[313Weather]

Common sense prevails...

Supreme Court: Emergency manager repeal must go on November ballot | Michigan news | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

[Retroit]

"Common sense"??? I guess I'm in favor of "letting the people decide", but the Emergency Manager Law seemed to provide a better option to financially troubled cities than the bankruptcy option.


This ballot proposal will be decided by two opposing groups of voters:

1. Those who believe that the state should help out one of its cities to avoid complete financial collapse, and
2. Those racist Detroiters who want to keep the "white man" out, united with those racist non-Detroiters who think that the n-words in Detroit should be allowed to self-destroy their city...and that it won't affect the rest of the state.

Count me in with the first group. The financial problems in Detroit are not the sole fault of Detroiters. The exodus of industries, companies, jobs and residents has contributed greatly to the financial problems. (...combined with a very top-heavy bureaucracy and unyielding unionized workforce). The ex-Detroit Michiganders that have benefited by abandoning its inner cities have to acknowledge that there is a price to pay for turning over inner cities into the hands of those least likely to maintain them.

And this does not diminish my belief that the major problem in Detroit is not financial, but cultural.

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by Retroit

This ballot proposal will be decided by two opposing groups of voters:[list=1][*]Those who believe that the state should help out one of its cities to avoid complete financial collapse, and[*]Those racist Detroiters who want to keep the "white man" out, united with those racist non-Detroiters who think that the n-words in Detroit should be allowed to self-destroy their city...and that it won't affect the rest of the state..

That's completely inaccurate.

[zthatzmanz28]

Isn't there a third group? Those who really do not want to see tax payer money being dumped into another money pit?

I would like to see Detroit survive, so let the city leaders have a go at it. If the citizens of Detroit continue to elect idiots--let's respect their decision.

After all, their boy friend's coming BACK....wait and see...you're gonna be in trouble..KILPATRICK returns..just like Marion Barry, you can't keep a good felon down for long. Did y'all hear his new campaign speech the other day?

[Retroit]

The city leaders have already proven that they are incapable of dealing with the financial problem. They have acknowledged that they can not deal with the deficit caused by exodus of residents and businesses from the city. And they have blamed the very people who are now offering to help them (i.e. the "white outsiders").

Those who do not want their "tax dollars dumped into a money pit" are missing the point. The EFM is not about dumping money into the city. It's about fixing the cities budget so that expenses don't exceed revenue...so that the city doesn't collapse and bring down the reputation/image/viability of the entire state.

[michigan83]

The emergency manager law might not be agreeable to everyone, but it is not a grand conspiracy, either. Just an attempt to fix cities without the destructive bankruptcy process. There are some that place the importance of collective bargaining agreements above the survival of the city. Others see it differently.

I think the average voter will probably want to keep the emergency manager law, because there is a lot of frustration with how our big cities are managed and the damage that is constantly done to our state's reputation as a result. Special interests are good at making a lot of noise and creating the impression that people don't like this law, but when the entire state is voting, I think all of the people who are quietly supportive of fixing the messes in our cities will prevail.

[michigan83]

A surprisingly good editorial from the Free Press about the emergency manager law:

Stephen Henderson: Emergency manager law unpleasant, but what’s the alternative? | Stephen Henderson | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

[zthatzmanz28]

Someone has to be paying the EFM's salary. So there is a mayor receiving a salary, and city council (and their aides and expense accounts) being paid. Both the Mayor and the council are essentially powerless as the EFM can over-ride most of their decisions?
Who else is on the EFM's payroll?
And now we (the state tax payers) have the added expense of appeals from the city's brilliant, but rogue legal council, costly elections and whatever else the Einsteins in Detroit (aka council) decide to challenge that will cost the city and state taxpayers in terms of legal fees or business in general.

Putting the issue on the ballot for a vote in November will not be free.

[michigan83]

The EFM salary is pennies compared to the messes they are attempting to clean up.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by michigan83

The EFM salary is pennies compared to the messes they are attempting to clean up.

That is what the council and mayor are elected to do.

EFM annual salaries are as follows: Michael Brown, Flint, $170,000; Joseph Harris, Benton Harbor, $132,000; Joyce Parker, Ecorse, $132,000; Roy Roberts, DPS, $250,000; and Michael Stampfler, Pontiac, $150,000. This totals almost a million dollars, and does not include Robert Bobb's salary...

SOURCE

source 2

Who will ultimately benefit from the decisions Robert Bobb makes? A few billionaires?