American Federation of Teachers/Flickr
Lining up to take part in democracy in Detroit, November 2012.
The perpetually broke city of Detroit is on the verge of a state takeover. Today, the Detroit Free Press calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to go ahead and appoint an emergency manager:
[T]he prospect of an emergency manager carries its own set of fears. No one is quite sure what Detroit, post-EM, would look like. Will already-inadequate city services be further cut? What would it mean for quality
of life, for public safety, for blight enforcement or garbage pickup?
Detroiters who support the idea of an emergency manager do it because they believe, or want to believe, that life after an EM would be better. That the city's problems are fixable, and that this process could lead to a better Detroit and a better life.
So, do it.
It's not for me to say whether an emergency manager would save Detroit. It seems worth noting that with one exception, having the Michigan state government take over your town or school district and sideline the local elected officials has not yet led to halcyon outcomes. Ask Muskegon Heights, where an emergency manager took over the school district and now they're dealing with uncertified teachers. Ask Pontiac, where a judge the other day said the emergency manager's decision-making "looks like a dictatorship." Ask the Detroit school district, where they've had an emergency manager since 2009 and the schools are still a mess.
In Flint, the mayor said yesterday that it's time for the emergency manager to go, and the emergency manager says he's not so sure the city is financially ready for that. The future of Flint "must be decided in a democratic fashion," the mayor said. "It really only matters what the governor thinks," said the emergency manager.
If you look at the list of places that Michigan has taken over, you'll notice a couple of patterns. First, they tend to be heavily minority. Second, they're places that have been failing for a long, long time. The situation in any given failed town or school district is bad; the situation is bad in many, many Michigan towns, as it is throughout the Rust Belt. So far, installing an emergency manager with unilateral control has not been the fix.
(Image: Lining up last year in Detroit to take part in democracy. Photo: American Federation of Teachers/Flickr.)
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Isn't the DFP, the same paper that supported the Snyder and Rmoney Rayn tickets?
Robman,
No. The Free Press endorsed Obama. The News endorsed Romney. Of course, since the papers were semi-merged a decade or so ago, they are a little bit more alike than they used to be, but the Freep is the "liberal" paper and the News is the "conservative" paper (relatively speaking, of course). Which is why this editorial, coming from the Free Press, is so amazing.
Amazing is an understatement, IMHO.
Do they have trains in Detroit? And if so, after the EM takes over would it be too much to ask that they run on time?
Michigan Republicans seem to have no hesitations endearing themselves to the non-Italian speaking fasciste of the early 21st Century! -Kevo
Until the EM decides they are worth more as scrap metal than as a viable public transit system.
Hah. Detroit used to have a streetcar system that was second to none. In the 50s they sold the whole thing to Mexico City, where, I am told, it still operates. What we have now is a dual bus system (separate but unequal) - one for the City; the other for the suburbs. The suburban buses are not supposed to stop within the city limits, except once they get to the drop off zone. Which means the people who wait (and wait and wait) for a City bus get passed by by a bus that actually COMES, but won't pick them up. It's a hot mess, like most everything in Detroit.
The problem with the EM law is that these managers are tasked with putting a government unit back to financial solvency. It is difficult to see how an EM can put Detroit back together by slashing spending on services when the city's problems are much deeper than just spending. In fact, cutting services, personnel, pensions and auctioning off government properties are going to make Detroit even worse. The city has been in decline since the 1970's when the auto industry began to decline. Even though the industry has come back, Detroit has not. It will take a lot of long term solutions to Detroit's problems for the city to come back. Neither the city or the state have brought enough jobs back to Detroit to make it attractive enough to bring back people. Without jobs, the city will continue its decline with that being exacerbated by the EM.
I say raise the taxes on the rich!
Since the Republicans constantly complain that Obama is a "dictator", isn't it a bit ironic that it is these same people who are putting all the actual dictators in place?
Do they really think we won't notice?
Yes - they don't think you'll notice -- and/or do anything about it!
As long as they are the "dictator"(s) and the "winner" of the spoils, then it is okay.
It's unsettling that I'm writing a fictional story, check a news site, and find the villains' plan is being debated in the real world. It's like Poe's Law- I can't come up with a nightmare scenario that Republicans aren't doing in real life.
If the EM takes over, the only thing of which we can be absolutely sure is that it will become harder for Detroit residents to vote.
Don't let the EM take over Detroit.
Why can't Detroit get some stimulus money from the government and find some industry that is willing to take a chance? There are plenty of willing workers.
Hell, ask Bill Gates. Everything he touches turns to gold.
One thing and one thing only can fix Detroit: Massive investments. By the government, by industry, doesn't matter - there's no money, there's no way to build anything, no reason to move there and make it better. Any other solution is a pipe dream.
@Cokehead, this is the part we hear from people on the ground in Detroit. What we hear, and not just in the city of Detroit, is that these places cannot save themselves.
If I owned a business, I would be very reluctant to invest where the state government could take over the town. Way way too much uncertainty. And of course, you are never going to have government investment in today's political climate. Personally, I think this country could use a couple less aircraft carriers and that money spent in Detroit and other cities. Buy up some of these houses, make them into parks and held for future land development, but in the meantime fix up downtowns and some of the current housing stock.
some dam good points sprint!
