My 2 Cents: Detroit Goes Bankrupt

Today the Motor City, Detroit, once the heartbeat of American industry, the city of Detroit went bankrupt. Let that soak in for a moment.

Most cities go through up and down cycles of expansion and stagnation, but Detroit has been in a death spiral for decades.

In 1970 the auto industry was slowly shifting production out of Detroit, still one a half million people were living in that city. But since then more than half of that population has moved away, and a great deal of the wealth has disappeared or moved to the suburbs, Detroit's tax base has disintegrated.

Talk about a tale of two cities.

In that same time, from 1970 to today, Oklahoma City's population has INCREASED by 64 percent. After stumbling through the oil bust in the 80's city leaders and citizens agreed on a long-term strategy to build a better city, and folks as exciting as it's been just hold on.

The Oklahoman's Steve Lackmeyer, whom I regard as the leading expert on central Oklahoma City tweeted today that's he's blown away by the level of development set to take place downtown, and told me tonight all of the forthcoming private and public projects are like MAPS times 10.

I realize Oklahoma City was never in the desperate straits Detroit is right now … $18 billion in the hole ... but it's an interesting comparison of how two cities reacted to hard times.