Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Time to Raze America?

There are some alarming if not perhaps anecdotal trends and memes shaping up on the American landscape - and I think there is one that will have direct effect on the real landscape - and that is worthless housing (to be followed by worthless retail space). America, and the thousand of communities that make up America, needs a real plan for the future in places like Flint, Michigan and other cities where the homes are crumbling, the economy has crumbled, and there is probably not any good solution other than tearing things down. How we as a nation deal with this challenge will be a real test. Perception and reality -of home, work, community, neighborhood - have to change in America. I hope we as a nation can make it through to the other side.

A couple of examples:

  • Banks Starting to Walk Away on Foreclosures - after being foreclosed on, the bank suspends the sheriff's sale, and now this worthless property is the responsibility of the owner again.

  • Off-the-cuff suggestion prompts discussion on what to do with abandoned neighborhoods in Flint:
    Property abandonment is getting so bad in Flint that some in government are talking about an extreme measure that was once unthinkable -- shutting down portions of the city, officially abandoning them and cutting off police and fire service.

    There are no easy answers to these issues. These people are all going to need help - financial and physical (as in moving, etc.). Unfortunately the "right" is going to cry socialism or Marxism at every chance they get, but if tax dollars are not spent on these issues, then what else is there to do? Abandon your citizens? Fuel despair and poverty until there are starving looters running through the streets? I hope somewhere in the federal, state, and local governments people are working on plans for these issues.

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