Opinion: Lansing’s Ascared of Detroit

[Lowell]

Watching the whole EFM / Consent Agreement dance has led me to the opinion that Lansing, meaning the Governor and legislature, is afraid of taking over Detroit. They could easily point to the numbers and take over the city. But I believe they are dearly praying that they can succeed in twisting enough arms to obtain a consent agreement that will leave the hamstrung governance of Detroit under local control.

Why?

Taking over Detroit will rouse a fierce opposition from a very sizeable population whose activation will energize it into a large voter turn-out in what is shaping up to be a very close election year.

Taking over Detroit means that their EMF, and by extension them, will be stuck with the impossible task of running a city with the insurmountable costs of caring for a huge proportion of the state’s indigent citizenry. Lansing will then face the dilemma of cutting services to levels that could cause rebellion and irreparable breakdown or finally admitting that they need to provide funds, which could cause rebellion within their ruling party.

Leaving Detroit under crippled local management will give them the appearance that ‘they did something’ and when that fails they will be again able to point their finger and shake their heads at Detroit and whine, “We tried, they failed”.

While the governor is playing brinksmanship by issuing ultimatums and deadlines, it is the consent commission who should be doing so. They should call his bluff. Think of it like the Iraq war. The country was easily taken over but occupying it turned out to be a whole different proposition.

That’s my opinion. What do you think?

[highjinx]

It is all so very obvious that those now in control have no control at all.
I am amused at the way the current population screams the race card issues at the first sign of the state taking over Detroit and all it's related matters.
I am further amused that members of the current population threaten to BURN DOWN THE CITY if the state takes over.
That it leaves me to believe that the current population of Detroit is happy with the ways things are[?].
In all actuality nothing is going to help Detroit, because you cannot help those who truly don't want to be helped, just like with any other addiction, yes addiction of poverty which it seems has taken a choke hold on Detroit's population, the addicted parties need to help themselves before anyone can truly help.
To be perfectly frank about Detroit, whitey was chased out of the hood, so went whitey's money and tax based support and you see the end product.
People scream Detroit's in that shape because of economics; yeah, whitey's money getting out of town was the biggest economic down turn there that ever could have been.
2 million once lived there; 1,130,000 were chased out, leaving 870,000 mostly at or above poverty level by national standards to care and support a city of that size.
Actually, I feel the federal government needs to step in and control what has run amok for too many years.
Assess what area of Detroit is best suited to support the current population; move everyone to that area; level the rest of Detroit and start out new.
Hit and miss new construction and housing will not solve the problem; full scale and wide spread new housing construction aimed at the middle to upper class persons would bring back those who have the ways and means to support Detroit and make it prosperous and vibrant as it once was.
Face it, people with resources and the ways and means to support government NO MATTER THEIR COLOR, don't want to live with those who have not, a matter of "fact" and "not racism".

[SWMAP]

Lowell, you must not have noticed that Nolan Finley had that insight earlier and published a column about it yesterday on the Detroit New front-page.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...xt|FRONTPAGE|s

[EastsideAl]

Nice analysis Lowell. I agree pretty much 100%.

And, in particular, this:

finally admitting that they need to provide funds, which could cause rebellion within their ruling party.

...which is truly despicable, but par for the course with those folks.

Perhaps if they gave us a little tangible help for our actual problems while they're trying to lop off some of our rights and blame us for it, they might be in for a little less criticism, because the whole thing would seem a lot less cynical.

[Red Devil]

I'd say that they kick the can to the summer for another showdown. When that comes, kick it again towards 2013, but spin it as a "Detroit bailout", "wasting money", etc. and that "Snyder had no choice" See if it energizes the GOP base locally, or even nationally, since our old boy Mitt will be in the running and has some local ties. Then once 2013 hits, the EFM comes in and the pain begins.

[Coaccession]

Fierce opposition arises at the fringe. Give Detroiters cops, firemen and EMTs that respond promptly to calls and Lansing will make many friends. Lower their taxes at the same time and they'll love Lansing. Come election time, though, Lansing better work hard, very hard, and smart, too, on turnout, or the fringe will win that battle. So, you're very likely right, Lowell, even if there' a slight chance it goes the other way.

[iheartthed]

What do you think?

I think the dance is around the clauses in Detroit's debt contracts that would force the city to put up money it doesn't have should it be put under emergency manager. If the state put the city under EFM and the city didn't immediately put up the money to cover the debt -- which would probably be a strain for even the state to cover -- then the city would have to file bankruptcy.

