Very good points.
Given however that there are thousands upon thousands of cities in the US and worldwide -- I think good management would find well-established metrics for just about anything. I do grant you that Detroit would be a tough case -- given its immense size and near total disinvestment.
The problem is that Detroit's leadership hasn't fostered good management. When Detroit switched to a 'strong mayor' government in 1974 [[yes?) it also elected a 'strong mayor' in Coleman A. Young. He was much more interested in issues of control and power than he was in maintaining the existing, mostly white bureaucracy. I do understand why CAY acted as he did -- but the end effect was to toss aside years of tremendous competence in favor of political allegiances. [[And let's not even get started on KK's beyond saying that he had a distorted sense of what skills were most useful on the job.)
We are now paying the price for years of mismanagement.
It will take decades.
That's why I think its best to start over.
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