Tearing down a freeway doesn&#x27;t necessarily lead to &#x27;luxury condos and luxury retail&#x2F;commercial spaces&#x27; when there&#x27;s no demand for such property in the neighborhood. There&#x27;s vacant land at the edge of downtown Milwaukee from the teardown of a freeway spur almost 15 years ago.<p>That said, in a rust belt city like Milwaukee or Syracuse, the real risk is full-scale abandonment of the city in the style of Detroit or Flint— which is best prevented by having a diverse array of people invested in, and fighting for the city. If that doesn&#x27;t happen, it&#x27;ll decay into a zone of concentrated poverty that major employers flee for the suburbs, trapping people in a worsening cycle of poverty because they can&#x27;t get a job without a car and can&#x27;t get a car without a job. And a car often costs the better part of $5,000 a year to maintain, and potentially much more if you can&#x27;t scrape together that $5,000 upfront for something decent used and have to deal with scammy low-end car dealers.<p>And, of course, some rich people and expensive property are a necessary part of a city&#x27;s tax base if it&#x27;s to pay for decent schools and transit and social services and libraries and all the services that enable social mobility.