You'd think this was behind the Iron Curtain

It was big news in the Detroit newspapers. FINALLY, they were going to do something about the estimated 33,000 abandoned homes. In a first movement toward actually doing something, the city was to tear down 3,000 homes before the end of the year using $20 million in federal grants. That was the hope.

The reality was that one home was barely razed when a state asbestos inspector from the the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality stopped demolition because the city forgot to file for the certification showing inspectors had checked for asbestos and removed it.

In January, the Feds kicked in an additional $41 million to raze or rehab even more houses.

A good question would be whether Detroit is capable of self-rule. We should be asking whether tax dollars from people who work five months of the year just to pay their tax bill ought to fund such incompetents.