Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Detroit

Paul Krugman Links Sprawl to Persistent Social Inequality

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 29, 2013 | 25 Comments

Is sprawl holding back social mobility in America? Paul Krugman didn’t mince words yesterday in a follow-up to a post he wrote soon after the Detroit bankruptcy was announced. In that initial blog post, he compared Detroit to Pittsburgh and concluded that it wasn’t just the loss of manufacturing jobs that hurt Detroit — it was […]

How Sprawl Got Detroit Into This Mess

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 22, 2013 | 63 Comments

It wasn’t de-industrialization that bankrupted Detroit, wrote Paul Krugman in a New York Times column yesterday. If that was all there is to it, then how do you explain the fact that Pittsburgh, once so dependent on the steel industry, is now recovering? No, what brought Detroit to this low point, more than the loss […]

Highway Revolts Break Out Across the Midwest

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 28, 2013 | 30 Comments

The evolution of state and regional transportation agencies is painfully slow in places like Missouri and Ohio, where officials are plowing ahead with pricey highway projects conceived of decades ago. But plenty of Midwesterners have different ideas for the future of their communities, and they aren’t shy about speaking up. One after another, residents of […]

Detroit’s Regional Planners Need to Kick the Highway Habit

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 19, 2013 | 7 Comments

They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. But the people who shape the future of greater Detroit — despite all the urban flight, sprawl, and decline they’ve seen — just can’t seem to acknowledge that they have an addiction to big highway projects. On the agenda Thursday for the regional […]

Detroit Transit, Already in Desperate Situation, to Lose Money to Suburbs

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 26, 2013 | No Comments

Detroit has perhaps the worst transit crisis in the country on its hands right now. Almost a quarter of Detroit residents do not have access to an automobile, yet transit riders have to endure an unreliable system where the bus might never show, making it harder for economically vulnerable people to access jobs. So transit advocates cheered […]

Midwestern Cities Race to Adopt, and Grow, Bike-Share

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 13, 2013 | 8 Comments

Pittsburgh was the newest city to announce its bike-share plans this week, when it confirmed the city would add a 500-bike system by the spring of next year. But nearby Columbus, Ohio, will beat them to the punch. Ohio’s capital city is planning to add 300 bikes this summer. Meanwhile, Indianapolis’ plan was to roll out […]

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