“The news of the financial manager being imposed upon the city of Detroit is not something to celebrate for our citizens. I am greatly disappointed in Detroit’s financial meltdown. This problem has not been helped by the failure of the state to make good on its financial promises to the city over the years. But we are here just the same, and now it’s a new day for the city.
“I was confident that the city council had the ability to deal with the situation. I believe they had made great strides over the last few months. Sadly, they are severely handicapped when the mayor throws up his own hands and quits the game before the time has even run out.
“The governor and state treasurer now have 18 months to fix the city. Expectations are high and rightly so. The people of Detroit have a list of problems that need to be fixed. At the top of that list are the usual demands for public safety with a desire to see more neighborhood police patrols and efforts made to fight crime. Blight mars every neighborhood in our city, and tens of thousands of abandoned structures must be torn down as soon as possible.
“That responsibility now belongs to our governor, Rick Snyder. The people are right in expecting him to do something about these issues. Their acceptance or rejection of the financial plans of the emergency manager will be strongly connected to what the governor does about these basic quality-of life-issues. Time will tell us what the true agenda is.”