A former aide to Mayor Dave Bing is skittish about actions and gestures so far from Kevyn Orr, two months into his 18-month term as Detroit's emergency manager.
Karen Dumas: "The pledged partnership between the state and city appears to be anything but."
Karen Dumas, the city's former director of communications, gives her preliminary assessment in a Bridge Magazine column.
Decisions and moves that were supposed to help Detroit are now taking on a different appearance. . . .
The pledged partnership between the state and city appears to be anything but. . . . The insertion of Orr into things he really should otherwise stay out of doesn’t do anything to quell the critics who opposed his presence. . . .
Decisions such as the selection of a police chief fall outside of the realm of emergency financial responsibilities. . . .
The latest turn was his decision to not attend the Mackinac Public Policy Conference. As the key decision maker for the state’s largest city, why wouldn’t he be there?
Dumas also writes that in a May 12 report on the city's financial status, Orr "even goes so far as to casually claim at least two of Bing’s accomplishments – keeping parks and recreation centers open and new vehicles for police and EMS – as his own."
Her early view: "At this rate, the expectations are not looking good."
