Detroit's future 底特律的未来

ON MARCH 23rd Detroiters packed into a grand auditorium in the city’s midtown. Charles Pugh was there, the leader of the city council. Carol Goss was there, head of the Skillman Foundation, a busy local charity. Firemen, reporters and throngs of ordinary Detroiters jammed into the seats. Dave Bing, the mayor, was due to give his first state-of-the-city speech. Detroit was eager to hear his vision.
三月二十三日，底特律人集聚在城市中心的大礼堂。那里有：市议会领袖Charles Pugh先生，当地知名慈善机构斯格曼基金会（Skillman Foundation）会长Carol Goss先生，以及消防员、记者、成群的普通百姓都挤进了会场。市长Dave Bing先生准备按原计划进行关于城市状况的第一次讲演。整个底特律都很期待他的讲演。

The city has had a dismal stretch, even by its standards. But harsh realities have produced radical thinking. For the first time, dramatic steps are being discussed seriously, including plans to close dozens of schools, cut services and transform the landscape. The speech was a chance for Mr Bing to chart the way forward.
城市经历了一场凄凉的时期，甚至以它自己的标准去衡量。严酷的现实同时引发了彻底的思考，引发了第一次对激动人心的改革措施的严肃探讨，如关闭一系列学校，撤销一些服务以及改变城市景观。讲演给Dave Bing先生提供了一次构想未来道路的机会。

Mr Bing did describe his vision, but for now it remains hazy. The most urgent tasks are to create jobs, cut crime and clean up a fiscal mess. His long-term plan is less clear. The city, he said, would demolish 3,000 homes this year and 7,000 more by the end of his term. This would be only the first step toward re-imagining Detroit. Already, however, local groups are working on plans for broad change. Their premise was once politically unthinkable: before Detroit can thrive, it must shrink. Mr Bing supports this. But executing it will be difficult.
Dave Bing先生的确描绘了他的蓝图，但是到现在仍然很模糊。当务之急是创造工作岗位，降低犯罪率及理清财政混乱。他的长期计划不是那么的清晰。他提到，今年城市将会撤掉3000所住房，在他任期末，将会再拆除7000所。这恐怕是再造底特律可以进行的唯一的第一步。尽管当地的一些团体正在策划更加深入广泛的变化。他们的前提也许是以前政治上不敢想象的：以退为进，在底特律再次繁荣之前，先摧毁它。Dave Bing先生也支持这一想法。但是，执行起来非常困难。

For years, reviving Detroit meant recreating a bustling metropolis. This has changed, thanks to a string of devastating events. Detroit was ailing before the downturn, but foreclosures have weakened the city’s few healthy pockets: Rosedale Park, a lovely neighbourhood in the north-west, now has boarded-up houses beside its pretty brick ones. The collapse of America’s carmakers, meanwhile, has helped push unemployment close to 30%. Economic disaster has coincided with political chaos. In 2008 the then-mayor was indicted. Mr Bing, a 66-year-old former basketball star turned businessman, took over last May before winning a full term last November. The budget deficit is now $325m.
数年来，人们认为复活底特律意味着再造一个繁华大都市。但是由于一系列灾难性的事件，使得一切都变了。经济危机之前底特律就开始脆弱，取消抵押品赎取权使得本来为数不多的富区也受到了打击，如西北的Rosedale Park，漂亮的砖房旁搭起了木头的房子。同时，美国汽车生产商的崩溃使得失业率上升到了30%。再次，伴随着经济灾难，政治骚乱也接踵而至。2008年当时的市长收到了指控。66岁的前篮球明星宾先生成了一位商人，于去年五月上任，并于去年十一月赢得了整个任期。预算赤字现在达到了3.25亿美元。

All this has prompted two overdue epiphanies. First, Detroit needs to plant the seeds of a new economy. Second, the city can no longer afford itself. In place of the old must come a new, leaner city.
所有这些促成了两项延误了的改变。第一，底特律需要播种经济复苏的种子。第二，这座城市已不能承受自己本身。一个新的“瘦身”的城市必须来代替现在的老城市。

