Detroitnerd and jt1 pretty much summed it all up.

So basically Detroit can own the system, but it can't do anything with it [[in which case it might as well NOT own it). How nice, so we, the citizens of Detroit, have to pay for something with our tax dollars that we can't even control.

Yet, I bet the suburbs would get their panties in a bunch if Detroit wanted to control Red Oaks, which I bet these days a lot more Detroiters use than people from Oakland County.