I may do some digging to see who else is reporting about these meetings but despite the drawbacks of this source the quotes from the Detroit citizens below are quite interesting imo... -mm

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/detr-s22.shtml
Democratic administration pushes ahead with Detroit downsizing
By a reporting team
22 September 2010

Thousands of Detroit residents turned out Thursday and Saturday for public hearings on the radical downsizing of the city being proposed by Mayor David Bing in the interests of big business and in conjunction with the Obama administration.

Some 1,300 people crowded into two auditoriums at the American Serbian Memorial Hall Thursday, in the north central part of the city, and another 1,000 at Whittier Manor on the city’s east side Saturday.

Unlike the first meeting, which was immediately broken up into small group workshops, preventing any full-scale discussion, the latest two meetings were conducted as plenary sessions, with people able to raise questions from the floor and make comments to the city officials.

Also unlike the first meeting, there was no attempt to bar the distribution of political material to residents coming into the meetings. Organizers had called the police to block such distribution during the first session.

Both actions were taken to protect Mayor Bing and his aides from public criticism. They had to be abandoned in the face of widespread hostility, particularly at the first meeting, where many residents vocally denounced the substitution of “breakout sessions” for an actual hearing where residents would be able to confront top officials directly.

The series of five public hearings will be completed by Wednesday, September 22. After that, the actual decisions will be made in consultation with a 55-person advisory committee hand-picked by Bing, packed with Democratic Party loyalists and representatives of big business, the union bureaucracy, and various churches. The plan will then be road-tested at small neighborhood forums and then formally adopted. It is expected to include the effective shutdown of city services in as much as 40 percent of the city, and the forced relocation of residents from those areas to be abandoned.

The material assembled by the Detroit Works Project—the formal name of the Bing initiative—paints a devastating picture of the economic decline of Detroit and southeast Michigan as a whole. Among the conditions detailed in brochures and graphs displayed at the meetings:

* Detroit has experienced a 60 percent population decline since its peak in 1950
* Michigan has lost 762,000 manufacturing jobs, many in the Detroit area
* Nearly half the population in the city is functionally illiterate
* The city’s median household income is $29,000, only $7,000 above the official US poverty level
* There are 55,000 properties in foreclosure
* There is not a single grocery store chain operating in Detroit

These conditions are an indictment of the capitalist system. Detroit has generated untold profits for the capitalist class over the past 100 years, with hundreds of thousands of workers toiling under often brutal conditions, particularly in the auto plants that once covered the city. But the profit bonanza has gone to benefit a privileged financial elite, while the city has descended into unprecedented decay. Detroit is the first city in the modern era to pass the one million mark in population, and then fall back below it under the impact of industrial collapse.

In his remarks to the meetings Thursday and Saturday, Mayor Bing made it clear that he has no solutions to this crisis. He sought to blame the people of Detroit, for whom he has complete contempt. At one point he referred to the city as a “hellhole,” a comment that no doubt expresses his real feelings. A multi-millionaire businessman after his professional basketball career, Bing moved from the wealthy suburb of Franklin back into the city only after he was prevailed upon to run for mayor, winning the election last year.

Bing blamed previous administrations for the conditions in Detroit, although the giant auto corporation and banks have played the dominant role in the city, regardless of the succession of mayors in Manoogian Mansion. Bing is himself a creature of this business elite, making millions as a subcontractor selling steel products to the auto industry, then promoted by them to take over the mayor’s office after a corruption scandal forced out Kwame Kilpatrick in 2009.

Bing repeatedly declared that the city government’s role was to promote business profit, not serve the needs of the people. “Our job is to create an environment where entrepreneurs and businesses will want to invest,” he said. “We want to win back the trust.”

At one point during opening remarks Saturday, Bing said the purpose of government does not include the creation of jobs. “Yes, it is,” shouted an audience member. “That’s your opinion,” the mayor replied arrogantly.

He singled out city workers for slander, saying that while he was told “workers were lazy, corrupt and don’t want to do anything, I also know that 80 percent want to do the right thing.” Translated into English, this suggests that Bing intends to get rid of at least 20 percent of city workers.

