How far will Detroit's population fall?

[Allan]

How far does everybody think Detroit's population will fall? The city once had 2.1 million people, and is now below one million. The city is currently being revitalized, especially downtown, but the numbers still show the population falling. So how far will it fall until it rises again?

[MichiganDude]

IMHO I don't think it will fall any further... I do believe we have 1 million people still and I think we will grow by 2010. I go into further detail later...

[boo]

i think detroit's population will not rise again until its property taxes fall. of course, shaking some of the corruption out of the city's ruling class wouldn't hurt either. it is a shame that they can't keep the lights on in one of the nation's most dangerous cities (yes detroit has earned that title so far this year). my street is like a crapshoot, some nights they are on while other nights you can hardly see your hand in front of your face.

on the other hand i see strong potential for downtown if the mayor's office starts to stress preservation over elimination of historic structures. they need to go condo-wild like atlanta and other cities have. however, this begs the question: which comes first the businesses or the residents?

[Allan]

So you live in the city of Detroit, boo?

I know where you're coming from. The entire city government is corrupt and needs to be restructured. After the government is restructured, they can lower taxes. Lowering taxes in Detroit can be a challenge, however; because the 920,000 residents of Detroit today must pay for a crumbling infrastructure built for 2.1 million people. Also, the recent crime wave is not good for the city's image, nor its residents. There have been far too many murders this year already. I believe 121 so far, as compared to 75 at this time last year!

One issue I believe that is really keeping people away from the city is the schools. In general, the quality of schools in the city is horrible. To keep families in the city, the school system must improve. Until then, families will continue to flee to the suburbs.

Yet at the same time all this crime is occuring, there is a tremendous rebound happening downtown. There are so many new projects happening. The whole place is like one massive construction zone! However, I believe that Kilpatrick must see beyond today and into the future. Is demolishing every single abandoned building really a good idea? Detroit's best asset is its historic architecture. It therefore must be preserved, rather than destroyed. I could go on and on. You do bring up a very good point though. Do the city's residents or the businesses come first? Ideally it would be the residents, but in reality it must be a careful balance between the residents' demands and the business' demands.

[Spartan]

Is this just the city of Detroit? Are is suburbs as bad (crime/decreasing population)?

I tend to think that business must come first. Then residents will want to live there to not have to travel far to work. Business tends to be the focus of the downtown areas. However, with established downtown areas like Detroit has I would suspect that the opposite might be true.

[boo]

yes, allan, i am also a detroiter, currently residing in the cass corridor.

as far as crime goes, while it is heavily centered around the city proper, some of the "inner ring" suburbs have also seen a related spike in crime statistics. my parents, who live in the exurbs, even had a lady try to kill herself that lived across the street. in the subdivision one over from them, a teenage boy killed his entire family while they were sleeping. i don't buy the fact that crime is a city/suburb problem- it is just packaged and sold differently in each place.

in detroit, the businesses have definitely arrived first. that is why the city is dead after six o'clock on most evenings.

[bobliocatt]

I don't see the city's population growing in the next 5 years, but the decline is definately starting to bottom out. The city really needs to eliminate a lot of red tape in its permitting and approval process if it ever wants to see growth again.

[Allan]

Yeah, the businesses definately arrived first. More specifically, the restaurants have been the first to move in. According to experts, restaurants are always the first businesses to move in during a downtown revial, while the residents typically come later. I was downtown today, and was encouraged by all the activity. Merchant's Row & the Kales Building are coming along. Crews are hard at work cleaning out the Book-Cadillac & digging the hole for the downtown YMCA. I didn't have time to check out the Greektown site out, but I could see the machinery working in the distance.

I agree about the crime. Rates are higher everywhere...in the city, the suburbs, and also the exurbs. And this is not unique to the Detroit metro either. Crime rates have spiked in many cities across the country.