[ordinary]

but par for the course with those folks.

That is a pretty rash generalization.

[Lowell]

Lowell, you must not have noticed that Nolan Finley had that insight earlier and published a column about it yesterday on the Detroit New front-page.

I hadn't seen that, not a big Nolan Finley follower, but I had mentioned this previously. I have been fleshing it out in my mind since then. He must not have noticed my post.

However I think what I wrote is more of an obvious conclusion than any great insight.

I am reminded of a cynical Israeli joke that was going around when they withdrew from Gaza, "Great you try running our concentration camp now."

Part of me wants to see Lansing take over Detroit. Having listened to their harping and lecturing for decades, and from members of both parties, I am ready to make the popcorn, sit back and watch them perform miracles. Unfortunately what I feel would happen is that a bunch of scrappers in suits and ties would simply scavenge the crown jewels and then walk away from it.

As for the 'burn the city down' I am finding it laughable how some people latch on the quote of some loon and try to characterize Detroiters with it. However I would predict high levels of civil actions that could do great damage to the region.

Healing Detroit is in all our interests. It requires a lot of money, attention and burden sharing by the entire metro and state. Our image, brand identity, manufactured products reputation and humanity all rise and fall with the City of Detroit.

[downtownguy]

2 million once lived there; 1,130,000 were chased out, leaving 870,000 mostly at or above poverty level by national standards to care and support a city of that size.

I grew up on the west side as the racial makeup changed dramatically. Most of the white folks talked in hushed tones that the blacks were moving in. Real estate agents added to the fright and made a killing turning over homes as fast as they could. A few years later, as an adult about to buy my own home in the city, it occurred to me that blacks could only move in if whites were moving out. I guess I never got the memo that I was supposed to move out. Now, well into my second half-century living in Detroit I ask you, highjinx, who's chasing me?

[313hero]

This site needs a "like" button lol. Great post.

[EastsideAl]

That is a pretty rash generalization.

Not very rash if it's true. The Republican Party, going way back to the Reagan administration, if not earlier, has consistently worked to defund urban America. And they have worked against urban Americans, sending the majority of their tax monies elsewhere, while at the same time criticizing them as overly-dependent on the government.

That's certainly even more true here in Michigan, where many prominent Republicans have made their name in part by being anti-Detroit. Hell, John Engler was elected and reelected by basically running against Detroit, rather the Democratic candidates who were actually opposing him.

[iheartthed]

Not very rash if it's true. The Republican Party, going way back to the Reagan administration, if not earlier, has consistently worked to defund urban America. And they have worked against urban Americans, sending the majority of their tax monies elsewhere, while at the same time criticizing them as overly-dependent on the government.

Democrats has their hand in that too... But I think it started way before Reagan. We're talking policies that have defined almost the entire length of post WW2 America.

[swingline]

To be perfectly frank about Detroit, whitey was chased out of the hood, so went whitey's money and tax based support and you see the end product.
People scream Detroit's in that shape because of economics; yeah, whitey's money getting out of town was the biggest economic down turn there that ever could have been.
2 million once lived there; 1,130,000 were chased out, leaving 870,000 mostly at or above poverty level by national standards to care and support a city of that size.
Actually, I feel the federal government needs to step in and control what has run amok for too many years.
Assess what area of Detroit is best suited to support the current population; move everyone to that area; level the rest of Detroit and start out new.
Hit and miss new construction and housing will not solve the problem; full scale and wide spread new housing construction aimed at the middle to upper class persons would bring back those who have the ways and means to support Detroit and make it prosperous and vibrant as it once was.
Face it, people with resources and the ways and means to support government NO MATTER THEIR COLOR, don't want to live with those who have not, a matter of "fact" and "not racism".

Unfortunately, these kinds of useless, simplistic, childlike arguments and solutions are all too common in our region. Yeah, why doesn't somebody build some new stuff and make everybody move there? That would improve things. Hmm, one wonders who would do this and pay for this and how exactly it would improve things. But those details are not all that important, right? Is this a "whitey" solution? Sheesh.

These kinds of contributions are about as useful as those coming from the folks whose community rarely votes but who complain endlessly about protecting their right to vote. The vote is a sacred right. Blood was spilled to obtain that right, etc. One wonders what those whose blood was spilled would think of folks who carelessly consume hundreds of millions of dollars of city services without paying for them. Yeah, no solutions from the voting rights complainers either.

