Youngstown 2010 has Lessons for Detroit

The Detroit Free Press posted an informative article comparing Youngstown's efforts to manage a shrinking city with Detroit's.  City leaders in both locations are running into reality as they try to implement plans to reduce the size and scope of city services.  Especially surprising is the resistance people have to relocating from parts of the city leaders would like to shut off.

But relocating people, ambitious in theory, proved difficult in practice. A lack of resources limited the scope. Ultimately, the city offered incentives of up to $50,000 to move just five homeowners. Four declined; one initially said yes but became too ill to accept.Today, Mayor Jay Williams said the idea of moving people always was more "theoretical and academic" than a core part of Youngstown 2010. Hunter Morrison, an urban planning professor who helped draw up Youngstown 2010, said the city has "pretty much abandoned the notion that you're going to aggressively move out folks."