Crime

A 1-Minute Guide To The Federal Blitzkrieg That Hit Detroit Friday

September 28, 2013, 8:44 AM

Given the flurry of facts, figures, announcements, promises and people that hit Detroit Thursday night and Friday with the visit of White House officials, you need a scorecard to sort the news. So here is a lineup of what Obama administration officials and local leaders unveiled to help Detroit in its efforts to become a functioning city. The money involved includes both new and "repurposed" funds that were previously allocated but not used by Detroit for a variety of reasons.

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* $150 MILLION to fight blight and spur redevelopment by funding demolition of homes and commercial buildings and the Detroit Land Bank to help manage derelict property and support affordable housing. 

* $140 MILLION for Detroit and regional transportation, including fixing buses, supporting the M1 rail project and the regional rapid bus system. 

* $30 MILLION for public safety, including hiring 10 new police officers, 150 firefighters, fixing street lights and supporting programs to fight arson, bolster community policing and picking the brains of police chiefs around the nation to find ways to help Detroit.

* PEOPLE: Don Graves, a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department, is the Obama administration's point person who oversees the federal effort in Detroit; Roy Roberts, above, the former emergency manager for the Detroit Public Schools and General Motors executive, will become the city's new land czar, overseeing blight removal. Appointed to a blight task force that will coordinate the effort were Dan Gilbert, Quicken Loans founder; Glenda Price, former president of Marygrove College and current president of the Detroit Public Schools Foundation, and Linda Smith, CEO of a longtime East Side community group, U-SNAP-BAC.

* FOUNDATIONS: The Kresge, Skillman and Ford foundations pledged additional money and resources to their already sizeable involvement in Detroit. 

* QUOTE: "We have just one goal: To have all of Detroit working together for one Detroit with the Obama administration as a key partner every step of the way." -- Gene Sperling, White House National Economic Council director who grew up in Ann Arbor.


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