DETROIT – In an article posted on Salon.com this morning, writer Edward McClelland blamed ''racial division'' and "suburban exodus'' for Detroit's problems.
In the article headlined ''White people killed Detroit'', McClelland says the solution to Detroit's issues is to make the suburbs merge with the city, saying, "Unless Detroit and its suburbs start cooperating, Michigan will continue losing jobs".
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He also discussed the tax base of the city, saying "Since Detroit can't maintain the accouterments of a modern American city with its current tax base, the most practical solution to its problems is regional consolidation. Detroit should merge with its suburbs, as Miami, Indianapolis and Toronto did."
"A megacity composed of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties would contain 3.9 million people, making it the second-largest city in the United States. Detroit could consolidate its police and fire services — which consume nearly 60 percent of its general fund budget — with surrounding departments."
McClelland discussed why he blames racial division for the problems plaguing Detroit. He wrote change has been impossible because, "black-white resentment and urban-suburban enmity dating back to the 1967 riot, and encouraged by such race-baiting politicians as Detroit Mayors Coleman Young and Kwame Kilpatrick, and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson."