
An American City Where the Government Barely Exists - rmason
http://splinternews.com/welcome-to-an-american-city-where-the-government-barely-1818667220
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free_everybody
As someone who has lived in and around Detroit for their whole life, I found
this article to be very insightful. By far, the best part of Detroit is a
trend of extremely creative people being able to do whatever they want with
their respective spaces. It goes far beyond painting a mural or erecting a
sculpture. There are huge gardens[1], performance art spaces[2], puppet
theaters[3], concert venues in industrial buildings[4], and much more. And
these spaces are very cheap to maintain, relatively speaking.

[1][http://www.miufi.org/](http://www.miufi.org/)
[2][http://thehinterlandsensemble.org/](http://thehinterlandsensemble.org/)
[3][http://www.puppetart.org/](http://www.puppetart.org/)
[4][http://tangentgallery.com/Tangent_Gallery/Home.html](http://tangentgallery.com/Tangent_Gallery/Home.html)

~~~
dahart
For someone who hasn't lived there, but has spent some time in Detroit, can
you shed some light on whether it makes sense to treat Highland Park as
separate "city" apart from Detroit? I realize it may technically have it's own
boundary, but to an outsider Highland Park looks like a neighborhood of
downtown Detroit. I mean, it's even halfway between downtown center and the
Detroit Zoo. Since Detroit as a whole is having the same problem, including
many other neighborhoods, I felt like the article talking about Highland Park
as distinct and separate felt weird. Is there some context there that I might
not understand?

~~~
free_everybody
Most people, myself included, lump Highland Park into Detroit despite
technically being a separate city. Hamtrack is similar. You really don't feel
like you're out of Detroit until you hit the Southfield, Ferndale, and Royal
Oak areas.

~~~
aibara
While I agree many people do this with Highland Park, Hamtramck is very
distinct, both physically (types of houses, density) and demographically (huge
immigrant populations, Polish and now Middle Eastern and South Asian).
Actually, certain parts around Hamtramck (e.g. Banglatown) are often lumped
with Hamtramck despite being in Detroit.

~~~
free_everybody
I can understand that. I guess I mentally lump it with Detroit because of the
arson, infrastructure issues that I associate with the city, but it is pretty
unique. Thanks.

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empath75
There are a bunch of cities in the US that would be best ‘fixed’ by paying
everyone to leave and letting it return back to forest.

It seems like they’d have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into this
city just to make it minimally functional, and they still won’t have a viable
economy afterwards.

~~~
mikeyouse
The Detroit/Warren/Dearborn MSA has a higher GDP than San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa
Clara MSA and is home to ~4 million people. Don't be confused by articles
highlighting specific neighborhoods or old factories, there is a ton of
economic activity. There are obviously some huge problems trying to provide
government services for the same land area with a shrinking population,
especially following a large recession, but "Won't have a viable economy" is
silly given the number of companies in the area.

~~~
skadamou
I think you make a good point. You shouldn't write off the whole Detroit area
because of a few articles about specific neighborhoods. But
Detroit/Warren/Dearborn essentially have the same GDP as San
Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara yet twice as many people live in the Detroit area

[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP19820](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP19820)

[https://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/pdf.cfm?fips=19820&ar...](https://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/pdf.cfm?fips=19820&areatype=MSA&geotype=4)

[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP41940](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP41940)

[http://www.bestplaces.net/metro/california/san_jose-
sunnyval...](http://www.bestplaces.net/metro/california/san_jose-sunnyvale-
santa_clara)

~~~
mikeyouse
That only strengthens my point though -- The original commenter said we should
just pay everyone to leave since there's no hope of sustaining an economy
there.

If you can pay 4 million people to leave, you can pay to fix whatever services
they are lacking -- and then you'd have 4 million people in a area with
hundreds of large companies and good government services!

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thomas_howland
It's far from "government barely existing". They exist in minimal form solely
to extract resources from any remaining piece of value in the city. Eg:

"Then earlier this year, he got a letter saying 333 Midland wasn’t up to code
and it would have to cease operations immediately. He took care of the minor
matters the fire marshall requested, like installing exit signs and extra fire
extinguishers. But he still can’t get a clear answer from the building
inspector about what else needs to be taken care of"

~~~
icelancer
"But he still can’t get a clear answer from the building inspector about what
else needs to be taken care of."

