Shrink to Survive? City Downsizes

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I found this at abc news. Flint, Michigan was once a thriving community when General Motors helped hold a strong work force, but then GM made tens of thousands of job cuts since the automaker industry declined. This put Flint at the population of 115,000 instead of it's 200,000 before. The county treasurer, Dan Kildee, got an idea. There are about 10,000 vacant homes in Flint. More than 84,000 people have left, and they didn't take their houses with them, Kildee stated. He wants to tear down about 6,000 of these homes to get rid of competition, and bring Flint back to a thriving community. In place of the loss of homes, Kildee wants to eventually turn it over to open land or forests that can help later on.

When I first started reading this article, I thought this guy had a great idea. He was trying to help his community get back to where they used to be. He was taking something that had gone wrong and making it right.

This was not Rush Limbaugh's thoughts at all. He thought that downsizing a city was un American. He thought that it was unheard of. He later stated, if they are going to tear down 40% of this city, why not tear down the whole thing. I listen to Rush and agree with a lot of issues, but I would have to disagree with this one. The mayor of Flint, Dayne Walling, says that the downsizing of these homes to match their current population is not an attempt to push people out. He emphasizes new construction homes on larger lots. They would also like to pay people to relocate when money is in the budget. I think that this community is looking at the bigger picture, and is trying to do what is best for their community. I don't think that it should be looked at as un American. They are pushing through what was a bad time, and trying to make it better. It's not like they are tearing down houses that could easily be fixed. They can not be lived in. A lot of them were just the shell of what used to be a home.

Overall, I completely agree with what this community is trying to do. They are trying to rebuild and start new. I am always for someone trying to work with what they have to make it better. If that means tear down old, abandoned houses, then so be it.