Commenting on the daily drama as officials in Detroit struggle to avoid a municipal bankruptcy filing Detroit Free Press editorial page editor Stephen Henderson sees signs of progress -- mainly in Lansing, that is.
The groundwork is actually being laid for substantial improvement in Detroit government. The Legislature is close to sending bills to the governor that would create a regional transit authority and a public lighting authority. Both represent inventive problem-solving -- finding ways to provide more stable, efficient service delivery and to fund it responsibly. . . .
The city's Lansing delegation, as well as Mayor Dave Bing and the rest of the Legislature, deserve plenty of credit for being so close to getting them done.
In the Detroit City Council chambers, by contrast, the Free Press' top opinion writer sees fewer reasons for optimism. He notes that Mayor Dave Bing "implored the council to act Tuesday on yet another fiscal time bomb -- a crisis involving pension contribution shortfalls -- but members kicked a decision to today."
City government remains stuck in an alternate universe of denial and daydream. . . .
In the La La Land of Detroit governance, a grateful President Barack Obama may be about to rescue elected officials from the need to make hard choices with a huge federal bailout. . . . That's what City Council member JoAnn Watson suggested before Tuesday's City Council meeting.
The way Watson sees it, Obama owes Detroit for the big turnout that aided his re-election. She's hallucinating, of course, but her fantasy begs the crucial question in the city right now: Which will come first, a municipal bankruptcy filing or the end of delusional governance? . . .
It's almost as if council members really believe someone will swoop in and save them.
Maybe they do believe in Santa Claus -- but for the rest of us, it may be time to pray to a higher power for government sanity.
