The State of Bing

Detroit News photo.

Where are the people that elected Dave Bing? Shame on you.

Once again, Detroit’s electorate has been hoodwinked. The best they can hope for is that the current mayor opts not to run for re-election. If that does not come to bethen there is August 6, 2013 or November 5, 2013. Those dates would be an opportunity for Detroit voters to fire this guy in the primary – and hope that he does not make it to the general election.

I have long professed that Detroit leadership is bankrupt. Tuesday’s “State of the City” speech validated that view. Sadly, the announced candidates to replace the current mayor will not fill the till. The next mayor of Detroit has not announced their candidacy or set up some exploratory committee. If the electorate is left to choose from Benny Napoleon, Mike Duggan, Lisa Howze, Krystal Crittendon, the incumbent (and possibly Tom Barrow or Fred Durhal, Jr.) then Detroit is still in trouble and Governor Snyder needs to send in that Emergency Manager. . . yesterday.

When Lee Iacocca wrote his 2007 book, “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?”, he must have had Detroit in mind. Detroit is bankrupt of leadership.

As I sat down this evening to listen to the current mayor, it became obvious to me that he in inept and lacks the propensity to be an effective leader. Bing was given a pass in 2009 based on the illusion presented by the media and the business community that he was what was needed. But voters have been hoodwinked by those who think they know what is in the best interest of the residents of Detroit.

Mayor Bing has moved into the city and adopted the same sordid mentality of those who came before him – that is, to play the blame game.

He talked about the debt that he inherited. But the thing is, he knew what he was getting into when he decided to run. He gets no sympathy from me for that convenient excuse. He went on to talk about money that is owed to the city from the state and how the financial problem would not be as grave had the state ponied up on the revenue sharing.

Really?

I guess that carpetbagger label is something Bing is trying to relieve himself of, because using the “What the state owes us excuse” sounds like he’s trying to get some street cred with citizens who’ve adopted the same victims mantra.

Please.  Spare me the whining about doing more with less. Mr. Bing, Detroit should have been doing more with less the minute as soon as the population started to decline years ago. Doing more with less? Actually, you are doing no more than the job that you signed up for.

As for the neighborhoods and combating violence in Detroit goes, those items have been a problem in Detroit since you were the interim mayor before transitioning into the permanent role in 2010. Those are things that you have been talking about in prior SOTC addresses and to be talking about it again only shows that you have no answers. Quit with the window dressing and admit that you do not have a clue and that you are in way over your head.