Work Together to Stem Urban Exodus
UNITED WAY IN THE NEWS
June 23, 2006
Detroit Free Press Editorial
Detroit has lost more than 64,000 residents since 2000 -- the most of any U.S. city, including nearly 12,500 people between 2004 and 2005. Census estimates released this week also show that six other major Michigan cities -- Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor, Livonia, Warren and Grand Rapids -- lost people from 2004 to 2005.
Leading the exodus in Detroit are middle-class families, especially those with school-age children. The Detroit Public Schools are losing 10,000 students a year, and that trend is expected to continue. Meanwhile, as Kurt Metzger, research director for United Way for Southeastern Michigan, points out, outlying districts are forced to bond to build and expand schools.
There's no way to put a happy face on these figures, though Detroit leaders undoubtedly will try. Too often, they've downplayed or dismissed reports like these as outdated or one-sided, but they show serious, longstanding trends that will further erode the city's ability to deliver services and consequently to attract new residents. Detroit leaders who want a better handle on the problem can start by interviewing all the city employees who have moved out since that has been allowed.
Still, this is not simply a Detroit problem. Cities all over the United States are in decline, and while everyone professes to care, no one has an agenda for them at the federal or state level. Neither Gov. Jennifer Granholm nor her Republican opponent, Dick DeVos, has offered detailed ideas for revitalizing Michigan's older core cities.
Failing cities also quickly become regional problems. It's no accident that the healthiest urban regions nationwide are those that, unlike southeast Michigan, have learned to work together.
Detroit's leaders, and those of other struggling cities, must worry less about image and more about solving the problems underscored by the latest population estimates. For Michigan to prosper, they will also need more support from their regions and the rest of the state.
June 23, 2006
Detroit Free Press Editorial
Detroit has lost more than 64,000 residents since 2000 -- the most of any U.S. city, including nearly 12,500 people between 2004 and 2005. Census estimates released this week also show that six other major Michigan cities -- Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor, Livonia, Warren and Grand Rapids -- lost people from 2004 to 2005.
Leading the exodus in Detroit are middle-class families, especially those with school-age children. The Detroit Public Schools are losing 10,000 students a year, and that trend is expected to continue. Meanwhile, as Kurt Metzger, research director for United Way for Southeastern Michigan, points out, outlying districts are forced to bond to build and expand schools.
There's no way to put a happy face on these figures, though Detroit leaders undoubtedly will try. Too often, they've downplayed or dismissed reports like these as outdated or one-sided, but they show serious, longstanding trends that will further erode the city's ability to deliver services and consequently to attract new residents. Detroit leaders who want a better handle on the problem can start by interviewing all the city employees who have moved out since that has been allowed.
Still, this is not simply a Detroit problem. Cities all over the United States are in decline, and while everyone professes to care, no one has an agenda for them at the federal or state level. Neither Gov. Jennifer Granholm nor her Republican opponent, Dick DeVos, has offered detailed ideas for revitalizing Michigan's older core cities.
Failing cities also quickly become regional problems. It's no accident that the healthiest urban regions nationwide are those that, unlike southeast Michigan, have learned to work together.
Detroit's leaders, and those of other struggling cities, must worry less about image and more about solving the problems underscored by the latest population estimates. For Michigan to prosper, they will also need more support from their regions and the rest of the state.
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5:53 PM
