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Sarah Hulett

Sarah Hulett became Michigan Radio's assistant news director in August 2011. For five years she was the station's Detroit reporter, and contributed to several reporting projects that won state and national awards.

Sarah considers Detroit to be a perfect laboratory for great radio stories, because of its energy, its struggles, and its unique place in America's industrial and cultural landscape.

Before coming to Michigan Radio, Sarah spent five years as state Capitol correspondent for Michigan Public Radio. She's a graduate of Michigan State University.

Contact Sarah Hulett at sarah@michiganradio.org.

U.S.
5:02 am
Sat March 2, 2013

Can Detroit Be Saved?

Credit Paul Sancya / AP
Michigan is taking over Detroit's finances and will appoint an emergency manager to deal with the city's massive debt.
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Originally published on Sat March 2, 2013 10:04 am

Detroit is broke. On Friday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced the state will take over the city's finances.

"It is time to say, we need to start moving upward with the city of Detroit," he said.

But the question on many people's minds is whether state intervention will be enough — and whether the more ominous and painful scenario of municipal bankruptcy can be avoided.

Adding Up The Debt

Just how far gone is Detroit? Eric Lupher, director of local affairs for the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, sums it up like this:

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NPR Cities: Urban Life In The 21st Century
4:56 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Racial, Regional Divide Still Haunt Detroit's Progress

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Detroit1701.org / Collection maintained at the Univ. of Michigan by Ren Farley and Judy Mullin
Part of the wall that was built in 1940 has since been painted over with a mural.
Credit John Vachon/FSA / Courtesy of the Library of Congress
The concrete wall separating the black and white sections of Detroit is seen in 1941.
Credit John Vachon/FSA / Courtesy of the Library of Congress
A house in the black section of Detroit in 1941, abutting the wall.
Credit Detroit1701.org / Collection maintained at the Univ. of Michigan by Ren Farley and Judy Mullin
Part of the wall that was built in 1940 has since been painted over with a mural.
Credit Detroit1701.org / Maintained at the Univ. of Michigan by Ren Farley and Judy Mullin
A 6-foot high, half-mile-long separation wall was built in 1940 by a real estate developer to separate white and black parts of Detroit. His purpose was to be able to secure FHA mortgages for homes that would be build on the "white" side of the wall.
Credit Detroit1701.org / Collection maintained at the Univ. of Michigan by Ren Farley and Judy Mullin
A section of the the "separation wall" is seen in Detroit.
Credit John Vachon/FSA / Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Children stand in front of a half-mile concrete wall in Detroit in 1941. The wall was built in 1940 to separate the black section of the city from a white housing development going up on the other side.
Credit Sarah Hulett for NPR
Suburban voters recently elected to raise property taxes to help fund the Detroit Institute of Arts. Some say it's a sign that city-suburb tensions are beginning to ease.
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Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 9:20 pm

For many years — perhaps even decades — Detroit has been the poster child for economic malaise. Adjusting for inflation, per capita income in metro Detroit dropped more than 20 percent between 1999 and 2010.

Some analysts say regional cooperation might have helped keep Detroit above water when the car industry sank, but that entrenched divisions that pit the city against its suburbs, and blacks against whites, have hindered that.

A Deeply Entrenched Regional Divide

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