Federal Judge to Order a New Management System for the Detroit Water & Sewerage Dept.

[corktownyuppie]

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.

Owning a system [[being entitled to its profits) and Controlling a system [[being entitled to determine how it spends and receives money) are two very different things. Detroiters should be entitled to every penny of profits generated by the system into which it invested its capital.

But a system that works to the greater public good, and frankly, has a virtual monopoly, should have joint and cooperative control over how its resources are used. The devils in the details of course, and as a Detroiter, I want to make sure my voice carries power.

If Red Oaks served 4.2 million people per year and $100 million dollars to construct without any realistically feasible source of competition, then yes, I'd agree with you.