http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/20...fter-president
If he thinks that's tough, he should try being a common citizen in the City of Detroit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zacha341
I can't be the only one that doesn't give a damn about ANYTHING Dave Bing has to say, anymore, am I? The only thing he's done since he's been in there is begged for a pity party. Detroit is an exceedingly difficult city to run, the problems so great and outside of his hands, that the power of the office has been reduced to just something above a ceremonial figurehead. If you don't think you can fix it, if you feel that it's a hopeless task, well, then...leave. Michiganders and Detroiters alike are tired of you whining to the media.
I don't believe I have ever seen an elected official with as much contempt for his constituents as Dave Bing. Previously, he made several public comments about Detroit residents having a sense of entitlement, and his comments about the City's workforce have been equally insulting. He has complained many times about how hard his job is, blaming everyone from the unions, to council, to residents themselves for making his job too hard.
He's been a terrible Mayor. Yes, it's a tough job, and obviously too tough for Bing.
I think Bing is a shitty politician. But I also think he's dead on.
The biggest obstacle to Detroit making progress are the entrenched culture and entrenched institutions that are resistant to change.
For whoever comes in next, it might more politically effective to let the bankruptcy judge be the bad cop and shred all the contracts and sell off all the jewels. Then the Mayor can play good cop and make it go down easier.
But the very things that will be necessary to restructure are the very things that constituents aren't going to like hearing.
Bing may be incompetent and the job overwhelming, but it was the same with the previous mayors. And yes, cultural entrenchment....it's happening in almost every city, esp. here in Chicago. Generations have grown up thinking it's acceptable to kill, cuss, be disrespectful, and get from the government. I have a relative who has been on SSI since she was a teen....never wanted to work, was never told to work by the Govt. She was happy getting a monthly check...and she's 35 now. That's 17 years of receiving SSI, and she's capable of working.Quote:
Originally Posted by corktownyuppie
But I feel a change is going to come as Congress looks at all these free programs. What angers me, is that some of the SSI's never worked a day in their life. Because they got shot and are disabled, or they act crazy, they're given a check.
Quote:
Originally Posted by corktownyuppie
CY, I think you and I have been singing the same tune all along: what Detroit needs is someone -- or someTHING -- to make the difficult decisions and fall on his/her own political sword. In the end, constituents will be better off as a result.
In many respects, I think Gov. Snyder fits that description for the state quite well. Bing absolutely does not, unfortunately.
FUCK OFF back to where you came from then.
This city has challenges. Huge ones. But your crippling incompetence has contributed to them. What was so difficult that you couldn't spend enough money to fix and demolish houses and abandoned stuctures? Because you didn't and had to send that money back to the feds, and surrender the program to the county/state.
And speaking of entitlements, you secretly took a salary and lived in the Manoogian when you promised that you wouldn't. Guess it doesn't count when you do it.
And since it's such a thankless hard job, will you actually keep another campaign promise and not run again?
Personally I hope you do run again. And suffer the embarrassment of an incumbent going down in flames.
Fucking geriatric nutsack.
Any job is hard when you're incompetent and unfit to do it.
Ya know... as much as I dislike Mike Duggan... he might be what Detroit needs... a Son of a Bitch guy who doesn't care if he's liked, and yet he makes things function... regardless of whose toes he steps on in the city. His major drawback is the MacNamara connection....
Well, brizee more or less summed up my thoughts.
Detroiters might as well for the February 2013 recall election. It shouldn't hardly be a problem to find 43,000 signatures for the recall petition that was approved.
As bad as he's been, and he's been worse than my wildest nightmares, I don't even know if recalling him is worth it.Quote:
Originally Posted by 313WX
It's like the situation in Troy between the council and the state. Yeah pulling her[[and Bing) is symbolic, but the damage has been done. Can things really be any more fucked if he gets voted out in November?
I voted for Bing. I did not vote for Snyder. I disagree with alot the Governor has pulled, but Goddamn the gulf in competence is unreal.
FUCK, why couldn't Kwame have just been clean?
True. That's why I wonder if Detroit, beyond Gilbertown, is FUBAR at this point.
You wonder?? The question is not IF. It's by how much and for how long. And whoever runs for Mayor next needs to level with the people and just tell them that it's gonna be painful, necessary, and better than any option coming from a bankruptcy judge.Quote:
Originally Posted by 313WX
Or, alternatively, that bankruptcy is painful, necessary, and better than any option coming from Lansing.
But either way...30 years of pent-up restructuring all happening simultaneously is not going to be pleasant for anyone who relies on the city or who is employed by the city.
I was thinking the same thing. Who would be in charge? The deputy mayor, or would another election be mandatory? That would be a big expense the City couldn't afford. Anyone here know?Quote:
Originally Posted by brizee
Being mayor of Detroit isn't easy KING BING! It's not like you playing point guard for Detroit Pistons in the 1960s.