Bing also referred to city residents as “customers,” leading to widespread grumbling in the audience that they were “citizens with rights,” not someone’s customer. Moreover, unlike customers of a department store, Detroit residents cannot just go somewhere else to shop. The city is where they live.

Despite the mayor’s efforts to portray his administration as seeking “input” from the community, he and his aides reacted with indifference to complaints about the notorious unresponsiveness of city agencies. One worker said that he couldn’t reach anyone at a city office about cutting weeds on his block, and demanded a cellphone number. A mayoral aide responded, “Well, I cannot possibly take hundreds of individual phone calls, and you will need to follow a process of contacting the community centers where you live.”

An 80-year-old retired Chrysler worker named Ernie spoke up at one point saying, “I have lived in this city for 60 years and have seen many changes. I worked very hard for the things I have. In my neighborhood there are many older people living on the block, and it is important that we have street lights. I was attacked myself a number of years ago when the area was very dark. I called the city about the street lights being out for over two weeks now and have gotten no response. We try to keep our neighborhoods up, pay our taxes and do the best we can, but there is no assistance from the city.”

Another resident, Margie, responded to Bing’s plan to demolish 3,000 properties. “You talk about tearing down properties. The banks haven’t helped people. You state in the material that 55,000 homes are in foreclosure and that we should expect more foreclosures. Why don’t you come up with a program to assist people? Why not renovate some of these houses and make them affordable for people to live in? Why is it that no one wants to help the homeowners?” There was no reaction to this appeal.

D’Artagnan Collier, a founding member of the Committee Against Utility Shutoffs and the Socialist Equality Party candidate for the Michigan state legislature in the 9th district, on the city’s northwest side, spoke from the floor at both Thursday’s and Saturday’s meetings. He rejected Bing’s claim that there were no resources to meet the urgent needs of Detroit residents.

“It is a matter of who controls them and how they are distributed,” Collier said. Nationally, he explained, “Billions of public tax dollars are used to bail out the banks, while education and public infrastructure are starved.”

He pointed to the role of DTE Energy in utility shutoffs and in the collapse of power lines that touched off devastating fires throughout the city on September 7. Bing was a member of the DTE board of directors for 20 years before becoming mayor, and DTE chairman Anthony Earley headed the fundraising for his campaign.

Collier, a city worker, criticized Bing’s attack on his fellow public employees. “The change Mayor Bing refers to,” he said, “is associated with cutting the deficit, which means cuts in public services and deterioration in the quality of life for most residents.”

LaTonya Nelson, who heard Collier speak, told the candidate, “Just listening to you gives me an education as to what is going on with DTE. A lot of people are saying DTE did not react soon enough. What Bing is doing is a betrayal. The big picture is business, not the people.”

Kenneth Reed, another city resident, said, “Bing is with Tony Earley. And he was a Tier 2 supplier to the Big Three. All of it was garbage. They think they can bamboozle people to thinking they will have an input when they have already decided what they want to do.

“I know that they already have plans. I was opposed to these plans earlier. Ten years ago Dennis Archer wanted to charge an entry fee to go to Belle Isle [the main city park]. They are putting together a Master Plan for Detroit. Young also supported it. Archer revived it and put in a half a million dollars.

“I believe what the city is doing is cutting services or reducing them to where people will feel compelled to move. I believe they plan to have land bank authorities that will sell the land off to developers. Detroit will be a modern-day Soweto.”

Detroit officials tweak format of land use forums
Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News

Detroit --City officials say problems with the debut of public meetings about reshaping Detroit are prompting them to overhaul the format for forums that continue tonight.

More than 900 residents packed Greater Grace Temple on Tuesday for the first forum on an emerging land plan some consider downsizing and Mayor Dave Bing calls the Detroit Works Project. Lacking microphones, some moderators lost control. Residents had to shout to be heard and some were upset Bing waited until the end of the meeting to address the crowd.


"If you want to inform the public, you have to be better equipped," said Rodney Dillard, 46, a resident of the northwest side who attended Tuesday's meeting.

"If you're invited to such a forum you have to be ready to present the people with useful information. It was just poorly set up."

City officials say they were caught off-guard when the anticipated crowd of about 500 nearly doubled. They promise to be better prepared tonight when the forums continue at 6:30 at the American Serbian Memorial Hall, 19940 Van Dyke.

