The Detroit Rocket Science Program.

The problem in Detroit gets worse, but it could just get better if we were all honest about the facts on the ground. As Governor Snyder appoints an all-star group of Detroit leaders, the most unlikely suspects of anything but honest opinion, we have to go through a legal process to confirm the things we’ve all suspected.

The question is already asked and answered.  And now, we still have to wait for the inevitable to happen.  Detroit will likely go under an EFM in due time.  And those workers, whether union or otherwise, will face an uncertain future in a city who doesn’t care enough to lead by example, even if it meant more sacrifice.

Leaders do that sort of thing.

As Detroit City Council has changed (imagine this discussion and transparency if Monica was City Council Prez), Gov. Snyder has provided ample space, possibly in deference to the political demands of 2012, in order to just be certain that Detroit will require a lifeboat the size of Michigan.

For the GOP, it’s not easy handling Detroit.  They’ve never actually worked with Detroit, nor have had the position to solve the problem at hand without suffering grievous political damage for yet another decade.  And just as Detroit will never get fixed by itself with the attitude they have, Detroit will also never appreciate the horrible fiscal condition they’ve inherited.

As 200,000 people left Detroit in a decade, their money went with it.  As Detroit’s unemployment rate continues to be the worst in the nation, we can see there is no effective solution that Detroit has alone.  Someone has to help, and the State of Michigan is the only one to do it.  Sane people figured this out, including an actual bankruptcy judge…The financial manager option is the only way to go.

I remember Benton Harbor’s uproar in April of this year, when individuals used emotion rather than reason.  The fact is, no one wants to lose their power.  In fact, the City Council has changed somewhat for the better, despite the obvious stacking going on in the D.  And the decision to defend City Council funding, rather than make a political statement of commitment…reveals the city is already on its way down, so save what you can.

Rather than take the advice of the wise individuals who created the EFM law (those who had survived the last decimation of cities in Detroit), where cities agreed to set aside their incorporated permissions when their fiscal problems exceeded normal consideration, there are people poisoning the well of reason.

Detroit needs a savior.  And no respectable Dem wants to give an inch to Governor Snyder.  And the Gov. has done his share of partisan nonsense, and earns his own I Love New York totebag.  But he’s not wrong on this.  Detroit needs to give in now.  That will buy everyone 90 days or more to get working on solutions, provide ample notice to workers who face oblivion, and give its residents a fighting chance to rebuild and reform.

It’s a top-heavy city, and all the infrastructure spent to create this is the problem that cannot be demolished or fired.  Most of the workers are not really even involved, as they suffer the burden of cost-cutting, despite great effort from the majority of city workers.  And pay cuts will be necessary, as the 10-member blue ribbon panel of specifically-selected individuals suggests a direct stare into the eyes of the defiant unions, who have to now accept the failures of past government, the corruption of their last Mayor, and an unfair price for their service.

But someone’s got to take the fall, and no one seems to care enough about the workers to do the talk.  If we wait for the panel to conclude their findings, or wait for political attacks that delay the procedure, we could lose Detroit for a lot longer than we have to.  And it will cost money.  It will be a legal mess.  And it will take a long time.  But it wouldn’t take as long as a bankruptcy proceeding, as the rest of the nation finally starts to build again, invest, and give their citizens a new future.  We would still be stuck in court.

But right, Detroit would rather do that…

If you’re a worker, one of the thousands on a list…It doesn’t matter.  If you had some sense of concrete facts, you could plan for it.  You could make the necessary preparations for lean times, as if they weren’t already lean enough.  And by Spring 2012, you could have something to work with.

Instead, we have to go through another hoop, and lose 60 more days, if not more, to deal with a problem that will show its ugly face.  I’ll try to be positive, however, in that this panel may be the only chance to get everyone on board to save Detroit.  But I’m probably wrong.  Mako out.