The government [is] looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.
Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.
The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.
Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.
Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes.
[…]In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into a collection of small urban centres separated from each other by countryside.
“The real question is not whether these cities shrink – we’re all shrinking – but whether we let it happen in a destructive or sustainable way,” said Mr Kildee. “Decline is a fact of life in Flint. Resisting it is like resisting gravity.”
[…]He said: “The obsession with growth is sadly a very American thing. Across the US, there’s an assumption that all development is good, that if communities are growing they are successful. If they’re shrinking, they’re failing.”
Yay! Lets force all the poor people into ghettos where their lives will be better, safer and will provide a warm and nurturing environment to bring up the kids in.
I love how populist ideology actually tries to sound like “modern” American conservatism actually gives shit about poor people.
The reality, of course, is that they only worship the almighty dollar and the people who control those dollars are the chosen few. Goes along with the Old Testament crap that requires poor folks to keep having the most kids and the least education.
There have been a few decent documentaries about the Flint solution. No one babbles about this being the best solution – only an attempt to take the reality of voodoo economics and incompetent capitalism and turn the result into something livable for the people who couldnt afford to scramble away to some tidy suburban McMansion.
The eugenicist are using this as a test. Soon whole cities will be removed after engineered viruses have wiped out most of their citizens.
#3 – Better get in line for your “flu” vaccine. mwhahahahahaha
As a Detroit guy I see crap everyday that looks like Dresden in 1945. So, it’s a bad thing to tear this stuff (see pic) down and let the ground lie fallow until it’s needed again? What saps.
So what do you do if there are a few houses still occupied on the block? Do you eminent domain these people out of their house?
And of course you will be reimbursed your house value which is about $30,000, and after half the houses are torn down, the remaining houses will be worth $80,000.
And maybe it won’t be a park, but rather a Lowes.
“The obsession with growth is sadly a very American thing. Across the US, there’s an assumption that all development is good, that if communities are growing they are successful. If they’re shrinking, they’re failing.” ???
Yes, in the whole Nature Growth is a good thing. It is not obsession but natural law. You don’t grow – you decline/die. These are the same people who would like to see us back in the caves, sans the fire (hey, we can’t burn natural resources).
#5, Alphie,
Gas will go to a $1.00 a gallon, stimulating the economy
I don’t understand how you think that adding some oil years down the road will create any new jobs now. In case you don’t get it, the oil inventories are full! The price is high because of speculation.
And abandoned communities will return to life.
Those communities are largely being abandoned because the jobs have disappeared. The same economics you continue to tout caused their demise. The only way people ever will return to any community is if there is employment.
#6, Alphie,
If they could accuately predict what the weather will be like a month out…
What? That one isn’t covered in the Book of Genesis (KJV)? Come on, it has to be. You get all your answers from the (KJV).
What the eff does predicting the weather have to do with communities failing?
Delta City … they stole the idea from Robocop.
Tear them down, this will make space for the building during the next economic boom.
How many of you shake your head at all of the strip malls going up, meantime most of them are for rent.
#14 – “How many of you shake your head at all of the strip malls going up”
Me, for one. Two years ago, we lost 100 acres of beautiful forest when a local town decided a new strip mall (exactly like the strip malls that already exist only 20 miles to the north and south of it) would be a fantastic idea.
It hasn’t been more than half full once since it opened. Just ugly large empty concrete, glass and steel boxes.
I wish to God we could have the trees back.
Makes sense. Abandoned buildings are terrible. I’m from the rust belt, and when my town started razing the old factories and houses, things started looking up.
Cities don’t live forever. They have a purpose and when that purpose comes to an end so does the city. There has been a population shift to the southern half of the US for some time now. Recently our beloved Governor Dumpy Dump of Georgia convinced NCR to move its headquarters from Dayton, Ohio to the Atlanta area. It is nice to see that the local governments are doing the right thing by letting the city return to nature.
Aurora, Nevada had a population of 10,000 people at one time.
#5, Alfredi… that’s the most nonsensical, most regressive idea I’ve seen for a while. You haven’t a clue as to what is driving world oil prices right now and for the foreseeable future. $1 per gallon?….. that fits perfectly in your dream world.
There are enough worldwide oil reserves to last 42 years according to CEO of British petroleum, and demand is already dropping and since speculation is the current driving force behind oil prices, prices are leveling off. The movement for alternative energy … fuel…. is well underway. How long do you think it’s going to take to replace gasoline with a renewable source once industry mindset to do so takes hold in a big way? 5 years? 10 years? ….42 years?
The oil that is left in the ground… US untapped sources is expensive to remove. On top of that ANWR oil (for instance) at full production would only lower US dependancy on foreign oil by 4%…. until its paltry reserves run out. By some estimates, it would lower world oil prices by maybe $1.44 per barrel. $1 per gallon of gasoline? I think not.
#21, alfred1: “Theories of global warming cause asinine energy policies which bankrupt business and the unemployment and loss of tax revenue, creates depressed areas…”
Too late. True or not, global warming, is a fact of world acknowledgment. The movement to clean energy is practically unstoppable now, so ideas on how to save the current economy and future economies will be centered around clean and healthy technology. There is no reason why the USA can’t be progressive and dominate on those ideals and leave the “slash and burn” mentality behind. Reasonable intelligent people don’t hold on to ancient and invalid ideas that have long since outlived their usefulness.