Overflow seating will be available with projectors. More staffers will attend. The breakout sessions will be dumped in favor of a town hall, question-and-answer format. Bing will speak to the crowd at 7:15 p.m. More format tweaks will be announced today.

"Nearly 1,000 Detroiters responded to our call to action and came out to have their voice heard," Bing said. "Developing a blueprint for our future is a difficult but necessary process that must be done in partnership with our residents."

Many said the first meeting was a disappointing start to a public engagement process that is expected to continue until a plan emerges in December 2011. That only fueled controversy and skepticism about the city's intentions.

Bing and his staff said the city is still drawing up a plan to address declining population and service delivery. But Tuesday's meeting, which made it difficult for residents to offer input, solidified the opinion of some that Bing intends to consolidate neighborhoods and relocate residents.

"Bing has already planned on giving away parts of the city. We already know that," said city resident Aleathea Wilson, 58, who lives on the city's east side.

"It's definitely a land give-away, but where (the city) is going to have problems is with people like me who are going to defend their property. I will not allow Bing or anyone else to take me out of my home."

Bing and other city officials stressed they have no such plans. The mayor said he wants to use data and community input to reshape the city. He told The News this summer that his staff has ideas but wants to listen to residents before talking about specific proposals.

"We will not take the easy way out," Bing said. "We will continue listening and working with our residents in the short-term to create and implement a collective long-term vision for this city."

Some critics have suggested that statements from City Hall haven't helped allay concerns.

In February, Bing told WJR-AM (760) that he "absolutely" plans to relocate residents from blighted neighborhoods. Since then, administration officials have clarified his intentions and recently launched a website, detroitworksproject.com, that states: "Forced relocation will not happen at any point during this process."

On Tuesday, Bing told reporters residents who stay in desolate neighborhoods could "have some problems if they decide to live there." The website says "there are no pre-determined outcomes around what will happen in neighborhoods."

Ernest Johnson of the Community Coalition, an early critic, hopes the sessions are more than just platitudes for the community.

"You have a responsibility to include it; otherwise you won't have community support," Johnson said. "I would hope there will be information and suggestions (from the community) that will be included in the final plan.

"I hope it redefines Detroit. The best days for Detroit are ahead of us. We should be planning for getting bigger and better."


From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100916/METRO01/9160404/Detroit-officials-tweak-format-of-land-use-forums#ixzz10GHkLEH1

the use of the word 'residents' in place of 'citizens'. The implication being that the populace has no political rights.

"Bing also referred to city residents as “customers,” leading to widespread grumbling in the audience that they were “citizens with rights,” not someone’s customer. Moreover, unlike customers of a department store, Detroit residents cannot just go somewhere else to shop. The city is where they live."

Good lord.

"residents" took me aback. Earlier it was "customers", now "residents", soon it will be "units" or "hands" or "bucks and pickaninnies". These assholes need to ridden out on a rail (and not necessarily "astride" one, either)...

http://detroitworksproject.com/opportunities-challenge/who-will-live-here/

Who Will Live Here?

* Detroit has expe*ri*enced a 60% pop*u*la*tion decline since its peak in 1950 (1.85 mil*lion to 800,000).
* The City’s median income is $29,000, well below the national aver*age, and 55% of Detroi*ters live below the poverty line.

Our oppor*tu*nity:

* Some neigh*bor*hoods have gained pop*u*la*tion through immi*grant communities.
* Many Detroit res*i*dents, with fierce civic pride, choose to stay in the city.
* Entre*pre*neurs, artists and other cre*ative pro*fes*sion*als are mov*ing to the city.

Some*thing to think about:

* If local and regional pop*u*la*tion decline con*tin*ues, what impacts would this have on our neigh*bor*hoods and city? What impacts might pop*u*la*tion growth have?

What do we want to become:

* A wel*com*ing, liv*able city for all cur*rent and future residents


Of course there won't be any "forced relocation". They'll just call it something else. Something perky.


http://detroitworksproject.com/about-us/advisory-task-force/

Who are the other 50 people on the Advisory Task Force©? Any way to find out?

There's only five in the picture.

