2 comments

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  I agree with much of what Valarie Johnson writes; EMA is, indeed, going to be paid a great sum of money to tell us something that we could've figured out on our own, with our own people: That the department is inefficient, mismanaged at the operations level and above, fraught with employee apathy, overstaffed with layers of management and supervision, plagued with poor manpower and equipment utilization, and steeped in consultant/contractor graft and overcompensation. And I could've told them that for a fraction of the cost. Of course, EMA is also being paid to implement the suggested changes, provide monitoring and benchmarking, and report progress (or lack thereof). Still...$48 million is a whole lot of money.
  
  We part company, though, on the opinion that the EM law was designed to usurp union rights and take over Detroit's assets. In this game of "Emergency Manager Musical Chairs", this current administration and council happened to get caught standing, without chairs, and should have been divested of their ability to do any more fiscal harm. Instead, Gov. Snyder allowed them to wheedle their way back into some form of governance. Remember, Valarie...they are the ones who brought the city to fiscal ruin by spending more than the revenue coming in; approving unsustainable budgets; continuing to draw their exorbitant salaries and perks; and failing to stop the hemorrhage of taxpayers, assets, and finances. I hold them culpable, and THAT'S what the EM law was supposed to remedy: When your elected officials perform in such an egregiously inept manner, they should be replaced on the spot--not next election cycle--and the state should take over until such time that fiscal stability returns. Of course, we had a bad experience with DPS being taken over by the state, and ruined even more. So it's understandable, the reluctance of people to give up control to the state.

  Dorian S. Wilson Thursday, 15 November 2012 16:55 Comment Link
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  It is not right that the state would hold the escrow money from the city, just to get rid of labor unions and workers. I do not quite understand most of the workers live here in the city and if you lay them off, what revenue will they be getting/? Families will lose their homes even more. The water Department want to pay a consultant firm EMA millions in dollars to tell them how to rid the unions and cut the work force to 32 workers which would not include Sue McCormick and her staff. The water department will be outsourced out to kelly services or other contracting services, this would allow workers to come and go. If you think the Department is a mess see what happens if they are allowed to implement this program with a contractor that has not even deal with a Department as large as the Detroit Water Department maybe they have dealt with one about the size of Warren Michigan. This is another Victor Mercardo move. It's sad that the elected officials have stolen the money and want to rid the workers of everything they have worked for. I do not see Bing letting go of any of his staff, that serves no purpose. the EM that they are paying over 200,000 dollars a year for what to tell the public the city is broke,if the City of Detroit is that broke I do not feel they can justify paying someone this type of money to tell them this. I do not see them cutting back in their Managerial Departments. This is a tactic to rid the city of unions, organized labor, quite frankly rid the city of black families. The city need to handle this without the governor and if they cannot rid the council and mayor of their seats.

  valarie johnson Wednesday, 14 November 2012 10:03 Comment Link