The effort to “right-size” Detroit is concentrated in schools, city government and land use. All should be considered together, but this is not so simple. Detroit’s schools have seen most progress. Last year Michigan’s governor appointed a temporary manager, Robert Bobb, to take over Detroit’s troubled education system. This month Mr Bobb announced a package of bold reforms, including mayoral control and a capital plan that would close 45 schools this year; he is being sued for his pains. Enrolment has dropped by almost half since 2002.
调整底特律重点是在学校，市政府以及土地使用。所有这些必须一起考虑，这不是一项简单的工作。其中，学校进展最快。去年，密歇根政府任命Robert Bobb 先生为临时主管来接手底特律杂乱无章的教育体系。本月Bobb先生宣布了彻底改革的一系列方案，其中包括市长控制方案以及关于关闭四十五所学校的主要计划。他的行为已经受到了控告。从2002年起，录取率就下降了进一半。

Other efforts to shrink government are moving even more slowly. Mr Bing has long said that he wants to consolidate the city’s sprawling departments; the unions are resisting. The most complex question, however, is what to do with Detroit’s sprawling landscape. The city’s population is half what it was in 1950, but its boundaries contain an area the size of Manhattan, San Francisco and Boston combined. A third of Detroit is vacant, its lots occupied by singed houses, tyres and nomadic plastic bags. Over the years the city, foundations and community groups have poured money into neighbourhoods without a broader strategy. Now there is a growing consensus to shore up viable areas, rather than try to repopulate the worst.
其他减缩政府的措施正在缓慢进行。Dave Bing先生一直在说他想联合城市的厂房，得到了工会反抗。更复杂的问题是怎么对待底特律的土地问题：城市人口是1950年的一半。但是，它的边界范围是曼哈顿，旧金山以及波士顿边界的总和。底特律的三分之一是荒芜的，被烧焦的房屋，轮胎以及漂移的塑料袋所占据。数年来，基金会以及社区团体都是把钱投向邻近地区，没有一个清晰的战略。现在，越来越多的人达成共识来支持可行地区，而不是重新住进最差的地区。

This raises many questions. Which neighbourhoods should be saved? What will happen to residents of declining ones? Detroiters are sceptical of anything foisted on them by outsiders. Who should lead change and gather support for it?
这样产生了很多问题。哪些邻近地区是应该拯救的？对于落魄地区的居民怎么办？底特律人害怕被外人所欺骗。谁应该去领导这个变化以及聚集各方面的支援？

While Mr Bing is distracted by the city’s fiscal problems, others have rushed to present their ideas. One local group, the Next Detroit Neighbourhood Initiative, has a new plan to invest in districts such as Rosedale Park. A coalition of community-development organisations is crafting its own plan to support viable neighbourhoods and transform troubled ones into farms or parks. In a delicate exercise, charities are trying to present their agenda without usurping the mayor. The Kresge Foundation, based in Detroit’s suburbs, is paying a prominent consultant to advise the mayor’s planning department.
当宾先生为城市的财政困境分心的时候，其他人争相陈述自己的想法。一个当地的团体the Next Detroit Neighbourhood Initiative有新计划投资一些地区如罗斯戴尔公园（Rosedale Park）。地区开发联合组织计划支持投资可行邻近地区以及把受损地区改变成农场或者公园。慈善机构正在不篡夺市长权力的前提下，尽力想方案。底特律郊区的一家The Kresge Foundation，正在给市长的计划出谋划策。

But “the mayor really has to lead the work,” explains Ms Goss of the Skillman Foundation. Mr Bing, unlike so many of his predecessors, is wonderfully frank. He acknowledges that shrinking Detroit is a painful necessity. The real test, though, is whether he has the tenacity to guide this exhausted city to its next chapter.
但是，斯格曼基金会（Skillman Foundation）的Goss女士说，市长真的不得不领导这项工作。不像他的前人们，宾先生相当坦诚。他说到摧毁底特律是一个痛苦的必须之路。真正的考验是他是否有坚韧的毅力引导这座疲惫的城市步入下一个里程。