Detroit in the News

I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but once again Detroit and Mayor Dave Bing were front page news in the Washington Post.  Mayor Bing is struggling in his attempts to repair the city and his plans to shrink the size of the city. A few days ago he announced plans to basically pay cops--who no longer have to adhere to residency requirements--to move back to the city. For $1,000 they get a new home.

He's not asking residents to make sacrifice he hasn't made himself. He does not take a salary, and he's facing losses, too:

At this point, he just wants residents to face facts. Such as: He cannot afford to send water, garbage trucks and other services to large parts of his city. And: There are so few ambulances that some people have been transported in city-owned sedans. Plus: Last summer, the wheels and rims were stolen off Bing's GMC Yukon security vehicle and it was left on blocks.

But residents are resistent:

Anna Montgomery, 57, is the kind of resident Bing will have to win over. She was born in the city, retired from the assembly line at Chrysler and bought her bungalow 30 years ago for less than $20,000.

"I would not be opposed to moving if I was compensated for a lifetime of living in this home," she said. "Well compensated. . . . And it would depend on the neighborhood they are thinking about consolidating us in."

The city has no money to give to people like Montgomery. One of the few things it can offer is a new address - one from its stock of thousands of foreclosed and abandoned houses.

She is lucky. Retired at 57, has a cheap home, probably a pension and health care. And she has choices--despite whatever ultimatum she may be dealt.  But the status quo does not work. And I don't know how much or little Dave Bing will succeed in his attempts to fix things, but he has to start somewhere.  And after that still buzzed about ad, no time is better than the present.