But I remember three years ago when Bing just got into office and he was trying to do make the cuts needed without state intervention. Remember the union contracts? I particularly remember when lawsuits were flying then namely around AFSCME Local Council 25. The city charter was again in question. Bing had terminated union contracts saying basically the same thing: If I don’t there will be payless paydays, the city is broke, and so on. Only, then he estimated the city had a month or two to go before it crumbled–financially that is.
Bing is doing what he and many others feel is best for the city. Concede some power to the state so the city doesn’t go bankrupt — which would be bad for everyone involved. What has to happen is it has turned into an “us vs them” argument when now is the time people need to be working together. If Bing is right this time and the city IS running out of cash, then that is, indeed, perilous for all residents. Too bad Bing used the running out of money in x amount of time warning too many times before.
No doubt he wasn’t kidding then, but now, since he is giving the city four days before bust, it’s similar to what he said before to get the cuts he needed. So now that the situation has escalated and the stakes have risen, people are acting apathetic. Threats of running out of money are nothing new because the city has been running out of money for a long time. What is the case now? Is it literally a count down to chaos? Does all of Detroit’s future really hung on Krystal Crittendon and the lawsuit she filed to hold up the consent agreement? The stakes are high, yes. But does that mean the drama needs to escalate, too?
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