Federal Judge to Order a New Management System for the Detroit Water & Sewerage Dept.

[313WX]

Detroitnerd and jt1 pretty much summed it all up.

So basically Detroit can own the system, but it can't do anything with it [[in which case it might as well NOT own it). How nice, so we, the citizens of Detroit, have to pay for something with our tax dollars that we can't even control.

Yet, I bet the suburbs would get their panties in a bunch if Detroit wanted to control Red Oaks, which I bet these days a lot more Detroiters use than people from Oakland County.

[corktownyuppie]

Detroitnerd and jt1 pretty much summed it all up.

So basically Detroit can own the system, but it can't do anything with it [[in which case it might as well NOT own it). How nice, so we, the citizens of Detroit, have to pay for something with our tax dollars that we can't even control.

Yet, I bet the suburbs would get their panties in a bunch if Detroit wanted to control Red Oaks, which I bet these days a lot more Detroiters use than people from Oakland County.

Owning a system [[being entitled to its profits) and Controlling a system [[being entitled to determine how it spends and receives money) are two very different things. Detroiters should be entitled to every penny of profits generated by the system into which it invested its capital.

But a system that works to the greater public good, and frankly, has a virtual monopoly, should have joint and cooperative control over how its resources are used. The devils in the details of course, and as a Detroiter, I want to make sure my voice carries power.

If Red Oaks served 4.2 million people per year and $100 million dollars to construct without any realistically feasible source of competition, then yes, I'd agree with you.

[JBMcB]

Assets of DWS have already been ceded to suburban control. A few years ago the interceptor that runs along the Edison corridor between Hoover and Shoenerr was ordered to be handed over to a regional authority, after an inspection revealed it was falling apart and DWS had no plans on repairing it. There was a huge sinkhole at fifteen mile a few years ago that formed from the interceptor leaking.

This is where the environmental aspect comes in. DWS is barely maintaining the sewer lines in the CoD proper, and pretty much ignoring what it owns outside the CoD proper.

I have no firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of DWS, but I knew someone who installed water monitoring systems for the EPA. He was not impressed with DWS management. He said they weren't the worst department he's worked with, but they were pretty bad.

[Wesley Mouch]

Owning a system [[being entitled to its profits) and Controlling a system [[being entitled to determine how it spends and receives money) are two very different things. Detroiters should be entitled to every penny of profits generated by the system into which it invested its capital.

But a system that works to the greater public good, and frankly, has a virtual monopoly, should have joint and cooperative control over how its resources are used. The devils in the details of course, and as a Detroiter, I want to make sure my voice carries power.

If Red Oaks served 4.2 million people per year and $100 million dollars to construct without any realistically feasible source of competition, then yes, I'd agree with you.

Great post!

I look at it like this...

What's the sensible thing here?

This is a regional system. It needs to be well-run for the region's health -- literally. I agree with him on the 'profit' returning to the 'owners', but since cities are only collections of residents that changes from time-to-time, it could easily be argued that the money came from people who now live in the suburbs. Why are they being disenfranchised? Just because they no longer live in the City? It was in great part their money.