[313hero]

Can anyone show an example of how the the Sate was successfull in "helping" ANY of the cities it has taken over? Thats the problem. not that we dont want the help or dont need it cause we do. But help is just that help. Not Takeover. Look @ DPS. The State has been "helping" it for the last few years and I'd rather not have had that kind of "help"

[Ray1936]

I think the state looks on Detroit as a bunch of childish simpletons, and is simply taking slow steps at a time to get the simpletons to understand the problem. I don't think they're afraid at all.

[gnome]

Hey Al, and anyone else who cares to listen, John Engler did not run against Detroit. John Engler learned early in his career, in fact he wrote a paper about this while at MSU, that if you want to get elected you have to talk to people who vote.

If you are going to talk to voters, don't waste your time talking to those who won't vote for you. This is not new news, but it bears directly on almost every conversation about Detroit.

Detroit is ignored, because it is ignorable. Detroiters don't vote. And when they do vote they only vote for one party and it is not the Republican party.That's is the issue.

If you are a politician who wants to be elected, you talk to people who will talk to you. You don't waste resources talking to people who have zero interest in voting for you.

Now, maybe that is chicken-and-egg. But regardless the reality is that the single Governor who has expressed more than passing interest in Detroit is a Republican. Ms. Granholm did not even broach the subject of Kwame's three-card-monty financial chicanery. Detroit has not had a balanced budget since 2004.

2004. Seven plus years of can kicking. Seven plus years of 10,000 people a year reading the tea leaves and calling Uhaul. Those are the votes that matter, the feet vote, and the feet vote sez Detroit is not right.

The thing about this so-called outrage is that it comes from an emotional place deep inside that says you matter.

You don't matter.

You don't matter to the folks in the Marquette, Traverse City, Houghton, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, et al. You are boring in your indignation. Petulant foot dragging, theatrics and outrage.

Please.

Dear reader, you may take this as an attack on Detroit. It isn't. What it is is an invitation to see yourself as others see you. This is especially important when it is those others who you beg for rescue.

You are like a drowning man who fights against the lifeguard. You scream and flail in impotent displays of your importance. But no one cares.

No cares about the $5 dollar day, the Battle of the Bridge, the Arsenal of Democracy, the Sit-down, the this/the that. That was yesterday and yesterday doesn't mean anything in America except to museums.

We all here, may take a different angle at history and point to all the joys we get in learning about old factories, long-gone fights or any of the number of historical threads. We love those things, many here joined because of them; but that is entertainment. Fun? Yes. Interesting? Absolutely. But to most people in the State, boring.

You want to be less boring? Don't think you're so important, or that you are still hot. You stopped being hot a lifetime ago. Your ass is sagging, the man-boobs have sprouted and that hairline has turned to forehead.

When Lowell laughingly suggested that Lansing is Ascared, I thought he meant that Lansing was afraid of disposing of the dirty diapers which are Detroit finances. But that is not the case at all, Lowell explains,

Taking over Detroit will rouse a fierce opposition from a very sizeable population whose activation will energize it into a large voter turn-out in what is shaping up to be a very close election year.

Really? A city that is losing voters by the thousands, who could barely bring out 50% to vote for Mr. Obama in 2008, a City that is a toothless cur is not to be feared.

But pitied.

Pitied like a 3rd world nation that demands respect without being respectful. A City that can't spend grant money, can't run a health department, a lighting department, a police or fire. A City with a murder rate higher than Kabul and you get someone actually talking smack that Lansing is too afraid. Too chicken. That Lansing [[read Republicans) don't have the man berries to clean up your mess?

Is that what I'm reading here? Really? That is the best smack talk you can come up with?

No wonder certain people can call for civil unrest and it is dismissed as so much nothing. He didn't mean it.

That is just an example of how much worthless talk you do. How many worthless marches take place, sit-ins, peace outs ... after a while no one cares. No one cares because there is no there, there. Insurrection talk is dismissed because it is just talk.

You want to matter? Do something to matter. Do anything. First off do the right thing and be respectful to those who want to help.

[bartock]

BOOOOM.

Great post, gnome.

[iheartthed]

You want to be less boring? Don't think you're so important, or that you are still hot. You stopped being hot a lifetime ago. Your ass is sagging, the man-boobs have sprouted and that hairline has turned to forehead.

