One-dollar house mirrors hollow out of Detroit (3)

The Metropolitan Detroit is not much different from decades ago as the metropolitan population remains over 5 million. Gibb said the difference relies on concentration of residence. As research and development departments and parts manufacturing plants are relocated from Detroit to surrounding areas, auto industry is still in the metropolitan, though no longer in the downtown area.

In Chrysler's headquarters, many Chinese are coming to receive training classes or negotiate on cooperation. In Troy, many Chinese engineers have meetings or forums in the town of their residence, which contrasts sharply with downtown of Detroit.

In Gibb's view, the financial mess of Detroit was attributed to the wrong decisions and mismanagement of the municipal government. One of the example is: corporate tax rate was as high as 40 percent, compared with 7 percent-15 percent in the surrounding towns and cities. The corporate cost in surrounding areas was 10 percent lower than in Detroit. The lower cost was a main reason that many companies selected the other cities and towns for their operation.

Corruption and high criminal rate drove out investors from Detroit. The former mayor and police chief were notorious for corruption and other scandals. Violent crimes dispelled middle class to other areas from downtown.

Betting on auto industry alone was a wrong decision of the municipal government, said Gibb. When the city's advantages in manufacturing disappeared, there were no alternative industries or diversified economy in Detroit. As too many houses are empty and the local authorities have no fund to remove them, some empty houses have become shelters of homeless and drug dens, according to Detroit News.