Detroit is a business?"

[Detroitnerd]

Locke, you pretty much sum up my concerns about the Bing administration. Without getting controversial, I do think he may have been the beneificiary of a lot of business deals not because of his business acumen but because of his good name, steady personality and connections. He's not a turnaround man, as his response to recent business setbacks help clarify. He is, howeveer, integrated with the business community here in Detroit.

Is the deficit down at all? Is the turnaround taking place? All I've seen are some PR moves, like condemning street shootings [[was there ever a question street shootings were bad?), talking tough with the unions [[but not gaining traction), raising the salaries on his appointees while discussing closing down a lot of bus service in a city where many residents rely on public transportation to get them around.

And around him, the same coterie of sweethearters, people like Adams, Jackson, Beckham and Evans. Some of these people have criminal convictions, and many of them are tied to the SOS that people across the aisles would object to. And the brief transparency of the Cockrel administration has been brushed aside.

It's like the worst of both worlds: The same stooges, spendthrifts and sweethearters running the show, while Bing seems like a figurehead.

It prompts the question: Was Bing ever anything but a figurehead?

[LouHat]

Detroit is a city, and should be run like a city. If the leadership tried to run Detroit like a city, instead of always trying to create new definitions of what a large city should be, I am certain that Detroit would be a better place right now.

OK, whatever that means, remember, a "city" is merely a creature of the people who live near-abouts. If Detroit can't succeed as a "business", what right does it have to claim to be a "city"? It all boils down to the people-customers-stockholders, if Detroit sucks, the people-customers-stockholders will abandon it, and sign-up with something better. And it does, and they are, and they have been, and they will continue to do so until we are Gary, or Benton Harbor. Nice, a great city killed by silly, cop-out theorizing.