Detroit was selling off some vacant properties and many residents have used vacant land for gardens. The downtown area has been rejuvenated, but the rest of Detroit is rotting under foreclosures, abandoned properties, vacant land and population decline. All of this is due to the lack of jobs. The city has been in a spiral decline that continues. An EM will come in to fix the finances but not the underlying problems.
Detroit is also SORELY LACKING a transit system. It's a major turnoff for people from the rest of the country, who are used to being able to get around without a car.
Well, Detroit has been under Democratic leadership for the last 50 years...Isn't it interesting that it is mostly Democratic lead cities that have filed for bankruptcy or having serious financial challenges like Detroit.
Well, most of the towns that are largely Democratic were populated by and large with large factories and were largely union. Export their jobs to Mexico and China, and of course they fall apart. Besides which, isn't NYC's mayor a Democrat?
Isn't it interesting that red states receive more federal spending than they pay in taxes...
I wonder what that means for trolls like robdon?
So, if Detroit's schools are "still a mess" with an emergency manager in place for 3-4 years, how do they figure the EM is "the answer"? Sounds like someone may be putting themselves into power and possibly skimming while they are there?
To me, the implications of anti-democracy are showing up all too often. Ben Franklin is turning in his grave?
If we want to do anything helpful, they should try to get empty houses sold and more jobs. The economy is still the problem. Obvioulsly, the answer is the economy, which cutting spending worsens!
Sandy,
Detroit Public Schools were a mess when I was going to them, back in the 70s. Things have gotten worse, to be sure, but they have been bad for a loooong time. I don't know how anyone (appointed or not) can fix 40+ years of atrophy and corruption in 3 or 4 years. The last EM for the Schools, Robert Bobb, found some unbelievable stuff. People receiving paychecks who were DEAD, etc. It was bad. But this is a huge undertaking.
no it will only give the Michigan controlled GOP controll of the Democratic City, not even close to a good idea, also in other notes.... http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/19/1607891/unconstitutional-missouri-bill-makes-it-a-felony-for-lawmakers-to-propose-gun-safety-legislation/
is it just me or is anybody else having trouble with the "go back to" arrow in this site?
The first question that comes to mind is: Are these EMs purely political appointees with no backgrounds in their assigned job positions? If so,like Michael "Heck of a Job" Brown's,their missions' success is almost fatally compromised. If they are experienced and have proven track records,their abilities and recommendations are likely to be ignored if they go against the politics of the party in charge. If the EMs themselves are politically experienced and know how to work the system in order to get what needs to done accomplished and have the strength of will to see it through,maybe the situations these places are in will improve. Maybe,but I doubt it. Empowerment is seen as a leftist plot to weaken the party in power,not strengthen the people they "govern",especially if those people don't fit into their exclusive agenda.
Christianity Today has a great article about Detroit http://www.christianitytoday.com/thisisourcity/detroit/why-all-your-impressions-of-detroit-are-wrong.html?utm_source=ctdirect-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=9478529&utm_content=155113331&utm_campaign=2013
What's worse is that the reason all these cities are defaulting is because the State (and Governor Ricky) drastically reduced State portions of revenue sharing without warning, and gave them money to businesses in the form of reduced taxes.
Once the cities and school districts started to founder, Ricky sent out the EMs.
What's wrong? I mean it's not like democracy is being tossed in favor of a dictatorship. Uh well uh...
Republicans in the Virginia legislature are debating a bill to allow the state to take over "failing" school districts that lose their accreditation. They're not proposing for the state to provide any money, of course, just dictate to the locals how they have to spend theirs.
Detroit has nothing to fear - remember big intrusive state government is good - big federal government is bad.
What could the governor possibly do to Detroit?
http://gov.aol.com/2012/12/19/for-sale-u-s-highways-and-bridges/
http://articles.mcall.com/2012-07-17/news/mc-allentown-pa-water-sewer-20120717_1_water-and-sewer-pension-crisis-pension-problems
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/03/saving-detroits-public-transit-privatizing-it/1498/
I honestly don't know what to think about the EM idea where Detroit is concerned. The thing is, Detroit is SERIOUSLY dysfunctional. The mayor and the city council cannot agree on the color of the sky. And I don't mean "Mayor Bing and the city council", I mean, "the mayor", whoever that happens to be. Kwame Kilpatrick didn't fare any better. Etc. Etc.
The sad reality is that Detroit is in seriously bad shape and has been for decades. There are no streetlights, not nearly enough cops or firefighters. It's really bad, and I say that as someone who loves this city. But no one seems to be able to break out of this crazy alternate universe that Detroit has existed in for as long as I can remember. I really hoped that Dave Bing would be able to get things done, but it may have been too little, too late.
One Very Sad Detroiter
@Katami_Detroit, if you could dream up a solution for Detroit, what might that be?
An emergency manager has no stake in or accountability to the community. He or she is accountable only to the governor. The agendas of the EM and the governor can be expected to take precedence over the needs or desires of the community. Any benefit to the community, especially in the long term, is by accident, not design.
It doesn't just *look* like a dictatorship...