The Mayor’s Advi*sory Task Force: A 55-member body rep*re*sent*ing res*i*dents, city coun*cil, com*mu*nity groups, faith-based and non-profit orga*ni*za*tions, and the busi*ness and foun*da*tion com*mu*ni*ties to work with the plan*ning team.

http://detroitworksproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/taskforce.jpg

"Our job is to create an environment where entrepreneurs and businesses will want to invest," he said. "We want to win back the trust."

Bing said the purpose of government does not include the creation of jobs.

Forum fuels anger

DETROIT - Over a thousand Detroit residents turned out Sept. 14 for the first community forum associated with Mayor Dave Bing's sweeping urban renewal initiative, now called the Detroit Works Project. Most of the attendees arrived ready to hear the mayor's vision or to air immediate grievances stemming from rampant foreclosures and a vastly restricted job market.

The forum's facilitators, however, insisted they calmly envision what the city might look like 20 years from now.

In recent weeks, Bing has increased appeals to Detroit residents to engage themselves in the planning of the "blueprint for our future city." All areas of the city will be impacted by the plan, which incorporates land use, economic recovery, transit, housing and environmental sustainability components.

The Bing administration has estimated that the process of planning the entire project will take 12-18 months. Some implementation of the plan has begun with the demolition of vacant buildings. A comprehensive mapping of Detroit housing, population and income trends have been completed to guide the process. The Bing team has often had to defend its plan to develop more populated neighborhoods. Many residents are wary of being relocated against their will.

Tuesday's forum, held at the sprawling Greater Grace Temple on Detroit's west side, was the first of five September forums designed to gather public input. Greater Grace's Bishop Charles Ellis III is the chair of Bing's 55-member Advisory Task Force, which is assigned with facilitating the public input of the project.

Seven architectural, planning and consulting companies are involved in preparing the forums and the city's plan. To date, the Kresge Foundation has contributed $800,000 to finance the project.

It wasn't long after Ellis's opening evocation that the gap between expectations held by attendees and the forum's hosts became evident.

The crowd seemed taken aback with the announcement by Planning and Development Department Deputy Director Marja Winter that the assembly would be broken up into four groups for discussions on Detroit's future.

Calls of, "We came here to talk to the Mayor!" could be heard as a movable wall rolled into place, dividing the noisy conference room and the participants. For several minutes there was a state of mass confusion as hundreds of residents figured out which session they would attend.

Participants had difficulty throughout the evening hearing others comments as microphones were not available in the breakout sessions and the close proximity of so many different discussion groups created additional noise.

"If you were to take this moment right here, it would completely describe the state of the city," southwest Detroit resident Crystal Starr told the Michigan Citizen. "People looking for answers. Where am I supposed to go? What's supposed to happen next? They just replicated it in this town hall meeting."

Mayor Bing did appear at the forum and addressed all the discussion groups. During one session, entitled Innovating Our Neighborhoods for the 21st Century, Bing tried to make a quick statement but was struck by a barrage of questions. He assured the crowd of almost 200 people that the forum was about them and that the Detroit Works Project was a collaborative effort.

"I want to hear input from the community because in the past that hasn't happened," Bing said. "We don't want to force our ideas on you. I want to make sure you speak out."

That message was repeated by the session facilitator Kirk Mayes, a Skillman Foundation community liason, who works in the Brightmoor neighborhood. He told participants that their concerns would be duly recorded and reviewed as part of the planning process.

Many participants accused forum organizers with having a plan in place and the forums were an attempt to "have us co-sign" for was already a plan, as one man said.

Some residents shared specific ideas about how Detroit should plan and redefine itself. Clyde Moore suggested composting materials found on vacant land and using the byproduct to heat homes. Another resident suggested building geo-thermal systems in public parks and force DTE to comply with the city to tap into the resulting energy resources. Pastor Eugene Watkins also stressed the need for greener initiatives.

But many comments came from community organizers concerned that immediate issues were taking a backseat to distant ones. Most commentators seemed impatient with the forum's overarching agenda.

"We would love to be green, but literacy rates are falling drastically," one unidentified woman said. "We need to take control of our building resources - if you can't take care of your properties, get out."

Other comments addressed the need to cease school closures as a method of keeping communities intact. The continuing wave of foreclosures and the government's failure to stop them left others wondering if there would be a city remaining at all in 20 years.

