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NEWS > U.S.A. > DETROIT BETS ON LOTTERY AS LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE THE CITY
DETROIT BETS ON LOTTERY AS LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE THE CITY
December 3 2011
Detroit, MI – For many people Detroit has been the face of the recent economic troubles plaguing the country. While there is no doubt that the city has suffered as a result of the downturn, most notably with the auto industry, the reality is that Detroit has been on a steady decline for years and, in many ways, the recent crisis actually helped by bringing fresh attention to the problems there.
Things have certainly improved. The Big Three car manufacturers have become profitable once again thanks to the bailouts which were spurred by the crisis and culturally, particularly in sports, the city has started to see resurgence. But the problems in Detroit go much deeper than that and a few years of mild recovery are not going to fix the endemic problems in the city, not even close.
Streets are crumbling, bridges are aging, schools are years behind the rest of the country, amongst many other problems. All those years of decay and erosion have left the city very much a ruin that will require years of work and lots of money to repair, neither of which Detroit has.
Some lawmakers, though, are looking to change that by creating a Detroit-only lottery that they feel will help funnel more money into the places where it is needed, something which may provide the city with its last chance before being either abandoned or demolished entirely.
“I believe it’s going to be a political challenge. I’m up for the task. When we explore opportunities to revitalize municipalities, we have to take into consideration that often times you’re unable to cut your way out of a deficit and you have to generate income
and revenue,” said Representative Dr. Jimmy Womack who is pushing the initiative.
Similar lotteries have collected billions for the city, though over a long period of time.
It’s not clear how much more money can be generated from the remaining residents of the city or if it will be enough to stave off what many see as an inevitability for the once mighty city.
“We are facing a severe shortfall that will require layoffs, cuts, and possibly total financial insolvency. The last thing we in the city want is to declare bankruptcy but that is a real possibility at this stage, there’s no point trying to cover that up,” said a city insider. “The situation is really bad and frankly I don’t believe that a lottery is the solution. It will take a long time to draw revenue from that and I don’t know if enough people will buy into it to even allow it to turn a profit. It may have been a good idea ten or twenty years ago but right now we need cash, not long term plans.”
It’s not clear what would happen to the few quality assets in the city should it be abandoned. Most manufacturing plants are in the suburbs but corporate headquarters for the auto industry and sports stadiums are located in the city.
“I think that at the very least the people in the city have staved off total demolition. 
There had been talk about jest demoing everything and ditching everything into Lake Erie but the handful of assets in the city make that unlikely, though they could just take those on as a write-off,” said Scrape TV American analyst Dave Davidson. “Unlike, say, Buffalo, they probably won’t just level the city entirely but something will have to be done otherwise it won’t be worth keeping. Lotteries probably aren’t the best move but at this stage it won’t really hurt. It’s a Hail Mary to be sure, but that’s pretty much all the city has so they might as well try.”
If it were levelled the remains would likely expand Lake St. Clair to the north.
Mike Michaels, American Correspondent
NEWS > U.S.A. > DETROIT BETS ON LOTTERY AS LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE THE CITY
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