Desperation in Detroit. What comes next?

from the Detroit FreePress:

“It’s a disaster here,” City Council candidate Gary Brown said. Brown, a former Detroit Police assistant chief, handed out bottles of water to those in line. “This is dangerous. Very unorganized, very dangerous.”

This week, people stood in line for hours to possibly receive $3000 in aid. An estimated 65,000 people lined up to be one of 3500 people who will get a portion of the $15million in stimulus money. Scuffles broke out while people crushed in line.

(AP Photo/The Detroit News, Clarence Tabb Jr.)

28% unemployment in Detroit – 15% statewide. Over 32% of Detroit residents are on food stamps and over 300,000 jobs have been lost in the city from August 2008 to August 2009. The median price of a home in Detroit is $7500. Last spring, the state department of education announced it would close 23 schools, citywide.

Detroit is a city actively dying – once the engine of America, now voted one of “the 10 most miserable cities in America” by Forbes magazine with the highest crime rate in the U.S. – is quickly becoming a ghost town.