After the hour-long forum, facilitator Kirk Mayes told the Michigan Citizen that Detroit Works Project organizers will learn from Tuesday's session and incorporate more immediate issues. There are four more public forums scheduled across the city during the next two weeks. It remains to be seen whether the divide will be narrowed between public concerns and the Detroit Works Project format.

"The purpose of the forum was to pull people out of the complaining format and get them to creatively discuss problems," Mayes said.

Councilman James Tate was present to observe the forum's development along with several of his council mates. He says that, although the break-out discussion format created some initial frustration, public input is vital and citizens need to remain engaged.

"Tonight did not reach their (the public) expectations from the format standpoint," Tate told the Michigan Citizen. "But I think that for those individuals who are upset and frustrated about how this went, they need to look at it as an opportunity, in my opinion, to now really stay engaged ... This setting truly gives us an opportunity to really provide input. Many of us know what's wrong with the City of Detroit. But the question is, what alternatives are we willing to provide? At the end of the day, we're all part of one city and we have to decide what we want the city to look like and not allow the powers that be to decide that for us."

http://michigancitizen.com/forum-fuels-anger-p8999-1.htm

those fuckers think they are herding sheep.

They need them some commies....

In debates we hear all of this same double talk from liberals. "We all know what needs to be done, so let's get busy" and "anyone can complain, but what's your alternative?" and "sure you are upset, but let's be positive." It just seems annoying when we hear people say things like that, but behind the soothing "reasonable" phrases there is something dark and ugly. People are being impoverished, run out of their homes, preyed on, lied to. Liberals. I hate these fuckers. They are liars. They are predators.

They are the fucking sheep. This guy is a genius:


Many participants accused forum organizers with having a plan in place and the forums were an attempt to "have us co-sign" for was already a plan, as one man said.

This is the guy the liberals want to shut up. Because he sees their shit.

Some responses to the plan from people...

Laststraw -

"The residents who are moved from sparsely populated areas will be offered vacated homes in other neighborhoods? Most vacant homes in the city of Detroit have been stripped and are literal shells that require extensive repairs. Give the residents the choice of being paid outright for their property and also compensate them for their moving expenses. Also, it should not be mandatory that they move to a part of Detroit selected by government officials. One item that has not been considered is that many of the residents in these vacant areas have property taxes that are presently capped at low amounts. If they purchase another house, the new house will have much higher property taxes than the house they vacated. I would rather be paid a good retail price for my property and make my own decision as to where I shall move. Many might just choose to vacate Detroit altogether. Moving all of the African Americans into certain pre-chosen neighborhoods will amount to recreating Black Bottom. Private investment companies will then build exclusive new homes and condos in the vacated areas for suburbanites who are tired of the long commutes to work. These investors will be practically given the vacated land with lures of grants, rebates and years of low, low taxes. The aim is definitely not to make life better for the current citizens of Detroit."

Naji Hodge -

"Also, in Dearborn, in a park where Detroit is the main or only city touching Dearborn they have created a law which says if you don't live in Dearborn, you will be ticketed for walking or running in the park of Dearborn, basically they are saying 'if you are from Detroit you can't run or walk in this Dearborn park,' which is very very very racist and ugly and they want us to move over for them?????? Detroit, they want to kill you, if that's ok by you beaten down black people, if your hearts are too wounded to fight back and filled with fear and self pity to stand up and fight like a man, then I'll shut up, because if that is your state of being, then you will die and that is your own fault. either fight or die. that is the true game of the day."

