Opposition to Detroit water proposal makes regionalism talk a joke
When it comes to history, there are many things we can learn. But when it comes to the history of Detroit’s long and contentious relationship with its neighbors, especially Oakland County, there are things we wish we would just brush off and move on so we don’t get stuck in the past. There are issues that have framed that relationship over the past decades, and none is more projected in the current Detroit Water and Sewerage Department proposal by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr than the “Us Vs. Them” mentality.
The belief that anything that appears good for Detroit must be bad for the suburbs, or the reverse. The idea that Detroit has nothing good to offer because of years of mismanagement and bad government. The impression that the city’s segregated identity as a majority Black population is less of an addition prosperity-wise and more of a subtraction. In the “Us Vs. Them” conjecture there are so many myths about Detroit, its beyond any realistic comprehension. But it rears its ugly head during tough political battles.
And certainly the recent remarks of Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson (which he was later made to apologize for) about Detroit and Indians explains why the “Us Vs. Them” line of thought remains an ingrained part of the psyche of those who still see Detroit as a wasteland and a city that is not capable of any meaningful assistance despite all of the development we see coming to the business district as well as the attention the city is now getting.
The latest casaulty in “Us Vs. Them” is the proposed creation of a regional authority for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) which according to the plan will yeild millions in yearly profits for Detroit’s water.
But leaders of the water’s suburban customers are balking at the plan in principle because it stands to make money for the city. But isn’t it Detroit that owns the water? This water has been and continues to remain a major asset of the city. I think if there is any issue that Detroiters have made their position loud and clear on over the years it has been the water department.
Yes, the water department was stained by the Kwame Kilpatrick corruption scandal but that doesn’t mitigate the fact that it’s the only department in city government that hardly runs a deficit and is a revenue generator for Detroit.
“We’re going on defense. We have to shield Oakland County from the tsunami of costs stemming from decades of mismanagement and corruption in the city-run water department,” Patterson told the Detroit News.
He is right. There has been corruption in the water department, but no more greater than efforts put in place now to clean up Detroit government. But Patterson has contended from day one when Detroit went into bankruptcy that efforts must be made to shield Oakland County from the impact the bankruptcy will have on his county.
While I respect his right to do just that as the manager of the county, his bold pronouncements about keeping Oakland County away from Detroit during bankruptcy do not speak of regional cooperation or strike me as someone who wants to build regional consensus. When your neighbor is in trouble, you need to lend a hand and support them, not throw gasoline in the fire. You don’t poke your finger in your neighbor’s eye while they are down, telling them they deserve what they have because of “decades of mismanagement,” and that you won’t agree to a deal that appears to help them address deep structural and financial issues.
This is not the kind of attitude we need for regionalism and certainly not toward the growth of Michigan’s largest city. No amount of political posturing can divorce Detroit from the map of Southeast Michigan. It remains an essential city and the engine of this region and we need to recognize that.
This kind of thinking has been key in making talk of regional cooperation a joke.
We also need to stop judging the city from its past mishaps. Let’s give it an opportunity to grow. If we are honest and sincere that if Detroit grows it only helps the region, we need to start looking at the city from its present dispensation, instead of drawing from decades of past events to justify our current attitudes at the decision making table.
We don’t need a replay of Coleman Young vs. L. Brooks Patterson political fights. That’s in the history books. We know enough of that history. And while we need to be mindful of that history, because race remains germane to that reality, it is time to look at Detroit on the basis of its current strength, reality, capability and shortcomings.
Regional cooperation is a joke unless and until those in the driver’s seat start to change their mentality about each other.
Regional cooperation is demonstrating that what affects Detroit affects the rest of the region, and as a result the elected political leaders of this region should be planning on making things work, not being antagonistic towards everything Detroit.
After all, this is not Crimea because no one is pushing for Oakland County under Brooks or Macomb County under Mark Harkel to agree to some sort of a referendum that annexes them and takes away the rights of their residents and taxpayers.
This is about the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, and it is a survival question. Both counties need the water.
For so long we’ve been pretending at conferences that regionalism works. It is not working and the litmus test is the current deal on the table for the water department where Oakland and Macomb counties feel they would be made to bear the brunt of Detroit’s decay.
Meanwhile, Wayne County under Robert Ficano supports the deal, which would generate revenue for the department of about $47 million per year. But since it’s a deal that would be making money for the city it’s bad in the eyes of Oakland and Macomb. It is almost tantamount to “Survival of the Fittest,” and in this case the fittest doesn’t have to undermine the well-being of the perceived weak. The fittest shouldn’t be insisting that its either their way or the highway. What happened to constructive debates and consenus? Leaving the negotiating table and running to play the issue to the public and media gallery does nothing to address the issue.
Oakland County has a strong tax base thanks in part to Detroiters who moved there in search of better services. So Oakland County in itself is not an island, and thus cannot stand alone. It needs Detroit too.
“I’d rather have a bad deal forced on me than accept one voluntarily, and this is a bad deal,” Patterson told the Detroit News.
Beyond rhetoric and political gamesmanship lies the reality: the region needs DWSD. Yes, its suburban customers have every right to demand or reject what they would pay for water, as the customs and mores of the marketplace in a capitalist society justify. Yet it should not be on the altar of old prejudice and attitudes that have held us back. This is not Darwin’s theory. This is a theory about the evolution of a region in which Detroit is central because we are interconnected by highways and freeways.
When words fail, words begin. Time to go back to the negotiating table.
Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle and author of the forthcoming book on Detroit titled “Rising From the Ashes: Engaging Detroit’s Future with Courage.” His most recent book “Obama and Christian Loyalty,” deals with the politics of the religious right, black theology and the president’s faith posture with an epilogue written by former White House spokesman Robert S. Weiner. He is a political analyst at WDET-101.9FM (Detroit Public Radio) and a member of the weekly “Obama Watch” roundtable on WLIB-1190AM New York. Email bthompson@michronicle.com or visit https://www.bankolethompson.com.
