Reuters: July 18, 2012

As the next step in an April deal between financially strapped Detroit and the state of Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder is finalizing a plan to tear down thousands of abandoned houses in a bid to make the city safer.

Detroit has been hard-hit over the past four decades by a steep drop in population, a steadily eroding tax base and crippling budget deficits, resulting in countless barren streets punctuated by vacant lots and burned-out buildings.

Forbes: July 10, 2012

The city of Detroit is on the brink of insolvency. So why is it that I’ve never been more optimistic about its future?

A year ago, I wrote a Forbes cover story, Detroit: City of Hope, which included a conversation with many of the city’s movers and shakers about the challenges of trying to reinvent the Motor City.