When Orr's Finished, The City of Detroit Will Only Exist In Name...

[erikd]

I expected the cuts to be bad, but will be there anything left to salvage when the smoke clear, or will "Detroit" only exist as the name on the City Charter?

http://michigancitizen.com/detroit-d...-orr-succeeds/

I expected the cuts to be bad, but will be there anything left to salvage when the smoke clear, or will "Detroit" only exist as the name on the City Charter?

http://michigancitizen.com/detroit-d...-orr-succeeds/

This such an ignorant mindset and attitude.

I love this city with all my heart and soul, but it is insane to assert that we will no longer be Detroit if we let the state DNR fund and maintain Belle Isle, or regionalize the water department so that we [[Detroit residents) can finally begin to receive financial benefits from this huge asset, or roll DDOT into the RTA.

Regionalism and governmental cooperation is not a sign of failure in Detroit, it is a sign of progress in Detroit.

As much as I love the city and have no fondness for the suburbs, the reality is that we are an interconnected region and we can not continue this city vs suburb infighting.

I lived without a car in Detroit for about five years, and the reality of dealing with our lack of a regional transportation system was not a point of pride.

When I was taking the DDOT and SMART out to the east side suburbs for work, the lack of regional cooperation made what should have been an easy bus ride into a shitshow.

I was lucky enough to have my main job within walking distance in the city, but my side job was out in the suburbs. I could catch the SMART out of the city after work to go to my second job, but on my way back from my night job, the SMART bus was not allowed to come into the city.

When you are poor and working two jobs just to make ends meet, the bus ride home from the burbs is long enough after a 12-14 hour workday. When the SMART bus kicks you off at Jefferson and Alter at 10-11 pm, drives away empty, and you have to stand on the sidewalk tired and freezing your ass off while you wait for an empty DDOT bus to show up and take you the rest of the way into the city, it becomes clear that our transportation system is severely dysfunctional and inefficient.

The obstructionist assholes who oppose merging DDOT and SMART into the new RTA are nothing more than divisive political opportunists who have the privilege of not relying on our dysfunctional bus system.

I welcome any anti-RTA advocate to give up their car and try to live at the mercy of the shittiest metro public transit system in the developed world. If there is anybody who has actually had to live with the reality of coming home from a late shift in the burbs, and getting dumped at 8 and Woodward, or Jefferson and Alter, just because SMART isn't allowed to come into the city after a certain time, please tell me why this is a good situation.

[Hermod]

OK:

1. DWSD becomes a regional authority.
2. DDOT gets taken over by the RTA
3. Belle Isle becomes a state park.
4. Waste Management gets a contract to operate the garbage and trash pickup.
5. Rationalization of the city workforce happens.

Detroit still runs the police, fire, and DPW. Why is that not the "City of Detroit"? Why is that not a "great city" of 700,000 people?

[Cincinnati_Kid]

OK:

1. DWSD becomes a regional authority.
2. DDOT gets taken over by the RTA
3. Belle Isle becomes a state park.
4. Waste Management gets a contract to operate the garbage and trash pickup.
5. Rationalization of the city workforce happens.

Detroit still runs the police, fire, and DPW. Why is that not the "City of Detroit"? Why is that not a "great city" of 700,000 people?

All of this is fine and good. But you left out the biggest problem, DPS. Until that get's fixed, Detroit won't realize it's potential comeback.

[Eber Brock Ward]

All of this is fine and good. But you left out the biggest problem, DPS. Until that get's fixed, Detroit won't realize it's potential comeback.

Not necessarily. Most other major cities have shoddy public school systems where many folks rely on charter, parochial, or private schools to fill the gap.

I think something like 50-60% of the Chicago Public Schools' teachers don't have their kids in the CPS system, as an example.

[Hermod]

All of this is fine and good. But you left out the biggest problem, DPS. Until that get's fixed, Detroit won't realize it's potential comeback.

Elsewhere in Michigan, the school districts and the political subdivisions may be two different things. Why can't that be the case in Detroit? How much value can the mayor and clownsil inject into the running of the school system? The school system, the water/sewer, parks, etc can be separate from the operation of the city itself.

[Honky Tonk]

Elsewhere in Michigan, the school districts and the political subdivisions may be two different things. Why can't that be the case in Detroit? How much value can the mayor and clownsil inject into the running of the school system? The school system, the water/sewer, parks, etc can be separate from the operation of the city itself.

About as much value as they injected into running the City.

[Wesley Mouch]

All of this is fine and good. But you left out the biggest problem, DPS. Until that get's fixed, Detroit won't realize it's potential comeback.

This is true. And so are thousands of other 'problems'.

Everything must be fixed. But first, one must accept that things need to be fixed. More than DPS, a general acceptance that it wasn't just a money shortage, but real structural problems. Doesn't matter who created them. Only matters that we solve them all.

You have to fix everything. Push aside those who cling to the old ways. Accept change even when it comes from those you may dislike [[Snyder, Bing, Brown, Obama, etc.)

[Scottathew]

Well, what's YOUR solution? Presumably you want Orr to stop what he's doing. What should be done instead?

That's part of the problem. The only solution that I've seen from those opposing change is for the state or feds to just give Detroit money.