Cities have been devastated by falling property taxes, fueled by both falling property values and a growing number of properties for which no property taxes are being paid. Property taxes continue to fall as the valuations catch up to the new market values, and now a long-predicted “second wave” of foreclosures is likely to damage…
Category: Cities
What the end looks like
The New York Times is stepping up its coverage of Detroit once again, as the city’s emergency manager issues dire warnings to creditors and seems to be paving the way to bankruptcy. There was a flurry of stories about the possibility of the Detroit Institute of Art perhaps being liquidated to help pay off Detroit’s…
Whole Foods opens in Detroit, threatening stereotypes everywhere | Grist
What is the opposite of urban austerity, or the institution that puts a landscape of abandonment and neglect in stark relief…Whole Foods? Recipient of $5.8 million in public money (I guess when you’re about to go bankrupt, what’s a few million?), opening on the same week as the city’s impending bankruptcy starts to take shape….
In Embattled Detroit, No Talk of Sharing Pain – NYTimes.com
Detroit, currently under the governance of an emergency manager, seems destined for bankruptcy or mass default (it has already begun to default on some of its credit payments. Either scenario will be groundbreaking in municipal finance and in the power relationships between bankers, retirees, cities, and states. The impending battle between people living on fixed…
San Francisco throws good money after bad
After wading through article after article about cities that can barely afford to pave their roads and keep libraries open, this is the kind of piece that makes me cringe. A sailing race for billionaires convinces the city to play host and pour all kinds of money into piers, advertising, you name it. Surprise, surprise,…