Page 2 - Downsizing Detroit News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

As to places where this has worked and they can take inspiration from? >> actually, youngstown, a smaller city but with the same problem as detroit and also the same manufacturing path, steel town, et cetera, they tried to do this with very mixed results. you've got people if you don't pay them to move, where are they going to go and what's their incentive to leave. someone that's the only house on the block, mowed their lawn, manicured, proud of their home to get them to leave to go to a more dense area, well what's their incentive if you're not going to pay them to do so. it's hard -- looks ...

Detroit. >> that is a scene from the documentary "detropia." 1930 detroit was the fastest growing city in the world. a mecca for industry and innovation, a metropolis of more than 1.5 million people. now, 82 years later it is the epitome of decline, fastest shrinking city in the country. in just ten years, from 2000 to 2010, detroit lost nearly a quarter of its population, dropping to about 713,000. left behind, abandoned buildings, shuttered factories and empty land. so many vacant lots you could fit the entire city of paris in them. and there is no sign of the trend being reversed. according...

Of "detroit city is the place to be" due out next month. thank you for joining me and wes. we are he excited to talk about this topic underdiscussed the decline of america's great cities. rachel, there is a talk in and around the movie of ruin, to say this idea that these cities, they're all these vacant homes artists can go there, thing are happening with food and arts and culture but the city as it is for residents, it's a false narrative. that these cities really are struggling and you look at what's happening with the downsizing in detroit and that would bear that out. >> also the narrativ...

Good quality of life. our story hopefully sheds light on them. >> heidi, when we're talking about the narrative of detroit and the problems, there's systemic failures we're looking at. this statistic was staggering, the national institute for literacy says 47% of adults living in detroit are functionally illiterate. that's half the population of the city that's functionally illiterate. there's a problem with education which leads to social mobility and economic success. >> absolutely. that's why problems, the systemic problems in detroit are hard to solve and where you're not hearing them in t...

The educational disparities, doing things like making sure the education is trained towards jobs available and making sure we're putting in places where they can actually be successful in their work, that's how you increase the tax base, that's how you encourage more business to invest inside the area and address the economic disparities mitt romney is talking about without saying if we decrease taxes for the very rich somehow it will trickle down. that experiment has not worked. >> i will try to leave this segment on a high note which is to say that the detroit tigers are in the world series....