Expert: Different approach could have helped Detroit avoid bankruptcy filing

[313WX]

The problem wasn't the State of Michigan didn't want to help. It's that that they didn't want to help unless EVERYTHING was on THEIR terms, versus forming a TRUE partnership.

Either way, his conclusion is right. Because the city, suburbs and state were too petty to put their differences aside for the greater good, now Detroit, the state's largest city, is in bankruptcy court [[unlike Chicago/Illinois, Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania and New York City/New York who were all too busy to hate).

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2fdogYg9m

Detroit — A bankruptcy expert said Friday that the state of Michigan could have taken a more proactive approach to help Detroit avoid its July bankruptcy filing, the largest municipal filing in U.S. history.
Frank Shafroth, director of the Center for State and Local Leadership within the Center for Public Governance at George Mason University in Virginia, published a study Friday that looks at six American cities, including Detroit, to see whether the Motor City’s financial crisis could spread. The other cities are Chicago, Pittsburgh, Providence, San Bernardino and Baltimore.
Speaking at the Michigan Municipal League’s annual conference at Renaissance Center, Shafroth said a Michigan law that allowed Gov. Rick Snyder to appoint Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr was a “post-distressed program,” meaning it came after the financial crisis and provided help too late.
“The concern about Michigan is the law provides the state to interact after[[Detroit’s)gone over the cliff,” he said. “Michigan the state could have been more positive in thinking through how can we help instead of waiting until it was too late.”