Detroit, Michigan nears Chapter 9 Bankruptcy [UPDATED]

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


From Monday's Freep, it appears that 30 days or so from now we will have a much clearer picture of how the end game will play out here. I honestly hope Bing doesn't take more than his fair share of heat, this crisis has been in-progress for the better part of 4 decades. And this observer at least is not surprised at all that Bing's administration is still finding surprises here and there as they continue to bail water from the capsizing SS MoTown. Cleaning up after the Coleman Young Machine and the disaster known as Kwame (if I could triple facepalm I would) can't be easy. Archer just plain gave up, he aged more than a president during his tenure and never was able to rein in the holdovers from C. A. Young's era.

www.freep.com...

reply to post by HabiruThorstein


Bing has done an excellent job for what he had to work with, and continues to work with.

The legacy the Coleman Young and Kwame left behind are nothing short of complete failure, greed and a sociopathic legacy, hence Bing had an almost impossible task to steer an already large ship from eminent disaster.

State receivership is the only way to save Detroit at this point. What most ignorant people fail to see is that state receivership is not a permanent thing, and that the state does turn the city back over to the people of Detroit, once things are back up and running smoothly.

The same City Council who brought Detroit to it's knee's in the first place started talking about how it could take care of it's own problems just fine, it didn't need intervention from outside. The citizens of Detroit hired/elected these buffoons, they got what they deserved.

I agree with you that the City Council leaves a lot to be desired. I disagree, however, with the sentiment that the citizens of Detroit are somehow responsible because they "elected" the City Council.

Many of the citizens of Detroit are unemployed. Many are homeless, many are illiterate. Crime is rampant. Welfare is the norm. Most neighborhoods are full of violent gangs, and constant drug wars. The infrastructure - including housing - is wholly inadequate by most any living standard.

To blame the woes of Detroit on these citizens is not justified. These people never had a fighting chance from the day they were born.

To change Detroit, you will have to change the culture, and that includes the education system, the economic system, and the crime rates. At least, that would be a start in the right direction.

As I have said before, these citizens need our support and empathy, not our condemnation. They are caught in a culture of hopelessness with no real worthwhile alternatives.

reply to post by CookieMonster09


Things did go bad for Detroit a long, long, long time ago.

It would be like saying that Americans get what they deserve because of the politicians we elect.
Things have been going wrong a long time nationally, too.

I know in Detroit a lot of the Council ran for various reasons...and I do think some of them have Detroit's best interest at heart. Some of them A former TV personality comes to mind.

And, the Mayor...I think Bing wants the best for Detroit.

But there's a lot wrong besides the finances.
There is a big disconnect between Detroit and the suburbs. And there has been since the 1970s......and before, really.
For example, the downtown shopping area was doomed once the big shopping malls were born (Northland and Eastland in the 1950s)

reply to post by CookieMonster09


C'mon now. You know there is a substantial amount of Detroit Citizens, if not an outright majority, that would think that the Emergency Manager would be imposition from "outside" and would fight against it. The City and the Suburbs can't seem to work together. The City resents Suburbs telling it how to do things and the Suburbs just look at the cluster #@$@ that is Detroit's Government and don't want to give them a blank check to just squander.

The reason I blame this squarely on the citizens and voters of Detroit is that they allowed this to continue with their election of their officials. Mayor Bing is right, there IS a sense of entitlement that pervades the City. Once upon a time, that may have been the case. Now that fairy tale is a horror story gone amok. There is a percentage of people that are still left in the city surely don't help things by not caring for property and the crime that they still commit. Half the reason the City streets don't have streetlights is that A.) Someone either knocked out or shot the light out or B.) someone stole the Copper wire in the lamps for scrap. I once was visiting a friend around Outer Drive and 7 Mile and had to do a major swerve on a side street to avoid an OPEN manhole cover! Who the hell does that kind of thing to their own neighborhood?