ForgottenInSWDetroit -

"Here we Go again ... Mayor Bing should have started his address with 'Once Upon A Time in The City of Detroit ...' It seems that with every new Mayor Detroit gets we hear the same song and dance about how they have a plan for the city. Then after they get elected they have no clue how to fix the problem and they want our help. Here is what I see coming. Just like the Casino land grab. They moved people out of their homes and took over land with the excuse that I was for the greater good. They used the 'Eminent Domain' to steal peoples land like mayors around the country have been doing for years now. They take the land and move people out from their homes and let companies or 'THEIR' choosing build CONDOS, MALLS, or Other businesses ... while they reap quiet rewards 'under the table'. This is the same song and dance that we and the rest of the country have heard before. How much longer will we have to be lied to before we as a city wake-up and throw these lying B@$T@rd's out of office and tell them 'NO MORE!' Entire neighborhoods burn down and the Mayor has an excuse. Was that neighborhood one of his first coming acquisitions? How is throwing people out of their homes and stealing their property good for anyone. We need jobs, not another land grab for an idea that will never come to pass. At the rate the Mayor and the President is going they wont have to force most of us out because our homes will have already been foreclosed on and we will be forced out by the finacial institutions that hold our mortgage and yet refuse to help us keep our homes. Even though our tax dollars kept those same financial institutions open. Let me guess Bill Cosby, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton will be coming through to tell us what a great idea it is to leave our homes and safer neighborhoods and move to neighborhoods with people we don't know and don't want to know. Areas of our city that we won't even drive through and neither will the Police. Mayor Bing. Get your plan together. Get the money to ACTUALLY do it. THEN COME TO US THE PEOPLE! Don't come to us and take our homes then try and figure out what to do with all the land the city has just taken over. 'Eminent Domain' was put into the constitution to build railroads and highways, not for city's and their mayors to pervert for personal gain. Watch the money and the mayor if you think I'm telling tales. 'FOLLOW THE MONEY' learn the truth!"

"Translation. Run everyone out of Detroit. The developers come in and cash in on the free land deals. The 2010 version of the 'Trail of Tears.'"

they are funded by these folks: http://www.kresge.org/index.php/who/index/

Serious money. And whatever it is the Kresge estate is planning, you can be sure it has a lot more to do with business opportunities that make money for them than anything to do with helping actual people.

They have been headquartered in Detroit for a long time, my guess is they have a bit of wealth in buildings etc... if the place falls to pieces they stand to lose money. Re-building is simply protecting their interests, which is how capitalists always operate.

http://datadrivendetroit.org/about-us/partners/



Partners

Principal Funders:

* The Skillman Foundation
* The Kresge Foundation





It's amazing the politicians keep denying what is going on. There is a glossy magazine that documents exactly what their plans are. I guess they figure the working class won't read those, so they can be frank.

http://americancity.org/magazine/article/the-data-dividend/

The Data Dividend



Amy, what is the Brookings Institution working on in New Orleans and Detroit?

Amy Liu: Brookings has a five-year history of working in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast post-Katrina. The effort has been two-pronged: One is doing analysis to improve the federal role in promoting a quality recovery from the storm. The second is called the New Orleans Index, which tracks recovery trends across housing, the economy, infrastructure, services and population. The work has changed recently from focusing on post-disaster recovery to asking how to create a great American city, and how to change the metrics to track outcomes that really matter to city and regional success. So it’s not just a data exercise, but also working with political, business and civic and neighborhood leaders in support of that. We don’t have a history of deep engagement in Detroit, though it is an important part of the work Brookings is doing around how to help an older industrial city reinvent its economy following the recession. In a lot of ways there are similarities between the stresses that New Orleans and Detroit have overcome.

What challenges are you facing?

KM: The city of Detroit has never been one to make information readily available. This has been an issue at all levels of government, including the state. There’s been a history of thought within government that data can be used against you, and that it’s better not to share information because somebody will turn it into a negative. My response has always been, “Well, they’re going to talk negatively about the city of Detroit and have been for years. Perhaps it would be nice if you started to use information to benchmark yourself and tell your own story, rather than spend inordinate amounts of time defending yourself and trying to blame the messenger.” It’s always better to be proactive than reactive. We created Data Driven Detroit to be a totally independent entity so no one would see us as having some ulterior motive or agenda. (!!--me)

DR: New Orleans’ situation is uncharted territory. If you look at the Sunlight Foundation’s cycle of transparency, it is this virtuous cycle where data is released to the people, great things happen, government is improved and more data is released. What’s missing is the big step that happens before there are even data sets, and that’s getting a city’s gov 1.0 in place before it moves to 2.0. It’s about finding business processes that work and make sense, and using technology as a course of doing business.

Can you talk about the importance of data in the revitalization process?