The belief that anything that appears good for Detroit must be bad for the suburbs, or the reverse. The idea that Detroit has nothing good to offer because of years of mismanagement and bad government. The impression that the city’s segregated identity as a majority Black population is less of an addition prosperity-wise and more of a subtraction. In the “Us Vs. Them” conjecture there are so many myths about Detroit, its beyond any realistic comprehension. But it rears its ugly head during tough political battles.
And certainly the recent remarks of Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson (which he was later made to apologize for) about Detroit and Indians explains why the “Us Vs. Them” line of thought remains an ingrained part of the psyche of those who still see Detroit as a wasteland and a city that is not capable of any meaningful assistance despite all of the development we see coming to the business district as well as the attention the city is now getting.
The latest casaulty in “Us Vs. Them” is the proposed creation of a regional authority for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) which according to the plan will yeild millions in yearly profits for Detroit’s water.
But leaders of the water’s suburban customers are balking at the plan in principle because it stands to make money for the city. But isn’t it Detroit that owns the water? This water has been and continues to remain a major asset of the city. I think if there is any issue that Detroiters have made their position loud and clear on over the years it has been the water department.
Yes, the water department was stained by the Kwame Kilpatrick corruption scandal but that doesn’t mitigate the fact that it’s the only department in city government that hardly runs a deficit and is a revenue generator for Detroit.
“We’re going on defense. We have to shield Oakland County from the tsunami of costs stemming from decades of mismanagement and corruption in the city-run water department,” Patterson told the Detroit News.
He is right. There has been corruption in the water department, but no more greater than efforts put in place now to clean up Detroit government. But Patterson has contended from day one when Detroit went into bankruptcy that efforts must be made to shield Oakland County from the impact the bankruptcy will have on his county.
While I respect his right to do just that as the manager of the county, his bold pronouncements about keeping Oakland County away from Detroit during bankruptcy do not speak of regional cooperation or strike me as someone who wants to build regional consensus. When your neighbor is in trouble, you need to lend a hand and support them, not throw gasoline in the fire. You don’t poke your finger in your neighbor’s eye while they are down, telling them they deserve what they have because of “decades of mismanagement,” and that you won’t agree to a deal that appears to help them address deep structural and financial issues.
This is not the kind of attitude we need for regionalism and certainly not toward the growth of Michigan’s largest city. No amount of political posturing can divorce Detroit from the map of Southeast Michigan. It remains an essential city and the engine of this region and we need to recognize that.
This kind of thinking has been key in making talk of regional cooperation a joke.
We also need to stop judging the city from its past mishaps. Let’s give it an opportunity to grow. If we are honest and sincere that if Detroit grows it only helps the region, we need to start looking at the city from its present dispensation, instead of drawing from decades of past events to justify our current attitudes at the decision making table.
We don’t need a replay of Coleman Young vs. L. Brooks Patterson political fights. That’s in the history books. We know enough of that history. And while we need to be mindful of that history, because race remains germane to that reality, it is time to look at Detroit on the basis of its current strength, reality, capability and shortcomings.
Regional cooperation is a joke unless and until those in the driver’s seat start to change their mentality about each other.
Regional cooperation is demonstrating that what affects Detroit affects the rest of the region, and as a result the elected political leaders of this region should be planning on making things work, not being antagonistic towards everything Detroit.
After all, this is not Crimea because no one is pushing for Oakland County under Brooks or Macomb County under Mark Harkel to agree to some sort of a referendum that annexes them and takes away the rights of their residents and taxpayers.
This is about the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, and it is a survival question. Both counties need the water.
For so long we’ve been pretending at conferences that regionalism works. It is not working and the litmus test is the current deal on the table for the water department where Oakland and Macomb counties feel they would be made to bear the brunt of Detroit’s decay.
Meanwhile, Wayne County under Robert Ficano supports the deal, which would generate revenue for the department of about $47 million per year. But since it’s a deal that would be making money for the city it’s bad in the eyes of Oakland and Macomb. It is almost tantamount to “Survival of the Fittest,” and in this case the fittest doesn’t have to undermine the well-being of the perceived weak. The fittest shouldn’t be insisting that its either their way or the highway. What happened to constructive debates and consenus? Leaving the negotiating table and running to play the issue to the public and media gallery does nothing to address the issue.
Oakland County has a strong tax base thanks in part to Detroiters who moved there in search of better services. So Oakland County in itself is not an island, and thus cannot stand alone. It needs Detroit too.
“I’d rather have a bad deal forced on me than accept one voluntarily, and this is a bad deal,” Patterson told the Detroit News.
Beyond rhetoric and political gamesmanship lies the reality: the region needs DWSD. Yes, its suburban customers have every right to demand or reject what they would pay for water, as the customs and mores of the marketplace in a capitalist society justify. Yet it should not be on the altar of old prejudice and attitudes that have held us back. This is not Darwin’s theory. This is a theory about the evolution of a region in which Detroit is central because we are interconnected by highways and freeways.
When words fail, words begin. Time to go back to the negotiating table.
Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle and author of the forthcoming book on Detroit titled “Rising From the Ashes: Engaging Detroit’s Future with Courage.” His most recent book “Obama and Christian Loyalty,” deals with the politics of the religious right, black theology and the president’s faith posture with an epilogue written by former White House spokesman Robert S. Weiner. He is a political analyst at WDET-101.9FM (Detroit Public Radio) and a member of the weekly “Obama Watch” roundtable on WLIB-1190AM New York. Email bthompson@michronicle.com or visit https://www.bankolethompson.com.
