Bulldozing excess inventory

What's a nice, Midwestern industrial center supposed to do when the jobs dry up and the population falls from 165,000 to 80,000?

Youngstown, Ohio, is demolishing abandoned buildings -- more than 1,000 so far -- and has launched an initiative that pays the last one or two families living on a block up to $50,000 to move out so buildings can be razed to create open space, CNNMoney.com reports. Once it clears an area of its last few inhabitants, the city doesn't have to provide garbage pick up, fix potholes or provide street lights in deserted areas, the story says.

City officials hope that "Plan 2010" will help turn Youngstown around, with the story noting that cheap residential and commercial real estate "can be a draw." Foreclosures in the area were up 178 percent in February from a year ago (the story provides a link to a Trulia widget showing homes for sale in Youngstown).

The Center for Housing Research recently identified Youngstown as one of the most affordable housing markets in the nation. Lima, Ohio, and Davenport, Iowa, topped the list with a median home price of $87,000. Springfield, Ohio, and Bay City, Mich., were next at $88,000, and Youngstown also made the cut along with Battle Creek, Mich., at $89,000.

Delegations from Flint, Mich. and Wheeling, W.Va. have reportedly studied Youngstown's Plan 2010 plan first hand.

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