Rochelle Riley: Detroit gives Gov. Rick Snyder no choice

By Rochelle Riley

Detroit Free Press columnist

Two things are now true:

Detroit residents will no longer be able to say that nobody cares what they think.And time has run out.

Since city and state officials cannot talk to each other about a partnership to fix Detroit, everybody's making their case directly to the people.

Thursday, City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown e-mailed constituents to extol the virtues of "A Partnership-Focused Consent Agreement with the Mayor, City Council and the State Treasurer."

Thursday, after two days of lambasting Gov. Rick Snyder for the consent agreement, a calmer Mayor Dave Bing told reporters outside the White House: "I'm not so worried about authority. I want to make sure whatever we do works."And Thursday, Snyder's team announced plans to host its own town hall meetings to talk directly to Detroit residents about the city's future.

Snyder? He was packing Thursday for a trip to Europe after telling me in the morning that Detroit was out of time.

But when he gets back, Snyder is going to appoint an emergency manager. He didn't say it. He didn't have to. He won't be able to avoid it. And it won't be Bing.

Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/2012031...yder-no-choice

As a Detroit resident, I don't care who does the job, I just want the job done. It is time for drastic measures. Detroit needs to get it's finances in order so that some day, hopefully soon, they can put more police officers on the street. This chaos is not working for me.

Those 2 concepts are mutually exclusive. Getting Detroit's finances in order is going to lead to less cops on the street, not more.

The fundamental point of this column is correct. Bing has moved much too slowly, and whether it was because he is reluctant to do what he knows is needed or isn't sure what needs be done, he has run out of time.

I have no idea if whatever EFM gets selected will do a good job, although I hope so, but chances are good he or she will do something, and at this point that would be an improvement.

Under any of the available options - consent agreement, emergency manager or bankruptcy - "cops on the street" won't be the first thing to go. The first thing to go will be huge numbers of people who work in offices downtown, and 99.9% of us won't even notice they've gone. The next thing will be a restructuring of how benefits work for all employees and pensioners. The next thing will be investigating all the employees on long-term disability [[which is an unreasonable number). The next thing will be changing how bus repairs are handled. And so forth.

There are eighty or ninety things you can do, when you have the enhanced powers in any of these arrangements, that will save piles of money before you have to pink-slip a single police officer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by professorscott

There are eighty or ninety things you can do, when you have the enhanced powers in any of these arrangements, that will save piles of money before you have to pink-slip a single police officer.

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Yes, and without the consent manager or EM, doing those 80 things will require 27 different entities to all agree and then a 6-month appeal process, if it ever would happen. With the new way, all it will take is one signature. One.

That's the beauty of all of this. Don't let anyone fool you. The people who are fighting it are just latching on for dear life to not losing control

Quote:

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Originally Posted by professorscott

Under any of the available options - consent agreement, emergency manager or bankruptcy - "cops on the street" won't be the first thing to go. The first thing to go will be huge numbers of people who work in offices downtown, and 99.9% of us won't even notice they've gone. The next thing will be a restructuring of how benefits work for all employees and pensioners. The next thing will be investigating all the employees on long-term disability [[which is an unreasonable number). The next thing will be changing how bus repairs are handled. And so forth.

There are eighty or ninety things you can do, when you have the enhanced powers in any of these arrangements, that will save piles of money before you have to pink-slip a single police officer.

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I agree, we need a no nonsense bean counter with power. Time to clear the crap out. The sooner this is done, the sooner we can get to more police on the street.

Such a complicated problem
Its like the perfect storm. Sometimes i come in here
and start typing out my thoughts. What went wrong.
How to fix those problems. It could fill a book but I
always delete it before posting.
Whats good for business? Cheaper operating costs.
Metro Ethernet. A strong core.
Everything south of Boston, West of 75 and within Grand
BVRD to the west should be a police state until it has
stabilized to the point where people making 75K a year
of any race or ethnicity are comfortable setting down roots.
Demolition and new neighborhood development. Build
around whats salvageable. Neighborhood identity.
City needs schools that perform at a level acceptable to
educated adults who expect their children to succeed.

