Friday, April 03, 2009

A Plan for INDIVIDUALS to Save Detroit

Yesterday, I posted regarding Detroit’s continued decay, wondering if the city could ever rise again.

Today I read, at No Third Solution, a piece posted under the title Homesteading Detroit: On Urban Farming.  Within the post, we read that prior to Detroit becoming an automotive manufacturing behemoth, the lands in and around Detroit were mostly farm lands, and the question, now, is, with property abandonment rising in and around Detroit, can these lands be reverted to urban farms, but not by obtaining permissions from the city or the state, but through individual initiative.

Some people think that the city can be brought back to life through urban farming, a grass-roots sort of movement taking roots across the country, is usually small- or micro-scale farming operations, where individuals (or groups of friends/activists acting in concert) till vacant lots in inner cities, either for produce or for aesthetics.

I think the urban farming movement is a ripe opportunity (ok, no more horticultural puns!) for people to become involved in their communities, however I think the approach is fundamentally flawed: working with the cities that have neglected to be good stewards sends the wrong message. This “compromise” rewards the city’s prior failures. The biggest impediment to urban farming of course, is the City, which sat idly by as land fell into disrepair, neglect, disuse, etc.

The City and its bureaucracies are the last people anyone should have to ask for permission to do anything. Instead, urban farmers should be saying “screw you, City!” and should contest the City’s claim to “ownership,” asserting the principles of abandonment and homesteading, at every possible opportunity.  Although these claims would likely be challenged in court, the City should not contest these adverse possessions. Since, as evidenced by the aforementioned “decades of neglect”, the City has no real interest in seeing urban farms (or anything, for that matter!) thrive, it could simply offer these lots to residents on a “homesteading” basis: “If you maintain it, improve it, live on it, etc., it’s yours; free and clear.”

The entire piece, complete with links to recent Bloomberg, Examiner.com and Detroit Free Press articles on this subject, is worth a read.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/03 at 07:55 AM
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