighborhoods standing up.. not tolerating crime... taking empty lots and turning them into community gardens... taking old buildings and fixing them up into co-ops... but this all takes time and money... but the residents have to believe in their neighborhoods in order to do it! Once the suburbs see that there is something good in the city, they will come back.

I think you have to make them safe first . take control of the government and secure the place first

Except they've had decades to do this, and it isn't happening, at least not on a significant enough scale. Is Detroit going to continue to be the black hole of the Midwest, or do the Feds step in and try to save her? And if not the Feds, then who? Yes, the politicians, mayors and governors need to stop blaming each other and just get to work rebuilding the city. It's going to cost money, yes, money from taxes. If we aren't willing to do that, then she's lost, and it will just keep getting worse.

It isn't necessary to make the residents feel safe. I lived in Detroit for two years... for the most part I felt safe. I would feel more unsafe walking down the street in NYC.

However, there is the perception that Detroit is highly unsafe and you will be shot walking down the street. Not true... it's like most big cities, you have to be careful.

It needs to be maintained... most funds going in for what I talked about are only temporary.... And their is no maintance plan to continue it. And often times the community isn't involved!

I think you should call it the black hole of the north , st louis has the the title of the black hole of the mid west ... and it can't be done 1 area at a time its either all or none . other wise you just herd the trash from 1 place to another .and get rid of the users instead of the pushers . thats the biggist mistake the governments make here besides letting big wigs in the fed gov make money off drug smuggleing

Well then the people from the suburbs need to stop coming into the city to purchase their drugs!

You are true in what you've said. It isn't as bad violent crime-wise as other cities like DC, Atlanta, NYC, L.A., or Chicago. I think too many people have seen the movie Robocop. But it is in serious decline in infrastructure, investment, manufacturing, commercial enterprising, tourism, and urban renewal. So many things to fix, and so few dollars to do it with.

I haven't been in a city for over 20 years that you couldn't be shot in . there all rotting from the inside out . and i have been in most of them in the last 20 years . if you felt safe then you were very close to being robbed . because you were not being aware

I was always aware of my surrounds. Was I terrified everytime I walked out my door, NO! Now was I aware of who was around me, Yes! For pete's sakes... just because you are in a big city doesn't mean you will automatically be a victim of a crime.

city folks are just weird

I actually saw on the news today where New York is amongst the SAFEST cities in america right now.

You bible thumping methodist country folk are much more weird!

"The situation in Mexico has escalated in recent years, but Detroit has been dealing with the same problems for decades. An industrial boomtown during the first half of the 20th century, the population of Detroit proper swelled from 285,000 in 1900 to 990,000 in 1920, reaching a peak of 1.8 million in 1950.

Only half that number still lives within city limits. Starting in the 1960s, Detroit began a precipitous decline. Most scholars blame rapid suburbanization, outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, and federal programs they say exacerbated the situation by creating a culture of joblessness and dependency. Residents fled to the suburbs and to other regions of the country entirely, leaving behind a landscape littered with abandoned buildings.

"Factories that once provided tens of thousands of jobs now stand as hollow shells, windows broken, mute testimony to a lost industrial past," wrote Thomas J. Sugrue in his book The Origins of the Urban Crisis. "Whole sections of the city are eerily apocalyptic."


I found this in Forbes magazine:


http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/23/most-dangerous-cities-lifestyle-real-estate-dangerous-american-cities.html

i really don't believe your city is any safer than any of the others are . here in st louis they are killing 2 people every night . shoot outs every night in the streets go on every day . but of course its always been a tough town . not like yours .
the city says our crime rate is down too. I'm not sure what they mean by that. i guess its the parking tickets or maybe they mean the crooks don't go above the 2 floor to rob people but i do know this politicals do make there money twisting words .

Well, 2 murders a night sounds about right for any big city.... I use to work with Detroit Homicide... that that is about the average on some weeks, but usually less.

REPENT I SAY!

REPENT!

Hey now! You are starting to sound like a Baptist!

no no no

*I* can dance