Bing announces plan for 'right-sizing' Detroit, media blitz ensues

Detroit's land is huge and the population isn't. There's a lot of space and not enough coverage. Mayor Dave Bing sees that and is looking to enact a plan to address this problem from a governmental level.

Excerpt:

The mayor is looking to the diminished tally, down from 951,270 in 2000, as a benchmark in his bid to reshape Detroit's government, finances and perhaps even its geography to reflect its smaller population and tax base. That means, in part, cutting city services and laying off workers.

His approach to the census is a product of not only budget constraints but also a new, more modest view of the city's prospects. "We've got to pick those core communities, those core neighborhoods" to sustain and preserve, he said at a recent public appearance, adding: "That's something that's possible here in Detroit."

Unlike his predecessors, Mr. Bing, a Democrat first elected last year to finish the term of disgraced former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, hasn't touted big development plans or talked of a "renaissance." Instead, he is trying to prepare residents for a new reality: that Detroit—like the auto industry that propelled it for a century—will have to get smaller before it gets bigger again.

Read the entire article here.

Urban Planning Department head at Wayne State University, Robin Boyle, chimes in on a smaller Detroit here for the Freep.

The Detroit News chimes in with a few words on shrinking here and here.

Even mLive got in on the game here.
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