This is local government at its finest. I deal with this on a regular basis.
There are regulations with no clear code; when I ask for a specific contract
and list of things to do, I get the runaround - but that doesn't stop them
from telling me what I am doing with my building structures is not up to code.

------
jokoon
I wonder why there would not be some kind of alternative economic
opportunities in that city.

I sense it would be the ideal place to "start over" and build something new in
terms of politics and economics.

But when you think about it, a city is such a complex thing, so unless there
is money and investment, a poor american city will just stay poor, that seems
to fit the law of gravity. Unless you redefine some new way to live in detroit
that shortcuts the problems of money, this city will linger.

It's surprising because I really think all the large pool of cash from the
silicon valley and its thousands of new alternative ideas could revive
detroit. But instead San Francisco is just the antithesis of detroit. That
says lengths about the polarized world of today's capitalism.

To be totally honest, I wonder why somebody like Bernie Sanders is not
campaigning for mayor or governor other there. It's the ideal place for the
left to accomplish things.

~~~
ams6110
> It's the ideal place for the left to accomplish things.

It's actually an example of the aftermath of decades of government by the
left.

------
rmason
I really like how they're routing around a dysfunctional government that is
barely functioning. Compared to Detroit that surrounds it Highland Park is the
wild, wild west.

------
MilnerRoute
East Palo Alto experienced something similar. They voted to incorporate as
their own city, then discovered they didn't have a large enough tax base to
adequately fund their police department.

At one point in the 1980s they actually achieved the distinction of having the
highest murder rate of any city in America.

~~~
justinjlynn
It's different now?

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24gttghh
Honestly it’s good to hear about the things ‘Mama’ is doing on Avalon ST.
That’s some perseverance right there.

------
yairhaimo
Is there any scenario like this in any other developed country? (Im honestly
looking for an answer)

~~~
microcolonel
The problem here is a lack of prudence. When the town was flush with cash from
the manufacturing sector, they expanded the budget and became inefficient.
When that money left, they still had all of these long-standing inefficient
agreements and processes.

Detroit is a well known example of it because they are still trying to uphold
these parasitic relationships despite being basically evacuated.

~~~
maxerickson
I'm not sure you even need profligate spending to suffer after 50% of the
population leaves.

~~~
microcolonel
I would generally consider spending to be profligate if you could not sustain
it for a proportional reduction in population (even of an important
demographic) with an equal proportional reduction in number of people served.

Or I guess the important matter would be making it so that you only have maybe
a few quarters of loss before you can legally adjust services to fit within
the budget.

~~~
vacri
It's really unusual for cities to shrink, let alone drastically, so rapping
people on the knuckles for not planning what happens when half your population
leaves is a bit disingenuous.

~~~
microcolonel
I don't think it's disingenuous to be thinking of how quickly you could
terminate non-essential services and staff, and in what order they are cut.
You can spend your size, you'd just better be able to downsize quick, whether
the economic downturn is global or local, artificial or natural.

City councils seem to think they're in the business of employing people
permanently, but they really shouldn't need to be concerned about that, given
that the citizens are left to foot the bill, and the majority of them do not
work for the local government.

------
costcopizza
Surprised a libertarian billionaire hasn't assumed Highland Park's debts and
run their utopia here.

~~~
stevenwoo
You would need a billionaire because actually running things like a
libertarian doesn't pay the municipal bills - it's been tried without the
billionaire. [https://www.texasobserver.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-
frees...](https://www.texasobserver.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-freest-
little-city-in-texas/)

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Overtonwindow
Dearborn and Detroit both either barely have a government or the government
has ceded power to private groups. Corruption and constitutional protections
have largely gone out the window.

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mcherm
Is this libertarian paradise?

~~~
IncRnd
It's not even close to a comparison with "Galt's Gulch." It could be, but the
prime movers aren't there. Historically, it actually shows the opposite of
such a place.

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wavefunction
With a population of 11,776 it's only a town.

~~~
IncRnd
It is incorporated, not only working from a charter, which in this case means
city not town.

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intrasight
I, for one, am in favor of this experiment in less government.

~~~
nether
You should move there.

~~~
intrasight
I have less government where I live now and like it just fine

~~~
ionised
Where would that be?

~~~
intrasight
I wouldn't want it spoiled so I'd rather not say

