Detroit Accepts Charity From Car Makers

The New York Times reports:

Four years after the recession and a government bailout, Detroit’s hometown automakers are riding high on strong sales and big profits.

But while the fortunes of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have turned starkly, the city of Detroit is in shambles.

Perhaps nowhere in America does the view from the corner office differ so vividly from the city streets, where abandoned homes and deserted factories are a daily reminder of Detroit’s descent into the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation’s history.

It is a striking juxtaposition of corporate wealth and success in a city that cannot provide adequate police protection or keep the streetlights on. And while the car companies have donated millions to the city and community groups to ease their financial pain, city officials and industry executives realize that the Big Three can no longer provide what Detroit really needs: more good-paying jobs.

The gulf between rich and poor was underscored last year when Ford executives presented city leaders with a $10 million check to revive an empty community center in a struggling neighborhood in southwest Detroit.

In a city running a budget deficit of about $1 million a day, Ford’s gift was a windfall that would pay for a food bank, arts and dance classes, bilingual services and education programs.

But the corporate check was little more than financial Band-Aid in a neighborhood that has never been the same since G.M. closed two major factories in the 1980s that employed more than 10,000 workers.

When Mayor Dave Bing accepted it on behalf of a nonprofit Mexican community group last December, he could not help wondering what the vast resources of the auto companies could do for his troubled city.

“I kind of wish this was a check I could take back to the office with me,” Mr. Bing said.

It wasn’t long ago that the city would look to the automakers, and the robust tax revenue that their factories and workers brought, to help ease times of financial stress.

Ironic.