I am so sick of the word "entitlement". When Bing says that people working for the City 20 or 30 years have a sense of entitlement, that they feel they are owed a job and all that comes with it, it makes my blood boil. For 30 solid years I worked for the City of Detroit Fire Department. I applied for the job when I was 19 years old with City Government, certainly not for the money [[the private sector paid much much more), but I wanted the benefits and promise of a pension when I retired. I gave up raises over the years, gave back to the City during many contract negotiations' and all the while they still promissed a pension and health benefits after retirement. For 30 years!!!
What I receive now IS NOT AN ENTITLEMENT. I worked for every dime I have today, the City didn't GIVE me anything that I didn't give back to them threefold. Who the hell does Bing think he is anyway? I'm sure that when his Steel company folded, he took what he considered his entitlement compensation and bonus while he left employees out in the cold with nothing.
I had respect for Bing at one time, but today I see he is a sniveling pw'd wimp who hasn't done a damn thing for Detroit. I have to disagree with one of the posters above though, Bing is not the worse Mayor....thug KK was and will be known as the worse Mayor for Detroit in history. He and his family and friends have robbed, raped and pillaged Detroit for millions of dollars, Bing hasn't done that.
Not to defend this guy, but Bing has had to fight tooth and nail with the clowncil for everything. That group of people feel that they are landlords, owners and saviours of Detroit and will not relinquish anything to a white Governor. They feel free to throw racist comments to Lansing at every opportunity while turning down much needed help.
Right now, I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that Bing isn't it.
I don't think Bing is calling you one of the employees with a false sense of entitlement. I think he is referring to the DWSD, where 50% of the employees could be gradually eliminated through attrition and people are still up in arms.Quote:
Originally Posted by cla1945
I'm not sure I'd take that "consultant" report on the Water Department at face value. It is hard to say that was an objective look at the department's operations.Quote:
Originally Posted by corktownyuppie
I would like to see Bing express some outrage at the sense of entitlement of the executive with the firm that is supposed to be handling the privatized management of the DDOT. I'm speaking of the guy who was being paid a six figure salary in taxpayer dollars to be the COO of DDOT here in Detroit while he was actually working his full time job as a radio host back at his home in New York and simultaneously campaigning for a State assemblyman job there. Talk about a sense of entitlement. Seems to me like that relationship is one that needs an audit of it's operations to find waste and fraud. Somehow, that story got buried after a day and there was no follow up in the media and almost no public comment from the City administration.
No, he's also referring to thr police officers and firefighters, as they're still fighting his illegally imposed union contract on them in litigation.Quote:
Originally Posted by corktownyuppie
And I'm not sure why some of you union guys think you're going to get a better shake under Snyder.
He's the one who not only instructed his puppet Bing to turn down the original contract you guys agreed to, but also he wanted to impose a a contract with even bigger concessions than what Bing imposed.
At least with a bankruptcy judge, you would still be able to negotiate a new/fairer contract and not have one you don't like illegally imposed on you
You want bankruptcy and negotiations? Good luck with that!!Quote:
Originally Posted by 313WX
Interesting. So you don't have a sense of "entitlement". And you worked hard for every dime you were paid. Both during your years working with the city, as well as currently in your pension check. Now that the city is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy you want the mayor to do something to fix the unsustainable financial position the city is in. Well how is that going to happen?Quote:
Originally Posted by cla1945
Let me guess. Fire a bunch of current employees. For those that are left, impose a 50% pay cut and benefit reduction. You worked for the city for 30 years before the current employees, thus contributing to the culture of the current workforce. Why are their long term pay and benefits any less important than yours?
I'm not sure this holds true. The Bankruptcy Judge has the ability to unilaterally accept or reject labor contracts as it sees fit, unless I'm misunderstanding. With whom do you believe that labor leaders would be negotiating? The city? The bankruptcy judge? How exactly does this play out?Quote:
Originally Posted by 313WX
Everything I've ever read about Chapter 9 is that it's going to be worse everyone, take far, far longer, and be extremely expensive...leaving that much less money for creditors, pensioners, and labor unions.
Quote:
The essence of a Chapter 9 bankruptcy is that it gives the municipality an opportunity to reorganize and restructure its debts through an agreement with its creditors called a “Plan of Adjustment.” If a creditor cannot agree with the municipality, Chapter 9 allows the bankruptcy court to force the municipality’s Plan of Adjustment on the non-consenting creditor. The bankrupt municipality is also empowered to accept or reject contracts and leases through the Plan of Adjustment.
Yes it could drag out for years and make things much worse then they are now ,just the mention of the currant phase of bankruptcy has once again placed the city bond status back to junk.Quote:
Originally Posted by corktownyuppie
But on the bright side there has been one case in two years of discovering missing monies in the city realm of government,nice to see all of the other departments are running like a fine tuned watch in a efficient costly manner.