Cities to Dissolve? – Detroit and Surrounding Cities Bankrupt

Just weeks before the city runs out of cash Mayor Dave Bing was a no-show for his emergency meeting as the city plummets into the abyss.

By Shepard Ambellas
theintelhub.com
December 1, 2012

LANSING — Like a scene out of the Hollywood film RoboCop without all the police department funding, Detroit and surrounding cities are nearly completely bankrupt. Police do not even patrol certain areas anymore, as crime is overwhelming.

In fact there has been talk of dissolving the cities altogether.

Now Michigan Senator Rick Jones is saying all options are on the table, including dissolving the city itself.

An except from MichiganRadio.org reads;

The idea of dissolving Detroit—and effectively merging it with Wayne County—has popped up occasionally in some business and political circles recently.

But mid-Michigan senator Rick Jones is the first official to publicly discuss that as an option.

Jones says Detroit’s local leaders just aren’t dealing with the city’s fiscal problems—and having the state’s biggest city file for municipal bankruptcy would be “horrible.”

“I think everything is on the table,” Jones said. “ I would be willing to consider dissolving the city, if that’s what it took.

“One of the options could be actually dissolving the city of Detroit, and putting all of their functions back into Wayne County. That is possible.”

Hard economic times are affecting other cities across the US, but Detroit seems to be hit the hardest.

The ToledoBlade.com reported;

Has the mayor abandon ship?Last week, with the city just weeks from running out of cash, Mayor Dave Bing called an emergency meeting of City Council members to try to get them to approve a consulting contract with a law firm.

Under the terms of the consent agreement, such a contract is required before the state releases $30 million from a special bond issue to keep the city functioning.

However, the mayor didn’t show up for his own meeting, citing a family matter. The council needed to approve the $300,000 contract before the state would release the money Detroit needs to meet its mid-December payroll.

Despite the city’s desperate state, it was clear that council was set to vote against the deal. Some council members don’t like the fact that the Miller Canfield law firm had a hand in writing the consent agreement itself, as well as the tough emergency manager law Michigan voters narrowly repealed on Election Day.

Maybe. But the bigger reason may be that many council members loathe Mayor Bing. For his part, the mayor openly holds council in contempt, and seems to have virtually abandoned attempts to work with it.

In fairness, it is hard to see how anyone could avoid becoming exasperated with most of the nine council members, who seem neither to grasp economic reality nor to care about it.

A majority of council seems determined to block anything, even when it is clearly in the city’s best interests.

*****

Read more articles by this author HERE.

Shepard Ambellas is the founder & director of theintelhub.com (a popular alternative news website), researcher, investigative journalist, radio talk show host, and filmmaker.

Follow Shepard on Twitter/NotForSale2NWO.

Watch and subscribe to Shepard on Youtube.com/user/NotForSale2NWO.

Please feel free to checkout SHADEtheMotionPicture.com (An Ambellas & Bermas Film).

Join theintelhub.com FORUMS to Talk About Articles Like This One - ENTER NOW