American cities to be 'pruned'?

besty

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5516536/US-cities-may-have-to-be-bulldozed-in-order-to-survive.html

Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.

Tired of the Hypocrisy

Wow I thought you meant CASTRATED, as some folks refer to the jewels as prunes.....

This is actually stupid. Those people pick up and go somewhere. Where might that be? Right now here in SoCal we are on water rationing because developers knocked down hillsides and built houses on them, which are full of people who left abandoned homes elsewhere, without actually securing and developing more sources of water to supply the additional people. So now we have to divide up the same amount of water with many more people. Stupid!

Next thing, they will build domes over the shrunken cites and control the climate.

PrimateDave

I see nothing wrong with this. It is certainly not "socialist" or an Obama thing like some of the comments suggest below the article. If the cities can't afford to exist in their current state of being, then it is only good business practice to shrink. However, the power to decide should, imo, remain a local decision and not a federal mandate. Instead of going into the red to subsidize growth, city governments should live within their means, as should all levels of government, including the federal. Of course, sometimes the responsible thing to do is also political suicide.

Dave

rebel8

My city, which has plenty of natural resources, is half empty at least.

The US 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

Bulldozing vacant, broken down buildings that are used to commit crimes, and making parks out of them? Can't think of a reason to dislike that idea. Hope they consider doing it here. Knock down the crappy areas and leave the nice areas.

What will the doobies complain about though? Man will be undoing his own destruction of the Earth.

cattails

Wow! I thought the subject line

actually referred to a constipation

epidemic or something like that.

btw besty what the ... is your avatar sucking on?

Hittman

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint

Oh no, they're bringing in Pioneers! That will drive everyone away for sure.

frozen one

I read that story about Flint. The population has really crashed their. I get a bit nervous anytime the Feds want to step in though. I read another story out of Michigan about counties unpaving some roads and going back to gravel to save money. That has to be unpopular with the people who are affected.

HintOfLime

I employed the same strategy in SimCity when the economy tanked. Pause game, bulldoze underperforming areas, ensure electricity remains connected... unpause.

I sure hope my neighborhood never gets mysteriously bulldozed in the blink of an eye at the cost of $1 per acre.

- Lime

PEC

Detroit should have been bulldozed 40 years ago.

Philip