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Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

J

joecct

Well-known member
I think Detroit tipping into bankruptcy may be a tipping point and I think the municipal financing issues warrant its own thread.

Thoughts on who's next (if any)??
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

joecct said:
I think Detroit tipping into bankruptcy may be a tipping point and I think the municipal financing issues warrant its own thread.

Thoughts on who's next (if any)??
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Chicago is next. $40 Million in police OT a year. Only 45% of the cities pensions funded.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

What's the extension for Detroit? I can't find them anywhere in the directory.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

"Hello, is this Detroit?"
"Yes it is."
"BANKRUPT!" *slam*
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

I'm not sure there's any solution to a situation like Detroit's. A dying Rust Belt city that's been on the skids for decades due to a loss of manufacturing jobs. Frankly that could be a dozen cities in the US (Buffalo, Cleveland, Akron, Gary, St. Louis, Rochester, etc). Have any been able to revitalize themselves? Think of older cities in the US that are doing well (SF, Chicago, NY, Boston, DC). Usually there's something specific to them that's tough to replicate. Nobody wants to move to Detroit, and the city isn't going to grow from the inside.

To answer joecct's question, I'd say Buffalo is next.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Rover said:
I'm not sure there's any solution to a situation like Detroit's. A dying Rust Belt city that's been on the skids for decades due to a loss of manufacturing jobs. Frankly that could be a dozen cities in the US (Buffalo, Cleveland, Akron, Gary, St. Louis, Rochester, etc). Have any been able to revitalize themselves? Think of older cities in the US that are doing well (SF, Chicago, NY, Boston, DC). Usually there's something specific to them that's tough to replicate. Nobody wants to move to Detroit, and the city isn't going to grow from the inside.

To answer joecct's question, I'd say Buffalo is next.
Click to expand...

Rochester has, and I believe St. Louis as well.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Rover said:
I'm not sure there's any solution to a situation like Detroit's.
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Long-term, there certainly is. The current problem is trying to pay off pensions from when the city had a population of 2M, with a population of maybe 700k. There's just no way to make that work, regardless of what you do with taxes/city management. Those liabilities are crippling right now, but won't be there forever one way or another. Once they get out of that hole, the downtown area has been undergoing a nice rebirth in recent years. There's still some problems to fix, but I think their biggest issues are temporary, not permanent.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

The biggest problem in the long-term in the schools. You can get young professionals and artsy fartsies to live in downtown and midtown, but as soon as they get married and start thinking about kids, those people are going to bolt for the 'burbs unless they can fix the city school system.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
The biggest problem in the long-term in the schools. You can get young professionals and artsy fartsies to live in downtown and midtown, but as soon as they get married and start thinking about kids, those people are going to bolt for the 'burbs unless they can fix the city school system.
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I wouldn't say that's remarkably different than any other major city in the US.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Isn't pension set up so that one generation pays for the next, just like Social Security?
 
MaizeRage said:
Long-term, there certainly is. The current problem is trying to pay off pensions from when the city had a population of 2M, with a population of maybe 700k. There's just no way to make that work, regardless of what you do with taxes/city management. Those liabilities are crippling right now, but won't be there forever one way or another. Once they get out of that hole, the downtown area has been undergoing a nice rebirth in recent years. There's still some problems to fix, but I think their biggest issues are temporary, not permanent.
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I believe pensions are only $3.5-5 Bn of the $20Bn problem, although perhaps that's not the full extent. Regardless I think the city's problems are far deeper than most. The city is a run down sh ! thole aside from a few blocks downtown. Crime is rampant and 40% of the place is abandoned dwellings. The only two corporations left are GM and Quicken Loans which isn't enough to sustain a city of that size.

So the problem becomes what goes into Detroit to get it back on its feet? I personally can't see where the jobs are going to come from, and if there's no jobs there's no turnaround.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Rover said:
I believe pensions are only $3.5-5 Bn of the $20Bn problem, although perhaps that's not the full extent. Regardless I think the city's problems are far deeper than most. The city is a run down sh ! thole aside from a few blocks downtown. Crime is rampant and 40% of the place is abandoned dwellings. The only two corporations left are GM and Quicken Loans which isn't enough to sustain a city of that size.

So the problem becomes what goes into Detroit to get it back on its feet? I personally can't see where the jobs are going to come from, and if there's no jobs there's no turnaround.
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I believe I saw something where someone bought a Detroit foreclosure for $1.
 
FlagDUDE08 said:
I believe I saw something where someone bought a Detroit foreclosure for $1.
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I believe it and actually that's not as uncommon as we'd like to think. If the neighborhood has nothing but abandoned property, and the bank can unload it and not have to keep paying the carrying costs, it might was well sell for a buck. While the copper pipes may be worth more than that, most have already been stripped out of the walls at this point anyway.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Rover said:
I believe it and actually that's not as uncommon as we'd like to think. If the neighborhood has nothing but abandoned property, and the bank can unload it and not have to keep paying the carrying costs, it might was well sell for a buck. While the copper pipes may be worth more than that, most have already been stripped out of the walls at this point anyway.
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According to the story, all of that was stripped. The bank asked for $1100, but then sold it for $1 and threw in closing and other fees as a bonus. Supposedly, there was a $10,000 water bill.
 
Re: Call Detroit. Tell them bankrupt!!!

Wouldn't the new owner have to pay property taxes? Can't imagine it would be worth it to buy something there even for a $1.
 
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