That's how the rest of the country felt about rescuing the auto industry. Doesn't mean that letting the auto industry fail wouldn't have dealt a huge blow to the nation's economy. By the same line of logic, just because the rest of Michigan doesn't find Detroit very interesting doesn't mean that its failure wouldn't deal a huge blow to the state.

[corktownyuppie]

]
You want to matter? Do something to matter. Do anything. First off do the right thing and be respectful to those who want to help.

Agree with Gnome. I don't think Lansing is scared of losing Detroit votes. It didn't have any to begin with. I don't think Lansing is really worried about civil disobedience...but I think to be pragmatic it's going to make efforts to reduce it or prevent it.

Let's remember, civil disobedience isn't going help paychecks clear, either.

No, I think a lot of this is bluster and smoke and mirrors. And while I'd like an injection of capital [[with oversight and ultimate control by the entity injecting the capital), the bottom line is that Detroiters are not entitled to it, no one thinks they deserve it, and no one thinks there are any consequences if we fail to give it.

That is like this absurd notion that the Water Department can just shut off the water supply outside the city limits. Seriously?! You do that, and the suburbs will just build their own water plants. Plus you'll push back any regional cooperation back 30 years.

No. Right now, we prove that we will do what we are asked. Right now we demonstrate that we're willing to make hard changes. Right now, we demand nothing and are grateful for what we can do.

Then once we've taken the first steps to show that we're serious, then we'll have established some credibility to ask for a capital injection.

[gnome]

That's how the rest of the country felt about rescuing the auto industry. Doesn't mean that letting the auto industry fail wouldn't have dealt a huge blow to the nation's economy. By the same line of logic, just because the rest of Michigan doesn't find Detroit very interesting doesn't mean that its failure wouldn't deal a huge blow to the state.

Here folks is a perfect example of how Detroiters think.

One, instead of dealing with an issue one must first conflate it with an alleged what-if scenario on a different subject. However, how do you square Mr. Bush being the guy who started putting out the fire?

Two, you can't wrap your head around the fact you don't matter. Your inflated self-importance about your standing in the state is what is holding you back from rescue. Understand this, no one wants Detroit to fail, but you can't seem to get out of your own way to stop failure from happening.

You are doing this to yourself. Acting against your self-interest in the false notion your rights are being taken away by the White Man. A failed streetlight is a maintenance issue, a swath of non-functioning streetlights is an invitation to bad men to kill and rob.

Those bad men are the ones who are taking your rights away. They are the ones who make you put bars on your windows, double-keyed deadbolts on the doors and a Glock on the nightstand. Not Lansing.

Lansing doesn't want your problems, they have enough of their own, but you refuse to address the reality that your elected leaders have betrayed you. 10,000 people a year elect they want to sleep in safety, 10,000 people say enough is enough.

[Packman41]

Thanks to Ray1936, Gnome and Corktownyuppie. Finally some adults have entered the room.

[Novine]

"Then once we've taken the first steps to show that we're serious, then we'll have established some credibility to ask for a capital injection."

Don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen. Not even the Governor is getting everything he wants from the state legislature. They're definitely not going to give a cent to Detroit. I'm not even sure that Snyder can deliver the short list of promises he made in the consent agreement draft.

[corktownyuppie]

Here folks is a perfect example of how Detroiters think.

One, instead of dealing with an issue one must first conflate it with an alleged what-if scenario on a different subject. However, how do you square Mr. Bush being the guy who started putting out the fire?

Two, you can't wrap your head around the fact you don't matter. Your inflated self-importance about your standing in the state is what is holding you back from rescue. Understand this, no one wants Detroit to fail, but you can't seem to get out of your own way to stop failure from happening.

You are doing this to yourself. Acting against your self-interest in the false notion your rights are being taken away by the White Man. A failed streetlight is a maintenance issue, a swath of non-functioning streetlights is an invitation to bad men to kill and rob.

Those bad men are the ones who are taking your rights away. They are the ones who make you put bars on your windows, double-keyed deadbolts on the doors and a Glock on the nightstand. Not Lansing.

Lansing doesn't want your problems, they have enough of their own, but you refuse to address the reality that your elected leaders have betrayed you. 10,000 people a year elect they want to sleep in safety, 10,000 people say enough is enough.

It's seriously at the point where I think it would honestly better for Lansing to just drag their feet and let the city run out of cash. Somehow, I think when the city and its citizens REALLY see the consequences, the attitude will really be different.

[313hero]

You right on point Gnome