Get this --  22,504 properties are going up for auction next month in Wayne County because of nonpayment of taxes. That’s a record, says the county treasurer.

Most of those foreclosures -- 20,040, are in Detroit.

It’s mind-bending. The city is so huge and sprawling that it’s easy to forget about the neighborhood decay when you’re watching a football game at Ford Field or eating dinner at the Renaissance Center. Last Friday, I took in the free Rockin’ the Riverfront concert on the  Detroit River. It was beautiful. The bands, The Tubes and The Sweet, rocked the house, even though there was no house – just the sky. My highlight was standing up front and taking photos of the band alongside WCSX radio’s legendary Doug Podell. A few blocks away, thousands of fans took in the Detroit Lions’ first exhibition game of the season. Later, I ended up at the Magic Stick on Woodward listening to some band from Chicago. I didn’t catch their name. Who cares, they were good.

Detroit can be an exciting town, full of wonderful people. But the truth is: Many of those people can’t pay their taxes. And residents must be consolidated geographically. Nobody likes to tell an 80-year-old woman she has to move, but if she lives in the only occupied house on a street........

Get this --  22,504 properties are going up for auction next month in Wayne County because of nonpayment of taxes. That’s a record, says the county treasurer.

Most of those foreclosures -- 20,040, are in Detroit.

It’s mind-bending. The city is so huge and sprawling that it’s easy to forget about the neighborhood decay when you’re watching a football game at Ford Field or eating dinner at the Renaissance Center. Last Friday, I took in the free Rockin’ the Riverfront concert on the  Detroit River. It was beautiful. The bands, The Tubes and The Sweet, rocked the house, even though there was no house – just the sky. My highlight was standing up front and taking photos of the band alongside WCSX radio’s legendary Doug Podell. A few blocks away, thousands of fans took in the Detroit Lions’ first exhibition game of the season. Later, I ended up at the Magic Stick on Woodward listening to some band from Chicago. I didn’t catch their name. Who cares, they were good.

Detroit can be an exciting town, full of wonderful people. But the truth is: Many of those people can’t pay their taxes. And residents must be consolidated geographically. Nobody likes to tell an 80-year-old woman she has to move, but if she lives in the only occupied house on a street........