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US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive
Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | June 12, 2009 | Tom Leonard

Posted on 06/12/2009 11:11:02 AM PDT by Schnucki

Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.

The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.

Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.

Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes.

Most are former industrial cities in the "rust belt" of America's Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis.

In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into a collection of small urban centres separated from each other by countryside.

"The real question is not whether these cities shrink – we're all shrinking – but whether we let it happen in a destructive or sustainable way," said Mr Kildee. "Decline is a fact of life in Flint. Resisting it is like resisting gravity."

Karina Pallagst, director of the Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective programme at the University of California, Berkeley, said there was "both a cultural and political taboo" about admitting decline in America.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Front Page News; Government; US: California; US: Michigan; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: agenda21; american2point0; asocialistamerica; bulldoze; bulldozers; change; communism; condemned; confiscation; demolition; dncbrownshirts; flint; housing; michigan; obama; obamalegacy; obamunism; presidentobama; privateproperty; smartgrowth; stalinisttactics; uncrap; unionlabor; wreckingcrew
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To: CaptainAmiigaf
Is there possibly a FReeper who can tell me where that wonderful sounding country went?
If you walk down the hallway of almost any home, there will be a small room off one side, or the other. In this room you will normally find a sink, a bathtub or shower and a small porcelain seat with a cover which opens and closes. If you open the cover, and look down, you will find where your country has gone. Fortunately, no one has yet pulled down on the small lever on the back of the seat. There is still hope of restoring this fine place, but you must act quickly!
61 posted on 06/12/2009 11:51:50 AM PDT by jimmango
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To: JRios1968
"Concentrate" them, eh?

They could think of it as going "camping".

62 posted on 06/12/2009 11:52:54 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: Clemenza
> Much of North and West Philadelphia looks like Dresden post-bombing, and has for some time.

What sho talkin bout, boy?

52nd street

63 posted on 06/12/2009 11:54:18 AM PDT by bill1952 (Power is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: N3WBI3

This is NOT about local zoning, which I agree is a local choice and issue. This is about any agency of government, of any level, telling YOU that the local population limit has been reached, so go away.
Bulldozing huge tract of cities removes the spaces where real live people can CHOOSE to live.
“we are sorry sir and madam, the birth of your child brings the population total above the legal limit. You must vacate”
There are place in this world that have such dictatorial powers in the hands of local bureaucrats.


64 posted on 06/12/2009 11:57:36 AM PDT by CaptainAmiigaf (NY TIMES: We print the news as it fits our Views)
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To: Allegra

Now there’s a plan I would support.


65 posted on 06/12/2009 11:58:15 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: Clemenza
The blight has spread up Frankford throughout the NE part of the city.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I am sorry to hear that.

66 posted on 06/12/2009 11:59:06 AM PDT by wintertime
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To: frposty
Note that all of these cites are located on major rivers or trade routes.
In the past this made large concentrations of people and industry in these areas viable and profitable.

For the past 100 years, not so much.
These urban centers lack their prior justification for their existence and are a drain on society in general.

67 posted on 06/12/2009 11:59:46 AM PDT by bill1952 (Power is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: Schnucki
US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive

I HATE it when that happens.

68 posted on 06/12/2009 11:59:54 AM PDT by kinsman redeemer (The real enemy seeks to devour what is good.)
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To: Schnucki

welcome to Jonestown...............where you burp where you fart and you fart where you burp.


69 posted on 06/12/2009 12:04:23 PM PDT by sfvgto (Dear Congress, my name is Jimmie....gimmie, gimmie, gimmie)
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To: Schnucki

We are so being set up for a world government. A marxist one with Obozo wanting to play the anti Christ part.

Such jealousy and power plays must be going on among the world elites.

As for the rest of us....


70 posted on 06/12/2009 12:07:44 PM PDT by dforest (Anyone dumb enough to have voted for him deserves what they get.. No Pity!)
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To: Dasaji
agenda 21...read it and weep

Our Global Neighborhood The Report of the Commission on Global Governance

71 posted on 06/12/2009 12:09:52 PM PDT by woollyone (I believe God created me- you believe you're related to monkeys. Of course I laughed at you!)
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To: Schnucki

Mr. Kildee wants to killdee history.


72 posted on 06/12/2009 12:13:07 PM PDT by Jo Nuvark (Those who bless Israel will be blessed, those who curse Israel will be cursed. Gen 12:3)
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To: Schnucki

They need to repopulate those poor cities in the northeast. Make up a large greyhound style bus with a potty and 6 MRE’s a blanket and a pillow per seat with two relocation specialists and a driver. Drive through any Florida town and pick up all the individuals with a “work for food”,”disabled vet need help”,”why lie I need a beer” or whatever sign. Transport them to their free housing in the fair northern city where they may be supported in the lifestyle they like by northerners. On their way up they can be issued their free cell phone and the local where they are going assistance numbers. Seems like they would have an endless supply of candidates.


73 posted on 06/12/2009 12:18:26 PM PDT by scottteng (IMPEACH OBAMA)
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To: Schnucki

Youngstown, Ohio has been doing this for several years & gets a lot of credit nationwide for its efforts in this regard.


74 posted on 06/12/2009 12:20:25 PM PDT by gdani (I've got a new road under my wheels)
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To: dragnet2

Do keep in mind that even in Colonial times the city had the nickname Philthydelphia.


75 posted on 06/12/2009 12:20:25 PM PDT by Drill Thrawl (Obama - A flexible container of vinegar and water)
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To: woollyone

The good news is that even if the collectivists did succeed in oppressing the entire country,

they’d have to deal with a constant barage of snipers and guerilla warfare forever.


76 posted on 06/12/2009 12:22:04 PM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: Alberta's Child
The City Where the Sirens Never Sleep

A more incisive title might have been: The Fruits of Democrat Rule

Elections have consequences. Decades of electing Democrats have very bad consequences.

77 posted on 06/12/2009 12:24:45 PM PDT by TChris (There is no freedom without the possiblity of failure.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog
sounds eerily similar to a plan implemented by Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania, shortly before they strung him up

Why do politicians and governments never learn from history???

78 posted on 06/12/2009 12:25:12 PM PDT by NoPrisoners ("When in the course of human events...")
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To: ConservativeMan55

Which city should be bulldozed first?

Washington DC
Chicago
San Francisco
New York City
Hollywood


79 posted on 06/12/2009 12:26:20 PM PDT by DFG
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To: Schnucki

Robocop’s Old Detroit.


80 posted on 06/12/2009 12:27:25 PM PDT by Betis70 (Keep working serf, Zero's in charge)
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