As many of you are aware, The city of Detroit filed for chapter 9 bankruptcy on July 19, 2013. This Friday, White House officials are coming to Detroit to help the city. However they are not going to bail out the city. The White House official's plan is to look at the city from all angles, they want to meet with city hall and Mayor, Dave Bing, while also meeting with the community of Detroit. They want to brainstorm ideas in order to help the city. Obama's team has made it very clear that they are not going to meet with the city's emergency manager, Kevin Orr. Instead they want to meet with other leaders of the community. A major concern for the White House officials is the safety of others in the city of Detroit. Detroit is known for it's high crime rates. The Obama's team wants to personally meet with police chief James Craig especially to brainstorm ideas and ways to help Detroit become a safer city. It was stated that crime is a huge concern with the city. If people don't feel safe, businesses and people won't come to the city.
I personally agree completely with that. I think that safety is a huge part of why the city is not doing well. People and businesses keep leaving the city, and with that, abandoned buildings are on the rise, which continues the crime rates to soar. In my opinion, I think the first step of reshaping the city of Detroit is to focus primarily on keeping the city's crime rate down and improving their statistics, along with that, I think the city should continue it's progress of bulldozing abandoned buildings and houses. If you drive down some of the neighborhoods in the Detroit, many of the abandoned houses and signs on them stating that they are on the list to get bulldozed. So Detroit is in the process of doing that, it just has been taking some time. I think that once Detroit becomes a safer city, which will take quite a lot of time, businesses and people will come back to the city, giving it revenue. What is your opinion on the city of Detroit? Do you think Obama's team will be able to brainstorm some ideas for the city?
link to the article:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/white-house-officials-coming-to-detroit-on-friday/-/1719418/22132496/-/5u55wc/-/index.html
Detroit has been through a lot of rough times. It doesn't help that the last mayor took advantage and stole millions from the city (at least he was brought to justice!). We will have to wait and see what Obama can or cannot do... but I'm sure it will all be delayed due to the current government shut down! It will be interesting to follow, that's for sure!
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