If you really want to get down to the nuts and bolts of it, it's the breakdown of the traditional family unit that is causing the decline that we see in Detroit. Even the few 2 parent homes that live in Detroit, try to get their kids into suburban schools because they know at least their kids have a chance there. I know this because I see and talk with these families at my son's school. They drive their kids almost 30 minutes one way every week day to put their kids in our school. Those that can leave the City of Detroit HAVE been leaving. This makes things even worse for those left behind.

No one in Detroit wants to face the reality, The City has to really get it's finances in order and the current elected official plainly aren't getting the job done. Very big areas of the city just have to turn back into woodlands or farms.

My old neighborhood in Detroit is just leveled. It seriously looks like a war ran though it. There are 4 houses with people living there, all separate from each other by at least 3 former houses, 6 burnt out houses and the rest is just open space where aprox 20 or 24 other houses used to stand. That's just my childhood block. The streets around it are just the same. This I am not making up.

What Detroit really needs is a Homeland Marshall Plan to get things righted. I don't see that happening.

C'mon now. You know there is a substantial amount of Detroit Citizens, if not an outright majority, that would think that the Emergency Manager would be imposition from "outside" and would fight against it.

I generally agree with you that there is certainly a real element of divide between the suburbs and the city. This divide is deep and wide. Much of this is rooted in an ugly history of racism and hostility on both sides of the table. After the riots in the 60's, the city was fundamentally and permanently changed politically, culturally, and ethnically.

But, think about it for a moment. Most of these citizens of the city can hardly read or write. Few are employed. Most live hand to mouth. They care most about their day to day survival.

The citizens of Detroit might welcome outside intervention if they had all of the facts as to the nature of the intervention being proposed. There are a number of well-known and outspoken media types that pretend to "speak for the people", and I don't think that they necessarily speak for every citizen in the city.

I do believe that most citizens, if properly educated, would welcome any opportunity to improve their personal safety and economic situation. Rebuild infrastructure? Most would say yes. Reduce crime? You would get a majority vote. Bring jobs to Detroit? A resounding yes.

The reason I blame this squarely on the citizens and voters of Detroit is that they allowed this to continue with their election of their officials. Mayor Bing is right, there IS a sense of entitlement that pervades the City.

Yes, but you are blaming a citizenry that is uneducated, illiterate, unemployed, and surrounded by gangs, violence, and hopelessness. This is all that they know. No one has taught them any different.

It's easy as an outsider to point the finger at the citizens. I assure you, these people need our prayers, support, and compassion, and not our condemnation.

If you really want to get down to the nuts and bolts of it, it's the breakdown of the traditional family unit that is causing the decline that we see in Detroit.

Agreed. This is a major issue. There are deep rooted and long-term historical and cultural reasons as to why the traditional family has broken down over time.

No one in Detroit wants to face the reality,

Yes. It's a pretty grim reality. Few leaders have the ability to cope with the incredible dynamics of the situation: an uneducated, unemployed populace; a racial divide; a crumbling infrastructure; a massive crime wave; a state and federal government that turns a blind eye. You would have to be a leader of titanic proportions to even attempt to solve this crisis.

reply to post by CookieMonster09

I agree.....it's all about education. The City basically has to start from the very bottom up again. I just don't know how they will do it though. There is SO much working against them now.

I grew up in "the City" and lived there till a young adult. It was pretty bad then, but now it's just on a whole another plane of awful. Those who are still in Detroit have a really tough road to haul.

I agree.....it's all about education. The City basically has to start from the very bottom up again. I just don't know how they will do it though. There is SO much working against them now.

The city needs a multi-faceted approach: Crime rate reduction, security, better schools, rebuilt infrastructure, and bringing real manufacturing jobs back to the city would all go along way to making the city more attractive to families. As it stands now, the city is in a downward spiral with little hope of reviving itself.

I grew up in "the City" and lived there till a young adult. It was pretty bad then, but now it's just on a whole another plane of awful. Those who are still in Detroit have a really tough road to haul.

My family has lived in and around the city for 5 generations. I grew up just outside the city limits, and even today I drive through the city on a regular basis. It's both a dangerous city, and a tragic situation.