Detroit - Urban farming and kicking people out of their homes to accomplish it.
Thousands of job cuts by car makers and in related manufacturing industries have staggered Detroit. Nearly one in three working-age adults is unemployed.
"None of us envy the position that he's in, to have to initiate these budget cuts, layoffs, downsizing, consolidation," new City Council President Charles Pugh said of Bing. "That's tough, when you talk about laying off working Detroiters in an already terrible economy."
Bing will not get the board's rubber stamp on all issues, Pugh added.
"We're going to challenge the mayor to be more fiscally responsible as a city because receivership will render us toothless," he said.
Public lighting and other operations could be outsourced in the139-square-mile city that once was home to close to 2 million people. Detroit's population is plummetting: preliminary U.S. Census figures say fewer than 800,000 people may be living in the city. On some streets there are more empty homes and vacant lots than people.
But it still costs to maintain police patrols and trash pickup in near-empty neighborhoods.
"There is no doubt we're going to shrink the city," Bing said. "You don't need as much land mass to let the 800,000 people live comfortably."
Bing would like to move people from isolated homes in dying neighborhoods to stable areas near the central city.
"There's going to be a lot of angst in some of the neighborhoods that have got to be depopulated, because people have been there for two, three generations," Bing said. "The homes may be paid for and nobody wants to add debt to their situation, but the city can't add debt either."
Those streets and blocks would be closed, houses bulldozed, perhaps making room for orchards, corn and bean fields.
"Will there be urban farming in the next year or two? Yes," Bing said.
Categories: Revolution, Economy, Government
Tags: revolution depression economy repression government
President Pugh, if Mr. Bing wants urban farms then maybe you can offer the last remaining neighborhood resident the option of being the farmer, they deserve it, since surviving the decimation of Detroit!
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IN Soviet Russia and other tyrannical slave-states,. they didn't have PRIVATE PROPERTY either
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communism is what it is.
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There is something called eminent domain which gives cities and other governments the right to do this in the US. It happens in other places in the US too.
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I think urban farming is a great idea. However, if people are going to be moved from their 'paid for'homes, they should be given another home. Lord knows there are plenty of empty ones.
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If residents are being forced to move to new neighborhoods, their new homes should be at least as good, if not better, than their present home. Also, any new home should be free of charge, being they are being asked to help their community, at great sacrifice. Everyone works together to maintain their home and neighborhood,and maybe even be part of a community garden. Times are tough and we are all going to need each other.
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Bing dont' got the authority to move nobody. Is this a free country or aint? I guess it aint. Why don't he get moved and bulldozed.
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Rename NE Detroit Grosse Pointe South and fill it with plastic bourgeois. Nobody will notice they are plastic.
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I agree with you Thyrique. This mayor made this comment without thinking it through, his nonchalance is beyond annoying and absolutely callous.
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This is silly. Detroit isn't in trouble because of the cost of trash pickups and police patrols. It is in trouble because of past infrastructure and social welfare spending that it could not afford. The idea that people must be forced to give up private property because the City Council of Detroit doesn't have enough money to pay debts it contracted for is ridiculous. First, they should default. The individuals and the institutions holding the notes would lose their money, but that is the risk they took when they invested in government of Detroit. The innocent people of Detroit would be relieved of the onerous debt so their tax burden can be lifted, basic services can continue, and the people can rebuild their lives.
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I bet all ya'll in detroit are sure glad your hero "OBAMA" is president now huh? LOL So, as Dr Phil would say: Having Obama as prez, Howz that workin out for ya? LOL
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No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Read the last line again. If JUST compensation is provided then there would be no need for these people to acquire new debt. What the mayor is doing is a violation of the US constitution, which violates his oath to office and means that he has committed treason. Boot his a$$ from office.
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The same people bitching will be happy that local urban farms are producing for them.
Detroit doesn't have to seize the property - all they have to do is change the city limits. You don't want to live in the city? - then don't.
The idea of smaller cities with sustainable agriculture is a godsend.
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"Detroit isn't in trouble because of the cost of trash pickups and police patrols. It is in trouble because of past infrastructure and social welfare spending that it could not afford."...
Um... I'm pretty sure that Detroit is screwed because of all the automotive jobs going overseas. This is all due to laissez-faire capitalism and globalization.. which has only one loyalty: the bottom line. If workers in war-torn whereverStan will do your job for less than you, that's where your job is going. Turns out all those tariffs were good for US workers and you or people you know. The city of Detroit is in the red because their tax base has fled in order to survive, so now in response they'll follow the directives of the finance capital that chased them out and punish those who stayed. It's a vicious cycle and it's only going to spread until people get smart and start to resist.
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Markov, you are correct. Once they accomplish this with this city - many other cities will follow.
Their reasoning is that it is too expensive to send garbage trucks and sewer lines out to residents in non-populated areas..... so many of us in this country take care of our own garbage and have our own wells for water... this should AT LEAST be an option for some of these residents!
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We are being drawn into communism. We will work on the urban farms for our food and the government will "own" the dwellings. In communist countries all empty spaces are filled. The census will show who has extra or empty spaces (multiple toilets etc.) to fill. Then amnesty for illegals to insure that the far left stays in power and control.
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