Creative Ideas Sought for City

It's the most common query heard about Mayor Dave Bing's ambitious Detroit Works goal of reinventing the city: How do we pay for all we want to do?
 

Detroit has trouble providing basic services, such as street lighting and emergency police and fire protection, calling into question its ability to pay for any reinvention plan.

Yet a slew of successful projects, from the Detroit RiverWalk to the reopening of the Westin Book Cadillac hotel to a host of educational initiatives, show that Detroiters have grown skilled at stitching together ways to pay for important work, from bricks and mortar to education. The cash comes from a complex web of foundation grants, tax credits, corporate largess, sweat equity, government loans and more.

At this pivotal time in Detroit, leaders inside and outside city government say their goal is to become even more adept at targeting limited dollars toward the most useful projects.