The difference between New Orleans and Detroit? It only took 2 days for New Orleans to be a ruined city.

This seems silly. Fix your economy and the gentrification of your urban area will happen all by itself. I would focus on:
1. Educational institutions.
2. Making sure there is good IP transfer from educational institutions to industry.
3. Making sure there is a VC community and the local legal framework is attractive to big business and small business.
4. Focusing on marketing the cultural aspects of the city so people will want to move there.

To hell with fixing up old buildings. People will buy them and do that. The government's job is to make the city a place you'd want to live. Cheap property is an advantage there once the reasons it is cheap go away (and my understanding is they've done a good job cleaning up some of the crime problems, so they are right where they want to be....)

flynn23 wrote:

A deeply flawed redevelopment program has allowed Detroit's historic Brush Park neighborhood to fall into seemingly irreparable disrepair.

Once a community of flourishing town houses and mansions, the district today, according to some experts, should be prime territory for revival given its proximity to downtown Detroit, Comerica Park and Ford Field.

There have been a handful of impressive restorations in the district, along with a successful new housing tract being built by Crosswinds Communities. But the city's development plan, drawn up in 1989 and updated twice, remains largely unfulfilled. It initially called for the construction of 1,500 homes and town houses; the condemnation, purchase and demolition of upwards of 100 buildings; and payment of moving and relocation costs for an estimated 500 people.

The difference between New Orleans and Detroit? It only took 2 days for New Orleans to be a ruined city.

It's all part of OCP's project to build Delta City!

Mike the Usurper wrote:

flynn23 wrote:

A deeply flawed redevelopment program has allowed Detroit's historic Brush Park neighborhood to fall into seemingly irreparable disrepair.

Once a community of flourishing town houses and mansions, the district today, according to some experts, should be prime territory for revival given its proximity to downtown Detroit, Comerica Park and Ford Field.

There have been a handful of impressive restorations in the district, along with a successful new housing tract being built by Crosswinds Communities. But the city's development plan, drawn up in 1989 and updated twice, remains largely unfulfilled. It initially called for the construction of 1,500 homes and town houses; the condemnation, purchase and demolition of upwards of 100 buildings; and payment of moving and relocation costs for an estimated 500 people.

The difference between New Orleans and Detroit? It only took 2 days for New Orleans to be a ruined city.

It's all part of OCP's project to build Delta City!

ED 209 thinks yer right!