Under a law passed last year, the State of Michigan took over the City of Detroit this week. It is unbelievable that the Governor can simply declare a financial emergency and take over the whole city but the new law permits it…and so does the City of Detroit.
The takeover is short of a formal bankruptcy, but it will include appointing an emergency manager who would have many of the same powers as a bankruptcy judge. It could mean throwing out contracts with public employee unions and vendors that the city can’t afford, and could lead to further cutbacks in already depleted city services.
Note that the state is doing this to prevent a municipal default. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the city to take itself over? How can elected official in Detroit simply watch their city be taken over by the State? Seems to me they prefer the State rather than a financial court and that should be a concern to a city, village, and town everywhere.
Why did the public officials allow the State to do this on its terms rather than negotiate an approach with the State that kept some controls? Bad mayors and councilmen? Are there no citizens who would step forward and take this task on?
We no longer have men to match our problems, do we? If this were 1776, the Declaration of Independence would be a request from concerned citizens for somebody to do something about England. ARRGH!
I can almost hear the elected mice now “But we don’t have the power to change things because no one gave it to us.” Fol-de-rol. “We think it is better to have someone else make these hard decisions.” Baloney, Maloney.
Four rules to fix Detroit:
1. Citizens must be safe to go about their daily business. The murder and crime rate require drastic action by the city and supported by the State to stop the crime.
2. The City Council grants emergency powers to the Mayor to determine which city contracts will be absolved and who gets paid and who doesn’t. Clean up the mess later.
3. Grant the Mayor emergency powers to turn off city services to sections of the city and use city resources to relocate people to other areas in which city services are provided. Clean up the mess later.
4. Close off entire sections of Detroit to habitation and commercial purposes until financial stability has returned.
5. Not a rule but it makes sense, find people who will do anything to fix Detroit and put them in charge.
If you leave this to the State, Detroit will be parceled out to the biggest campaign donors; if you leave it to the bankruptcy court, it will be the single largest asset transfer in history to banks.
Who will save Detroit? You decide.
Reasonable Citizen 