Detroit, once a great city of America, is in shambles, with rampant vacancies in neighborhoods, the national record (or near it) in high school students who don't graduate, racial divisions and a corrupt government. (Now you can add to a list a mayor driven from office by scandal.)

So how can Detroit come back from this near-death experience? Writing for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Jim Vote suggests that "By contracting out services, specifically the care, maintenance and revitalization of Belle Isle, resources can then be refocused on what is important: the health, safety and welfare of the residents."

Most cities have not tumbled as far as Detroit. But they can all look and learn: Provide clean government and focus on the basics.