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March 15th, 2013 
David Schulberg the 3rd
Detroit’s fall from grace has been precipitous and painful. In the 1950s it
was the fifth largest American city with a population of 1.8 million, but
more than half its residents have left and it now ranks 18th with 700,000,
leaving formerly prosperous suburbs wastelands.
In the recession house prices fell back to the levels of half a century
earlier and some of its most impressive buildings are eerily empty, with
factories and schools left to rot.
Derelict streets are lined with properties that can be bought for just a few
thousand dollars. In an attempt to clear the blight, the city began
bulldozing empty houses, including the boyhood home of Mitt Romney, the
former Republican presidential candidate whose father ran the American
Motors Corporation in Detroit’s heyday. Unemployment is at 18.2 per cent,
far above the national jobless rate of 7.7 per cent, and the murder rate is
soaring. Last year was the deadliest in two decades.
More than a third of Detroit residents are officially classified as living in
poverty and basic services such as street lights and policing have broken
down as many city workers are forced to take days off because there is no
money to pay them.
The city faces a $327 million (£216 million) budget deficit and more than $14
billion (£9 billion) in long-term debt. The immediate task is to cut $15
million a month in spending. Mr Orr will make $275,000 (£182,000) compared
to the $1 million he billed for his part in restructuring Chrysler. He has
been employed for at least a year to achieve what he admitted would have to
be “one of the greatest turnarounds in US history”.
Outside the building where his appointment was announced a small group of
protesters criticised the intervention of the state of Michigan as
unconstitutional and undemocratic.
One carried a coffin banner reading: “RIP They Are Killing Detroit Over
Our Dead Bodies.” Dave Bing, the Detroit mayor and a former
professional basketball player, has pledged to support Mr Orr, but the move
has been bitterly opposed by many city council leaders who see the
appointment as a power grab.
Many residents appear to have lost faith in their elected officials. Earlier
this week Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor, was found guilty of
racketeering, extortion, bribery and fraud.
The prosecution accused him of using the mayor’s office to divert $84 million
worth of city contracts to an accomplice, and sharing the proceeds.
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