[paulfedory]

One thing to note is that many people moved outside of the city limits into the suburbs, which including Detroit has a population of something like 4 million people (ie. Wayne, Oakland, Macomb counties). The population of the city of Detroit proper is much less than that, like 750,000.

Michigan has a very strong "home rule" law which concerns the annexing of these suburbs which prevents Detroit from amalgamating these suburbs, which has led to decline in tax revenue for the city proper. As people move out to the suburbs, the city can't sustain itself due to declining tax revenue.

Many other cities have amalgamated recently. Toronto, for example.

Here's an interesting read: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/03/dont-shr...