DETROIT - The clock is ticking on the Motor City.

The City of Detroit is on the verge of going broke in 10 days unless Mayor Dave Bing can figure out a way to fix a $300 million deficit.

Bing set Oct. 1 as the deadline to get the city’s financial crisis under control or the city could fall into receivership. People are being laid off. Bus routes are being discontinued. Schools are closing. City employees - including public school teachers - say they fear for their jobs.

And to make matters worse, in a city where crime is spiraling out of control, even Detroit’s top cops are getting mugged.

Last weekend, one of Detroit’s deputy police chief’s was robbed of $300 - at gunpoint. Deputy Chief Herbert Moreland was off duty and robbed outside of his car around 3 a.m., said spokesman John Roach.

“At some point the deputy chief struggled with the suspect, and the deputy chief had his departmental-issued weapon with him and fired several shots at the suspect, who fled,” Roach said.

How bad is the situation in Detroit when the city’s cops are getting jacked?

Residents are understandably nervous when police, who are sworn to protect the citizens, can barely protect themselves.

In an odd example of how out-of-control the city's motorists have become, the city has posted large signs on most major highways and roadways that say "Killing/Injuring" city workers on the road is punishable by a $7,500 fine and 15 years in prison. 

Driving through parts of Detroit is a painful reminder of just how the economic crisis has devastated this city. Blocks of buildings are boarded up or gutted. The city has more than 80,000 abandoned buildings, which leads the nation.

A stretch of downtown along Woodward Avenue – once a bustling commercial corridor – is now a wasteland, while huge empty lots with broken glass once housed some of Detroit’s most profitable car dealerships. Some older black residents have been living for years behind bars on their doors and windows and say they are afraid to walk in their own neighborhoods.

Some claim that despite the current recession, black men continue to lose huge sums of money every week in Detroit’s three Vegas-style casinos.

And several black professionals who work closely with the city say they are weary of watching the continuing downfall of Detroit, a city that once had high hopes for former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who resigned in disgrace a year ago.

But Bing has told officials that he’ll get it all under control, starting with managing the financial crisis. Even the city’s public transportation has been impacted as a number of bus routes have been eliminated.

"We will have a blueprint to fix the city of Detroit," Bing said this week during a luncheon with women business leaders.

Bing plans to meet with top officials soon to create a strategy "on what we can do, what we can accomplish, in the short term, medium term and long term," he said.

The mayor, 65, a professional basketball Hall of Famer who played nine NBA seasons with the Detroit Pistons, campaigned on a platform to run the city like a business.

And while Bing tells residents that no one is “protected” from potential layoffs, civic groups argue that crime in Detroit is spiraling out of control, maintaining that now is not the time to reduce the number of police officers who patrol the streets.

Bing handed over his annual salary of $176,000 to the police department recently and said tough times are ahead.

"Detroit, from a structural standpoint, is broke,” Bing said told reporters. “What we've had is failed leadership in the City of Detroit. Our City Council has been as big a disappointment as the mayor's office has been."

Tick-tock.

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No matter hard hard we try to twist the facts and blame whitey, this one is on us pees. We have financially and morally corrupted a major US city. Damm peeps.

by   
Jiggy5
September 21, 2009, 12:29 pm
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That's a huge undertaking, I wish him well!

by   
Niagaras4me
September 21, 2009, 12:20 pm
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I wish the mayor well. I lived in the Detroit area a number of years ago so I realize this is not necessarily a new problem, just a manifestation of problems over a number of years. It really is a great city in many ways but the "leadership" the last few years has been sorely lacking at best. Kwame Kilpatrick wasn't the only thing that went wrong but he and his entourage were certainly of the most egregious. If Dave Bing can do with Detroit what he did with his business enterprises, he should be entered in another hall of fame.

by   
Mzharris311
September 21, 2009, 11:38 am
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I doubt if Mayor Bing will be able to do much since his plans have alienated most of the city. None of the buses going in the area of his companies were cut or decreased their services. Coincidence? I wonder. Too much has gone on for way too long for any one person to come in and clean it up like he said he would. Let us go into bankruptcy and start over with less, but with a clean slate. I know there is no simple fix to any of this, but cutting back like he is talking about is not the answer. Too many senior citizens will be hurt in the long run.

by   
Ladymony
September 21, 2009, 9:28 am
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Good Luck to my former city if you pull out of this so will the rest of the nation. Good luck Mayor Bing.

by   
ACL
September 21, 2009, 7:05 am
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