"There are eighty or ninety things you can do, when you have the enhanced powers in any of these arrangements, that will save piles of money before you have to pink-slip a single police officer."

Sorry Prof but that's just wishful thinking on your part.

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Originally Posted by Novine

"There are eighty or ninety things you can do, when you have the enhanced powers in any of these arrangements, that will save piles of money before you have to pink-slip a single police officer."

Sorry Prof but that's just wishful thinking on your part.

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Ditto. Police & Fire are nearly 2/3 of the general fund. The first thing any EM would do in terms of cuts would be slashing the costs that continue to increase faster than all other costs -- health care & pension costs for all active employees & retirees. Cutting staff in non-uniformed departments that are already cut to the bone as it is would be like giving one dose of chemo to someone with stage 5 cancer. And once benefits start getting slashed any one and EVERYONE with enough time in to retire is going to run for the hills. At the same time the EM would also be cutting overtime [[where the real money is for uniformed personnel) & wages. The biggest & quickest impact will have to be on something that effects all employees in order to get at the core of biggest cost driver - personnel. The EM won't have to layoff the uniformed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Novine

"There are eighty or ninety things you can do, when you have the enhanced powers in any of these arrangements, that will save piles of money before you have to pink-slip a single police officer."

Sorry Prof but that's just wishful thinking on your part.

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You got a better alternative, Novine?

I do. Bankruptcy. No EFM. It is a bad law. But its better than the status quo. Better however would be 100% standard bankruptcy. Sell the assets. Fire everyone. And let the state or country assume the essential functions.

The more you wipe away now, the better the future will be.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

You got a better alternative, Novine?

I do. Bankruptcy. No EFM. It is a bad law. But its better than the status quo. Better however would be 100% standard bankruptcy. Sell the assets. Fire everyone. And let the state or country assume the essential functions.

The more you wipe away now, the better the future will be.

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According to the ”bad” law, an EM must request bankruptcy. The Gov has indicated that bankruptcy is NOT going to happen, and I, for one, believe him. The Gov wants to portray Michigan as a stable, high growth environment. Pushing the largest City to bankruptcy after having reduced their revenue sharing dollars & cutting business taxes -- major sources of revenue for a city already massively in deficit, would not make for a good story.

I'll see your bankruptcy and raise you a disincorporation.

And a new Detroit could then arise from the ashes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mwilbert

I'll see your bankruptcy and raise you a disincorporation.

And a new Detroit could then arise from the ashes.

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Hmmm...maybe he'll just designate the inner & outer most areas of the City as Detroit, while the vast areas in the middle get to be part of a new city made up of all of Michigan's worst performing cities. Sound familiar?

Strange, in my neck of the woods or perhaps I should say urban prairie, city politics don't count for much. Just pick up my trash containers and provide water and sewage services. Even burbs get that at a price.

Mostly on the eastside we have formed citizen groups that function well: we address crime, clean ups and programs to help the homeless, educate our kids, support our elders. We light our streets via home owners.

City forgot us a long time ago Basically in favor of detachment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ronaldj

Strange, in my neck of the woods or perhaps I should say urban prairie, city politics don't count for much. Just pick up my trash containers and provide water and sewage services. Even burbs get that at a price.

Mostly on the eastside we have formed citizen groups that function well: we address crime, clean ups and programs to help the homeless, educate our kids, support our elders. We light our streets via home owners.

City forgot us a long time ago Basically in favor of detachment.

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Why are you guys paying taxes if this is the case?

"You got a better alternative, Novine?"

No. mam2009 is right. The big pots of money that people think exist in the city budget aren't there. Look at the city budget. Public lighting doesn't cost the city money. Even if the lights don't work, the city is still collecting more in revenue for lights than it spends. Human Services has zero net cost in the city budget. Cutting those departments would have no immediate impact on finances. Where's the budget overruns? Police and Fire. How do you free up cash fast? Layoff cops and firefighters.