Gary, Indiana: The New Detroit?

[Valin]

Via Meadia:

 

6/22/13

 

 

We got trouble, right here in Gary, Indiana. Business Insider reports that the city is practically a wasteland, with 6, 500 of 7,000 public properties abandoned. And thats not all:

 

Things are getting so bad that Gary officials are thinking about cutting off city services to about 40 percent of the citys land and moving residents to more viable parts of Gary, NBC reports. This is a drastic move, but it may be necessary as the thousands of abandoned properties are attracting criminals.

 

What went wrong in Gary is no mystery, and not very different from what happened in Detroit. Corrupt and incompetent governance, with a one party local establishment and a venal union leadership in cahoots combined with the erosion of manufacturing to drive a great American city into ruins. We suspect that the coroners report on the city will include some of the sweetheart deals with politically connected Wall Street firms that weve seen in both Detroit and Birmingham. And once the harsh light of day shines on the citys pension plans, we suspect that some nasty surprises will pop; urban political machines thrive on pension mismanagement.

 

(Snip)