KM: Right now in Detroit we’re talking about reimagining, reengineering, rightsizing — any number of terms have been used to describe it. Along with partners including the Detroit Office of Foreclosure, Detroit Vacant Properties Campaign and the University of Michigan, we recently did a survey of all the residential parcels in the city to get a feel for what exists in terms of vacant land, vacant buildings, occupied buildings and building conditions. We’re trying to develop a broad set of indicators so as to better understand and describe our neighborhoods. In this way, the process of city redesign will be informed by very detailed information, which will be available to decision-makers and community members alike. We firmly believe that people, armed with the most comprehensive data available, can come to consensus. So often it’s a top-down approach. We also believe that better data will allow our strong philanthropic base and others who want to invest in the city to know the best places for their investments and be able to measure the results of those investments.

AL: Data is absolutely critical so that we can make informed decisions. It tells us both the challenges and the assets we have in our community. It also helps us identify outcomes. Once we see what we have in terms of our strengths and assets we need to ask, “What are our goals? What metrics do we want to change to help us achieve them?” If the goals are to increase the value of land, increase housing affordability or the mix of housing, or to improve retail investment in underserved neighborhoods — whatever the goals are, data can provide baseline understanding of our starting points and enable us to benchmark progress moving forward.


What are your next steps in terms of gathering and promoting data in your city?

KM: We continue to build upon this [land and building] survey. This will allow Detroit to get on the map with real-time, community-developed, primary data. We’re starting to work with community groups to understand property ownership, which is one of the largest data voids in Detroit — the ownership records are terrible. We’re trying to get communities to feed back information as homes get demolished, occupied or rehabbed. Our data are beginning to be used for public safety, they’re being used by public schools to identify dangerous and vacant buildings around schools. They’re certainly being used by the city for demolition plans, and we’re even working with DTE Energy to identify areas where they should be concentrating some of their energy efficiency money.

There's tons of articles in the current fall issue you can only read in the magazine. I will try to find a copy. I must say, lots of activity and energy for a plan that is supposed to be driven by the public. :sarcasm:

I guess "data" is the concept du jour. It's getting thrown around in education left and right too. Capitalism is so uncreative, it just keeps dressing up the same old process in new words every few decades. It must be tiresome to dream up new ways to say "We're coming to take your shit". No wonder they are highly paid.

destroying people out in the open! They don't even try to hide it! Why not just drop a bomb on the city and be done with it? Does anyone know what the reaction of the rest of Michigan is? Is everyone just laying down for this?

is either looking away and thanking god it isn't them (Ann Arbor eg)....or it -is- them too and they're too busy and tired trying to keep it together to do anything...

Doesn't seem like anyone is talking about it much, honestly, and I live only 45 miles from the city.

by G.E.M. de Ste. Croix. It is a Marxist analysis of ancient culture and society. And I have just gotten to the place where he is discussing Roman citizenship and what it meant.

This passage struck me and seemed somehow apropos:


For all practical purposes the constitutional rights to which an inhabitant of the Graeco-Roman world was entitled at any rate by the early third century (AD) depended hardly at all upon whether he was a Roman citizen, but, broadly speaking, on whether he was a member of what I shall call 'the privileged groups': namely, senatorial, equestrian, and curial families, veterans and their children, and (for some purposes) serving soldiers.


I can see how privileges of citizenship in the US empire is dependent more on "membership" in class oriented groups than any other criterion. So, once again, I think, it comes back to Rome...

was twisted around by people who wanted to debate the question mostly for the purpose of debating it.

Yeah, Lenin said workers in advanced countries were "bribed" but as I read his Imperialism for example that seems to largely mean that they enjoy a petit bourgeoisie lifestyle.

(and similarly Lenin explicitly defines super-profits as those that don't come from "home" markets, making any "debate" on super-profit vs regular profit mostly moot)

are strapped to pay for an edifice that is no longer beneficial to them. It becomes habit or maintenance of "status" or perhaps a desperation to maintain what little accumulation they have managed to this point. I can't see it as a "bribe" mainly, I suppose, because the bribe has become so paltry...

but perhaps they say "resident" to be inclusive of immigrants who don't have citizenship? This hit me when I read this from the link below:

"Some neigh*bor*hoods have gained pop*u*la*tion through immi*grant communities."