Real Estate & Property Law

Opposition to Detroit Downsizing

By Alan Ackerman

Opponents of Mayor Bing's plan to consolidate residential areas have reason for concern. The Michigan Citizen article questions the secrecy of the downsizing plan and whether it will treat homeowners fairly. The policy has dredged up memories of the infamous Poletown taking in the 1980s. However, rather than rush to judgment, we should wait until the Bing Administration releases details of the plans. Patience is a necessary part of this process. Right now we can only speculate on how the downsizing will proceed and which residents it will affect.

The Michigan Citizen 

The Bing administration has promised that the next phase of the Detroit Works Project would begin early this year with a series of 40 neighborhood meetings.

City planners have still not scheduled those meetings.

'We want to complete a certain level of analysis before asking people to move in order to maintain diversity and give people options based on analysis and neighborhood indicators,' Marja Winters, City of Detroit Planning and Development Department Deputy Director and co-director of the Detroit works Project, told the Michigan Citizen.

Maps of detailed neighborhood surveys provided by Data Driven Detroit (D3) offer only a guess as to where the city will concentrate relocation efforts. The highest rates of foreclosure have occurred in the densely populated areas on the outskirts of the city. The areas with the least housing stock occur in a ring around the downtown district. This geographical reality contradicts any belief that Bing will attempt to shrink the city by moving it inward.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on January 18, 2011 (boomark / email).