Many cities in the US are like patients on life support. You know they are dead, but for some reason they just won't give up the ghost.
This is the picture with the city of Detroit, and for years they have been fiscally bankrupt, but now they are actually coming to grips with it.
In an article by Business Insider yesterday, the city of Detroit is cutting back on many of their services to include garbage pickup, and public safety.
In a futile attempt to stave off the inevitable one last time, Mayor Bing's latest plan is to cutoff city services including road repairs, police patrols, street lights, and garbage collection in 20% of Detroit.
Bing to Cede 20% of Detroit to Gangs and Homeless
City officials suggest this will not shrink the size of the city. Perhaps it won't shrink Detroit on Google Maps. However, Bing's plan would effectively surrender 20% of the city to gangs and the homeless.
In looking at this from a fiscal viewpoint, this is actually a good policy. When an entity is dying of cancer, all you can do is cut off the bad parts of the body and work to save the healthy ones.
Detroit is too big now to sustain itself without the manufacturing industry it once had which made it great. Whole miles of neighborhoods and city blocks are empty, broken down, and house wild animals and the seedier members of humanity. There is no purpose to throwing good money after bad in trying to revitalize or protect these areas on a limited budget.
Since the city of Detroit continues to spurn bankruptcy, even though it is their best and primary recourse, all one can do is protect the core of the city, and provide services for those trying to survive in the populated areas.
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