You set food out for cockroaches and you get more of them...........

Simple.

Our recent new arena was funded by a temporary sales tax increase that was approved via vote by the citizens. It's been profitable and popular for the first two years of operation, so not a bad decision.

Most of the cities facing bankruptcy are in the position because they promised extrememly good benefits and retirement and did not fund those things. Now they cannot afford the promised retirements and still maintain the services today.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all, but the cities that I'm referring to that "revitalize" actually had no (or very little) people living there...the sidewalks simply "rolled up" at 5 pm to nothing but the winos and homeless. Think old, long abondoned factories (Ybor in Tampa, and many others), or if a city has a river and a "Riverwalk", etc. is developed. Certainly doesn't "fix" some problems, but it's without a doubt beneficial for the ones I'm familiar with. Of course there are a lot of "wasted" tax $ to go around also, so I'm not maintaining it's utopia either. Most I'm familiar with are "seeded", then the private sector really makes the success "happen" imo.

I like Red Beard's comment about focus on law, order and property rights.

I have a good example: NYC starting in the 70's under Mayor Lindsey, continuing into the 80's through Beame, Koch, Dinkins and and early 90's was a hell hole of crime, drugs and gangs. When Rudy Giuliani became mayor in 1994 the city passed the laws making use of a gun in a crime a non-negotiable jail penalty. Getting caught with any weapon if you have a criminal history has a similar penalty. Also the police started getting actual cooperation from the DA in sending these guys upstate. The usual suspects started getting stopped and frisked, and if they had a weapon - gone - and when the word got around the good times came back to many parts of NYC. If you carry a gun in NYC it is a jackpot offense if you get stopped, unless you have the right pemit (and that permit ain't easy to get). That's where the stop and search process really hits these guys. The NYPD also started enforcing many laws that had previously been ignored and it had a domino effect in pulling people back into good order.

Contrast this with LA and Chicago, both comparable cities in many ways (meaning big, really big) Both are still in the crapper in many areas and will be until the laws are enforced by the DA's and the bad guys get the word. This is the underpinning of any civilized society. The cops can arrest the bad guys all they want, but if the DA lets them go, nothing will change except discourage the cops and continue the decline.
NYC still has sketchy areas, but it is not like it was in the 70's through the early 90's.

Once the city, any city, is back under control, and rights and laws are respected and enforced, the whole place improves because people start to feel safe, and are willing to reinvest private capital into the mix. That, in my humble opinion, is the only way a city, especially an innner ciy, can come back. You need a bad-guy gun law with an ensured penalty, a kick-ass DA, Chief of Police and a Mayor willing to take it up to a higher level and support the pain that comes with real change. And then leave the rest of the gun owners alone.

A big reason folks moved out of the cities into the suburbs was to escape the chaos in the schools, crime and lack of a sense of security. The cities will repopulate if people feel safe and secure. None of this is easy or quick, and it is a lot easier to vote with our feet and leave, and we have.

Not OKC. We are doing great with the budget.

p911Dad...

+1

Excellent post, p911. It boils down to an enforcement issue, IMO. The ruling class likes to make laws because its what they do. They are not able to grasp the idea that laws are useless without enforcement. The executives of cities like LA and Chicago are weak in enforcement and must remain so due to their brand of politics.