I have noticed that the upcoming financial and governmental reform in Detroit is often described as "painful", and I wonder what aspects of the reform people think will actually be "painful".

I fully expect that this process will be painful for city employees and retirees, but I wonder if it will actually be painful for the citizens of Detroit who don't work for the city.

Frankly, I don't see how government services can get much worse for Detroiters than they are right now. As it stands, police and EMS response time is shitty, if they show up at all. The streetlights frequently don't work, and it is common for them to be out for months at a time. The bus service is shit, and has been getting worse with each passing year. The department of Human Services is a joke, and the city government is filled with redundant and ineffectual departments.

So far, the "painful" reforms that I am hearing are things like eliminating the Health and Human Service departments, turning Belle Isle into a state park, privatizing bus management, turning over some traffic enforcement duties to county sheriffs, turing over tax collections to county and/or state agencies, etc.

These all sound like good things that will make the government run better and result in improved services for the citizens. What is painful about that?