I read this and all I see are proverbial ostriches with their heads stuck in the thick, sticky sands that is the foundation of the Motor City.
The financial problems that plague the city are already causing services to suffer. We have been reporting on Detroit EMS issues for many years, but the report is a sober reminder just how poor the city has been in providing for its citizens.
It will take a series of very dramatic steps to get the city’s business in order. Heck, trying to woo business back into the city would be a great first step. Creating a safe environment for families to move back is another. Regenerating the luster and fame that the city once knew — Motown, anyone? — can bring precious money back into its coffers.
But to ignore, or minimize, the size of the huge deficit hanging around its neck is just limiting options. Several large cities have gone bankrupt over recent years; while recovery has been painful, these cities have emerged from bankruptcy in better situations.
Detroit would be the largest to undergo restructuring, but it needs to now. Change is scary. But the reality of its current situation is also scary and very real. Think back to the medic who was holed up inside his unit while bullets zipped around his unit — and no help was in sight. In our little microcosm of the Detroit universe, that makes no sense.
