By Rochelle Riley

Detroit Free Press columnist

Two things are now true:

Detroit residents will no longer be able to say that nobody cares what they think.And time has run out.

Since city and state officials cannot talk to each other about a partnership to fix Detroit, everybody's making their case directly to the people.

Thursday, City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown e-mailed constituents to extol the virtues of "A Partnership-Focused Consent Agreement with the Mayor, City Council and the State Treasurer."

Thursday, after two days of lambasting Gov. Rick Snyder for the consent agreement, a calmer Mayor Dave Bing told reporters outside the White House: "I'm not so worried about authority. I want to make sure whatever we do works."And Thursday, Snyder's team announced plans to host its own town hall meetings to talk directly to Detroit residents about the city's future.

Snyder? He was packing Thursday for a trip to Europe after telling me in the morning that Detroit was out of time.

But when he gets back, Snyder is going to appoint an emergency manager. He didn't say it. He didn't have to. He won't be able to avoid it. And it won't be Bing.

Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/2012031...yder-no-choice