May 2016 H OUSING N EWS R EPORT
after a massive state-and-private bailout plan brought together philanthropic organizations and the state of Michigan who contributed money to minimize pension cuts. The Ford Foundation pledged $125 million, and the Kresge Foundation contributed $100million.
Clearly, Detroit is one of the compelling stories of our time. Detroit is a metaphorical prism on any story you want — social, economic, political, race, education — it’s all there. Detroit’s story is not simply one of a great city’s
collapse; it’s also about the implosion of the auto industry that helped build the country we know today. Without doubt, Detroit is in terrible shape. It’s the most dysfunctional city in America. It’s a petri dish of all the things that have gone wrong. Suggesting otherwise would be dishonest if not delusional. But, as Bomey argues, Detroit is at a crossroads: it can either reinvent itself as a smaller city or it can continue to decline.
Ultimately, the foundations, corporations and the state collectively pledged the equivalent of $816 million over 20 years to help reduce pension cuts and preserve the Detroit Institute of Arts as an independent institution. Without that money, Bomey writes, Wall Street creditors and the pensioners would have pursued liquidation of the museums artwork. Throughout the book, Bomey tickles readers with many grim, but interesting facts about
Nathan Bomey
In the end, “Detroit Resurrected” is a story of rebirth and second chances, which has broader implications for other American cities. It’s also a wake-up call to U.S. politicians who are ignoring a $19.2 trillion national debt crisis that could threaten the social safety net of millions of Americans. Detroit’s bankruptcy and “resurrection” is a story we can’t afford to be ignored; it’s a harbinger of things to come nationally in the United States.
Detroit. For example, the total value of private property in Detroit fell from $45.2 billion in 1958 to $9.6 billion in 2012, or that in 2013 half of Detroit eighth graders failed to achieve basic reading competency. In 1950, there were 1.8 million people in Detroit; today there are only 680,250 residents. The city has 78,000 vacant structures and 60,000 vacant land parcels. Detroit was once the fifth- largest U.S. city; now it ranks 18th and slipping rapidly, he reports.
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