I was ringside for Devon Alexander's championship bout with Tim Bradley on Saturday in the run-down, smelly, and cold Pontiac Silverdome, outside of Detroit.
Bradley bashed in Alexander's head, but he didn't bother using his gloves. He used his noggin as a battering ram. The fight was stopped in the 10th round after Alexander was cut above both eyes.
The only good thing that happened on this wasted weekend was that I spent some time before the fight with Sal Martinez, executive director of Community Renewal and Development. Martinez, a former chair of the St. Louis Housing Authority, was in Detroit Friday viewing the first steps of the massive redevelopment plan that is the dream of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing.
Bing, the former Detroit Pistons great, was elected in 2009 on the promise of turning the disaster that is the Motor City back into a vibrant American city. Martinez said Bing’s pet project is actually a realization of St. Louis’ “Team Four” plan—a massive acquisition of land and properties, demolition and starting anew.
A quarter of the city of Detroit would get a new start. More than 33,000 empty houses, 90,000 residential lots, and 10,000 occupied houses and apartment buildings will be bulldozed. Current residents in these areas will be relocated and the city’s meager resources can then be concentrated on viable neighborhoods.
"It's a long road back," Bing recently told the Associated Press. "I don't want to raise expectations, false expectations. I want to be very straight with people. This is hard work and it's not going to happen overnight.”
While controversial, the mayor of Detroit is taking a hands-on approach to saving his city. In St. Louis, the heavy lifting always seems to be left to private developers who plan to bank millions of dollars while begging for public assistance. In St. Louis, the developer takes no risk because City Hall is willing to subsidize future failure.
Detroit reached a population high of 1.8 million in the late 1950s. Its population is now down to 900,000. It is about 140 square miles. Tearing much of it down to build it back up makes sense to me. St. Louis should learn a lesson from Mayor Bing and try to copy his bold plan.
