Re-population vs. downsizing

Mayor Bing has made it a priority to downsize the city, and certainly, it could be a solution to many of the problems facing Detroit. The tax base is too thin to support a city larger than Manhattan, Boston, and San Francisco. However, the focus should not only be on demolishing old buildings, closing schools, and returning huge chunks of city to wilderness. That is important, but I believe that it is equally important to focus on initiatives to attract people back to the city.

There are a number of unconventional ideas I can think of to bring people back - here are a couple:

• We have become a low cost area - people live on less in Detroit than any other big city in America (http://detnews.com/article/20100324/BIZ/3240322/1001/Study-puts-Detroiters-at-bottom-of-nation-s-spenders) - we should promote this to attract businesses and people back, as you don't need to pay/earn to much to thrive in Detroit
• We could give away houses or land (or vacant office space) for free as incentives for people (or business to give to employees) relocating to Detroit - such land allocation is how the country awarded settlers during the 1800s (begging the pardon of the Native Americans), so I imagine that this tradition could work in Detroit as well - instead of sitting on ever increasing amounts of real estate or selling property for peanuts at auction, we can use these resources as tools to incent people to move to Detroit
• We could work out a deal with the US immigration department to fast track visas and green cards for people moving to the city

What do you think?