Detroit's new czar faces deep decay of city's neighborhoods

Reuters ^ | March 24, 2013 | Steve Neavling and Bernie Woodall

[1rudeboy]

When the state-imposed manager of Detroit, Kevyn Orr, starts the job on Monday he will wade into a city of crumbling neighborhoods where police fail to respond to some calls, arson fires burn out of control and residents scour charred buildings for scrap metal to sell.

Except for the business district and a cultural area including a university, museum and some theaters, the city of Detroit, population 700,000, is in bad shape.

Orr, a Washington, D.C.-based bankruptcy lawyer, will have the official title of "Emergency Financial Manager." But his remit as an unelected administrator will range far beyond money.

His top priority on Day 1 will be improving public safety.

"We have to gain the public's trust, and to do that, we have to show progress with fire and police services," Orr told Reuters in an interview last week.

This could be what one former Detroit police chief called a "Herculean task" for Orr, recruited by Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder to fix Detroit because of his "very successful career in restructuring and bankruptcy."

Orr's most notable career achievement to date was as a top lawyer in the restructuring of Detroit-area carmaker Chrysler.

Orr said he thinks the stories of Detroit's demise "are over-rated in my opinion." "The city center is a lot better than people thought," he said, and he hopes he can push that recovery momentum out to the neighborhoods.

As he travels a sprawling city larger than Boston, San Francisco and Manhattan combined, he will encounter the realities of Detroit's long downward slide.

[Bon mots]

Detroit’s purpose is to be an example to the rest of the nation - if a city’s looking for the ‘free lunch’ or the ‘easy way’ they’ll become a hellhole like Detroit.

The problem is that all of our cities have followed this model and cannot be fixed.

[GOPJ]

Detroit doesn't want help with their problems, they want money to prolong their stupidity.

We need to stay out of it - and let the other cities watch.