Tom Barrow, back in Jail?

[kraig]

Of course he's not, at least I don't think he is. But, given all the lies that Dave Bing has been caught in and all of Bing's mistakes. You would think that Tom Barrow, the same Barrow that had no problems going toe to toe with Coleman Young, would be all over Bing. Bing and Barrow have to be the two laziest candidates we've ever had during the general election. Well at least Barrow, Bing can at least claim that he's been busy doing the job of mayor. What's Barrow's excuse?

[Gistok]

Campaign money?? Or lack thereof??

[Locke09]

Inability to get any press?

They don't take him seriously and they prefer Bing run unopposed - which, for all intents and purposes, he is.

[HazenPingree]

Actually, I give Barrow alot of credit. I've randomly run into him hitting the pavement quite a bit. I've bumped into him in Midtown a few times, and have seen him on the Eastside alot [[his home turf.) He is putting in a good fight.

[Fnemecek]

Tom Barrow has also been doing a decent amount of campaigning in the Warrendale neighborhood; much more than Dave Bing has ever done.

Oh, and he's also collected endorsements from 10 labor unions thus far. http://warrendale.blogspot.com/2009/...se-barrow.html

[buildingsofdetroit]

Oh, and he's also collected endorsements from 10 labor unions thus far. http://warrendale.blogspot.com/2009/...se-barrow.html

That's not much of a feat considering Bing's knockdown dragouts with the unions lately.

[Fnemecek]

Well at least Barrow, Bing can at least claim that he's been busy doing the job of mayor.

Actually, Mayor Bing can't claim that either.

The City of Detroit has a $300 million deficit. If you take every proposal that he's ever talked about for addressing this shortage, even the ones like the layoffs and the Belle Isle entrance fee that haven't been implemented, we're only about 15% of the way to solving the problem. More importantly, when one adds in the cost of political stunts like reopening the police precincts, much of the money that he's saved is spent again.

Oh, and let's not forget about what we lost by not getting our audit done on time.

Or what we'll likely lose in state revenue sharing from any of the deals that are pending in Lansing - but that Mayor Bing has been silent on.

[Fnemecek]

That's not much of a feat considering Bing's knockdown dragouts with the unions lately.

Mayor Bing has implemented less than half of his proposed layoffs. That plus a press conference or two does not constitute a "knockdown dragout".

[Supersport]

I'm told Barrow asked for 4 debates prior to the election, Bing refused to do even one! No surprise, considering he has to be one of the worst debaters I've seen. The media is already on board with Bing, so what they publish and televise seems carefully chosen.

[Fnemecek]

Well, Mayor Bing has been very busy not balancing the budget. You can't expect him to debate anyone when he's busy doing [[next to) nothing.

[PQZ]

Seriously?

Bing has been on the job for what? 9 months?

He hasn't eliminated a deficte that took 6 years to accrue and that is evidence he's doing nothing? I don't know what planet folks live on but governance, especially when faced with the morons that comprise City Council, is not accomplished through hitting the "Easy" button.

If you think that the mess can be fully adressed in anything short of 3 years, you are no better than a Glen Beck in your grasp of reality.

When all the major unions, which are 50% of th mess Detroit is in suddenly hate Bing...well....theres no clearer sign that he IS doing what is necessary to trim the fat to balance the budget.

[kraig]

If Barrow throws a punch, figuratively of course, in this race. the press will be more than happy to put it out there. Barrow should have spoken at every public hearing on the proposed bus changes. Barrow should have blasted Bing for lying about not proposing changes to the bus system. The press would have ate that up. Barrow should have been out speaking every time there was a protest at the CAYMC. That's how you get everyone's attention. His campaign manager needs to get on the job. Detroiters aren't happy with Bing.

[ThaFuzz]

Of course he's not, at least I don't think he is.

so you're admitting that your misleading headline is misleading?

[kraig]

so you're admitting that your misleading headline is misleading?

Oh yeah. I would hope that after reading the post, no one would take the headline seriously.

[Fnemecek]

Seriously?

Bing has been on the job for what? 9 months?

He hasn't eliminated a deficit that took 6 years to accrue and that is evidence he's doing nothing? I don't know what planet folks live on but governance, especially when faced with the morons that comprise City Council, is not accomplished through hitting the "Easy" button.

If you think that the mess can be fully addressed in anything short of 3 years, you are no better than a Glen Beck in your grasp of reality.

First, I'm not talking about all of the debts that the City of Detroit has accrued over the years. I'm talking about the current year's budget.

At the rate Mayor Bing is currently going, we won't have the 2009 budget resolved until the summer of 2011. This poses a multitude of problems, not the least of which is: when are we going to deal with the 2010 budget problems that we will inevitably have?

The fact of the matter is that the City of Detroit - and quite possibly the Detroit Public Schools - are on a fast track for chapter 9 bankruptcy. I don't think there is anyone at this point who can prevent it from happening.

Maybe if Mayor Bing and former Mayor Cockrel acted more expeditiously early on, we could have prevented it. If you recall, for the first couple of months, Mayor Bing insisted that he was going to address the City's budget problems by targeting the "low-hanging fruit" and promised initially to avoid any layoffs.

More importantly, from what I've heard from various City of Detroit employees, Bing and Cockrel actually renewed some of the infamous "friends and family" contracts from the Kilpatrick Administration.

On top of that, Mayor Bing recently promised to re-open all of the various police precincts that were previously closed. While that is politically popular, buying and operating all of those buildings eats up a considerable amount of cash that could be used for other things.

Maybe if Mayor Bing and former Mayor Cockrel acted more expeditiously early on, we could have prevented a bankruptcy filing. However, that proverbial train has left the station.

It's fairly clear, in my opinion, that all Mayor Bing's moves have done to date is to postpone our filing for bankruptcy protection until after the November election. That might seem like a smart move politically. The problem is that it also makes the bankruptcy proceedings themselves much more complicated and delays considerably our eventual emergence from bankruptcy.

When all the major unions, which are 50% of the mess Detroit is in suddenly hate Bing...well....there's no clearer sign that he IS doing what is necessary to trim the fat to balance the budget.

Most of those same unions were also pissed off at former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. I wouldn't get too excited over their displeasure with Mayor Bing.

[Detroitej72]

Oh, and he's also collected endorsements from 10 labor unions thus far. http://warrendale.blogspot.com/2009/...se-barrow.html

I would consider that a disadvantage, since the unions are helping to keep the city in this current financial mess. All they care about is making more money than their worth, ever had to deal with any of those useless civil servants?

Privatize most city services and not only will you see a savings, the residents will also get better services.

[Tig3rzhark]

My block had to have a new water main put in. City Contractors came in and did the job. Those jackasses fucked up my grass by putting concrete on my grass after they finished putting in the new water main.

Anyone who says that contractors can do a better job is fooling themselves.

[jtf1972]

Barrow should schedule a debate & spend money advertising it. Bing would either have to attend, or it would turn into a campaign speech with a second podium sitting empty with Bing's name prominently displayed. Then turn the empty podium into the post-debate campaign ads.

[kraig]

The only attention he's gotten is that his convictions still stand. Bing has mastered the strategy of doing nothing and waiting for his opponents to take themselves out of it.

Hendrix-Siding with Monica Conyers.

Cockrel-Acting as though Cobo was a done deal and losing to Conyers.

Barrow-Speaking as though his convictions had already been overturned when they hadn't and making himself look like a liar and a thief.