 |
| © Jonathan Ernst/Reuters |
Detroit, which suffered such major economic setbacks that it declared bankruptcy two years ago, has made major gains in recent years. Its unemployment rate is roughly 10.7 percent, down from 24.8 percent in 2010, the highest rate among 50 major cities. An infusion of federal funds, coupled with philanthropic and corporate investment, has spurred new businesses, improved public services and a major demolition effort in blighted neighborhoods.
“In Detroit, with all challenges it faces — and it’s considerable — there’s a sense of hope,” said Obama’s domestic policy director Cecilia Muñoz, who was born in the city and grew up in the nearby suburb of Livonia.
But sometimes it is hard for the broader American public to hear that message. A December Washington Post/ABC News poll found that just as many respondents disapproved as approved of Obama’s handling of the economy, at 48 percent each.
The fact that Obama just declared a state of emergency Saturday providing up to $5 million in federal assistance to address widespread drinking water contamination in Flint, 70 miles north of Detroit, has further muddied the picture. Its supply became contaminated with lead, a potent neurotoxin, starting in April 2014 when a state-appointed city manager approved drawing water from the nearby Flint River to cut costs. The corrosive water caused lead from pipes and fixtures to leach into the drinking water supplies, and although the city switched back to using Detroit’s water in October, the entire system is so damaged that Gov. Rick Snyder (R) mobilized the National Guard to start distributing bottled water to residents on Jan. 12.
An independent researcher at Virginia Tech has accused the Environmental Protection Agency’s Midwest regional administrator of failing to disclose findings last summer that the water had dangerously high lead levels. EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said in an email that the agency did not release the memo in question because it “contained confidential personal and enforcement-sensitive information” but that it was “immediately circulated” to the regional team “that was working to require Flint to implement corrosion control” last summer.
On Tuesday, Obama met with Flint’s newly elected mayor, Karen Weaver, and appointed a coordinator for federal aid to the city, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response, Nicole Lurie.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president will not travel to Flint while in Michigan but has been monitoring the situation closely. “This is obviously a response that is and should be led by state and local officials. But the federal government is mobilizing significant resources to support that ongoing effort.”
Detroit, by contrast, has put much of its most recent crisis behind it. While a number of factors help account for the city’s ongoing recovery, experts said the 2009 bailout Obama provided U.S. automakers General Motors and Chrysler played a critical role. Since the bailout, the industry has added 646,000 manufacturing and retail jobs, and last year U.S. drivers bought more cars and trucks — 17.5 million — than ever.
“The fact that the president focused on an auto bailout to shore up the core manufacturing sector, that investment has certainly borne out,” said Amy Liu, director of the Metropolitan Policy Center at the Brookings Institution, noting the industry helps sustain not only direct jobs but related economic activity, including 32,000 jobs in computer systems design.
Although the overwhelming portion of direct auto manufacturing jobs are not in Detroit — indeed more than 80 percent of American cars aren’t even made in Michigan — Liu said that “there’s no doubt that the manufacturing supply chain has extended beyond Detroit” and “a lot of the R&D activity is still housed in the Detroit headquarters and in the Detroit area.”
More broadly, the Obama administration has taken part in an intense effort aimed at helping the Motor City rebound. It has “unlocked, repurposed or redirected” more than $300 million in federal investments for Detroit, according to a White House official, and embedded at least three full-time officials within the mayor’s office to help work on recovery efforts. The city has used $130 million in Treasury funds to demolish more than 7,500 blighted structures in less than two years, out of 40,000 targeted for destruction. A $25 million Transportation Department grant allowed Detroit to buy 80 new buses, and it recently restarted 24-hour service on several key routes.
The private sector has played a critical part in launching initiatives as well, and in September 2014, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, council member James Tate, former mayor Dave Bing, and Skillman Foundation President Tonya Allen joined together to launch a city chapter of My Brother’s Keeper, a White House effort aimed at supporting young men of color. The group has pledged to double the number of people working in the summer youth employment program in the next three years and add 5,000 African American and Latino men employed in the city’s high-growth industries by 2020.
“It’s a great model, in that they have made sure they have leaders from highest level involved,” White House Cabinet Secretary Broderick Johnson, who chairs the My Brother’s Keeper task force, said in an interview. “It won’t be so affected by changes in political leadership and elections, and the like.”
Bruce Katz, an urbanization expert at the Brookings Institution, said much of the credit for the city’s revival lies with its “private and civic institutions and leaders.”
“The federal government is obviously a major investor in Detroit. But for the most part there isn’t intentionality to federal money,” he said. “It flows. It’s a hodgepodge of grants to the city, HUD, support for Wayne State, the health care system.”
“Really what has happened in Detroit, between [Quicken tycoon and Detroit native] Dan Gilbert, major foundations, Wayne State, Henry Ford,” Katz added, “there really has been a collaborative effort to drive the city forward at the depths of bankruptcy.”
For Muñoz, who goes back regularly to visit her retired automotive engineer father and many other relatives in the area, the fact that the “federal government approached its role by doing a lot of listening” was instrumental in helping bring back the city. Growing up, she avoided Detroit’s Cass Avenue because “it was synonymous with blight, and crime, and danger.”
A year ago she and her sister went to that same street, to grab lunch at “an adorable tapas place” and check out the Shinola watch factory along with several other small shops. “This street was bustling with all kinds of people,” Muñoz recalled. “The Cass Avenue I walked down a year ago was indescribable. People were there because it’s vibrant.”
And if people are still skeptical of the city’s recovery, she added, it’s understandable. “People in the country, and certainly people in Michigan and Detroit, went through a really hard time. A really hard and scary time.”
0 Response to "Obama Visits Detroit"
Thanks for give comment.