Re Alfred1, #24: ” We disagree about Global Warming…it violates my “common sense” to believe man impacts weather…rather, judging by history, climate change seems to be a function of the sun, when it warms up, we get warmer…and vice versa.”
Interesting observation as I didn’t say what my view was in my post. Regardless, my opinion on that subject as “the rush to come to a “consensus” was more political than scientific, and I’m disappointed that the IPCC and it’s members stooped so low. Whatever man’s contribution is to global warming, there is contrary evidence that is being ignored as to what our share actually is, and whether our efforts to affect it will do anything significant. HOWEVER, I fully support the need for cleaner fuel, and better maintenance of the Earth as an ecosystem. In that respect, the move to cleaner fuel via the global warming movement is welcome by me.
re your comment: “Oil, contrary to what you have learned, is ORGANIC, BIODEGRABALE, recycled biomass, sunshine…a wonderfully clean energy, properly used, “
I’m not surprised that you SAY that burning fossil fuel is “wonderfully clean energy”, because you invariably say anything to make a point…. even when you don’t believe it yourself.
I invite you to breathe the fumes from your car’s tailpipe for the next 20 minutes, and then report back here with your opinion. For my part, I will breathe the fumes off of the solar array my neighbor has installed. See you in 20 minutes?
Rust Belt Blues: In 1984 the steel mill in my hometown closed for good. The population then dropped from 11,000 in 1980 to 6300 in 2000. A lot of families just abandoned their pre WWII woon value den homes which we then seized by the city for back taxes. When houses are abandoned they attract crime and arson. With State and Federal money the town has torn down most of these homes. Better to green the city this way than have a repeat of the great Chicago fire. My parents bought their current home in 1978 and are still upside down in value (taking inflation into account) if they tried to sell it today.
Re #28, Alfred1, you being a Christian, I am not surprised you are so deceptive in your rebuttals. Changing the points of my argument and then inventing responses that make it look like you are being reasonable is obviously not beneath you. It’s similar to your deceptive ploys to persuade the weak of mind or the unwary that your preaching is honest.
Your post #29 exposes your true god…the almighty buck… and your complete disregard for anyone but yourself and your ilk. Bravo scumbag.
7,
Comparing Flint to Dresden? Dresden was, and still is, an historic, artistic town. Flint is just another American company town gone under.
28,
Good to see that you realize that the end of science has occurred with the discovery of Oil, God Bless! Since you believe that Man has reached its apex of energy, what happens when something like fusion becomes viable? Do you use a fusion plant to run oil burners?
You’re such a fool. You make comments related to nothing of the discussion, contradict yourself within one or two posts, and then HAIL JESUS, you praise God for the gifts… WOW!
35,36,
I see that the body of Jesus that you enjoy has some psychotropic effects on you… Or is that just your normal state?
Maybe you should do a little quality control on your comments, since you generally need a few revisions to make a little more sense than none. And who the hell are you quoting? The second voice in your head, or the tenth?
37,
Didn’t they just take fighter jet bodies and make them into cars back then?
Now, a Citroen 2CV… THERE is a work of art that could sometimes function as a car!
40,
You touch on an interesting facet of Americana: the development of the home as the apex of community involvement.
Huge backyards – no parks required
Huge entertainment centres/rooms – no external socializing
Basement bars / pool rooms – more home play
Its amazing that every aspect of socializing in modern cities is encouraged to bring within the home territory… which requires huge tracts of land.
I find that when I’m in London or Paris, the life outside of the office hours is very rich and deep. So much to do you basically go home to sleep and shower.
42 Alfred1
“#40 Central planning didn’t exist till Obama”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH….. oh that’s rich…
We’ll have to add it to Genius George Bush and learning from Cheney. I think you need to stop reading comic books (King James Version) and start reading historical FACT…
44,
As expected, you imagine the whole of Americana to be dictated in one command… Kinda like King James Version for America?
44,
And, FWIW, I never mentioned anything about government forcing people to the burbs, did I? I guess if you had reading comprehension above, say, moron from the pews, you would have realized that I commented on the BEHAVIOUR of Americans in the burbs RE: lifestyle, and NOT government dictates. What I did ridicule is your belief that central planning originated in the US with Obama.
47,
So, by your comment, you are claiming there has been NO CENTRAL PLAN AT ALL IN THE HISTORY OF THE US UNTIL Obama?
That is what you’re claiming, correct?
49,
Alfred1. I appreciate the fact that you are trying to make a point, but you’re barking up the wrong tree… In fact, you’re not even in the correct forest.
Let’s go back a bit…
You claimed central planning never existed before Obama. I LOL’d. Then you started asking me for the example of the official order to populate the burbs. I WTF’d? First off, I never said there was an official word. But, what I will say is that Central Planning has been a central TENANT of the FEDERAL government. If you knew what federal meant, you would quickly realize that the Federal government does central planning all the time.
But, you’re a jackass that can’t even read, so what should I expect?