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Why did they flee?

1. Crime
2. Infrastructure
3. Schools

Its fairly universal.

How to get people back? There is an instrument called tax increment financing, which borrows against future property taxes. But it only works if the borrowed for improvements substantially raise the value and tax base. Detroit has not properly de-valued its distresses properties...making this instrument impossible from the start. For commercial improvements there are STAR bonds....the s and t stand for sales tax...and you borrow against future sales tax revenue. But before any new commercial comes to Detroit, they need ‘rooftops’ which is single family housing with disposable income. So, its back to the housing. You have to have rooftops first. Its a common concept in commercial development....often lost on people trying to ‘re-develop’ areas.

Lets start with incentives that don’t cost money. Create zones in Detroit where new construction can be built without complying with the clean water act. Have the EPA waive environmental rules to reduce the cost of demolition (and reduce self imposed arson). Its controversial and against my values, but Detroit could implement a commuter tax at the payroll level, to either collect money or incentivise living in Detroit. Now the social issues - I have no solution. I have no idea how to unprogram people who have lived a feral existence for decades. The best Detroit can hope for is bringing good people back. They can’t cause the bad people to have an epiphany. The bad will always be there....and growing.

Again it is against my values, but California has hedged their bets against becoming like Detroit by artificially making buildable land a scarce commodity wiyh quotas on building permits. Their laws also giving zoning control beyond a city’s boundary lines, to control people’s having the ‘option’ of moving a short distance beyond the city limits. This ship has sailed for Detroit - there are alot of nice places next to Detroir. In light of this, it is not meant to be a joke when I propose converting abandoned blocks to park. Perhaps a golf course. Maybe an amusement park. Something, anything to put on the vacant land. The population will never fully come back (our steel no longer comes from that area so nothing ties the auto industry to Detroit), so they should be prepared to find different land uses and not try to fill it all.